Bittersweet

When it's not there, it's not there.

I really, really wanted to make this lovely bag, I really did. But, after finishing that bitch of a strap, and reading that was only half of it, I decided that this fling was over.

I consulted with my peeps on Ravelry, and they all said the same thing. FROG IT. Hey, I love the fact I won this prize from Virtual Yarns. AND - I love the 3-ply Hebridean wool, and the colour. I just really don't love the knitting part of it. And I cannot stomach the thought of knitting another stitch. So, I'll unravel it. And, to make that sour taste linger just a little longer - I'll be unravelling 2 strands of knitting, as the yarn was held doubled throughout. Whatever I end up making with this yarn better be damned good...

Hey, did I ever show you this?!

My Isobel of Mar? I'm pretty sure I did show you a pre-blocked version of it. Lorraine was kind enough to re-block it for me, as it really needed a good spin in her washing machine. AND - it does fit much better. I'm still looking for some nice buttons for it, and she'll be ready to wear out in the big world.

"Wow, Cousin Finnegan sent me an e-mail?!!"

And a picture, Gandalf!

"Life's so busy these days. I live in Nova Scotia now. By the ocean! I'm pretty sure those waves are out to get me though. They keep chasing me! Here I am, tired after a walk trying to figure them out. Moving rocks! I got some new toys! OK, so it's a pink turtle - so what?? My big cousin Atticus drinks water out of a flowery bowl. And he's no less a boy cat. This does NOT in any way make me any less of a boy dog either..."

This year will be the first year since 2005 that I haven't spent my birthday in St. Catharines with my sister and sister-in-law. They moved to Nova Scotia a month ago - which is a cool thing! I'll be able to visit them out there next year, and that will be a lot of fun! I'm pretty sure Finnegan will remember his Auntie Brigitte.

My birthday is this upcoming Wednesday, and I will admit to being a bit sad about it. But only because I remember the good times I had in years past, celebrating in St. Catharines. Not about my age though - I'll be 41, and proud of it!

Anyway - the good news is that they are all settling in nicely in Nova Scotia. They will be building their new home on the shores of the Atlantic. In the meantime, they are living in a little cottage, which is right next to the plot of land that the house is being built on. And to welcome them to the area, Maritime style - Hurricane Bill showed up on their doorstep. Can you imagine Atticus in a hurricane?! Oy...

"I'd sleep through it. Hey, can I go to Nova Scotia?!"

"I may surprise you. Maybe a hurricane would not bother me at all. I mean, c'mon. I'm not that bad..."

"Yeah you are!"

OK. Next week! I'll 'fess up to something I may have started working on that I should not necessarily have started working on because of all of the, uh, other things I have on the go...

My Life, She Is Tough...

"Sometimes, it's tough being me. Mom's listening to her 80's music again. Which is not a bad thing necessarily. A little Joy Division, a little Crowded House...me, I'm partial to the really cool Canadian bands like Tom Cochrane/Red Rider, and the Box..."

"No crappy pop though. But I really have to draw the line at recreating some of those videos. I'm not talking about U2 (back when they were cool and relevant) on the roof of a building. I mean like wearing a flower pot on your head like DEVO. OK. Actually, only Gandalf is doing that..."

"Are we not kitties? We are DEV-O!"

"See? Man, what a geek..."

"Now. See my face? It's the face of a slightly nervous cat. OK, maybe not so much now. But! Let me tell you, we had some pretty fierce weather last Thursday. Not like - oh, Atticus wants sympathy kind of bad weather. Like. Atticus is mush kind of bad weather. Some places had tornadoes! We just had really high winds and lighting and rain and rain and rain."

"Can you tell? No? Well, believe me. That rain was POURING down. Our power even went out! And a big tree down the street fell down. And it flooded the backyard and the basement too. And then, the next thing you know? Sun, and cooler by about 5 degrees (Celcius, of course). Crazy crazy, let me tell you."

"Right. That's it for me. As you can see, it's been a stressful week. And recounting it to you all has been tiring, *yawn*. Gonna have a snooze now. 'K, ROCK ON everyone. I think Mom wants to show some knitting stuff now."

Well, Atticus is quite chatty, isn't he? But, he's quite the guest blogger, I'll give him that. He's right when he says it was a pretty fierce storm we had last week! Although we were lucky within the city of Toronto, there were tornadoes north of the city. Pretty rough stuff. Even Gandalf was a bit nervous, and normally storms don't bother him. But, Mae slept through it all. I suppose the day she flips out over a storm is the day I really worry.

You know what? I have been knitting. Despite the icky heat and humidity of last week. It may have been the first stretch we'd had all summer, but let me tell you. That fact does no make it any less palatable to me. Knitting becomes...a bit hard. I still did manage to work on some stuff. One being Delores, my long suffering Starmore Fair Isle jacket.

I have less than one pattern repeat to go before reaching the neckline! Gandalf would like you to take note of the armhole steek.

"See? Between the red and green stitch markers? Mom alternates the steek colours each round; some knitters do it the other way. I guess at the end of the day, it's whatever floats your boat. Anyway. I thought I'd just show you that. For some reason, Mom says I wasn't supposed to be in the picture. Which. Makes no sense to me. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Are We Not Kitties, Mae?"

"Oh God shut up. Please."

"We Are DEV-O!"

Gandalf Questions Things, Part II

"What do you mean, do I want a baby brother? Why?? Why would I want a baby brother?"

Heh.

Pretty Post With Project Pictures

OK, let's see if I can find where the pictures are saved.

Yay, it worked! Oh, this isn't the picture I wanted, but. Enjoy. :D

Look! Here are the projects I told you about last week.



Phew! There she is, in all her glory - Windsor Waistcoat. Pretty, huh?! The only thing I did differently was use a 3.25mm instead of the 3mm specified. By knitting the extra-small size in a larger needle, I ended up with a finished measurement of 39", which is exactly what I wanted. Doesn't Lorraine design a cool vest?! And you can get your very own pattern by following the link... Just sayin'.

And to keep things "simple" (or so I thought), I started work on my Thistle Bag, courtesy of the fine folks at Virtual Yarns:

Oooo, pretty! This represents about two-thirds of the first half. Trust me. It's a LOT of work. Those fun little Trinity Stitch bauble thingies in the centre of the thistle? Nasty. But - it will be worth it all when it's done; I try to work on it every other day, but by the end of the night, my arms are sore.

(Kitty break)

"What am I looking at?"

"The squirrel! See him?? He's...ooo...look at him go! Look Mae!"

"You're weird. He's outside. We can't catch him."

"I'm gonna get you! Squirrely...squirrel...squirrel..."

Atticus is ready to pounce on the squirrel, despite the window. And I kid you not - Mae? Just sits there, looking outside. Sometimes she'll watch the squirrel, sometimes the birds, but she doesn't get all "squirrely" (heh). Live and let live is her motto.

OK. Back to knitting stuff!

Look what else I've been working on!

Now this one really makes me happy. The colours could not be more perfect together, and it knits up like a dream. As I mentioned previously - it's quick and easy too. Can't go wrong with no colour changes and 4mm needles.

It's St. Aula, knit using stashed 3-ply Mara and Machair. I should have more than enough to knit the "standard" size, and the hood as well, although I haven't decided which colour I'll use for it. I've almost completed the 2nd go-round of the chart, so I'm more then half way to the armholes.

Now, I've also been working on Delores, and the Mystery Pressie, but no pictures this time. Next week...

I'm feeling every bit of my nearly 41 years today - I pulled a muscle in my lower back yesterday bending over to do something stupid. As a result, I have to use whatever is handy to get up from a sitting or lowered position. Ugh... It's fine when I'm sitting or standing. It's just getting from one position to the other that's a bit...problematic. And you know what? Nothing I take seems to ease the ache. I've tried Ibuprofen and Aceteminophen, but both do diddly. Guess I'll just have to wait it out. Oh! I just remembered I still have some Tylenol 3's from my ear infection/hospital stay earlier in the spring! That ought to numb pretty much all pain...heh.

"What do you mean - do I want a baby sister?? Why? Why would I want a baby sister??"

Yes...what is Gandalf talking about??!

The One Without Pictures

Well, I've heard of these things happening, but was arrogant enough to think it would never happen to me.

A moment of silence if you will...for my computer. I pronounced it officially at 6:45pm on Friday night.

"So, how is it you're blogging, Brigitte?"

Well, thanks to my work laptop, I am able to do a few things, but not load pictures. Because ever since I moved? I can't find a thing. No clue where the install CD is for my camera.

*sigh* And I had things to show off. Finished things! And 2 newbies too!

Anyway - I came home on Friday afternoon to find an unresponsive computer. When it boots up to a blue screen of death - it's not a good thing. When you get a "unmountable boot volume" error message, it's an even worse thing. And, when you run every diagnostic and fix known to try and repair it, and you get an even more ominous "...the volume appears to contain one or more UNRECOVERABLE errors...", it's kaked.

And kaked she is. I even spoke to Dell's Tech Support (who were excellent, by the way), and they basically confirmed what I knew. So, hopefully with the help of Lorraine's tech whiz son Alexander, I may be able to recover a few things. Oh, and start shopping for a new computer... It has served me well for 6 years, so I suppose I really shouldn't complain.

I think I'm going to get a pink one. Seriously!

(Aw crap, I just went to open up my links page in Notepad, only to realise that it's not on this computer! Damn!!!!!!!)

Anyway. Until I can find the CD to load my camera software temporarily on this laptop, I won't be able to post pictures. You'll have to trust me when I say that I finished Windsor Waistcoat. And that it fits perfectly! I had no issues whatsoever - I tinkered here and there with the sizing, and made the neckline a bit shorter.

Feeling quite pleased with myself, I allowed a new project to be started. OK. Two. But! Because one is quite rough on the hands to do, I needed something...easier...to do in between.

Firstly, I picked out "Thistle Bag" that I won from Virtual Yarns, and decided to give it a go. I figured it would be a nice, simple and smallish project to work on during the summer.

Simple and smallish... Famous last words. God love the Starmores - and you all know I do - but is nothing ever simple?!! LOL. I guess it's the difference between a knitted handbag, and a superior-designed knitted handbag. The level detail is outstanding, and if I was thinking this would be a quick knit, I was mistaken. Ever try doing a 1 over 3 right cross cable using 2 strands of 3-ply yarn (and not just any 3-ply - Hebridean 3-ply wool)? No? Well. Let me tell you. You may just start throwing up a little bit in your mouth when you realize the front of the bag and the back are the same.

But, I am fascinated with the process, but because the tension needs to be quite tight, my arms do tend to be a bit sore by the end of the night.

So, on alternate nights, I decided to work on my "St. Aula". I'm knitting it using 3-ply Mara as the main colour, and 3-ply Machair as the background colour, both of which I had in my stash. I know some of you *cough*Chris*cough* may be wondering how doing a stranded project can be relaxing, but trust me - it is.

For one - 3-ply vs. 2-ply means far fewer stitches to work with in the round - 220-ish vs. well over 325 on average for 2-ply. There are only 2 colours to work with, so there are no yarn changes and weaving in to do. There is only one chart to work with, and once I've completed the first repeat, I've memorized the sequence and I can get a round done pretty quickly. And, it's going to be a toasty warm outdoor sweater when it's done. I'm knitting the "standard" version, and should I have enough, I plan on making the hood as well.

Easy peasy, lemon squeazy, as Lorraine would say.

AND - now that Windsor Waistcoat is done, I can concentrated on finishing up Delores (also a Starmore design)! It's a complex Fair Isle project, so I only work on it when I know I'll have a few uninterupted hours. I'm also still working on the "stealth project" for my sister and SIL when the weather allows.

Hey! When I went to Virtual Yarns, I noticed that there is a pattern coming out in the excellent British magazine "The Knitter" that will be using Hebridean yarns, and it is really lovely! I had a chance to thumb through a copy of The Knitter while at Chapters last week with Lorraine, and I am quite smitten! It has a lot of beautiful patterns with techniques that I love. It's pretty steep though - nearly $20 Canadian for an issue, but I think I will be saving my pennies and picking this one up.

So, that's pretty much it for now. The guys all say "Hi!" to all their cyber-buddies, and promise to help me look for the install CD for the camera.

Oh! And great news! The civic workers strike is now officially over here in Toronto! Which means garbage pickup for me on Tuesday! I never thought I'd ever be so happy about garbage day, but believe me - this one is one I'm looking forward to.

Here's to a technologically smooth week!

Sun Gods

Wow Kids, what day is it?! I myself am not sure... I've just come off working 17 hours of overtime this weekend, 11 of which happened between 11pm on Saturday and 10am on Sunday morning.

Long. Long. Weekend. And not of the good kind either. *sigh* I had high hopes of knitting a stitch or two in between testing the changes and other such delights, but no such luck. Funny what lack of sleep and headset pasted to your head can do to a person...

I don't handle lack of sleep well. Even though I had a snooze after the implementation yesterday morning, I still feel blah. And as though I've been hit over the head with a stupid stick. Oh well... I guess work does keep me in yarn... And other necessities like food and lodging. Heh.

The guys kept me company. A bit thrown off their schedules, but there nonetheless.

Mae would pop her head in the room once in a while, to make sure I remembered she existed. She was the only one who decided that while it was nice Mom was up and all, she'd be fine in her comfy spot, thank you very much.

"It's not that I'm indifferent to fatigue. I just don't get why anyone would resist it."

You know, that old... whatever it is... she's resting on? Destined for the garbage once the strike is over. I put it there temporarily while I wait out the garbage strike. Meanwhile, she's grown attached to it...

The boys of course, stuck to me like white on rice. They thought it was awfully cool that I would speak into this funny neat-o toy attached to my head. They tried to talk into it a few times too, at least so they could see what the big deal was all about. When they decided it was kind of lame, they tried to chomp on the microphone. OK. Only Gandalf did. Duh.

Today, all is (somewhat) back to normal...

They lounge in the sun...

"I love being me."

"I love being me too!"

Gandalf also posed for pictures. And he was kind enough to sit still.

"Oooo, for me?! Nice! I really like it! Might be a bit big though... Just sayin'."

I had hoped that I would have had the steeks cut, and the arm and V-neck bands completed and a finished Windsor Waistcoat to show off...but. As you can see.

(I really must be tired, I suddenly had a vision of Gandalf in a dapper Fair Isle vest! Hee hee...)

Nevertheless - the body is done, shoulders are grafted, and what the hell, I may even cut open the v-neck tonight. Maybe. I'm still a little tired... *yawn*.

I know it's summer, but so far, I haven't had much of a chance to enjoy it. This weekend - I really want to get out on my bike and ENJOY some of it. Provided the weather holds up. Although you know? Unless it rains, I'll probably got out for a ride anyway.

Well, the worst of this mega-huge honkin' project at work is over, just some clean-up stuff left to do. And it's history! I just hope I won't be too tired from it all to savour the end of it.

Have a WONDERFUL week everyone!

"You listening?? Have a good week, dammit!"

Back to Business

Oh, it's certainly nice to get back to a routine. Change is always good (in this case - moving). But when it comes to a girl and her knitting, it really is nice to be back in business.

Yesterday, I picked up my Windsor Waistcoat, and couldn't believe I'd been away for so long! I missed my Fair Isle... (Those of you who have not yet joined the FI fold will probably shake your head. But worry not. We will bring you over. Oh yes. We will.) *sigh* It was so wonderful...

And! You know what I managed to do this past week? I actually finished something!

Now, this picture is a bit of a tease. In that you can't tell much from looking at it. I wasn't going to post it, because it is a stealth project. But, I decided to anyway because you can't tell a thing from looking at it. When I get it nicely blocked and figure out how to photograph deep red, I'll post it in Ravelry.

In the meantime...

"...picture sucks... You woke me up for this?? AND you're showing the wrong side..."

Heh.

I also have another stealth project going on! But - there will be no tease pictures. Instead - have a peek at my project page in Ravelry... All the sneaky details are there. But shhhhh! It is to be a surprise!

Instead, I'll show you a gratuitous picture of a Baby Atticus.

"Hi."

Hard to believe this is the same little baby Atticus!

Back in the present...

"Gandalf, what are we going to do with the squirrel if we actually manage to catch it? I mean, seriously."

What you can't get from this picture is Gandalf's tail swishing back and forth, as he tries to fit into the role of Tough Dude.

It must be a boy thing. Because Mae? Could not care less.

"I save up my energy to hunt for real prey, should the need arise. Boys are so dumb."

Mae has always been the "huntress". In the 11 years I've lived at this address, she has caught 2 mice. Not bad for a house built in the 1890's, with the original basement still unfinished in places.

As for the rest of the week that was... I officially finished unpacking all of my stuff. I do have 2 more pieces of furniture on the way, stuff my sister and SIL are giving to me before their move.

My intention is still to NOT dispose of my garbage in the temporary dumpsites opened by the City of Toronto for the duration of the city workers strike. And, after I saw how much has been piled up already...forget it. I will wait it out. I am not contributing to THAT mess. Oy... So, I'm being extra vigilant with what I do throw out. Good habits to keep for the long run, I guess.

Hey! I wonder what knitting surprises are in store for next week...?!!?

Home Sweet Home

Let me be upfront. If you're hoping for some knitting content, well. You'll be disappointed. It hasn't been a knitting-heavy week. I can get pretty single-minded when it comes to organizing the new apartment, and once I've gotten everything just so, it's almost time to go to bed! All I can manage are a few sock rounds.

So single-minded in fact, that I didn't even photograph them!

If I ever thought that the guys would have any issues with being in a new place - well, those thoughts are out the window.

They continue to be enthralled by the wildlife.

"Whoa!...hey!...what the...hey!...hey!...get off my lawn!...hey!...yeah! you! get the...off...hey!...don't you poop there!...don't you...hey!...sheesh..."

"Officer Atticus, at your service, Ma'am."

"Don't call me Ma'am."

Atticus does indeed take his guard cat duties seriously. Anytime anyone comes to the back door, he meows up a storm (Lorraine, you know exactly what that's like!), and paces in front of the door. Anyone silly enough to say "aw, aren't you cuddly boy...", and reaches out to him will likely get his hand whacked. Scritchies are not permitted until Officer Atticus has sniffed you out first. If you pass muster, he'll then allow you to enter. And give him scritchies, of course.

"Mae! Get down from the table!"

"Make me. You're outside."

I have to say, ever since we've been down here, Gandalf has stayed off the counter. Probably because there is no view from there, the back doors are much more entertaining. Mae however, seems to like the table. I'm not too pleased about that, but then again Mae's pretty finicky, and she won't make a habit of it. Atticus hasn't figured out that he can jump on the chair to get to the table (a good thing), and Gandalf just uses it to get the window sill. Yet another view for him to watch the wildlife.


So, all is well in our world. I'm really happy at how it's all looking!


Oh!

Except for *one* very annoying, very untimely, and very, very stinky snag. City of Toronto civic workers have decided that this would be an AWESOME time to go on strike. It affects all sorts of things - one of the biggest being garbage and recycling pickup. See, as I was packing to move down here, I said to myself - "self, don't bother going through everything now, just wait 'til you're downstairs, and you can get rid of stuff then.". Smooth move. Now I have 3 discarded pieces of furniture, and old futon mattress, and about 3 garbage bags to throw out. Not to mention the Little Dudes...unmentionables... which are quadruple bagged and out on the deck. The recycling can go in the containers outside, that's no problem. And I can take my Green Bin stuff and dump it in our composter in the backyard. It's all the other stuff that's proving to be a problem. There is a "temporary" garbage drop off not too far from here, but I really don't want to have to cart the garbage there. I don't want to add to the mess if I can help it. My landlady said they will cart away the furniture and mattress to the landfill themselves, so I don't need to worry about that.


Anyway. It could be worse, right? I could have kids in a City of Toronto-run daycare, and have no other options.

My little corner of the world...

Have a great week everyone! And next week - knitting! Really!

Settling In

Wow, it's been awhile! I hadn't realized it's been 3 weeks since my last post.

We've been busy. Kind of. Moving, you know...

I would leave both doors open - the one from the old place, and the door to this new place - to see if the guys would wander down while I worked and moved stuff.

Atticus was tentative at first, but the bravest of the bunch.

As more and more things were moved down, they became a bit more curious.

Did I not say I would never, ever move apartments on my own again? Didn't I say that when I started looking into moving earlier this year?? Aren't I a fool. Well, I did have people help with the big things - but I moved 75% of my stuff by my stubborn self. Now I'm scratched, bruised, I dropped my upright vaccum on my toe, hit my head in the same place twice and my knees are swollen from going up and down stairs a gazillion times. But, I have pretty much everything moved out, save for a few bits.

Now, things are falling into place. The guys are perfectly comfortable in their new home.

Gandalf has his spot.

Atticus still manages to find the most bizarre spot to get comfortable.

And Mae explores her new surroundings.

I think it's a hit.

"Wow Gandalf, this place ROCKS! We're like, really close to the ground now!"

"Can you see Guido? Is he still coming 'round?"

"Yeah! He's across the street, and I can see him! Wow, he's a big cat Gandalf... Um, we may want to rethink our plan of psychological warfare against him..."

"Did you tell people how your knitting stuff was the first to get moved downstairs to the new place?"

Of course.

Although still a little messy. It all has a home.

See, throwing stuff in boxes and bags however they may fall may sound like a good idea at the time, but it does tend to make unpacking a bit...disorganized.

But, every day it looks a bit better.

"Here I come! I love all the space I have run around in at TOP SPEED in! Wheeeeeeeeeee!"

So, what can I say? All is well with the world. Um, make that their world. Happy cats, happy home!

And you know what else was going on here? In between all of the "packing" and moving and work - I paid a little someone a visit.

"...vaguely aware...of camera...really too...*yawn*...tired...to care..."

Finnegan! I went to visit him and his Moms last week. For a bittersweet visit... See, my sister and sister-in-law are packing up and leaving St. Catharines for Nova Scotia! Which is an excellent thing - my sister-in-law has a great new job at the IWK Hospital in Halifax. They have plans to build a new home outside of Halifax.

I went out for a last visit at their home in St. Catharines before they leave at the end of July. It was a great home, and I'll always have good memories of St. Catharines because of them. And Finnegan too, of course. I always felt so at home when I visited them - I was always welcome, and ALWAYS had a great time. Not to mention always well fed too! So, even though it's sad to see them go, I know that there will be a lot of good memories to be made in Nova Scotia, once I started visiting them when they're settled.

And I still have a lot of stuff to do here to keep me busy for awhile.

I want to also thank everyone for the well-wishes! Yup, it was a doozy of an infection alright. I have my (hopefully) last appointment tomorrow with my doctor to make sure it has completely cleared out of my system. I'm pretty sure the eardrum has healed on it's own (Debby, a perforated eardrum does heal on it's own, and pretty quickly too!), finally.

You know, it's been a busy year up to now, and I'm really hoping that I have a bit of calm and quiet for the next little while. And knitting. I haven't knit too much these last few weeks! Except socks, and few other stealth items.

Back to the business of unpacking!

On Nursing

Shhhh... Listen... Do you hear that?

Listen closely. What do you hear??

Nothing?? Well, then you're hearing the same thing as I am!

Nothing but quiet. Know why? THEY'RE GONE. My neighbour downstairs and her twerpy boyfriend have left the building.

And now, a moment of silence. NO WAY! *jumping up and down on the floors*

And not a moment too soon either. Because things would have just gone further downhill from here on, if that's at all possible. See. It turns out that there will be a Junior McBickerson some time early in the 2010. Yup. To be honest, if she's on her own, I don't doubt she'd be a good mother. However Twerp-Boy? Less than stellar. Much, much less. The plan now is to save up for a place together. She's living at her mother's, and he's...wherever. Eventually, they'll move back in together. I can see the COPS footage now. Nice.

I'm just happy I now have her apartment!

But. Let me tell you, I got precious little done this past week. Not a thing, as a matter of a fact.

See, what I *thought* was buildup in my right ear turned out to be something worse. Much worse. So bad in fact I landed in the hospital, with IV antibiotics; and not the least bit ashamed of crying and blubbering in front of total strangers. Seems the "blockage" was an infection that perforated my ear drum, and found a nice, sore spot to eat away at my eustachian tube, and enter the surrounding tissue, infecting the right side of my face, and getting into my bloodstream.

With the right side of my face swollen to the point you could not tell where my cheek ended and my outer ear started (and the ear swollen shut), I went to the ER, and was admitted. I was hooked up to some heavy duty antibiotics, and given some pain medication.

Anyway - all that to say, it was a rough week. I have another check up with the specialist on Tuesday (the 3rd since I was released), and more bloodwork to check the level of infection in my bloodstream, but things are sooo much better now. The swelling is gone from my face and ear, and the ear infection is on the mend, although it's still "there". I still have a few more days of oral antibiotics, and a week + of the drops.

Once home though, I was lucky to have some Home Care.

Nurse Atticus followed me around until I was either in bed, or on the couch. He then proceeded to plop down next to me, making sure I couldn't move without him knowing about it.

"I don't do bed pans or clean up barf. Just so you know."

Head Nurse Mae made sure that I took my medications, and drank my Ensure drink. My jaw was too sore to chew.

"Don't make me come up there."

And "Wants-To-Be-A-Therapy-Dog" Gandalf made sure that I smiled as often as I could.

"Hee hee! I really think I'd rock the hospital."

What more could you ask for?

And don't think I haven't been knitting through all of this. OK, maybe not so much last week, but I have been concentrating on getting some long suffering WIP's done.

Not that you can tell, but this is my Birdsfoot Scarf, from Virtual Yarns (Red Rattle doesn't photograph particularly well). If you enlarge the picture, you'll get a better idea of the stitch repeat. Really very soothing to work on - which I can appreciate these days.

I really don't have the attention span to work on much more than that. For one, the medication I'm taking for my ear makes me soooooo...tired... Plus, there's the little thing I'm doing called MOVING. Of which I've done precious little packing to prepare. Good thing I have a few weeks to move in...

Soon we'll be downstairs in the bigger apartment, with a huge, bright kitchen that I'm pretty sure will please the sun worshippers that are the Little Dudes.

"What do you mean, I won't be able to sit on the bannister post and harass squirrels any longer??"

Have a great week everyone!