Last Hat for Knitwits

 One of last months finishes. Turned it in Wednesday at our last KnitWits meeting. I'm going to miss that group very much. Anyway, the hat.

Pattern: Two Color Hat by Andrea Wong
Size: Medium Adult

Yarn: Assorted Leftovers
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Black, Dark Sage, Purple, Royal Blue, White

Needles: Circular size 7

Started: October 4, 2023
Finished: October 7, 20223

The pattern calls for just 2 colors. I just thought I'd use more. It's an interesting pattern. After the ribbed cuff, there are a couple rows of purl. Then it's stockinette for the patterned part, then purl after the patterns are done. It needed to be blocked harder than usual because the purl sections made the hat kind of wonky.

I have finished my last layette set for KnitWits too, but I'll do a separate blog post for that.

We've got a new resident in our yard hanging around the buffet. Isn't it beautiful? The beak is such a pretty shade of pink. This is a very rare bird! We are so lucky to have seen it.

It's a House Finch with Leucitic, or perhaps Albino, coloring. It showed up a couple weeks ago with a few normally colored finches. We thought they may be passing through, but seems like they're going to stay awhile.

We had an absolutely frigid week last week. Got way below freezing. The Marigolds are thoroughly dead. Now it's warmed up a bit and we're getting lots of rain today. Might get as much as 3 inches.

Early in October (or was it late September?) I saw my regular doctor. My feet and ankles have been in a lot of pain for months now. X-rays were done and we found out I have arthritis in my foot joints and ankles. It's making it very hard to walk. Sometimes the pain wakes me up at night. I've been using Tylenol. It helps. I probably need to take something stronger. I should make an appointment about it.

I have an update for the sick kitty, Merino. He did not get better after the vet visit a month ago. So I took him back to the vet and spent an enormous amount of money for tests. Everything showed he was healthy as a horse. So X-rays were ordered. Found out the problem! He has arthritis in his lower back and it's been so painful it's making him hold his pee and poo in an effort to avoid the pain of going. Unfortunately, he can only hold it so long, so he lets go where ever he happens to be at the time. 

We put him on pain killers. Wow! What a difference. He's his old lovey dovey self again. He's stopped peeing outside the box. He is eating again and starting to gain some weight. He hasn't stopped pooping outside the box yet. I replaced all three litter boxes with new ones because we thought he might be associating the original boxes with the pain. He's been trying to poop in them, but is still dealing with constipation. I praise him when he's trying, and scold him when he uses the dining room floor. Hopefully, this will change. It's probably just going to take time.

They have a new pain killer for cats that is just one shot a month. I asked the vet if I could have some of it in my ankles. She laughed, and said no. 😞 It's not been approved for humans yet. Yet! That gives me hope.

Now that KnitWits is done, I can get serious about the Christmas knitting. I've got 3 pairs of socks to do. I'm going to give each sock a week. They all should be done in time if I do that. I better get busy, so until next time...

Live long and prosper. \\//