I'm Still Here

 I'm here, still alive and kicking. Just haven't been blogging because I've been under so much stress the last couple months. My body does not handle stress well. My brain starts randomly tossing stuff out, making my memory difficult to live with, and the panic attacks start. Thankfully, I have medication to help deal with it but it still interferes with my life. So lets catch up.

In my last post I mentioned my husband was going to have heart surgery. (He has a bad case of AFib) That appointment was postponed because the doctor had an emergency come up. It was rescheduled for July 31, which is the day after sweet hubby's birthday. The surgery happened. The outcome was a disaster.

Turns out, hubby's heart had Adhesions. At some point in his life (we'll never know when) it was damaged and when healing, the scar tissue attached itself to the bag that surrounds the heart. I had NO IDEA the heart can do that! I read up on it and sometimes the heart will actually attach itself to other organs, which can be a serious problem. Attaching to the bag will cause him no problems as far as his heart functioning, which is a good thing. It could have been a lot worse.

Anyway, the doctor could not do the prodedure. Unfortunately, this condition can't be seen any way except by actually going in, so that is where he was when it was discovered. Sweet hubby's body didn't take too well to the surgery so he spent 5 days in the hospital recovering. His lungs had filled somewhat with fluid and whatnot. I tell you, it sucks being old. The body just can't handle what it used to, but I'd rather be old than dead.

So what's next? Thankfully, we still have options. We're going to try another standard Ablation. It's scheduled for next week. In the meantime, sweet hubby's cardiologist has moved away to somewhere else, so we've been dealing with delayed appointments while they figure out which doctors get his patients. Our last appointment was with a nurse practitioner, and she was awesome! We walked away feeling very good about it all, and it's had an amazing effect on my husband. 

He's been down and depressed for months and pretty much mostly sitting in his chair watching videos all day.  This consultation pulled him out of it. He's suddenly doing things. He's been taking walks, and playing with his lathe, and most recently he's started fixing things around the house, and very cheerful. Two weeks ago I mentioned the back steps are dangerous. I've been mentioning it for a couple years. They are rotten and falling apart. I'm afraid to walk on them. I didn't expect a response. Next thing I knew, I was in the truck going to Home Depot with him.

This is what the steps looked like.

The bottom step actually was so rotten it broke off. This is what it looked like the day after we got home from Hope Depot. We all participated in ripping the stairs apart.

This is what the stairs look like now.

Future firewood

Sweet hubby decided that he wanted to build them like the front steps, with a little deck. We've got deck now. It's just big enough for a chair or two, and a pot of flowers. I'm luvin' it!

I've been knitting a lot! It helps with the stress. I went gung-ho on the blanket. This week I finished the last (6th) panel and got all the ends woven in. Next is blocking. Then sewing the panels together.

I purchased some light blue flannel to back it so all the floats and stuff are out of sight. 

I really miss Joann's. It was the only real fabric store we had. Now I have to get it online. It's been difficult. You can't really trust the color you're seeing on the monitor, and there are restrictions on amounts you can buy. A lot of places have a 2 or 3 yard minimum and you need half a yard, and then there's the cost of shipping. 

Now I'm back to working on the socks I started last May. I'm at the heel of the second sock. I also have ordered another knit afghan kit from Mary Maxims. I find myself wanting to make another one. They've been so fun to work on. This one will be a ripple with lace pattern.

Another thing I worked on and finished is this chair. Most of it was finished for several weeks, but I hadn't got around to putting the fabric piece on that goes underneath to cover the ugly. I finally did that on last Tuesday. It's fully completed now.

One of the stabilizing bars underneath was broken. It's been that way for years. My mom bought me this chair when I was about 13 or 14 years old from a thrift store for $13. She covered it with new upholstery fabric and designated it my knitting chair. I sat in this chair for hours and hours knitting. It got broken when we moved up from California (1992). 

Anyway, I asked hubby to fix it. I didn't expect a reaction because he's been so down, but he took it out to the shop and then completely tore it apart. I was so upset! It didn't need to be re-upholstered (or so I thought) and I just wanted that bar fixed. The fabric was in great condition. He'd ripped it all off. We ended up refurbishing it entirely. This is the fourth time it's been re-upholstered. It looks beautiful now. 

You would not believe what we found under the old upholstery fabric. More old fabric. We also found powdered foam. I did not know this chair actually had padding. You sure couldn't tell by sitting in it, which tells you how long ago it self destructed. Consequently, I've learned how to upholster a chair. I even put new foam padding in it. Now I know why getting it done by professionals is so expensive. It was a very challenging project.

I found this awesome chenille fabric online. The photos don't do it justice. The chair is pretty comfortable too. Husband did a magnificent job of fixing and restoring the wood to it's shiny self. He restored the broken pieces, sanded it all down to bare wood and stained it. It looks like a brand new chair. It's very comfortable too. By the way, this chair is over 100 years old.

I have about a yard of that chenille left. I'm planning to sew myself a new knitting tote with it. I have been purchasing what I need for it a little bit at a time. I still need to find a couple zippers, thread that matches, and something to use for the straps.

We had an unfortunate experience in July. Cashmere, Merino's brother, was looking a little off and was panting a lot. I took him to the vet as soon as I could. 

Cashmere Park

2013-2025

It was an emergency appointment, which means I left him there early in the morning, they would get to him between patients as time permits, and give me a call. Well, on the way home, after dropping him off, my phone rang. I pulled over and answered it. It was the vet and she was quite upset. She'd taken Cashmere out of his crate to examine him. He panicked, had a heart attack, and died. Later she found that his lungs were filled with fluid, which is why he was panting. He had pneumonia and was a very sick kitten. She felt terrible, but it wasn't her fault. He had seemed fine just a couple days before and cats can be very good at hiding how they feel. I know it's been stressful for him living without Merino, and being ill too? The stress that morning was just too much for him. It still was a huge shock. We'd just lost his brother, Merino, two months earlier and I had no idea he was so sick. July really was a nasty month.

The weather this summer has been exceedingly hot! Hottest summer on record. We didn't even get the yearly frost in August. We haven't had any frost at all. We haven't even had cool weather. It's been in the 90's for weeks. I wish I'd known ahead that it would be like this. I would have bought a couple tomato plants because I would have got ripe tomatoes.

Earlier this year I said my chronic cough is gone. It's still gone. Hooray! Not only that, but my asthma has been so much better. I am thrilled about it too. Now, if only I could get the arthritis to go away.

Well, that's the highlights of the last 2 months. 

Live long and prosper. \\//

Life At The Moment

The well is up and running again. The contractor showed up Monday late afternoon and finished fixing it. When I paid him, I also gave him a big hug and told him he's my hero. He worked on our project on his own time, not company time. You don't find someone that nice very often. It's so good to be able to flush the toilet again. I made it through the whole ordeal. The Porta Potty was picked up today. I'm so glad we were able to rent it. 

It occurred to me that I mentioned in June that my husband was scheduled for heart surgery and then I didn't say anything else. Well, that surgery was cancelled because in preparation for said surgery they did a cat scan and a chest x-ray and thought there was a blood clot in his heart. Surgery was immediately cancelled.

He since then has had some more tests and they found it wasn't a blood clot. Just an anomaly of sorts, so the surgery is rescheduled for July 11th. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will happen.

I have been stitching like crazy on the train. I got all the cross stitches done on the coal car. I've started the front engine now.

In knitting, I've mostly been waiting for yarn I ordered for the socks. 

I ran out of the green yarn just as it was time to start the heel of the second sock and could not find another. I was sure I had two skeins of it, but I was wrong. I couldn't find the ball band either, so I guessed on which green it is (Knit Picks Stroll). I guessed wrong. I searched some more and finally found the ball band and ordered the correct green. It arrived yesterday. The dyelot is different, of course, but not off enough to cause a problem, thankfully.

In the meantime, I've been working on the Snowflake afghan a little bit.

I am enjoying it very much. The stranded squares are just big enough to enjoy but not feel impatient to "get to the end, dammit!"

My African Violet is blooming! A few months ago I divided it and repotted both. I had two plants in the pot and they got way too big for it. Both are blooming. Just a pic of one though.

Weather-wise, the remainder of last week was very comfortable. I enjoyed it very much. It's super hot today. 97F degrees at the moment. I'm staying indoors so as not to set off the asthma. Things are supposed to cool down later this week.

That's the news for now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Water

It's been very stressful around here the last few weeks what with Doug's heart, I've got another horrible cough, etc, but last week tipped me over the edge. I had to start taking my Ativan, half a pill a day, to manage my Panic attacks because, well, here's what happened. 

Our water pipe goes under the road we live on to connect to our well. Last Wednesday the pipe broke under the road. It made a small fountain in the middle of the road and was draining into the ditch. The highway department is not happy. We had to shut our water off. This is a major disaster for us. 

The highway department said we are responsible for fixing it. The break is actually their fault, but when we got our permit in 1992 to put the pipe under there, the contract says we are responsible for any and all repairs to that spot in the road. At the time, the road was just a little dirt one. Hardly anyone drove by, and if it was spring you didn't go past our house because the road turned into a huge mud bog when the frost was coming out. No big deal, right? Now it's wide, paved, and lots of traffic. Husband calls it the Mexican freeway.

Down the road from us, it's not as nice as it is from our property line to the east. From our property line to the west and ending at Hwy 41 the road is narrower and has poor quality paving. We call it pot hole alley.

At the beginning of this month the highway dept started working on that section to widen it and make it match the rest of the road. They've been digging down and large dump trucks have been going by constantly has they haul the top soil away, and the old paving. Our road wasn't designed for dump trucks as big as they're using. That's part of why the pipe broke.

To make things worse, we can't fix it ourselves, even though we have the capability to do so. We have to hire a contractor. Most contractors are booked up until the end of the summer. I was beginning to panic when the highway dept suggested someone and, thankfully, they were able to work on it yesterday. They also are going to repair it for less than $5000. We can afford that.

The repair consists of digging down to the 4 inch pipe on both sides of the road,

This is my husband looking in the new hole, watching the guys cutting the pipe and getting
 ready to slide the 2 inch pipe through to the other side.

cut the pipe at both spots, run a 2 inch pipe through our 4 inch pipe going under the road, connect the two pipes with adapters, bury it all. It's done. They got the digging done and the 2 inch pipe running inside the 4 inch pipe. 

The other side of the cut pipe. The cord you see has been threaded through.
 They tied it to the 2 inch pipe and pulled it through the 4 inch pipe.

Unfortunately, they brought the wrong adapter connecters. They had adapters for sewer pipe. Not water pipe. Those would work, sorta, but we want this repaired right. I want an archeologist 2000 years from now digging it up and being amazed at how well preserved it is.  It will be Monday or Tuesday before they can get them, so we're living without running water for awhile

My biggest worry was the bathroom situation. We can't flush the toilets, and I have IBS-D. I solved it. I rented one of those Porta Potty's. It isn't very expensive at all. I was surprised! It's sitting out by the front steps. We can manage just fine with that.

Another fortunate thing is I'd just finished the laundry for the week literally hours before it broke, so we're okay for now on that.

I am also concerned with all those marigolds I planted on the deck. They need water every other day when it's dry. Our weather has been very dry lately. However, it cooled off and we actually got some rain yesterday afternoon. A good soaking so they are well watered.

We've been pretending we're camping. We filled some water jugs. I went to my brother-in-laws house to shower when needed. Today I'm going to my nieces house for that, and filling up our water jugs cuz they're empty now. We can make it a few more days. This better not happen again ever! It's no fun at all.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Current WIPs

My plans to post last Wednesday were overruled by life, so I will do it now. I have two WIPs to present today. First is the sock I'm working on . 

It's been going a little slow, partly because I'm not in a hurry, partly because I'm writing down every step as I go along so it will be easy to write up as a pattern when I'm done. I'm using the Mock Short Row Heel in this pair and found that no one has actually written up instructions on how to do it. Just video tutorials, so that will be part of my pattern. I might publish the heel instructions separately as a tutorial here too. In the meantime, the prototype will be a Christmas present. I'm starting extra early this year.

The second project is a Christmas stocking for Zoey. 

I'm not sure why I chose this one for her. The snowman is just so cute. I am having a problem with it. The ink is bleeding on the white pieces. I've never had that happen before.

 This kit is fairly old and out of print. I found it on Ebay for a very reasonable price. Apparently they used this brown ink way back when and it is known to run. It's all over the thread as well as on the white felt. I've done some Googling and found out this is "normal" and I can easily wash it out when the stocking is done. I found washing instructions on the Bucilla web site too. I'm happy to say they don't use the brown ink anymore.

I did not notice there's a fold in the middle of the stocking until I saw this picture. I will steam it out before going any further.

So that's what I'm working on.

I had an excellent Mothers Day. We went to Giorgi's for lunch, then took a nice drive. Usually we go up into the National forest to see the wild flowers, but I didn't want to do that because it was supposed to be a rainy day. My husband wanted to drive the Prius. I said "No off-roading". We decided to go over Thompson Pass. We took a northern route to highway 202, then east to a small town in Montana, then turned for home and drove over the pass. I've never been on that drive in the spring. It was incredibly beautiful! The fields in Montana were so green. The grass is short too. It looked like all of the state had just been freshly mowed, and the wildflowers! They were fantastic! On our way home, we stopped at a convenience store to use the restroom. When we got back in the car, hubby pushed the Start button and all hell broke loose. Warning bells rang and messages flashed on the screens, accompanied by the Check Engine light. There was a message that told us the hybrid system was malfunctioning and to contact our Toyota dealer immediately. Well, they weren't open at that time, so we chose to go ahead and try driving home, stopping at Applebee's for dinner on the way. We made it just fine with no problems.

This morning I woke up and there was a new text from Toyota on my phone. My car had texted them that something was wrong with the hybrid system and would I like to schedule an appointment? I called them. My appointment is on the 20th. I've been reassured it's okay to drive the car, so it can't be too serious. I am feeling a little bit weirded out that my car is sending texts to Toyota without consulting with me first though.

Live long and prosper. \\//

I'm So Behind

 I am so behind on my blogging. I didn't intend this to happen, it just did. Life was pretty difficult all March and April. I got very sick. There was a virus going around and the Parkarosa household got it. It knocked me out for almost 2 weeks, then I got something else making me sick. That turned out to be a serious sinus infection. My doctor got me a prescription for an antibiotic and it killed the infection, but it took awhile. Now I'm feeling a lot better. But what a miserable month that was.

In April I sprained my right knee --- in my sleep! I have no idea how that happened. First I knew about it was when the pain woke me up and my kneecap wasn't in it's right place. I pushed it back into place (OWW!) but the tendons were in agony. It's healing, slowly. I'm glad I own a cane.

Another thing not going well is my husbands heart. He has Afib and they have not been able to get rid of it so far. He's had 2 Cardioversions and 1 Ablation. He left the hospital feeling good all three times, and then his heart returned to the Afib. It's affecting his quality of life badly. His doctor said he's lost 20% of his hearts ability with this. He is running out of breath very easily and just feels so lousy. It makes me want to cry.

I went with him to his last appointment with his cardiologist and we're looking at another surgery. It was suggested and, to my husbands surprise, I went for it. I told the doctor I'm tired of him effin around my husbands heart and lets get this fixed properly. I need my husband back to his old self. We have a meeting with the heart surgeon later this month, but we've had to wait weeks for it. We have too many patients and not enough doctors in our area and it's really affecting all of us in a negative way.

Then there's the awful news. My boy, Merino, started coughing up blood one day in March and was definitely going downhill, fast. In addition he stopped using the litter boxes completely, and was drinking an enormous amount of water. Life became nothing but cleaning up cat messes all day, every day. Not a piece of living room furniture was left un-peed on. He was in a lot of pain too. We could see it in his face and how he moved. Not behavior for a cat that's supposed to be as healthy as a horse. 

We took him to the vet later that day, which was March 17th. We ended up having to put him down. He was dying and in pain. I don't know what it was that made him so sick, but it was definitely good at hiding from the vets. Now we'll never know what it was.

Merino Park

2013 to 2025

He was almost 12 years old. He was an awesome hunter and general trouble maker. I'm missing him so much. I don't have my morning cuddle with him anymore. My other cats, his brother, Cashmere, and grandkitty Boba have handled it well. Cashmere looked for him for about a month and finally stopped. They definitely loved each other. I feel bad that there's no way for me to communicate what happened to his brother. I had him cremated and buried in a group burial. It's the first time I haven't brought a fur kid home for burial. The ground was frozen and we couldn't handle trying to bury him. There's no way sweet hubby could have used a shovel, even if the ground was not frozen.

Well, after all that negativity, how about a positive. When my husband and I discussed when we were going to apply for our Social Security, one of the things my husband said was we could afford to buy me a new Prius if we applied. We did just that. This is my brand new blue Prius.

I am very happy with it. I need to mention, though, that I stalked this car. After we applied for Social Security I started researching for a new Prius. I wanted one that was colored with something other than Black, Grey, Silver, or White. I don't know if you've noticed, but the overwhelming majority of automobiles are those colors. Anyway, about a month before we went to the Parker Toyota dealership in town, I was checking their web site fairly regularly. Nothing but a greyscale selection of cars. Then one day, a Blue one appeared on their web site labelled as ordered from the factory for inventory. I checked that car every day. I saw it loaded in Japan, shipped across the ocean, and arriving in port in Oregon. When it arrived in port, I called Parker Toyota. I told them I wanted that blue Prius. They called us when it arrived at the dealership. They also reserved it for me. I put down a deposit for that. 

I love my blue Prius. It's so cool! It's had a lot of changes made since the last one I owned (which was the 2012 Prius V I bought two years ago). It's been redesigned to be a somewhat larger sports car. It has a lot of power, but still gets the same mileage as the old smaller one did. I'm lovin' the immediate response when I push down the gas pedal. It has a lot of electronic doodads I've never seen in a car before. Heated seats, heated steering wheel, cameras all the way around the car. It tells me when someone is in my blind spot. It beeps if a human is near. The cameras for backing up are so much clearer. It can tell me when I've drifted across the lane edge, and correct it - if I had that turned on. Assisted driving is what they call it. It actually can steer the car all by itself. I haven't tried it yet though. It has cruise control too. In fact, there's so many little doodads I haven't figured them all out yet. I also have a sun roof which I'm enjoying now that spring has arrived. It's really nice to drive, and even better-Sweet Hubby fits in it and can drive it comfortably. Hurray!

There's more news which I will address as the week progresses. I've been finishing projects, and starting new ones. It's kept me sane through all the stress that's been in my life. Until then...

Live long and prosper. \\//

Update on WIPs

 Life has been rather difficult for me of late. I'm struggling but getting through it. My cats have been the worst. Merino is not using the litter box. He's been violating all the furniture. In concern, I've taken him to the vet several times and spent hundreds of dollars on tests only to be told he's healthy as a horse. The consensus is it's Anxiety. He's being bullied by my other two cats quite a bit, plus winter. My cats hate winter. Merino has stopped going outside entirely. So he's been started on Gabapentin. My couch is covered in aluminum foil to keep the cats off. So now he's going all over the floor, his beds, and any box he can get himself into. I'm so glad we got rid of the carpet in this house and installed bamboo.

On one of the trips to the vet, he peed all over my daughter IN THE CAR! It took 2 upholstery cleanings and 2 thorough sprays of Clorox Scentiva (fabric sanitizer), but I was successful in getting the smell out completely. The house, on the other hand...ugh. I am soooooooooo tired of cleaning up cat messes. The Gabapentin better work or I'm going to have to take drastic action because this is not something I can live with.

When we got home from the vet that day, he was soaked in pee. I had to give him a bath. I've never given him a bath. I prepared myself for possible dying by blood loss, filled the kitchen sink, and pushed him in. Oddly, he didn't struggle or scratch me! He succumbed to the attack and let me bath him. However, he made the most horrible sounds I've every heard from a cat. He was very very very pissed off and told me that in no uncertain terms. I told him if he's gonna get himself pee soaked, he's gettin' a bath. It's his own fault. I'm thankful for the lack of blood loss too.

Between that and what's happening in our government, I've found myself fighting off Panic Attacks. I'm pretty scared right now. I never thought I would be on the edge of living in a possible dictatorship ever in my lifetime. Our own government has turned on it's people. It's shocking!

That being said, I'm steadily working on 2 projects right now. They're actually keeping me sane. The feather and fan afghan is over halfway there. I have actually started on the second skeins of yarn for all colors.

I've had to move the project into a large "temporary" bag that I bought from Ikea because it doesn't fit in any of my knitting totes now. I have 3 of these bags. They've come in very handy.

I've also been working on Choo Choo Santa. Man, are there a lot of tiny pieces to deal with! I don't think I've had a kit with this many pieces before.

It's been fun, though. It's going to be so cute when it's done.

We had some pretty cold weather since my last post. The new furnace has turned out to be very good. Our winter power bill is considerably less that last year. Now a warm period is moving in. Since last weekend we've had temps in the upper 40's and lower 50's. The coming Sunday is supposed to be almost 60. I can hardly wait. The snow is completely off the deck, so sitting in the sun is on my mind.

On Saturday, we're going in to our local Toyota dealer to talk about that blue Prius we've been talking about purchasing. They've had one on order for several weeks, but it arrived in the US this week. It's in port on the Oregon coast waiting to get through customs. I'm hoping to put a payment on it so it's mine when it arrives here. I've contacted the dealership and let them know I'm wanting it.

I took this picture this morning.

For the first time, the sunrise was coming in the house through the window. Zoey enjoyed it so much.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Catching Up

I'm going to catch up on the needle crafting first. Current WIPs.

I am making good progress on my Feather and Fan afghan. It's been a joy to work on.

It's been a very nice break from the really complicated stuff I've been knitting. I really like the yarn too. It's very good quality. It is Mary Maxim's Maximum Value.

I ordered a Bucilla Felt Stocking kit to make for my daughter-in-law. It occurred to me that her stocking has Frank on it, instead of her new name. So I've set Zoey's stocking aside for the time being. The new stocking is a picture of Santa riding a train. It's pretty cute. Here's where I am with it. 

This is the first kit where the name comes first. I find that interesting. There's a lot of tiny pieces in this kit too. It's going to take some time.

Next is the counted cross stitch project I'm making for Christmas.

The picture is 24 by 9 inches in size in 14 count, which is rather large. The train, though, doesn't have a whole lot of detail so it should go quicker than my usual projects. The fabric is a pale gray. I gridded the fabric, as you can see, using leftover thread from the finished stocking of last month. It took me 3 days. Worth it though. It makes counting the stitches so much easier.

I have good news. Hubs and I decided to apply to start collecting our Social Security and we both have been approved. I got my first payment 2 weeks ago. Yay! Yarn money! We're talking about buying me a new Prius and using my SS to pay for it. 

There have been a lot of changes in the Prius the last 3 or 4 years. It's now a fancy sports car and they go for $40 Grand. I don't know if I want to spend that much on a car. 

In the meantime, my car needs some minor repairs. A couple sensors have gone out. Doesn't prevent me from driving it, but if I want to keep it that way, I need to get them fixed. By the way, if we do get a new one, it won't be red. I want blue. So far, our local Toyota dealer has only had silver, grey, and dark grey ones. Last week they had 12 in stock, all in those colors. Ugh. They sold quick.

Looking around town, I have to say the economy is doing better than the media and government have been saying. There's lots and lots of new cars on the road. I can't believe how many Tesla's are around now.

Remember when I was sick around Thanksgiving and ended up with a cold and a cough? I had just found the solution to the chronic cough I'd been living with for 8 years. I had all of what? 3 weeks of peace? I kept hoping the cough would go away, but it only got worse. Last Monday I saw a doctor. I have a bad case of bronchitis so he's given me antibiotic, cough medicine, and prednisone to help with my breathing. The cough is going away. I'm looking forward to it being gone.

I got myself a new plant, which is living on the bathroom windowsill. It's an Echeveria "Perle von Nurnberg" which is a succulent that will get purple as it gets bigger. Right now it's just a baby.

The weather is cold and snowy. Winter started snowing on us about 5 days ago and we've got almost a foot out in the yard. It's been snowing all day long. The days of the coming week are going to drop in temperature. Highs in the low to mid 20F's and lows to -7F. Now we'll find out if the new furnace is worth it.

That's it for now, except I took a selfie. Yes, that's me.

Live long and prosper. \\//

The Finished Cat Mitts

 This is the last knitted gift I made for last Christmas. It was a spur of the moment decision. I was browsing Pinterest and ran across an intriguing little chart. I thought "Ruth has to have something made with this." Thus, the idea was born. I didn't have anything but the chart, so you can say I designed these mitts. Ruth loves them.

Pattern: Ruth's Cat Mitts by me.

Made For: Ruth

Size: Womans Medium

Yarn: Mayflower Class 1
Content: 75% Superwash Merino Wool/25% Nylon, Fingering Weight
Colors: 2008, 2013, and 2028

Needles: Circular size US 2.5 (3mm)

Started: November 30, 2024
Finished: December 14, 2024

Comment: I duplicate stitched the green eyes. Here's a close up.

I am lovin' the chevron lace cuff.

So much so that I used it on the thumb

and the top.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

I need to write this one up.

I can tell we've passed the winter solstice because we've had some snow. About 4 inches worth. Very heavy wet snow. I had a bit of trouble, last night, getting out of the driveway because the plow had been by and there was a fairly high berm across the entrance. Hubby has not plowed because he can't. No driving for at least a week. I ended up driving hubby's pickup truck instead. It's big and has 4-wheel drive. Banged right through that berm. Today the snow is melting.

On Thursday (the 2nd) my husband had his Ablation surgery. It was a long day, started with the fact I couldn't sleep at all Wednesday night. I had to get up at 3:45 in the morning to get him to the hospital by 5:30 a.m. Then we waited 2 hours while they figured out how to get their act together. I could have slept for those 2 hours.

The surgery was about an hour. Then he had to lay down flat for 2 hours without moving his legs, just in case the wound might start bleeding. After that they had him sit up for another hour. That's when it started snowing. I drove him home and we got there about 3 p.m. The surgery was a success. His heart is beating normally now. He's already feeling more energetic.

I took my Clapotis with me and made some major headway on it. I took my Kindle with me too, and read for a couple hours or so. 

I was so tired when I got home. I took a nap first thing. 

I just glanced out the front window. The bird buffet is busy. There's a small woodpecker, a few chickadees, and at least one nuthatch. They're happy little birds.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Ramblings

 Boy, this year went by quick. Not what I would call a very good year. I don't see them getting better any time soon either.

We have no snow. I can't remember the last time we didn't have snow at the end of the year. It's happened before. I just don't remember what year it was. Not that I'm complaining. I'm perfectly content to get rain while the mountains get snow, and the mountains have lots of snow on them. We've had a lot of rain in December.

I had a good Christmas. It was peaceful, and lots of chocolate was involved. I've got a new back pack, hiking poles, a portable dvd player, and a little kitchen composter. Everything is purple, which is such a surprise. My daughter Ruth made me a beautiful fairisle hat. I started laughing because it's the same colors as I used for her gift, which is a pair of fingerless mitts. Those same colors are in the picture below.

I am currently working on my Clapotis shawl. You can see some unraveled stitches.

It's supposed to look like that. I am about 2 thirds the way through. I'm on the decreasing section.

This is the afghan kit I got from Mary Maxim. I'm anxious to start it. I did the gauge swatch and I think I have gauge. I say I think because it's a little hard to measure a wavy swatch. Heh heh. 

I'm not quite sure what my knitting goals are for the next year. I still want to improve my tension and skills knitting mittens. They take me such a long time to make. I'd like to get to the point where I am with socks, where I don't have to think about it much while knitting because my hands just know what to  do. Lets see, I think it was around 12 pairs of socks before I got comfortable with them.

I want to get the afghan done, and maybe do a sweater or two. I also want to write some patterns out that I've designed. So many choices, so little time. I got the coolest sock idea. I need to come up with the prototype. Hmmm.....

Speaking of writing patterns, I've been educating myself on how to create knitting charts because I have 2 stranded patterns to write up. I was going to do it in MS Word until someone told me about Knitbird, which is a free program for creating knitting charts. I've downloaded it and tried it a bit. I'm very very impressed. It will do nicely.

I'm also working on a felt applique stocking I started last year. It was supposed to be done by this Christmas.

I had stashed my old stocking away because I was going to be done with it. So there was panic when I opened the stocking box and there was no stocking for me. Thankfully, with my daughters help, I found it. 

I've got all the little parts done. Just need to assemble everything now. I'm going to embroider my name on it first. It'll be easier to do it now than after it's all sewn together.

No plans for New Years. Staying home and knitting. Probably will watch movies all evening on Netflix. I've never been one to watch the party in New York Square waiting for the blinking crystal ball to come down.

Thursday I will be taking my husband to the hospital before the crack of dawn for his heart surgery. He's getting an ablation in hopes of fixing his arrhythmia. I am so nervous, and I'm not even the one getting the surgery. Who's idea was it to put two r's in that word. Arrhythmia. 

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIP Update

 I've finished the first of a pair of socks for daughter-in-law's Christmas gift. My tension at needle changes is definitely improving and I'm really enjoying the knitting. I might actually have this stranded knitting down.

We went for a lovely drive in the mountains on Saturday. My brother-in-law invited us to go with him. He wanted to check out the Tamaracks color. 

Tamaracks are a deciduous conifer. They are technically the Western Aspen but everyone calls them Tamaracks. They look like a fir tree but their needles turn yellow and fall off in the fall. 

Dan took us on a route I'd never been on. We ended up over the border into Montana on a two lane highway. Oh my gosh, it was absolutely beautiful. Whole mountain sides are covered in bright yellow Tamaracks. It took my breath away. The Cotton Woods and Aspens are in their fall glory too. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos. I wish I could have. 

On Sunday I worked on getting the flower beds, boxes, and deck ready for winter. I decided to pull up every Canadian Thistle I could find too. It only took an hour, but boy do my knees hurt now! Especially my right knee. So I'm trying to take it easy for a couple days. 

I need to be able to walk by Friday because I'm going to a conference this coming weekend that is being held in Spokane Library over in Washington. It's the Unite Against Hate conference.

We have a terrible problem with right wing Christian Nationalist extremists in our area right now. They have managed to get involved in local politics and have done a lot of damage. Our community college is on the verge of losing it's accreditation, they're trying to close down our public libraries, trying to ban books in our schools, etc. I'm looking forward to learning how to fight this kind of thing.

Until next time-

Live long and prosper.\\//

A Drive To A Lake

 All summer my husband and his brother have been going on hikes once or twice a week. I've learned we have a lot of small lakes around here up high in the mountains because they've been hiking to them and telling me all about them when they return. Last Tuesday my husband suggested going for a drive to visit one of the lakes he's been to. You can drive to it, or hike. 

I can't do much hiking right now because my leg is still healing. The swelling and bruising in my knee is healing, but it's still got a ways to go. Well, anyway, we took a drive up north to visit Roman Nose Lake. I don't know why it's called that. It didn't look like a nose of any type to me. 

The drive was very nice, even if it was mostly on rough gravel logging roads up in the mountains. The weather was perfect. I really enjoyed it. I took a few pictures. Thought I'd share them.

Here are two Mule deer does and a fawn standing in the road chewing on a couple bushes. They were not afraid of us. We had to stop and wait for awhile until they decided they'd stroll off into the woods so we could get by.

This is lower Roman Nose lake. There is also Mid Roman Nose and High Roman Nose Lake. You can't drive to them. You have to hike. I think it's about 4 miles over a nearby ridge, or something like that. The lower lake is quite pretty. 

It's way up at the altitude that Alpine firs grow. Alpine firs are the slim-line Christmas kind of tree. They only grow about an inch a year, if that, because they're up too high to have a reasonable length of growing time. I learned some time ago that Conifer trees don't grow below the temperature of 56F degrees. It's a much colder climate up in the mountains.

There's a trail that goes half way around the left side of the lake. I noticed something while strolling along. The really big Alpine Fir's bark starts to split into squares and rectangles. I don't know why, but I find it interesting. This particular tree is probably about 12 inches thick. The tree is well over 300 years old.

Besides Alpine Fir, there are Tamaracks. The Tamarack is a conifer tree (has needles and cones) that actually turns yellow in the fall and the needles all fall off. It's the only conifer I know that does that. They are incredibly beautiful in the fall. These ones are growing up the side of an old boulder avalanche. The rocks are pretty big and made of granite.

It's where the trail ended. I got Zoey to pose on a rock for me. She was pretty happy. So many new things and smells to experience!

When I was taking the above pic, there was a bush with tiny little cones on it behind me. They were so cute!

The bush was some type of Alder. My thumb is in this photo so you can see the size of the cones.

A picture of the lake from another side. You can see the avalanche straight across.

I wish I had taken a chair and my knitting with us. It was kind of sad to drive all that way only to stay for about 30 minutes. I could have sat in the sun breathing in that clear sweet smelling air and knitting. I would have liked that.

Speaking of knitting, I have started a pair of socks. These will be this years Christmas present for the daughter-in-law. I was going to create some socks with trains on them, but I ran across this pattern and fell madly in love with it. She would definitely like them.

I'm using white and a heather blue yarn . So far, I'm liking it. The main pattern is 12 stitches wide and 10 rows high. A nice easy pattern. It'll get a little bit more difficult after I turn the heal. The bottom of the foot has it's own stitch pattern.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Ducks say "Quack Quack"

 Finally got some decent pictures of my finished Duck socks.

Pattern: 
White goose socks by Renarde Endormie

Size: Ladies Medium

Yarn: Valley Yarns Huntington

Content: 75% Merino, 25% Nylon, Fingering weight
Color: 25 Bluestone

Yarn: Valley Yarns Huntington

Content: 75% Merino, 25% Nylon, Fingering weight
Color: White

Yarn: Unknown name, from the stash. 

Content: Probably 80% Superwash wool, 20% Nylon, Fingering weight
Color: Yellow

Needles: ChiaoGoo circular size 2

Started: July 26, 2024
Finished: September 13, 2024

Comments: I know the pattern is named goose, but they look more like ducks to me. I'd add another row or two in the neck for geese. 

I duplicate stitched the bills rather than knit them in. Much easier, to be honest.

I left out about 8 rows of the pattern. Sigh... I didn't notice until I got to that spot in the second sock. Decided to make it a design feature rather than reknit. So they are a bit shorter than the originals.

Look at those top ruffles. They look like duck feet! So cute, and clever.

I didn't do fancy on the heels. Just the usual standard gusset I've done so often it's permanently in my brain. I will remember it forever, even if I get Alzheimers.

 

The usual standard toe too. I decreased until 10 stitches were left, then finished with a three-needle bind off.

It's nice to have them done and ready for Christmas. First present done!

My knee is getting better and better. The main swelling is finally going down and my legs are getting stronger. I'm sore today because I walked all over Costco yesterday. Probably overdid it just a smidge.

Speaking of Costco, yesterday was the usual run I do every few weeks or so. We're low on toilet paper and paper towels so a trip was needed. Got to the store and the place was absolutely PACKED for a Thursday. I asked one of the employees if it was busier than usual and she said yes. Then I went to the back for the toilet paper and the whole back area was completely empty! No toilet paper! No paper towels! Not even any kleenex! Of any brand whatsoever! My first thought was "I wonder where they moved it to." because stuff gets moved around all the time. Then I overheard a lady talking to an older couple telling them the store is out! There was a big rush yesterday and it all sold. Toilet paper hoarders are at it again! She was telling the couple that there wasn't any because of President Biden and the election coming up. (A huge pile of bird doo doo.)

Good god there's a lot of stupid people in this country. Elections and presidents have NOTHING to do with it! Actually, the run on the paper items is because of the dockworkers strike in a port on the east coast. Here's the thing---our Costco's toilet paper is manufactured less than a two hour drive from here in Lewiston, Idaho. In fact almost all toilet paper, paper towels, and kleenex is made in the USA. The strike has no effect on our toilet paper source! Ahh, futz!

Then I got home and read that the strike has been postponed until at least next January and negotiations are taking place. All those hoarders hoarded for no reason! Meantime, I need to score some toilet paper somewhere.

It's raining today. A good air-cleaning soaking rain. We've been needing it so bad. 

There are apples on my apple tree! It's a Honey Crisp tree. I went out last weekend to pick and they all have been chewed up by Yellow Jackets! Big holes in almost every apple. So no crop for me. Drat! My brother-in-law's Honey Crisp has apples too and his are fine. So I picked a bag and I've baked an apple pie today with some of them. Yum!

I didn't mention it in my blog, but in August we took a quick weekend trip over to Westport, Washington for a memorial event for my husbands sister. This is a picture taken on that trip. I was sitting out on the deck enjoying the sea air and a view of the ocean. We had Zoey with us and it was just a little chilly for her. I still had the blister then, so I didn't do a lot. I was very careful, used my cane, and the trip turned out to be very nice.

Live long and prosper. \\//