Last minute knitted goods!

I got a request from DD1 to help with a Christmas hamper for a rather large family with all girls; specifically they needed hats and mitts. Usually I have some of these items set aside in my charity box, but this past summer/fall I had been focusing on baby blankets and there was not a mitt or hat to be found. 

So last week I dug into the yarn stash, I came up with several large balls of Phentex Chunky, and grabbing my 6mm circulars I cast on and began knitting like a mad women! I had a road trip planned to the Eastern Townships of Quebec for the weekend, and knew I could get about 6 hours of straight knitting time there and back, and figured I could add another couple of hours in the evening and shuttling my Aunt around during the day on her various errands. So maybe about 10 hours or so over the weekend. My tally after the weekend – 4 hats and 1.5 pairs of mitts! Not bad! As of Monday, 4 hats and 2.5 pairs of mitts. Last mitt on the needles Tuesday night!

I didn’t know if there would be enough time to crank out 4-5 hats and matching sets of mitts, so I put out a call to my Sunday Knitting buddies, and God love them didn’t they check their own stashes and WIP’s to see what they had that would be suitable. Anja had 2 beanies already done up, just needing mitts, and Kirsti had a full set on the needles she could send along. Trust a fellow knitter to understand the need and step up to the plate! And at Guild last night, Yvieknits let me know if I ran short she had a hat to spare too! 

Between the three of us in just a week, we managed 4 sets plus 3 extra hats (2 in a soft cotton which we will send along to the Chemo ward at the hospital where DD1 was treated, as we well understand the tender needs of the heads of patients who are undergoing treatment!). Outstanding! Pics to follow in the new year!

Kirsti, Anja, Yvonne – thanks for helping out! You guys are the best! It is so heart-warming for me to know that I can turn to my knitting friends and say “I need…”, and they always step up  to lend a helping hand. Truly I am blessed to keep such fine company.

Merry Christmas all!

A goal for 2011...

Already I have been thinking alot about continuing on my no-yarn-buying-total-stash-busting trend for 2011, but to be truthful, as happy as I am about having stuck to my goal for a whole year (that's nothing to sneeze at!) I know that I am weakening, and while I still have much in my stash, I am thinking to revise the goal slightly to allow for a small select amount of buying for 2011.

What I am talking about is something that was discussed in Knitters Review discussed back in 2008 - Slow Stashing. The idea appeals to me very seriously as a new way to continue to stash bust and yet enjoy the occassional foray into my LYS's without completely deprived and like I really had no right to be in there window shopping.

In some areas of my stash I am almost ready to do another purge as I am getting to colors or yarns (mostly gifted from other stash busters during my early knitting years) I just don't know what to do with. I feel like purging un-loved yarns from my stash earns me some yarn-buying credit. I'll be sending the yarn to a local school knitting club. More brownie points!

I have learned throughout this past year that I can control my yarn buying impulses, and not add yarns to my stash that I don't have an immediate purpose for, and so that keeps room in my stash to buy only yarn I know I can use.

I have been carrying about a huge guilt trip that I have not been supporting my LYS's this past year, and in such a bad economy this is an important concern of every knitter, if we want to have the quality and selection available to us that knitters are clammering for. But that doesn't mean I can abandon my own economic responsibilities to myself and my family budget and begin to buy willy-nilly again.I learned some great lessons in self restraint this past year, and that money not spent on OMG-I-love-this-even-though-I-have-know-idea-what-I-am-going-to-do-with-it yarn, means I have money in my pocket and space in my yarn storage for projects and yarn I know what I want to do with.

Instead I need to completely and fully adopt the Slow Stash Movement. And this is it, direct from Knitters Review: "At its core, slow stashing involves being mindful of every skein we own, and only bringing in new skeins that are truly deserving of our time, our attention, and our resources." Finally a stash management option I can really buy into (and use to resist the sale signs!).

I have the skills, I have the discipline, and I have the desire to have a well managed, well thought out, and well turned-over stash. This is exactly the right objective for me to embrace for 2011. Phew! And I thought making a new stash resolution was going to be very hard after the rocking success of 2010!

Knit on......

Still here!

I am definitely still here! Apoligies for the lengthy absence. Life got a whole lot busier this last month. I had forgotten how much stuff there is to do when you can walk! Yes, I am walking around without my cane, finally, and that means I am back at the gym three times a week, along with the never ending physio (those people love their job way, way too much). It certainly makes for a busy week when you move as slowly as I still do!

And the G-man has been away on business for the past almost three weeks, so DD1 and I have had to fend for ourselves, which means..... I have been cooking. OMG, yes, I had to re-discover the stove. Interesting device. I still don`t like it very much but we managed, and I even lost 2 more pounds - when you have to make everything yourself you tend to be more moderate in your portions so you get two meals from every cooking session!!

In between I have been knitting and even started some Christmas knitting, using of course, stash yarn, in this case my leftover balls of baby bamboo yarns in various colors. I have been stash busting and working on other WIP`s in between.

Take a look at the gorgeous pashmina scarf from Scotland my dear friend Heather gave me for my birthday, and the great yarn that matched up and made a lovely beret (or Scottish Tam!) to match:

 I also finshed several charity baby blankets - my latest method of speed knitting these little utility blankets is on the diagonal, adding a stich at each end until the blanket is about 36 inches on any one side, and then decreasing one stitch at each end, which allows me to crank these out while watching tv as well as use up my stash of less than desirable acrylic colors:

In more stash busting I whipped out another cowl from a skien of lovely handspun I won a year or two back at Guild - just the thing for Ottawa`s icey cold winter winds:

And these too, cosy wristlets from Taos yarn, to match a previously made beret and scarf - used the yarn to the last 6 inches!:

 And last, but most importantly, can I tell you what wonderful friends knitters are I received this awesome skein from my friends Laurie of Nepean, found over here on Ravelry, and Lise, both from the Guild, who picked it up from a Janie H. Knits fieldtrip that I had been unable to mamage while still on my crutches. Just my colors, earthy, tweedy and simply lovely, and made even more so because of how it came to me! Talk about a pick-me-up! Thanks Laurie & Lise!:

And so you are now pretty much all caught up. Monday I begin the gradual transition back to the working world, having worked out a return to work plan for the next few weeks, and arranged some premium front door parking for the winter! i am ready, at least my head is ready - I hope my leg is too!

Knit on........

Time flies....

On the eve of my 48th birthday I am am astonished at how much time has passed since the last time I really took note of my age! Seems to me the last time I looked I was in my early to mid 40's, a period in my life that I was really enjoying. I had learned to knit and was having a blast allowing my time to be consumed by anything and everything woolly!

But if I stop to think about the time, it was in the middle of my 40's that DD1 was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, and that is where I think I was no longer concious of the passage of time. It is hard to believe that almost 3 years has passed since then - it screamed by like a freight train, running the rails flat out, with barely enough time to be cognizant of the ever changing view. There, and then gone, in a flash - like when you are stuck in your car at the railway tracks, staring out through your windsheild, and then the flash and roar of the train as it fills the view, and then its gone and the barriers lift, and your vision clears, you move forward.  And that's how it is that I have come to the surprising realization that tomorrow, I will be 48, officially in my late 40's. It is very, very weird to be here.

But throughout, the knitting has stuck with me, constantly soothing, always within reach, a welcome and sometimes necessary distraction during the crazier moments, the yarn with comforting fimilarity, slipping through my fingers on an almost a daily basis. And with every finished project I could mark the time on the tracks like a railway station, where I have stopped to re-fuel, or load or un-load some cargo. The beauty of all that knitting is that I am able to look back at the time - the time that went by in a flash - well marked by the projects, the train stations, that I created as I sped along those tracks, and see that the time was, indeed, well spent.

Happy 48th to me! Knit on....

Rip it, Rip it! WIP#5

Sigh -  this one's gonna have to be a complete do over. I still like the pattern - the front is done and the back is 2/3rds of the way completed. The problem (for the completed knitting, and not for me) is that I am 32lbs lighter and many inches smaller around, than when I started this item two years ago (see what I mean - not a problem for me, per se!) and a quick check of the now much-to-big fit assured me that I am making the right decision.

So I need to frog it, and knit it again at least 2 sizes smaller. But it will be great over a long sleeved-T this winter. So I will be calling the frogging of WIP#5 complete when the yarn is back in to skeins. It will become a new project when I am ready to start again.

Knit on.......

Addendum:  Jody asked me how I lost the weight - I wish I had a secret to pass on, but it was the old fashioned way. Watch what you eat: lots of veggies for lunch and dinner and snacks- I love most veggies with hummus, high protien to keep from getting hungry - but exercise portion control, low carb - but couldn't give up toast and peanut butter for breakfast, no booze Sunday through Thursday (hey - a girl's gotta have some fun!).

Mostly the Sunday to Thursday rule made the difference I think - as long as weekends weren't too strict I could get through the week just fine. And I stopped "treating" myself at Starbucks to the fancy coffees and just had coffee misto's - I found I was just as happy with a great cup of coffee with steamed soy without all the sweet calories. Slow and easy kept it coming off slowly but surely.

And even though I have spent the better part of this summer on my arse, if anything that arse has shrunk from lack of moving (lost some muscle mass which will undoubtably come back), and my eating habits have kept any probable weight gain a bay. Yippee for me!

WIP#4 complete!

Are you tired of socks yet? I hope not there are still two more after this pair to complete! DD1 is beginning to think I have a more serious illness than a broken leg - that there have been some brain damage, as is evidenced with all the sock knitting - I don't understand what she is talking about!

These were started when I arrived home from the hospital, and didn't have anything mindless or small enough to work on,already on the needles.so technically not WIP for long. Since I couldn't get upstairs to my stash (so still full-filling my second mandate to knit form stash) at the time, I road-mapped the G-man to my sock yarn stash cubbie, and I'll be dammed if he not only found it, but selected an excellent ball of sock yarn: Online Supersocke fancy color, colorway 940, 65 g .

I tried to find a link to this yarn but it would seem that the Fancy Color family is no longer available in the Online Supersocke line. None the less, there are lots of new color families at the Diamond Yarn site to choose from, and I can certainly recommend that you do. The yarn is sturdy, has a good hand, and works up easily. I was also able to easily match the color changes in the yarn so the second sock matched the first perfectly (i am a sucker for matchy matchy socks!) without any fiddling around.

Knit on.....

Addendum: Jody asked what pattern I am using. I am using my own generic 2x2 rib sock pattern, stolen from several other generic patterns,but mostly created from a German Sock chart of stitch counts for each foot size that I received with a sock kit for my first sock, with the addition of some techniques that I learned along the way, like wrap and turned heels which fit my narrow heel well. It is tailored to my foot, hence not to many others get socks from me unless, like the DD's, they are similar in siz,e just a bit longer! I cast on 60 to 64 stitches, depending on the yarn guage. I like to knit on 3 needles so the heel flap is simply the count of stitches on the needle with the most stitches- either 20 or 24. I do a wrap and turn heel, and simply decrease every other row for both the gusset and the toes.The result is a sturdy, utlitarian sock that hugs my foot without slouching or bagging, perfect for winter wearing inside my safety boots that I have to wear to work every day. I have yet to wear out a pair since I started knitting my own socks some 4 years ago, So I do indeed have a lovely drawer full! Lucky me!

A little treat!

Yesterday I talked the G-man into taking to Chapters and Starbucks for a coffee and a browse through the latest knititng books. This is not as easy as it sounds since for outings I still rely on my wheelchair, which requires a willing pusher, and I leave the crutches behind, as the standing around is still exhausting.

I hadn't really thought I would find anything to new, and my knitting book collection at home is very reasonable and I have to be careful that I don't already have something reasonably similar. But I stumbled across this lovely book by Wendy Bernard from Knit and Tonic:

Chapters must have just got it in 'cause I hadn't seen in before. It is terrific - there are more than 10 sweaters I really, really like, and several that will be able to be made from stash yarn! The book is very  well laid out, and Wendy does an awesome job of detailing the potential alterations and variations that could be done to each of her patterns to customize the fit or change the look. It's like getting twice or even more, the patterns in one book. As well she has utilized either top down or bottom up in round for most of the patterns making seaming all but obsolete, and patterns faster and more streamlined knits. What's not to like? this time I decided not to wait for a sale or a coupon or whatever and went ahead and paid full price. I think I got a good deal considering what I am learning and all the different patterns I can make up from it. Highly recommended!

Knit on....

ps. This doesn't count as breaking my no yarn purchases and knitting only from stash self-imposed sentance, does it?? After all the intention is to knit a few of these patterns from the actual stash, right?

WIP#3 C'est Fini!

WIP progress continues. WIP#3 is done!

I had completely forgotten that I actually enjoyed knitting this easy lace pattern , lace and I frequently not playing well together - looks a little like dainty cabling without all the work. I'm sorry but I couldn't seem to get a good picture of the lace work being confined to indoor lighting. But it is pretty, and the socks are very, very bright! They will be just the thing to brighten up the dull winter days!

Knit on.....

Two down, lots more to go....

WIP #2 complete!

Off the needles are the grey socks, started during DD1's stem cell transplant earlier this year. Like so many other half finished sock projects lying around, I had only a half foot to complete and the pair was finished. I can't for the life of me imagine why I do that - stop just short of the finish line - but I seem to have a thing everytime I get really close to finishing a project, particularly socks, I wander off to the next one. Case in point: WIP #3 is another pair of socks, also stopped just at the second heel, languishing in its project bag since ( gasp!) the summer of 2008. Ridiculous!

Knit on.....

We interrupt this WIP program....

When you break your leg and have two major surgeries in under a week, the healing process is very slow. Part of that tedious process includes lousy circulation in the afflicted leg, which leads to an annoying ailment called hot foot/cold foot.

In addition, when you leg is in a staightjacket of sorts (a soft cast) it is very hard to put on and take off your own socks as is required due to the hot foot/cold foot syndrome, This requires you to beseech any passerby within earshot to please, please, just one more time, put on, or take off, your sock, again. Which you then realize is actually too hot, or too cold, anyway, and so the cycle begins again.

Yesterday as I sat, all but captive in my rented Lazy-Boy chair, cursing the lack of immediate family in the vicintiy to assist in dealing with yet another round of hot foot/cold foot, surrounded by baskets of stash yarn, WIP's, one pair of 6mm straights, and my laptop, I had a moment of genius. I know, rare, but it does happen: I needed light little ballet slippers I could wriggle in and out of myself.

5 minutes into surfing I happened upon this free pattern - perfect!

And a few hours I had the offending foot taken care of, and by the next morning a matched set.

Just what the doctor ordered!

knit on......

1st FO of self-imposed WIP challenge

One good thing about being somewhat imobile for long periods of time is that some knitting is finally getting completed!

Witness: One charity Crib sized Blanket made entirely from miscellanious stash yarn:

No particular rhyme or reason to the placement of the squares - I just pieced them together as I pulled them from the stack. It has a very "Little House on The Praire" look to it, almost juvenile. And I am A OK with that. I was aiming for rustic, and that is what I got.

Next up, DG Confetti 100 superwash socks in grey.

Knit on.....

1 month check-up!

I am exactly one month post accident today and in to the recovery phase (really? a month already? hard to beleive) and today was check-up day.

I am happy to report I passed the test! While I closed my eyes and squeezed the nurses fingers, broke out in a cold sweat and made wussy noises in anticipation of the pain (which has been my constant companion every day - I can truthfully say now I have never experienced pain of that magnitude, not even when I had the girls, and hope I never due again) my surgeon (what is it with orothopedics ? They all look like they walked off a daytime soap opera set, and mine is no exception!) gently bent my knee up towards my chest for the first time since the accident. Discomfort - yup! definitely. Pain- nope! Woo-hoo! A lovely bend to about 75 degrees, apparently a very good indication that I will obtain at least 90% or better return to full operating function! We are all pleased!

What remains a mystery is if my actual knee will be kind to the newly manufactured tibia plateau upon which my knee joint sits once walking begins. Lets hope so! Still, another 4 weeks before any weight bearing activity is allowed and I intend to follow the advice religiously. But I am getting better on my crutches, and beginning to manouver around a bit. No up the stairs yet - dead lifting my own body weight up 14 steps on crutches causes quite a a bit of jolting around and I am unable to bend my leg out of the way and it bangs into the riser with every step, so I am still "living" on the lower level of my house, with period trips up the stairs, arse first!, for long re-juvinating showers!

All in all, I'm recovering on schedule, with no complications and for that I am grateful.

And yes, I am beginning to knit a bit. The scrap squares blanket that I started months ago is almost finished and I am now at the joining and finishing phase. And there has been a bit of work on the second sock that was worked on during DD1's extended stay in hospital prior to the accident.

Speaking of DD1, she continues on her remarkable recovery, baffling doctors with the reversal of her Pulmenary Hypertension. While she continues to be short of breath on exertion, and has lingering and puzzling body pain, she is leaps and bounds from where she was even this short month ago.

Knit on......

Just spinning my wheels.....

Sigh... Purl and I are grounded. Let me set the scene. A lovely Sunday afternoon, All is well with the members of the family, DD1 is doing well, and DD2 is working, and the G-man is holding the fort. It is sunny,  but not too bright, cool but cold.


the perfect day for a ride, and so we did. A few hours later I found myself having worked to the far outskirts of Ottawa. I was thirsty and being the mid-aged girl badly in need of a restroom, so when the sign said 16km to Cumberland, and I turned for the home of my motorcyle pal Peter. Finding no one at home, I confidently re-negotiated back down the tricky gravel driveway, and pulled out.

For fhat happened next I need to rely on the accident report. AlI I rememeber is no traction and then wham, traction galor! And then there was a ditch. When my heart stopped pounding and Purls kills switch kicked in, I realized that there was no way my right leg was letting me stand up, so so I pulled out my cell phone all the while cursing a blue streak.

As luck would have a pair of good samaritains, mom and daughter, stopped moments later and took over the mechanicals of the cell phone and called all the appropriate emergancy personnel, and kept me squared away and in good spirits while we waited. Can't say their names as I have yet to speak with personally, but ladies you are the best!! Simply the best!! I can only hope to pay forward the kindness, campassion and good humor as you showed me that Sunday afternoon.

OPS (Ottawa Police Services) attended and prompty imformed me he had found the problem with the ditch: there was a Harley in it! Good sport that he was though, he had is up and out of the ditch and tucked away safety in Peter's lean to. Sargent your Harley quip is forgiven in light of your brotherly biker concern for the sercurity of my girl, Purl!

So, up until this point, aside from the wee problem with my front leg, I was in good shape.That was until I discovered that when a person is in what is considered a vehicluar accident like myself, they need to be taken to the nearest emergancy room, and in this case that place was the Monfort hospital. OMG! I.DO.NOT.SPEAK FRENCH. Barely a word, and the Monfort is nothing if not French.

For now I will spare you the ups and downs of my 10 days there. The stories are hard and 2 surgeries later I am trying hard to forget most of them.

For now it enough to know that I my right Tibia Plateau was shattered and rebuilt over the course of a week and I`m grounded for the next few months. My stable now houses a walker, a wheelchair and some shiny crutches I have yet to make friends with. And a whole summer to learn how to play nice.

I have not let Purl see them, she would not be pleased. She too will need some TLC: new handlebars, a signal light, and front spokes checked and complete safety check before next season. Poor girl - she is stabled at Peter`s next to Miss Daisy, and will stay there until repairs begin. It is the best place for her for now, amoungest her kind while we both recoupreate.

And yes there will be knitting - as soon as the pain meds allow me to count sequencally, there will be plenty of time for knitting. A whole summer of knitting the days away...

Knit on........

Rocking the MRI at 5.0!

Can you beleive it? Just as DD1 gets about halfway through her urgent MRI, the earthquake hits! Poor thing was stuck in the MRI rocking and shaking, like a kid wildly waving a hotdog in a bun! Scared the crap out of her, and she said it was quite an ordeal to un-hook the leads and IV's to get her outside to the waiting room. Still she was impressed with the staff as they quickly, calmly and precisely shut down the machine and assisted her in vacating the area. She was still shaking later that evening as she recounted the event.

Hodgkins, Pulmonary hypertension - Just a walk in the park compared to this! Definitely a story for the cocktail crowd! We are going to design her a T-shirt that says "I am a MRIES 5.0" - Magnetic Resonance Imaging Earthquake Survivor 5.0" - beat that if you can!

Knit on.....

ps. 06.27.10 - Sanna, bless her, asked if DD1 was ok, as in not injured during her earthquake ordeal. Thankfully, yes DD1 was just fine, well shaken, but not stirred!! No mumps or bruises from the earthquake - indeed we had very few and only minor injuries in the Capital City, remarkable considering we were the highest shake on record on the earthquake scale that day! However, as if the MRI incident wasn't enough, poor DD1 did crack her bald little head on the counter when her walker got stuck in the kitchen and she bent down to unhinge herself, so she is sprouting a lovely gash on a very bruised noggin after all! What a week!

Steady as she goes....

DD1 is holding steady while we wait on an MRI - urgent ridiculous date. We expect a revised date, one much sooner, any minute now. She still can't walk more than 5meters without resting in on her walker seat, and so walkers and wheelchairs are part of our home decor, just for the time being, I hope...

In the mean time we have hired a dear friends daughter, who is a nurse on maternity leave waiting on their first baby, to spend 3 hours a day with DD1, and make lunch and drive to appointments, help DD1 in whatever way she can, understanding that bigbaby belly may pose the odd predicament! It is working out super well, and DD1 seems non-plussed about me no longer being there 24/7. A very good thing.

So Purl and I have been getting out and about, gaining more and more confidence with each ride. Last week I did my first on road run with Coach Peter (did I tell you that?), and this weekend was another 3 hour run with a nieghbor who sportingly accompanied me.

But this evening, I went solo! Yup - just me and Purl, hitting the road, out for an evening tour. Fabulous!  Not one stall tonight - quite a feat if you knew how much Purls throttle and I argue every ride! But not tonight. Tonight was leasurely, down winding roads with little or no traffic, just like in the movies. The perfect respite from my daily grind, just like it was suposed to be, just like all my biker friends said it would be. It was awesome!

Knit on....

she who is Mom....

She who is Mom has arrived. My Mom that is. THE Mom. Or, since we have an aging cat who this thinks my daughter is his Mother and I am the Gramma, she who is my Mom is affectionately known as the Big Gramma (in deference to her petite figure!).

I decided that after two years of DD1 having her Mom , me, for support, I finally needed my Mom for some of the same, and so she who is Mom, came, still driving her own car at 78 years old (we think she is 78 'cause she won't actually tell us how old she is - and she is still a whizz behind the wheel!) all the way from north of the GTA, about 6 hours driving time.

She arrived with 9, yes 9, boxed of baked goods from the local Erin Bakery; cookies, honey-glazed donuts, tarts, brownies, squares, danish, chelsea bun, and bread. O.M.G. heaven arrived in white paper boxes.

These are the delectables of my childhood, the treats I grew up with, the comfort food I crave; these are the joyous sweets I made sure to introduce my children too, and it is the comfort food they desire in times of uncertainty too.

DD1 sent the Big Gramma an e-mail asking for her to bring a few treats, and wow did she deliver! To save us all from certain un-seemly acts of wonton gorging, I promptly froze many of these delectables for the future. Still the honey glazed donuts must, simply must, be eaten the day they are made or they are wasted, and so those were demolished upon arrival. The danish made it to the the next morning for breakfast, and the cookies were shared with friends and family for Sunday dinner.desert and over the last few days.

Since Sunday we have eaten our way through every baked good type known to man-kind and my stomach aches after every meal, and I am on the verge of destroying a years worth of careful eating and a hard lost 30+ pounds.But the smiles on ours faces are worth everysweet bite.

Sometimes it's really good to have your Mom with you. I am glad she's here and not just for the baked goods!

Knit on....

p.s. She who is Mom, or Big Gramma, is actually going to be 80 later this year - we wrangled the truth this trip - can you believe it?? Wow!! Amazing!!!

Just hanging around home for a change...

DD1 is finally home, and although it is without a doubt very challenging (she can only walk a few meters at a time, and the stairs are killer, almost literally!) we are so glad to get her back. For now we will take it one day at a timw, with just a whole lotta just hanging out going on here.

Knit on....

What the * just happened?

In my last post, already 3 weeks ago, we were all coming along fine, DD1 was looking fine, and Purl and I were riding high (ok still in the parking lot, but coming along just fine!).

Then wham, the world just tilted out from under our feet. DD1's little virus that had kicked her back a wee notch went from bad to worse and turned into a pneumonia like bad-boy with attitude, and the next thing we knew she was in major trouble. A 3a.m. transfer from the heamatology ward to the ICU shook us badly and I spent the first week watching as my baby struggled to breathe without being intibated. The only way to explain it was as if she was running, flat out, for about 4 days straight. Normal breathing is about 15-20 breaths per minute - she was breathing at over 50 breaths per minute at some points, like running a marathon for days. The body simply cannot do this for very long, and and at some point usually gives up and emergancy intibation is required.

This is not an experience any parent should go through. I spent several 24 hour sleepless days at her bedside, preparing for whatever might happen. As it was, everytime the doctors thought they might have intibate, I would go and talk to her, gently caressing her like when she was a fussy infant, and slowly she would come back from the edge bringing her heart rate down just enough and her breathing back enough from the danger zone, and over 5 days she was able to avoid the worst interventions. Never under estimate the powerful un-spoken connections between a mother and child.

After a week of ICU she came back to the ward, but was unable to walk or breathe without oxygen. It has taken about 7 days for her to start walking and only yesterday did she start breathing without her oxygen for a few hours at a time. Everyday we have been bundling her up and getting outside for some fresh air which has done her a world of good and today she will get a pass for a family event which we are all so excited about.

So what happend? Was it a virus? Well maybe yes, maybe no - nothing ever came back conclusive from the tests in ICU. However, it was the "it-looks-like-she's-having-a-heart-attack" and another 3 a.m. CT scan last Thursday night and subsequent diagnosis last Friday that tilted our universe on its arse - as if the Hodgkin's wasn't enough, DD1 has a new disease called Pulmonary Hypertension. This is devastating news and it has taken us a week to just get used to the idea. I never in the the last 2 years of her Hodgkin's battle thought she wouldn't make it, but last week, for the first time ever, I really wasn't sure, and I, indeed all of us, was very, very scared.

Our initial research scared the crap out of us, I can tell you, as up until a mere 10 years ago there was no cure and a life expentancy of only 2 years. Now there is still no cure, but better long term management of the disease has changed the forecast and there are more and more reports of people living productive and longer lives with the newer medications avialable today. Still, it is very telling that there is no discussion about her long term prognosis as yet.

What does it mean for DD1's future? That remains to be determined. Only time will tell. First we will watch to see how well she recovers from this incident, as she is very doing well by all standards, better than expected - does't she always! and is expected to come home with support this week. And she will begin one of the newest and most promising medications on the market today, Tracleer,  one of the latest wonder drugs to help people with this disease. She and I have spent many long afternoons this past week in the hospital park, DD1 all bundled up in her wheelchair, talking about how this will change her life, even more so than the Hodgkin's battle did, and how it will change all of us. What will her life be like, what will she do, how will she be. All questions I cannot, for the first time in 30 years of being a parent, come up with an answer for.

Have I done some knitting throughout this? Yes, when I could get my head to work right - a crocheted cotton hat for DD1, a second knitted one on its way, and I'm on the second of a pair of socks for myself. And in between, Purl and I continue our lessons with our most patient instructor Peter, who says I will be out and about for a nice back country ride very soon. This week we are practicing tight turns from a stop and controlled start. Apparently I have issues turning left, sigh.....

Knit on.....

That's a whole lotta horsepower, baby!

Last weekend was motorcycle class - 2 nine hour days of nothing but motorcycling - pushing motorcycles, lifting motorcycles, riding motorcycles, and lots of sitting around on motorcycles! I can tell you I was never so tired as I was by Sunday evening! Motorcycle boot camp is more like it! Thank goodness I have been hitting the gym a few times a weeks ince March and dropped 30 pounds since last year - I would have never made it otherwise - it was without a doubt the hardest thing I have done physically in many, many years!.

By Saturday night I was fit to be tied, almost in tears, and really thought I had bitten off more than I could chew! I was struggling to master that damn clutch, having never in my life used one, and couldn't for love nor money stop stalling the bike whenever Ian, my instructor, spoke to me! By the end of the day we were both very frustrated with my lack of progress and my definite last in class status.

So that evening I made some calls to my biker friends and received a myriad of ideas, including two which seemd to make the most difference - one, change back from my full face helmet to my half helmet so I could actually hear the little 250cc engine (since hearing is the next best thing to feeling the clutch, and I didn't have a freaking clue what I was suposed to be feeling!), and most importantly two, stop worrying about passing the class and have fun! Remember fun?? - this class was supposed to be for fun!!! Yup -  I had forgotten all about fun!!

With my attitude re-adjusted, Sunday was much better, although I still struggled with the gears, knowing nothing about what I was doing, while others whizzed by me! On a plus note, I had no trouble with balance, counter-steering, emergancy stopping, and cornering - and I was having some fun, having decided that if i was wasn't ready for the test, so be it!!

At lunch Ian and I had a little pow-pow and said he thought I might as well try the test and see what I could do. Imagine both our surprise when I passed! Poor Ian, he checked his numbers twice just in case he was mistaken - secretly I think he was hoping he had made a mistake! I had to really re-assure him I would not hit the streets on my new Sportster, and would stick to parking lots for a while, until I could control the throttle and change gears without difficulty. He did not seem very re-assured!

Fast forward a week later. I have been out twice this week on Purl - the weather not co-operating one bit - and have really begun to catch on to this shifting thing. Not to mention, I have since discovered that no one in class told me to close the choke once the engine was warmed up! No wonder 1st gear was so choppy!

The 1200cc engine of Purl is much easier to hear when it is time to change gears, and although throttle control needs some more work (it is big time sensitive!), I have been zipping around the parking lots doing figure eights and changing up and back through 4th gear (I have 5 speeds but the parking lot is only so big) with much more ease under the expert and very, very patient tutelage of my coach and dear friend Peter - this being one of those thing husbands and wives should never attempt to teach each other unless you want instant divorce! Much like wall-papering, if you catch my drift!

And so I no longer eye Purl in trepidation, but rather speak to her gently every day as I walk by on my way to and from work - I am learning to be the boss of my bike and she is becoming my friend, and we will (eventually) be allowed to play in traffic together with the others!

Knit on......

ps. 7 weeks post stem cell tranplant and DD1 is doing fab - she has picked up a wee virus which has stolen some of her zip, but overall everyone is quite pleased with her progress.

Vroom Vroom!

Holy Mother of Pearl (Pewter Pearl, actually) - I've gone and done it!

I am now officially the proud owner of Pewter Pearl Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 Custom motorcycle!!

This one actually:

I have to wait a bit to get my derriere in the seat (mostly because I still need to learn to ride it, and lessons don't start until next week - just a minor technicality!). I have a few modifications that are required as I am a bit too short to ride it as is. New curved handlebars, replacement back to whisper quiet stock pipes and removal of the unbelievably loud and illegal Python straight pipes (my ears still hurt!), engine or crash guards (depending on your point of view!), and a windshield will be added later this week. And saddlebags to follow, so I can carry my knitting, of course!

To say I am over the moon would be an understatement! I am delirious with happiness! I have just checked a big one off my bucket list!

Knit on!

Spring Cleaning...

Midst all of the goings on in our house, I decided that there was one job I could do in the way of spring cleaning inside our house that could be done in small increments while DD1 was resting or napping (she is progressing beautifully, by the way, despite lots of fatigue, and is offically dis-charged as a hospital patient and now continues to be monitored only once a week! She is amazing!).

When DD1 moved home two years ago after being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, we hurriedly dis-mantled my craft room and packed up everything in clear bins and stored it on a large metal shelf in the corner of the master bedroom. It was the best we could do under the urgent circumstances at the time, and there it has been hulking in the corner ever since. Over time I grew frustrated with attempting to get at my yarn which involved asking for help from the G-man to lift and put back the bins and instead found myself far too often wandering my LYS's for yarn I knew I had at home, somewhere!

Since I was home for an extended period of time this spring, I decided that I would re-vamp the craft corner with IKEA bookcases that could easily be moved out to another room when the appropriate time came once again.

Behold - the before and the after:

I am thrilled with my spring clean-up (I still have to tag the boxes for color content) and have continued right on into my sewing supplies and my not-yet-too-out-of-control bedroom closet.

Knit on.....

A Rare Moment...

So last night I had a rare moment to knit a few stitches, having barely touched the needles at home this whole week, and I got to contemplating about what it was that I was working on and why it is that I was enjoying it so very much. It struck me as odd, sitting there all by myself in a rare moment of solitude these days, very, very late in the evening (the G-man having long gone to bed and DD1 still in hospital recovering from the nasty effects of her final round of chemo and her BMT - she is doing great, by the way - hoping to have her home for Easter!), that I was getting a ridiculous amount of pleasure from the simplest knitting of just plain 'ol mitered garter squares from leftover mediocre quality stash yarn.

I wondered why it was that working on my extremely expensive Alpaca cardi-wrap, while pleasingly repetitious enough and the end result will certainly be worth the effort, does not effectively sooth my mind and quiet my body in the same manner as does making a little garter stitich mitered square.

I am aware of the relationship that has been made between knitting and yoga, meditation or other Zen-like pastimes, but somehow it was even more than the peacefulness this little knitting brought, which was certainly present and most welcome. It was just that the simple feeling of real pleasure at the actions of my hands I was feeling that struck me as intensely out of proportion to the actual activity. After all, it was not a fancy square, not sumptuous yarn, not a particularly favorite color, not a special stitch - there was absolutely nothing special about it. And yet it pleased me immensely to work on it, row after row, square after square.

Perhaps it was exactly the absence of all of these exceptional things that allowed my mind to rest quietly a while (given the crazy state of our family, this resting thing has been seriously lacking of late), and perhaps it was in the resting of my thoughts that I found a perfect moment of pleasure that I was so obviously needing, once of course I had recognized what it was. Since this little blanket will be for charity, it is not just a little ironic that the old adage "It is more blessed to give than to receive" seems to have come to fruition here, as truly I felt very blessed indeed with this little gift of a moment of rare and simple pleasure.

Knit on.....

Hanging in...

Hello all -

Just a quick note to say DD1 is hanging in and hanging on. It is a without a doubt a tough fight and she is completely and utterly exhausted, but so far she is following the plan and all is going to plan. Still you know it's hard when just brushing ones teeth requires several hours of sleep afterwards.

The tranplant was done yesterday (she is offically one day old!) and the 6 days of chemo preceding it have kicked ass hard. Now we wait and watch to see if her stellar batch of stem cells collected last fall can do their job. Keep your fingers and toes in the crossed position. And many, many thanks for all the good wishes!

Knit on (might be hard with crossed fingers so you may be exempt while knitting!)....

T-Day is March 18th...

We're ready. And most importantly, DD1 is ready too. Bone Marrow Transplant day (or T-Day as I am calling it) is on the calendar. March 18th. We've a wild ride ahead starting on the 12th, and over the next month or so, but we are about as prepared as we can be. Bring.It.On.

In post Olympic news, I did finish my own personal and simple challenge of knitting enough squares for a charity baby blanket from my stash during the games, and 20 squares in navy and blue grey are piled up next to my chair waiting to be assembled.A good project while I'm off of work for the next few weeks or so caring for DD1 during transplant and recovery

And.I am still managing to work entirely from stash and on already assigned projects, and so far no LYS deprevation symptoms have kicked in!

And isn't the weather just grand?! I smell the promise of spring.....

Knit on....

p.s. I'll be back in a few weeks to report in on DD1 progress, so keep us all in mind, would ya'?.  In the mean time she would be pleased to know I have done a public sevice announcement by directing you all to this site, and get to Know Your Nodes so you can all stay healthy too!

Happy hearts days!

 

Happy Valentine's Day Ya'll!!

 
Another week of germ fighting in our household. My hands are raw from washing and endless Purel*-ing. We have been back and forth to the hospital for 4 days in a row as DD1 continues to fight off the raging bacteria that threaten to over take her body. I am reluctant to think we are out of the woods yet, as this is exactly the same scenerio that lulled us into false thinking earlier last week when she perked up and felt ok in the early part of the week, And then by Thursday afternoon it was evident that she was once again being assaulted by the viral and highly agressive bacteria.

Still tonight she remains the best I have seen her in the last 10 days, so that's something, I guess.

My socks are off the needles and the grafting done and I will endevor some pictures this week. I am wroring on new socks (hospital knitting) and some stash scrap yarn mitered squares which I have challenged my self to see if I can make  enough squares for a charity baby blanket while the Olympics are in progress. This is not an official Olymplic project, but none the less the challenge is a good thing, and stash usage is also a good thing, as will be the resulting charity blanket.

In other me news I took some time on Friday for me while the G-man held the fort and did the hospital run, and i did something I have never done before.

I skated on the Canal! Now I have skated, but not in at least 10 years and maybe closer to 15 when I really think about it. None the less I ventured out, with my work collegues to cheer me on, the temperature was perfect and the skating conditions very good and had an amazing time re-learning how to balance on the thin blades of my figure skates. No falls, either! which makes me proud, although there were some very wobbly moments over the 5 km that we skated! But what great fun, good exercise (I can do exercise when I don't know I'm getting it!) and many, many laughs! It was a very,very good day - and long overdue.

Knit on.....

A short lived reprieve!

Thanks to all of you, both bloggers and non, who took the time to send your encouragement to our famiy as DD1 heads down what hopefully will be the last, and probably the hardest, path to remission. You cannot know how much your good wishes sustain us all over here!

We have a short reprieve, and I did get some much needed zzzzzz's after DD1 was sprang from the hospital last Saturday afternoon, and we spent a few days this week doing normal routine things like working, dinner, and laundry. And then Friday it became apparent as the day went along, that DD1 was once again not up to par. By yesterday morning, we called the Heamotologist on call. I spare you the details (some require a strong stomach) and say that an attack plan was quickly put into place, executed and good thing too, because if we had waited much longer DD1 would have landed right back on 5West (the heamotology ward).

Today seems better although fatigue is constant, and it is clear her body is begining to take the beating we all knew was coming. Last night she wondered if it was this bad now, this time, would her body make it through the next round. She is amazingly resilent, and tough as nails, and stubborn beyond belief, and although I have absolutely no doubt she can get through this, it is still really, really hard to see her hurting so much, and feeling like there is little I can do that really makes things any easier for her.

In knitting news, continuing with my theme of knitting more for me and only what I really fell like knitting this year, a pair ot Toasties will be off the needles this evening. And yes, they are for me!

Knit on.....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

Ok - I admit it. I'm tired. Yup, just plumb tuckered out. My energy has eroded slowly over the last week like sand slipping off the beach with each rolling wave that comes in. My brain is increasingly slow at comprehending conversations, and my response time stutters along at half its normal pace. It's been a couple of weeks of higher than normal familial activity and it is starting to show, both at work and at home. I can't remember when I last had a normal sit down dinner at a normal time.

DD1's last round of chemo, DHAP, which is preparation for her BMT, went off without a hitch, but the side effects which usually hit about a week later, and to which she has largely been spared the most severe and dangerous ones over the last (almost) two years (hard to beleive it has been going on that long) finally took its toll on the poor lamb. Her counts tanked, and she picked up a bug and by last Friday night we headed to the hospital Emergancy room as her fever raged causing violent shakes and shivers, and a severe throat infection gave her massive amounts of pain. After spending the night in the Emerg isolation she was admitted, and I headed home after being up for 27 hours straight! Me? I am not quite as young as I used to be, I can tell you, and I was dilerious with fatigue!

And there she stays, not quite in quarantine, on IV antibiotics and pain-killers, but not allowed to leave either as her white cell counts, amoungest others,  just don't want perk up. Low counts = highly susceptable to infection = no going home. After a week she is getting a bit stir crazy and I am feeling the effects of working from dawn and heading straight to hospital after and spending my early evenings keeping her company. Most nights I haven't managed to get home before 7:30 or 8:00, only to bolt down some dinner, do laundry, pack her necesseties for the next day, and fall into bed. the next day, do it all again. Last night after arrivng home, I tried to steal an hour to watch TV and knit, but all I could manage was the TV, my hands just couldn't knit - it was just too much effort!

I finished my pink hat to go with my Christmas scarf (I'll post pics later), and a pair of socks came off the needles last weekend thanks to all the hospital waiting time. Hospitals are good for that at least!

New sock yarn has been cast on for travel/hospital knitting, and a charity baby blanket is progressing very slowly, knit only when I am invited down to the G-man's man cave to watch new HD TV. I haven't the energy to contemplate picking up some lagging UFO's I should be working on. Much too much thinking involved in those. Hopefully some extra sleep this weekend will change that!

Knit on....

Twenty-ten - in with a bang!

Ya"ll know what this icon is right??

It's the knitters call to action, and the Yarn Harlot has put it up on her site and I urge you to visit her and if you are able and moved to do so, please do your bit the help the devastated people of Haiti.

Knit on....