Inching along

I'm still working on Gran's sock. I'm not as far along as I would prefer, but I'm farther along than I thought I would be. Playing Florence Nightingale doesn't leave as much time for knitting as I would like. Fortunately, my mom has come up to help shuttle everyone around and dispense medications, hugs and smooches. Everyone was feeling a bit better and Mom was here to help cover all the bases, so she encouraged my husband to take me out for a quick bite. Because my life's schedule and my knitting schedule are refusing to synch up, I had Gran's sock with me. (I am knitting like a mad fool.) I made up my mind to get over my fear of the dark, well really it's more of a fear of knitting in the dark. I just know I'm going to be moving right along making record time and then while showing off my amazing progress, discover that there is a huge error two inches back, (Don't ask how I know this can happen. This is not the season for such a tale of woe and despair,) but I digress.

I was working on the sock while we waited for our drinks. I was knitting while we waited for our appetizer. I was still working when the entree came out. It was too much for our server. He could contain himself no longer. He refilled our drinks (again... I love that!) and asked, "So what is that you're weaving?" I smiled and told him it was a sock I was knitting for Gran. (I feel compelled to gently correct the slightly mis-informed youth.) I waited for his non-committal, "oh, that's nice" reaction. He looked at me and with a big grin said, "That's so cool!! So is it going to be a sock with a heel in it, or just a tube? She's going to like those." We spoke for a bit about how difficult turning the heel would be (not terribly) and how close I was to the deadline (terribly). He assured me I could make it and I mentally adjusted his tip a bit higher.

In lieu of having actual pictures of the second sock, I'll recycle the shot of the first sock. I debated using the rest of the first skein and pulling to the right spot to make the stripes match. Then I thought about it a bit more. I have to use both skeins anyway, so why match stripes up twice. I popped open the new skein matched up starting points (very nearly) and went to work. The benefit of this is that I can reference the first sock to show you my progress.

The second sock is currently at the first bright blue band (I've actually knit two rows of the bright blue.) I had to estimate where to begin, so the green part of the toe is a smidgen bigger on the second sock, but at least it gives you an idea.

I was enjoying my meal and entertaining the prospect of actually ordering dessert when it hit me.... my eldest's class party was today. Some genius had volunteered me to bring not just cookies, but brownies as well. (Just call me Einstein.) That's OK though, cookie batter and brownie edges make a fine dessert and I subscribe to the theory that goodies which are broken or used for quality assurance, have no calories. Now if I could just figure out how to bake and knit at the same time...

Derailed

Well, I was right on track for a while there. I started Gran's second sock, but didn't get as much done on it as I would have liked. Winter weather paid us a visit, but at least it didn't settle in like it did for our friends Up North. Then over the weekend, the baby developed a beautiful ear infection which we found out today has turned into pneumonia and the three year-old (who was fine at the doctor's office) woke from his nap with an ear-ache. It's like that commercial, "Life comes at you fast..."

Oh well, I still have the chance to knit in the waiting room tomorrow and there's always the 8 hour trip back home. I'll have these knocked out in plenty of time. Besides, Gran always said, 'Loved ones are far more inportant than things any day. Keep your priorities straight." I bet she'd be OK with one and a half socks if need be.... as long as she gets to hold the baby.

Right on track

Today, I celebrate... well just a little. It's not like I'm actually finished with Gran's socks, but I have cast on the second one. I showed the first one to Mom and it got her stamp of approval and I got the OK to declare it finished. Of course, in my true style, I have simply left the stitches "live" just in case I decide the leg should be longer. (This decision has resulted in my using the yarn for my provisional cast-on as a stitch holder for the leg stitches, so I now have three balls of yarn involved. What can I say? I apparently enjoy living on the edge.)

My brain feels bruised from working on a PTO agenda (two copies, one with notes and one without.) It's an issue every month, but is doubly important this time as I won't be running the meeting. I'm feeling a bit better after the procedure, but not well enough to tackle that. My throat still gets sore pretty quickly (My kids seem to be enjoying this a wee bit too much. I may have to come up with some extra housework for them.) Add to that the time spent creating a card for the students to stick a Polaroid inside (I hate fighting with my software to get it to do what I want it to do instead of what it will allow me to tell it to do. Aaaaargh.) and I'm ready for a big bubble bath and a giant bar of chocolate. Oh well, in lieu of that , I'll take a snuggly quilt and a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow, onward and upward with the second sock...

Very nearly halfway done...

Just a quick post because I haven't figured out how to type and knit at the same time. Annabelle has kept me quite busy today. She and her brothers somehow worked out a schedule where each one of them needed me at a dfferent time. (She's only 11 months old but her powers are awe-inspiring.) I would finally get her down for a nap and then the three -year old would have some sort of earth-shattering emergency, then before I knew it, the clock demanded I go pick up the nine year-old from school.

Any other day,I could drive through the line and pick him up at the gym doors, but we (the PTO) decided to extend the Holiday Shop for the kidlets who missed a day and a half last week for snow. It worked out great for the kids who needed that last minute chance to spend the spare change in their pockets. (There are going to be some surprised faces on Mom and Dad when they open the 35 cent packet of glow-in-the-dark putty Christmas morning.) It didn't work out so well for the PTO end of things. We had fantastic volunteers all week last week, but our possibly insane devoted parent who spent way more time in the shop than is healthy, came up sick today. (Imagine that, helping most of our 600+ kids and she caught the bug that's going around. How's that for gratitude?) Fortunately, we were able to nab a couple of our faithful volunteers who filled in the gaps, allowing us to let the kids in for one last hurrah. Unfortunately, it meant the the other co-president and I spent a couple hours after school reconciling and packing up the leftover merchandise. It means I lost a couple hours knitting time, but it's for the kids after all.

Once I got home the kids resumed their rotating schedule and I resigned myself to getting my knitting done tonight before the meds kick in. As a result I only have about an inch left to go on Gran's first sock (completely do-able) and then I'm half done with that gift. Now the kids are all tucked in and it's just me, my librivox and my wool. I'm currently listening to Through the Looking Glass, (up next is one of the Jeeves and Wooster books) while I knit away.

On another note, I'm also halfway towards opening my own yarn shop. I went to the Courthouse today to begin the process of getting my business license. I applied for an Assumed or Fictitious Name. (it almost sounds criminal or at the very least a bit shady) The next step tomorrow is to go to the Zoning and Planning Board and fill out another form with them. By the end of the week, I should have my license. WooHoo!!! The whole licensing process will have set me back a whopping $20.00. Of course the yarn etc.... well, that's a whole different story.

KUI

I'm just posting quickly because I'm in a bit of a tight spot. I'm still frantically working on my Gran's socks, but now I'm fighting two battles. First I have to fight the dreaded Single Sock Syndrome which shouldn't be too difficult, a single sock is kind of a crummy gift. The problem I usually have is that I like to try out new patterns and by the second sock, the pattern is no longer new. Oh well.

The other battle is a bit more challenging. My Gran's birthday is February 29 and every year I agonise over what to give her. This year I have already decided what to do the problem is that I have to force myself to finish the socks first. My aunt mentioned that Gran needs a white sweater, not off-white, not cream not nearly white, but really and truly white. Apparently there are no white sweaters to be had for love or money. If there are, I certainly couldn't find any, so I'm going to do the only logical thing. I'm going to put aside my fear of commitment to a large project, scour the internet and the yarn shops and crank out a handmade, white cardigan in two months' time. I've never knit a cardigan before. To date I have made socks, scarves, a couple hats and some teddy bears, but for some reason I seem to believe that it is perfectly sane and reasonable to expect to be able to make a sweater for my Gran who lives 8 hours away and for whom I have no measurements whatsoever.

My judgement may be somewhat clouded by the after-effects of my tonsillectomy. I have spent the last few days unable to do much of anything. The doctor gave me Lortab for the pain in my throat and while I typically have a hard time remembering to take pills once a day, the throbbing, burning ache in my throat has me keeping close track of my dosing schedule. Once I take my medication, I have about an hour to do whatever I can that requires any sort of attention span. I have actually caught myself dozing off with my knitting in my hands... more than once. In the past 24 hours, I have added approximately 10 rows to the first sock. That's barely one inch. And yet I remain confident I can finish both socks before Christmas and Gran's cardigan before the end of February.... and while I'm at it, I think I'll knit my step-dad a pullover (jumper) for his birthday (Feb. 17). If the Knitting Police catch up with me, I'm sure to be charged with "Knitting Under the Influence." I plan to blame the yarn fumes.

Say, "Ahhhhhh...."

That's how I spent my Monday. I got up at 5:00 in the morning so I could go to the hospital an hour away and have my tonsils taken out. My tonsils and I have had a love/hate relationship over the years. When I was a child, I could count on getting strep throat at least once during the winter. I thought I had outgrown it until my first son was nearly two years old. That Fall, I came down with a case that just would not quit. I was working in a catering kitchen and had the dubious pleasure of explaining to my employer that I was missing lots of time during the Holiday party season due to... scarlet fever. Scarlet Fever! I mean really, who gets that these days?!? No wonder they looked at me skeptically. Anyway, I got over it and everything was fine until this summer. Two weeks ago, I finished the antibiotics for my fourth case of strep since Memorial Day. I was averaging a case every 4-6 weeks and the war with my tonsils was on. I'm not sure who the victor was. As is the case with most wars, there was attrition on both sides. On the one hand, my tonsils have been ousted along with their little bacterial followers, on the other hand, my throat is still really sore and I'm on a diet of liquids and mushy foods. That's right, my toothless 11 month old and I are eating off the same menu (but I think she has a few more options available.)

The plus side is that my mom came up to take care of the kids (and there's just something nice about having Mom around when you feel crummy, especially when she's also a nurse.) Because I knew the operation would have me out of commission for a couple weeks, I actually got a fair amount of my holiday shopping done in advance. With that out of the way, I can focus on getting my Gran's socks finished. She's 95 years old (sort of, that Feb. 29th birthday does make life interesting) and is prone to feeling a bit chillier than the rest of us. She always like to have warm, soft, fuzzy things so I decided to make her these.

I made sure I turned the heel before I went in for surgery. Honestly, I'm challenged enough trying to get my wraps straightened out without being medicated. When I got changed at the hospital, I asked if I could take my bag with me to pre-op. The nurse asked what was in it that I needed. I told her, "It's my knitting bag and quite frankly I'm freaked out enough about this procedure without having to leave my knitting behind. You really don't want me to leave my stress-relief in this locker room. It won't be pretty." She just laughed and agreed that it would be fine. Turns out she is interested in learning, but doesn't feel she has the motor skills for it. (If the I.V. she ran is any indication, she has the dexterity to knit lace in her sleep. She was great!)
This is how much I've done since I had my tonsillectomy. I have about 6 more inches of leg to go. The pattern called for stockinette stitch with a couple inches of ribbing at the top, but I think ribbed socks will fit Gran better. Since I don't actually have her available for fittings, I want to make it as adaptable as possible. Keep your fingers crossed for me. (I tried crossing my own, but it's a real bear to knit that way.) I'm on Lortab for the sore throat and it's wreaking havoc with my attention span. Seriously, I've never dozed off while actually knitting before and I must admit, my sleep-knitting leaves quite a bit to be desired. I have the rest of this sock and its mate to complete and 19 days to do it. I think I can...I think I can...