Well, it's a start

I went to see the surgeon today for a follow-up on my foot. I'm allowed to take the boot off and walk around in normal shoes (or barefoot) starting with an hour a day, then steadily increasing the time. I go back in a month and by then I should be completely out of the boot. As my friend K suggested, I'll probably at least take the boot to Orlando with me at the end of the month, just in case I need it. I should probably wear it in case I have a lot of walking to do around the airports.

I spent my first bootless hour in my sewing room putting the binding on the front of a baby quilt. I didn't get a picture of it yet. I'll do that when it's done.

I do have pictures of the progress on a couple of my other projects. I have about 3-1/2" done on the Mermaid sock:



I *really* like this pattern. It's really easy and it looks cool.

I also finished the gusset decreases on the 2-socks-at-a-time.



I tried one of them on and it fits, which is good. I should have them done in the next week or so, depending on how my thumb feels after hand-stitching the binding on that quilt. I like doing that part, and it kind of sucks that my arthritis flares up worst when I do it. :(

I worked on that charcoal scarf that I never take pictures of. I finished one ball of yarn, and John decided the ball band would make a nice crown for Princess EmmaCat.


"I am Princess EmmaCat. Fear my glowing eyes!"

Also, Ripley came downstairs to socialize a bit on Sunday.


"I love me some catnip!"

Crappy 4th of July weekend

Remember I said I thought I was coming down with something? I had no idea. My throat has been killing me since Wednesday night. I went to the doctor on Thursday and he gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I've been taking them as prescribed and my throat and head still hurt. So far I've spent my whole 3-day (well 4-day if you count the sick day on Thursday) holiday weekend with my butt planted on the couch.

If it was just an average weekend, it would have been bad enough. But my friends were in from Massachusetts, and I missed the party!! I wanted to go, but my throat was still sore and my head was aching. I ended up going to bed at 9:30. Not that it was all that easy to sleep with the neighbors across the street setting off firecrackers till midnight.

It wasn't a total loss, I guess. I did get some knitting done. The two socks at a time have heel flaps and are waiting to have their heels turned.



And I re-started the Show-off Stranded sock with some KnitPicks Risata yarn in the Woodland Sage colorway.



I think this look much better than the other yarn. You can actually see the pattern! I'm naming them my mermaid socks, since pattern reminds me of scales.

In cat news, Emma's been taking lessons from her brother.



John asked if that was a cat butt or if my throat had gotten a LOT worse. :)

Bound for the frog pond...

Well, I thought this yarn would be good with the Show-off Stranded sock pattern, but I was mistaken.



The stitch pattern doesn't show up at all, so why bother? Also, I tried it on and it's too big. So this will be ripped out. I haven't decided if I'll re-knit the yarn as a plain sock or try the pattern in a different yarn next.

Tonight it will be neither. I think I'm coming down with something and since I have plans for the 4th, I'll probably go to bed early and hope I feel better in the morning.

I have to stay up long enough to get the furniture covers out of the new dryer, which was delivered today. They were covered with cat hair.


"We have no idea how the cat hair got on the furniture....."

Ready for a fresh start

Okay, the first half of 2009 hasn't been stellar. It's been stressful, expensive and painful. A brief re-cap:

- Someone backed into my car and I had to have it fixed
- Blue had a bunch of tests and was in the hospital for a few days
- My dad was in the hospital for two weeks, half that time in ICU
- I had to put a new roof on the garage
- I dropped a knife on my foot and had to have surgery*

The latest -- my dryer died. A couple of years ago I had to have it fixed and it cost less than $100. Not so lucky this time. The motor is shot and it would cost over $400 to replace it. So I went dryer shopping Saturday. Yippee. The new one should arrive on Wednesday. What a pain!

I'm definitely hoping the second half of the year improves....

In happier news, I've been working on my two sock at a time.



This is the basic sock from Knitting Circles around Socks, by Antje Gillingham. I'm almost ready to start the heels. I'm not sure I love the colorway, but they're knitting up pretty quickly in the heavier yarn.

I also started a new sock.



It doesn't look like much, since it's just 1" of 1x1 ribbing. But it will be a Show-off Stranded Sock and that's Patons Stretch Sock yarn in the Mineral colorway. I think it will look good with the stitch pattern. Better than any of the other cotton blend yarn in my stash, which is either self-patterning or stripey. I'm trying not to knit too tightly on these, since the yarn is stretchy and I'd like to keep the stretch in the sock. We'll see. I'm using my Kollage square DPNs and I'm still trying to decide if I like them. They're heavier than the Harmony Wood ones and they yarn itself is kinda floppy. Also, they're an inch longer than the Harmonys (7" vs. 6"). Kollage makes a 5" version, which I'm considering, but they didn't have them in the store when I bought these. I suppose I could ask if they could special order them for me. Maybe some other time, since I have a dryer to pay for.

I put together a quilt top tonight, but didn't take a picture of it. It's a group project for a guy at work. Since I'll be putting the binding on, I'll post a picture when it's done. I'm seriously wondering what I was thinking when I sketched it out on my white board. I really should have had the girls log cabin the strips, or alternate which way they put the strips on so I didn't end up with long strips of color all across the top and bottom. Not to mention that it would have avoided having to match seams. Oh well. It's a gift and it's not horrible. And since the baby is already here (her name is Amelia, it's that pretty?) we'll just have to live with it. I did make the block backgrounds symmetrical by color, at least.

Requisite cat picture:

"We thought we were helping when we fed ourselves breakfast this morning, Mama. I shared my 'Cheerios' with everyone!"

*I took the tape off it on Saturday -- it is indeed a Harry Potter scar. Woohoo!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Strawberry

Warning, crappy cell phone pictures ahead.

My friend, K, is on vacation today, so I picked up her FarmShare distribution for her. This mutant strawberry was in the mix. Creepy, huh?



They said the strawberries wouldn't keep, so I took the liberty of sharing them with K's dog-sitter. I don't think I'm going to eat this one, though. It scares me.

This was the view out my office window before I left work. I'm always amazed that they can guide these huge barges around all the curves of the river.



And since I have to have a cat picture in every post, here's one I took over the weekend.



Doesn't look like the window sill wedgie would be comfortable, does it?

Saturday accomplishments

A while ago I bought a set of sock blockers, which I mostly intended to use for showing off my socks. I ordered the medium size, but when I got them, they looked a bit big. Next time I ordered stuff, I ordered a small set. there's a noticeable difference in size between the two.



So I tried them out with my newly finished (yay!) toe-up socks. It turns out the medium is the right size after all. See the difference?



I'm pretty happy with the socks. One of these days, I'll be able to wear them as a pair. My left foot is still to swollen/tender to get one of these over it.

I weighed the socks and the leftover yarn from the each 50g ball. The socks weigh a bit over 30g each, so I have about 20g left in each ball. Should be enough to make some short socks, right? I'd consider making one a little bigger around to wear with my boot instead of the white sport socks I've been wearing, but I'm not sure I'd get it done in time. Plus, it's wool, so it might be too hot anyway.

I finished the second sock yesterday, no thanks to this naughty boy, who pulled one of the needles out of the sock last weekend when I left it on the couch.


"Just helping, Mama. Besides, those sticks are tasty!"

Foot update: I got the dressing off and the stitches out on Wednesday. They put those steri-strips over the incision and there's still some ink under there from where he marked where he was going to cut. So I have no idea what shape the incision is, but I can tell you it's not a straight line. I'm hoping for a Harry Potter scar, but we'll see. The tape has to stay on 7-10 days and so far it shows no sign of budging.

I spent a little time in the sewing room today. I made the quadrants for the center block of a baby quilt.



It's a group project for another guy at work, who's baby is due any day now. My friends K and L are putting border strips in those 4 prints around some blocks we cut from a pre-printed panel. Since no two quilters have the same 1/4" seam allowance, I'm waiting to trim these units and assemble the center block till I know what size the rest will be. If I assemble the block now, I'd cut off points when I trim it.

After that, I finished these two project bags that I'd started a while ago.



The fabric is kinda weird. It's a marbled black or really dark navy (hard to tell), with raised, rubbery, metallic blobs in various colors all over it. I thought it would be interesting in the Halloween quilt, but ended up not using it. I had no idea what else to do with it, so I made project bags. They'd be good for socks or some other small project. I have two, so if any of my knitting friends would like a small project bag, the first to let me know gets one.

Back to the foot. I don't have to wear the boot when I sleep anymore, but I'm nervous going to bed without something to protect my foot. So I've been wearing the little post-op shoe they gave me at the ER to bed. Since the dressing came off, my foot has been swelling at night, so I'm trying to keep it elevated when I sleep. Needless to say, it's hard to get comfortable at bedtime. That, combined with my pager going off means I got very little sleep last night.

I decided to take a little nap this afternoon while John was out and I had the house to myself. I fell asleep alone and woke up with company. If there's ever any question as to whether or not Max loves his Mama, or why he's not allowed in the bedroom at night, here's your answer.



Dang, that cat has long legs......

The knife

A lot of people have asked about the knife that maimed me, so I thought I'd show it to you.



Nice, huh? It's really sharp. My friend K asked if I threw away the knife. Heck no -- that's an $80 knife!! I used it tonight, actually. It might have acquired a taste for blood, though. As I was washing it and putting it it the dish rack to dry, I poked myself. It didn't break the skin, thankfully.

Since I can't take the dressing off my foot till Wednesday (can't wait!!!), and I was going back into the Arctic climate of my over-air-conditioned office this week, I made a couple of cast socks to keep my tootsies warm.



The one on the left I knit using this pattern, without the color changes and in the round. The one on the right was a quickie I sewed from the hem of an old polo shirt. I used the knit one today and worked really well. However, I might not get a chance to use the other one. I found out today that I need a return to work authorization from the doctor's office to go back to work. Technically, I wasn't even allowed to work from home on Friday, and I guess they could have sent me home today. They told me not to come back till I get the note. I've left several messages with the doctor's office, but the woman I left the messages for won't call me back. Should be interesting....

I'm in the home stretch on my second toe-up sock.



I put a lifeline in before I started the heel and you can kind of see it in the picture. I'll be taking it out soon, since this heel looks no worse than the last one. It doesn't look much better, but it's no worse. :)

In cat news, 4 out of 5 cats came to see their grandparents when my parents came to visit this weekend. Blue had to be bribed at first with kitty treats, but once he had a couple, he was happy and let them pet him. Runt was the lone holdout - she hid for two hours after they left. Usually they come out within half an hour after strangers leave. I wonder if being at the vet's office for several days helped get Blue accustomed to people other people.

Also, it seems Blue's cortisone shot has worn off. The good news is that since it kept him from getting sick for 5 weeks, we're pretty sure he has IBD. The bad news is that he apparently has IBD. As soon as I get to the vet's office to pick up his medicine, we'll start giving him prednisone pills daily, and play with the dosage over time to see what the minimum amount is that will keep his tummy happy.

He and I have been playing fetch a lot lately. His favorite fetch object is a currently green fuzzy mouse. When I got home from work, it was in his kitty tunnel, where he tends to sleep when he's not feeling his best. I didn't get a picture of the mouse before he moved it, so I'll post this one that I took a few weeks ago.



I really don't think the kitty hammock was weight-rated for 40+ pounds of cat. I also didn't think they'd all fit in there, but where there's a will, there's a way.