Shamrock Knits

Workin' on it

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted. I have been working on some of my resolutions. I knit 2 machine knit squares for a wedding afghan. I've started throwing out old bills from my office and bedroom. I'm not done with that though.

I have been doing some knitting. I started the Adult Surprise Jacket. Of course, I had some gauge issues and had to rip out and start over. Now, I'm about half way done. I'm using Silk Garden. Overall, I like it. What I don't like about it is coming across pieces of twig while I'm knitting. The colors are beautiful though and the picture doesn't do it justice. Some of the lighter colors are rows of green.

Resolutions

I don't think I would've met very many resolutions even if I set any last year. Maybe if it was to say sane, then ok. This year I'm going to try.

1. Declutter office - get rid of old papers, books, etc.

2. Declutter bedroom - get rid of old clothes, and non-bedroom things like bills etc.

3. Declutter basement - go through charitable items and donate/throw out, organize yarn stash, get rid of old holiday items.

(seeing a trend yet?)

4. Machine knitting - make more projects on the machine.

5. Crochet - write up pattern for mom's blanket.

6. Hand knitting - knit more garments, try to visit the frog pond so much (rip it, rip it).

Well, I think those are enough goals for now. If I get some of those done, it'll inspire me to do more. I hope everyone has a much better year than last year was!

Mom's Tribute Blanket

I finished my mom's tribute Colon Cancer blanket. It feels like it took forever because of the charts. The colon cancer ribbon is a ribbon, star, person. It's called the Blue Star. I'll be writing up the pattern and creating a tribute page in my mom's honor to raise funds for awareness. My mom loves the blanket, so that's what really matters.

This is a picture taken while she's getting a chemotherapy treatment. It's cold in the office and there are blankets everywhere, because the patients get really cold during their treatments. This was her 11th out of 12 treatments. We're pretty excited that there's only one left! The extreme cold this week has been rough on her side effects. I hope the cold doesn't last too long for her sake.

Merry Christmas!

It doesn't feel like it's Christmas already! Last year, I didn't put up any decorations. This year, I bought a smaller tree that's prelit and got at least that up. I've been doing some crochet. When my mom started her chemo treatments, I decided I was going to design a blanket for her. Colon cancer has a ribbon/star, so that's what I'm using. There will be one smaller star in each of the four corners. One bigger star in the middle. Then I'm going to have "Colon Cancer Survivor" and the date of her surgury at the top, and her name at the bottom. This is what I have so far.

Is This Year Over Yet?

Several months ago, I was talking to a coworker about what's happened with me at work and my family's health. I made the stupid mistake of jokingly ask, What else could happen? Where to begin..

My kitty:

After I got back from my "vacation", one of my cats (Taz) had a rash over his entire belly. I could see this because he's an over-groomer and has licked his belly bald. Half of his face was swollen and had cuts on it. I first thought he got into a fight with the other cat (Sam), but I think the rash caused him to scratch his face so badly. I took him to the vet and they took some hair samples to see if he had a fungus or ringworm. I had pills to give him, which put him in a haze most the time. I also had to try to give him a medicated bath twice a week. That's soooo easy to do for a cat! Plus, the whole time he's wearing a cone so we won't scratch anymore.

After a week or so of this, he started laying in the litter box. I had to rush him to the hospital because he had a urinary blockage. He was in the hospital almost a week and had to have bladder surgery because he had bladder stones. The doctors were afraid they would cause him to bock again. That week cost me a small fortune and had me in tears because I don't know if I'll be able to afford much more.

Now, he's losing hair and we're back to trying to find out what's wrong with his skin. We've done a blood test to rule out some things. I take him to a dermatologist vet today to see if he has some kind of allergy or something.

My family's health:

My mom's chemotherapy has been going well overall. She's finished 8 of the 12 treatments now and will be completed at the end of January. We don't know whether she'll need radiation or not.

My dad was rushed to the hospital again for his gall bladder. They did surgery this time, but had to do it the old fashioned way. He had about 40 staples across his belly along with other holes here and there. This is what happens when you're too heavy and they can't do it laparoscopically. He had a minor heart attack caused by the surgery. He healed much better than I thought from the surgery. He's wearing a heart monitor now for about a month so the doctors can look at the results. He's seems ok.

My aunt that I visit with in San Diego has bladder cancer. They did a procedure to see how bad it is, but it was inconclusive. They have to try it again in a couple of months. This will determine what type of chemo she's going to need. Apparently the choises are a) not too bad or b) really bad if it went deep into the bladder. The upside is that she's not in any pain.

Me:

Now it's my turn. I had my colonoscopy because of cancer in the family. Man that liquid is terrible. Everything is fine and I'll continue every 5 years now. Yeah. I also found a lump in my breast. I had a baseline mammo at the end of June that didn't find anything. I don't know if this lump was there then or it developed afterwards. I don't do a self exam often enough. Anyway, I had it biopsied and it was a begign "shmooshy cyst". That's what the doctor called it during the biopsy. I asked him if that was a technical term. :) I'm still sore in one spot because it was in a tender part of the breast. I think I'd rather have a colonoscopy than do that biopsy again. At least you're knocked out and don't feel anything afterwards.

Well, this is my drama for the last couple of months. Needless to say, I haven't felt like knitting much. I did knit the felted pumpkins from Knitty, but still need to felt them. I also continued to work on the cable cardigan that was in Vogue awhile ago. I've never done a flat piece before and the set in sleeve and shoulder instructions for the fronts are confusing me. Plus I think the back is at a looser guage than the fronts. We'll see if I keep it or rip it.

I did read all four Twilight books and then saw the movie. I love the books (any vampire stories really). The movie was ok. I'm not a fan of the guy. I just don't think he's cute at all. I think the movie would've been better if they added about 30 minutes. They could've covered more relationshippy things. Anyway, this post is long enough, so I'm off.

Catchin' Up

I've got alot of catching up to do. First off - fun stuff. I received another Secret Pal gift.

Inside the purple gift box were the knitting tools. I seem to misplace those all the time, so it's always great to get more.  My secret pal, Jo, made a pair of hand knit socks and put the foot lotion inside. At the back right is a package of beach themed beads. Thanks alot Jo! Of course, I'm not organized, so I'll put the link to her blog next time.

I also finished another log cabin blanket. I love this pattern. It has texture, yet it's not all garter stitch. The yarn is acrylic for durability (and for the non-knitters). The colors are a more muted than in the picure. I had the vivid color setting on my camera. That feature appears to be working just fine!

I went on a trip to Cancun through work. It was mainly for sales winners, but a few support people got to go as well. I'm one of those lucky ones. We stayed at a resort that had dolphins. We passed by them back and forth from our rooms. Here's a picture of one of the dolphins that kept hopping out of the water. It was like he wanted to scratch his back.

This picture is at the Mayan ruins in Tulum. The corner of this building is the face of a man. It's a profile shot if you look from each of the sides. If you look right at the corner, you see the whole face. See it?

 

To Give and To Receive

I finished my second Special Olympic Scarf. I think I'll try to make it reversible the next time I try this pattern. We'll see how it looks at the color change section.

I also received some yarn goodness in the mail from my Secret Pal. Three skeins of yummy Noro Silk Garden. Thanks Jo!

Supporting our Troops

I haven't been sending many packages lately through the BooksForSoldiers website. Between working so much this year, and my dad and mom's health issues, it's been pretty hard. I do send donations every now and then. Unfortunately, the website may have to shut down this year because they haven't raised enough funds to maintain it. Last year, the site was targeted with viruses. They've spent alot of money and continue to need money to stop this from happening again. It makes me mad that hackers, or whoever, would do this to a site that is solely for supporting our troops.

It doesn't matter what political party you're with, or whether or not you agree with the decisions our government has made in this war. We all need to support the men and women that are sacrificing their lives to maintain our way of life. Their efforts allow us to have differences of opinions. Their sacrifices allow us to speak freely without fear of harm. Supporting these men and women is not the same as supporting the war.

The name of the site is a little misleading. It started out as sending books only. It has now grown to sending just about anything the soldiers are asking for. Here are some of the examples of what soldiers ask for. My basement is full of cards, used DVDs, used books, games, hats, snacks, batteries, fleece blankets, etc for send for packages. I hope the site will be able to continue on next year.

Last year, I received a thank you from a soldier from one of my Thanksgiving care packages. He said it was the only turkey dinner he was getting that year. I'm guessing he was on duty that day or was at a site that doesn't have a large mess hall. One group of marines I sent packages to were living in a house in a residential area. There were 50 marines in one building. They just got a microwave and refrigerator, so I sent them each the microwave dinners that don't need to be frozen. I also sent them a bunch of DVDs. The soldiers usually have their own personal stash, as well as a library of sorts.

If you can show your support by donating money to the site, it will greatly appreciated. Enough of my ramblings on the subject. Have a great day!

Special Olympic Scarves

At one of my Thursday nights with my knitting group, we came across a request for scarves for the Special Olympics. Our group decided to knit or crochet some and we'll send off in one package. Betty has knit 2 scarves already. She's such a fast knitter.

These are my contributions. One is a crochet wave ripple and the other is my cable knit pattern. I did this pattern for a gift last year or the year before. I'll probably buy 1 more skein in each color and make a couple more. There's also a Ravelry group for the scarves.

SP Gift

I got a package, I got a package. I actually received the package last week from my secret pal, but I haven't had a chance to post until now. The first pic are the non-yarn items: pom-pom maker, notecards, magnetic notepad, post-it notes, candy, and a scarecrow.

The second pic has 2 skeins of Sensations Angel Hair and 2 skeins of Caron Spa. I haven't seen the Spa yarn before. It's a bamboo blend that feels really soft. I love the green color. Thanks Jo!