On Sketching

 Sketching is one of the things I want to focus on in my retirement. I even went out with a friend when the temperatures were skyrocking.

Here's a photo of the scene. As you can see, accuracy is not my strength -- or even my goal. I like things that are wonky.

Last week, Keith drove me to Baraboo, a cute little town, so I could sketch and he could bike on some different roads. It's the home of Circus World, birthplace of the Ringling Brothers Circus, so there are painted elephants all over town.

I was drawing some of the old buildings downtown there when this man, about my age, came up to me and said, "Someone has a hobby."
"Keeps me out of prison," I joked.
"I did nine years in the big house," he replied. And he did. Told me his entire life story. It's a very friendly town.

But the best part was when a middle-aged woman came up to me and told me she owns an art gallery. She looked at my unfinished sketch and asked if I'd sell sketches of Baraboo at her gallery. Of course I would!

So, here's the sketch. It has a major mistake, but I can trace it onto a new piece of watercolor paper using my lightbox and correct it. Then I'll add watercolor.

Neck update: I got the neck brace off yesterday. They warned me that my neck would hurt for a few days because the muscles are out of practice -- and it does hurt! More worrisome. I have some signs of kidney damage from the mistakes in the ER, so they ran tests. I'm sure I won't hear anything over the holiday weekend.

In Between

 These days I am mostly decluttering and starting to pack. We close on our new house tomorrow, and then we have to move and get this one ready to put on the market. Work is hectic with both teaching virtually and planning to go back in a hybrid situation.

But in between, I find little times to do some crafty things. Thanks to Kim, I went a little crazy on the Hook, Line & Tinker hygge embroidery designs. It's been a fun and relaxing project that I'm going to hand-quilt.

I found a few hours to do some online sketching with a friend -- via Zoom, of course. This is the house where Marc Chagall grew up in Vitebsk, Belarus.

Then there's other people's crafts that I've come across as I declutter. The Barbie on the left is dressed in a darling suit that my babysitter knit in the late 1960s; the doll on the right is wearing a coat knit by my MIL. They are both better knitters than I'll ever be!

And I got some very good news this morning. Yesterday I had an endoscopy to see if I have Celiac Disease -- and I don't! I am so excited that I'm going to find time to bake Hamantaschen, even though the holiday for this Jewish treat has passed. It's a cookie dough folded around a filling -- with lots of gluten!

The Bad and the Good

 Let's just get the bad stuff out of the way. I've been absent from the Blog World lately because of doctors' appointments and bad news. It started with a podiatrist, who sent me to a rheumatologist to see whether I have Eylers-Danlos Syndrome, a disorder of connective tissue. Well, I do.

I also have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and Sjoden's Syndrome. You can look them up if you want. Suffice it to say that the EDS and the POTS make one very tired. No wonder I've been tired for 30 years. And I've had symptoms of POTS since I was 12.

And, if that's not enough, I have a biopsy scheduled for later this month to see if I have Celiac Disease.  I feel like I've been hit by a truck. 

As you can imagine, these new diagnoses are making the retirement decision quite easy. I have to formally announce by Feb. 15 if I'm going to get my retirement benefits. Don't worry! I'm not going to miss this deadline.

On to more cheerful subjects. It's been snowing here!!

I've been able to ski for the last three days in a row -- which is pretty much heaven in my world. The photo is from Saturday's outing to the Arboretum.

And I've been able to ski with friends each day. This is as close as I can get to socializing in person, and it is pretty darn nice.

I have two FOs, which have yet be photographed. I'm getting ready to cast on the Adrift shawl from Laine Magazine and using some stash yarn.

It's a nice easy pattern -- perfect for this time when I have so much to sort out!

Taking a Deep Breath on Friday

Thank you all for your kind words of support. They really helped me as I moved through the week, which was a hard one. My jaw was damaged when I was born. When I'm under stress, I clench, which causes terrible headaches. (Yes, I have a bite guard, but that just protects your teeth.) For the first time, the jaw problems are causing severe earaches. Apparently this is a common issue with jaw problems.

I saw two doctors this week. They both said I need to reduce stress as much as possible. Since that's not really possible, they upped my pain and sleep meds.

Still, I hustled all week. I have a lot of freshmen on my caseload this year, so I've been getting to know them and their families virtually. I completed a mountain of paperwork -- and I think I did it correctly! Now we have two weeks of professional development before the students come back virtually.

In the midst of all that, it seemed reasonable to indulge myself, so I started knitting the Annalise Shawl that I was gifted by Bridget:

Clearly I will have to block the heck out of the edges. Nonetheless, it is the perfect antidote to this trying week. Easy, fun, and beautiful.

I also picked up a project that I had cast on and lost track of months ago:

This is the beginning of a fingerless mitten. The pattern is About Town Mitts by Bonnie Sennott, who is one of my favorite designers. It's also an easy knit, which is all I am capable of at this point!

And I squeezed in another sketch of a house in the expensive part of my neighborhood. As you can tell, I really enjoy doing the stonework. The stone here is lannon stone, which is largely found in southeastern Wisconsin.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is glad that it's Friday!

Not as Much Knitting as I'd Like

I can't help but feel grateful for the welcome back to blogging that I have received from you, my dear friends. Thank you so much! And I'm so glad most of you are still blogging so I can share your lives.

Early in June, I went to town on our yard -- after 17 years of neglecting this deep-shade yard. Some friends donated plants and advice, and the back yard is beginning to look good:

We've tried growing shade grass on our terrace but always ended up with a weed patch. In early June, I spent hours weeding with a hand spade and planting  that most aggressive of ground covers: Snow on the Mountain, also known as Bishop's weed. So far, it's pretty bare, but I'm confident the "weed" will fill in by fall.

However, I spent far too much time twisting my right hand and wrist and ended up with a serious repetitive motion injury in my right hand and arm. Thus, I've had to limit my knitting time, which isn't helping with my goal of knitting a big dent into my stash.

I was able to finished my "pandemic shawl." It started as an Olive Pink Shawl, but I made a lot of changes in the pattern based on my own preferences. It is a huge, cuddly shawl that will spend a lot of time on my shoulders come winter.

And I've made slow progress on Kate's Poncho. I'm using gorgeous raspberry Miss Babs yarn that I bought at a Knit-In a decade ago. It's supposed to be for Rachel, but raspberry is my favorite color:

We'll have to see how it fits me before I decide!

And the Beat Goes On

The action just never stops here!

Wednesday I showed up at the hospital at 6 a.m. to have my A-Flutter fixed. It was easy. I just fell asleep and let the staff take care of things. They seem to have me all fixed up.

I made it to my family's Thanksgiving at my Mom's apartment. My brother Eric and his family came out from Virginia. My other brother, Michael (in Washington, DC), baked us two amazing pies (cherry and apple) and mailed them to us. Above, Eric is enjoying a piece of cherry.

It was surreal without my dad. It just hasn't fully sunk in yet.

My sweater is ready to be blocked, so I started a shawl. What can I say. I could outfit an entire homeless shelter in shawls -- and maybe I will! They are just so much fun to knit:

The pattern is the Soundwaves Shawl, and it is perfect TV knitting. Easy but not boring. The yarn has been in my queue for years: Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere. Can you even imagine? It is truly smooshy.

I am about to start a mega knitting project. Probably the most ambitious thing I will ever attempt. Does that have you waiting for my next post?

When It Rains...

It's been a bit crazy here.  Between my dad's death and his funeral, I ended up being admitted to the hospital with Atrial Flutter. It's kind of like the more common A-Fib, but I'm way too queasy to explain the difference to you. What I can tell you is that when your heart isn't working right, you feel just awful!

The good news is that it can be fixed with a procedure call ablation. The bad news is that I am so queasy that I almost passed out when the cardiologist tried to explain the procedure to me. "I usually don't put patients out for this," he said, "but I think I'm going to have to in this case." I second that!

My dad as a boy. I think his openness and sweetness really shows itself.

I was out of the hospital in time for the funeral. For the first time, I really understood the Jewish tradition of family and friends placing the first shovelfuls of dirt on the coffin. There is something very comforting about being part of that process, although it was extremely emotional for my mom.

He hasn't been his "real" self for many years, but the finality of death is always difficult to grapple with.  He was a kind, smart, funny man who wanted to help others. One of our struggles after the dementia set in was that he wanted to donate insane amounts of money to public schools and other good causes. His goodness was appreciated in my hometown, so the funeral was well-attended. It was a fitting end to a life well-lived.

Because it was such a crazy week, I don't feel like the loss has hit me fully yet.

As you can imagine, I have not gotten much knitting done. It is taking me forever to finish the second sleeve on my Vodka Lemonade sweater ... but I'm almost there!

This weekend I've been reading blogs and enjoying catching up with you!

Designing Woman

Thanks to all who shared their favorite listens. I needed some new ideas. Also a note on the knitting: I am knitting Free Your Fade, which is much smaller than Find Your Fade. Find is more of a blanket than a shawl!

While I can follow knitting patterns just fine, I find sewing patterns confusing. I wanted a small tote bag, so I looked at some patterns and then made up my own mash-up pattern. Amazingly, it worked:

Sewing doesn't usually go this smoothly for me. And isn't the fabric fabulous? The lining is my own ice-dyed faux-indigo fabric.

I'm also trying to perfect a Fair Isle hat pattern. The colors aren't quite right here. The light color is yellow, not white, so it looks more Earthy than the photo shows.

And I'm working on a new abstract embroidery pattern. Sometimes it's fun to just play with color and shape.

A few of you have asked about my health. So sweet of you! My recovery from the surgery is just about complete, and it went smoothly. The pathology report wasn't so good, though, so there is more treatment in my future. Hopefully just minor stuff.

What I've Learned in the Past Week

1. It is amazing how much more knitting I can get done when I'm not working full time! (See sweater below.)

Flowers from my sweet Mom.

2. Any surgery than involves anesthesia is exhausting.

3. You can't hurry healing. In fact, it's the opposite: You have to slow down to heal. This is a challenge for some of us.

This is the body of a cardigan. More in future posts.

4. Knitting is the absolute best thing to do when you're recuperating, especially mindless stockinette.

Another hat in my effort to stash-bust.

5. You should not check your email when you are sick leave. You just end up working for free. Ask me how I know!

Recuperating

The recuperation from my surgery is not as painful as the doctor had predicted, so of course I'm relieved about that. I am housebound and not really up for visitors, but I can manage knitting. 

I pulled out these three colors for my Free Your Fade shawl. 

I'm not sure if I'll use all three or just the gradient and the blue. I'm going to see how it looks when I get to the first "fade." So far, the gradient is just gorgeous! And it matches the project bag -- one of the many that my sweet MIL has made for me.

I set up another Tchaikovsky Hat before my surgery. It's such an easy pattern and I had the perfect yarn: a skein of Casual Fashion Queen in Bohemia. 

This might be my favorite colorway of all time.

While I'm not up to visitors, I do appreciate it when Nagi and Kola keep me company.

It's actually been cool here so I've enjoyed having them on my lap.

At the rate I'm recovering, I'm going to have to start doing useful things soon, but I'm trying to enjoy this "vacation" while I can.

The Day Before Surgery

So, the timeline here is a bit wacky. Surgery will do that to you. I had my surgery yesterday and it went well. I'm home recuperating, but on quite a few pain meds -- so you can't hold me responsible for any spelling or grammar errors!

I did some yarny retail therapy on the afternoon before my surgery. Knit Circus has a new retail shop, which I hadn't visited before. As I told the clerk there, "I figured this was a good time to buy some yarn because my husband can hardly complain when I'm about to have surgery."

Of course the new store is bigger and thus better than the original. So much amazing yarn! Owner Jala Spiro and her crew have amazing color sense and they come up with the most surprising and beautiful gradients. I was only going to buy one, but ended up with two. I justified this because I'm using both in shawls that will also eat up some stash yarn. I know: I'm way too good at justifying yarn purchases!

The skein on top is going to be part of a Free your Fade. I've been wanting to do a Fade. A completed Find your Fade was on display at the store and it is more blanket than shawl. The Free your Fade suits my taste better. The second skein is going to become an On the Spice Market, like the one here.

Although, the more I look at the finished shawl, the less sure I am that my skein is right for the project. No problem. I'm sure I can find a pattern for that beautiful skein. 

Knit Circus has an online store, too, so don't feel left out because you're not here in Madison.

Before I left school Wednesday, a couple of my students came to say goodbye to me Wednesday afternoon, and they brought me this:

There are some things about work I don't miss. But I do miss "my" kids.

I'd Rather Be At Work

Remember how I said that my jaw really hurt during Thanksgiving weekend? Well, it seems that my constant jaw pain had merged with the pain from a fractured tooth. No wonder I was popping Advils!

Late yesterday afternoon, I found myself at the endodontist (a word I'd never before encountered) expecting to get an emergency root canal, but the doctor there said the tooth was beyond saving. Thus, this morning, an oral surgeon removed the tooth.

I won't bore you with the details, but it's been a rough morning. At least I've had the perfect knitting: I just love the Land of Sweets cowl. It is mindless and fun -- something I can do while gulping down pain pills.

Reading is probably beyond my drug-addled brain today, but the hours are passing nicely while I knit to the audiobook version of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. It's not great literature, but it is a good story, well told. It's the story of two households, one wealthy and one not, whose lives become entangled in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Joining with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday.

Back to Crafting

My family left on Saturday -- my daughter, both my brothers and their families. It was hard to say good-bye. I've always hated that my brothers live so far from me. My son is here in Madison, but he's studying for his veterinary boards so we just got a glimpse of him this weekend.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. We certainly did. However, it was a little too much activity for me. My jaw condition is worsening, and I need a lot of down time to manage the pain. Of course, I didn't want to miss too much time with my family, so I consumed a frightening amount of painkillers over the past five days.

But now I can use crafts to distract myself from the pain. This is truly the best way for me to manage pain. Most work days, I come home in agony and retreat into my knitting/embroidery chair to unwind. It does help -- without the side effects of painkillers!

I had to hide my Happinest from our guests because it is destined to be a Hanukkah 2018 gift. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and I just love it. I may have to make one for my own home.

The directions call for 18-count Aida cloth or linen. I went with the larger 14-count to get a bigger image.

I'm still working on my kelp-forest sundress. I think this will be the last fish:

That yellow-green fish looked lonely to me. 

A friend is coming over later today to make bracelets for me. I intend to enjoy every minute of the last day of my break!

I Fall Victim to Good Marketing

I should put myself on a strict knitting diet: no new yarn, no casting on. I was thinking very seriously about doing just that but then a friend "forced" me to go to The Knitting Tree, a LYS. She needed buttons; I needed nothing. Yet, three days later, I have these:

They are Stripey Fingerless Gloves from Patternology, which is the brand that the Knitting Tree owner uses for her designs.  In a brilliant move, she doesn't sell the patterns; instead, they are free when you purchase the yarn each pattern is designed for.

The yarn in this case is KFI Luxury Collection Indulgence Cashmere. It's a DK weight with 5% cashmere. For $30, you get 437 yards and 150 grams, enough to make a set of fingerless mitts and a matching slouchy hat, which I've begun:

The mitts and hat are going to be gifts for two different people, however.

I have had too much time to knit. Someone -- not me, for once -- backed a car I was riding in into a post and aggravated my highly arthritic neck. Knitting in a neck-friendly position was my main activity this weekend, along with  experimenting with pain-killers. Gee, I sound so old here!

I'm off to catch up on your blogs. That's one other thing I can manage!

Just a Little Knitting

Thanks for all your sympathy and thoughts on my aching hand. I've mostly laid off knitting for the last two days, other than a few rounds on this sock, which is my own Trellis design.

Kathy suggested trying socks with wooden needles, which seems to be fine. I don't know why, but the magic loop technique, which I like, seems to be causing the pain. I'll have to finish the sweater a little at a time. I'm afraid if I switch to dpns, the gauge will be different.

Since I don't want to knit much, I've been doing some bead work. This is the beginning of a collar-style necklace. I'm not thrilled with the colors, so I think I'm going to go back to the bead store and try something different.

I took a short break from North and South to read Say Nice Things About Detroit by Scott Lasser. I've lived most of my life in Rust Belt Cities, so I enjoyed the ambiance. It's a good summer read.

I've also been looking at sewing books influenced by Japanese styling.  Don't ask me why. I am a terrible seamstress! But I'd like to get better, and some of these items are pretty easy. The downside of easy is that some of them are hideously ugly. Who knows? Maybe I'll find something even I could make.

Joining up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Is This Why It Hurts?

I've been knitting great guns on my Harvest sweater, using the magic loop technique, which I really like. However, for the first time ever, my right hand and forearm really hurt.

Could it be that something about the way I'm holding that long needle is causing the pain? I'm not knitting more than I have at other points, so I don't think it's an issue of too much knitting. Has anyone out there found that certain techniques hurt their hands and/or arms?

Here it is the first Monday of spring break and I feel like I have to lay off the knitting. While that is kind of a bummer, it isn't going to ruin things for me. One advantage of having so many crafts, is that I'll just turn to embroidery or beading. I'm sure I can find something fun to do.

Besides, my house is in chaos, so decluttering is on the agenda for the entire summer. And so is work! After 10 years, I have moved on from 8th grade. In the fall, I'll be a special ed teacher at a high school. I'm excited about a new challenge and older studentws. It doesn't hurt that the school is a half-mile from my house. Both my children went to this high school, so I know a lot about it -- and it is a great place.

I'll be heading over there this afternoon to meet with my new boss. I've known her for years, and she is an excellent teacher.

Wishing you a pain-free week!

A Bit of Beading

When I am really stressed, I find that following a pattern to make jewelry is relaxing.

I've put these little bracelets together over the past week, using a pattern that I Xeroxed from a book a while ago. I think that the pattern may from Hip to Bead, but I'm not sure.

Why so much stress? Well, it goes without saying that work is stressful. The continuing cuts to education funding makes each year harder than the one before.

And then I have yet another health problem. I mean, really, wasn't breaking my leg in April enough? Apparently not. I had a CAT scan a week ago to see if I had a concussion (smacked my head into the mantel while cleaning -- doesn't everyone do that?). The concussion was mild, but it turns out I have severe arthritis in my right jaw. And I am nowhere near old enough to have such a severe case.

For some reason, that news really upset me. But I've begun physical therapy and it is feeling more manageable. A friend says I should use it as an excuse to go to a milkshake diet ... which is tempting!

The bracelets are a simple right-angle weave with 2 x 2 squares, embellished with fire-polished glass beads. They helped. And they have fewer calories than a milkshake!