Let's Hope for a Better Year

 I usually consider my year to be the Jewish year, but this year I'm going with 2022. The first few months of the Jewish year weren't so great: broken hip for Keith; back injury and kidney stone for me; the death of one of my son's best friends from way back; and a colonoscopy for my 85-year-old mother When does my real retirement begin?

Wisconsin is once again one of the worst states for Covid. Just like we were a year ago. This meant no New Years celebrations for us. Keith went to his parents for X-mas, but I stayed home. I went to the funeral for Seth's friend and it was packed. Even though all those Death Metal kids were wearing masks, I was worried about exposing my in-laws. (Yes, Seth was in a Death Metal band, An End to Flesh. I'm glad he didn't stay with that as a career).

But some things are good, like our loving kittens.

And embroidering my newest design:

And, of course, Keith, Seth, and Rachel. 

There is knitting, but that is for another time.

Good News, Weird News & Knitting

 My husband and I woke up to a great text this morning: All the conditions have been removed from the offer on our house and we are closing on June 1! It will be nice to own only one house.

Weird news: Threats of a shooting at my high school have been posted on Snapchat. Really? As if this school hasn't been hard enough! The worst thing is that Snapchat doesn't seem to know who posted the threatening posts. We definitely need to regulate social media.

And finally .... knitting!

I finished the first Petty Harbour sock. I was worried about running out of yarn, so I only did a 5-inch leg. Big mistake! I didn't get to the final color. Oh well. I'm not redoing the sock!

I am a huge fan of Casapinka. She writes amazing patterns, and I love ponchos. So how could I resist casting on Noncho? The red and gray yarns are from my stash, but I honestly didn't have a third color. Local dyer and store Knit Circus had just reopened, so that gorgeous hand-paint is from there. We much support every LYS, right?

I have 19 more school days before retirement. It still feels like a long time. But I will get there!

Suviving the Pandemic

 I am foggy after another bad night.  I wake up four or five times a night in the middle of terrible anxiety attacks. The bad news is they have been so intense that I can't even get out of bed to take medication. The good news is that I can't get out of bed and eat.

Usually, my panic attacks are very specific, focusing on specific worries. These have been completely general, so  I'm not sure what actions I can take to calm myself. Very frustrating!

I'm assuming they are in some way a response to the pandemic and to work. I have to work at least one more year, so there's not much I can about that. It never occurred to me that any parent would think I should die so that their child could go to school. The threat of opening schools is the only thing I am conscious of worrying about -- that and my son working in a veterinary hospital with hundreds of employees. 

I think I am doing what I can to make my life pleasant -- I'm almost done with my Pandemic Quilt. I'll take a full photo when it's hanging on the wall:

I've been biking and walking nearly every day. Today I saw these hibiscus flowers on my walk. I just love that there's a variety of hibiscus that can grow in Wisconsin!

I am thoroughly enjoying my Sue Spargo-type project, which I am calling "Happy Fish." I'm learning lots of new embroidery stitches. Wool is so nice to work with because it has structure and it's easy to get a needle through.

And my dear Kola makes me happy. The other day she thought she was recycling:

I Zoom with friends, hang out with my husband, talk on the phone, read. I'm not quite sure why I'm having such bad nights!

Deep Winter

After a frighteningly mild start, winter has arrived with a vengeance. I am home for a second snow day in two weeks. And it looks like we may call off school for another day or two this week because of frigid temperatures.

This is not a good thing. We only budget for two weather days per school year, so we have to add minutes or days if we have three or more weather days. Not that I'm complaining today. A three-day weekend is always nice!

However, after I post this, I need to take a walk. The temperature is around 0 -- and that is about as warm as it is going to get for this week. And then I need to do some paperwork for school. Those special ed deadlines do not shift for snow days!

I've started a second Dewberry cowl with a skein of Sun Valley fibers. The yarn is super-soft and the perfect shade of blue to wear with denim.

I finished my Soundwaves Shawl and I'm not sure I'm happy with it. It hasn't been blocked, but it looks like the outer edge isn't going to accommodate the top edge smoothly. I looked at Ravelry, and I'm not the only person to run into this issue. We'll see if blocking helps.

On the first snow day, I went skiing on the bike path with some friends. It wasn't too bad. And it was nice to ski without driving Up North. 

I have been finishing up small art quilts, so I have a stack of them that need quilt labels. I spent about an hour this morning making some. I am just very slow with a sewing machine. I don't mind hand-sewing them onto the quilts.

Yesterday, I went over my friend Tsela's house and we drew. I am quite pleased with my sketch:

It really does look like Tsela. However, her couch is gray. I just wanted to get some more color into the picture.

These cold, snowy days make me happy (yes, I know that is not normal). It is just so cozy to be inside with a fun knitting project and a cup of tea when the weather is so bad. 

I hope you are enjoying the weather where you are!

Reading with Obama and a Thank You

First of all, I hope the new year is beginning well for all of you! Mine started out well with a walk in the freshly fallen snow followed by lunch with friends.

Natural springs melt enough show for a little stream.

On Monday, the New York Times published a list of the books that former President Barak Obama read in 2018 -- and I found that he and I read five of the same books:

-An American Marriage by  Tayari Jones. I listened to this one, and I enjoyed it a great deal. It's the fictional story of the marriage of two Black professionals and how their lives are affected when the husband is falsely convicted of a violent crime. This a well-written book with a compelling plot that has a lot to say about being Black in America today.
-Educated by Tara Westover. I listened to this one, too. A gripping story about growing up in a conservative Mormon family with a father who is both a survivalist and bipolar. Tara's journey to Cambridge is inspiring.
-How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt looks at history to relate how leaders can destroy democracies. A scary and essential read at this point in time.
- There There by Tommy Orange sounded like a book I would love. It follows a handful of characters in the Oakland, CA, area before a pow-wow. Everyone I know loved this book. I didn't even finish it. The characters just didn't sit well with me.
-Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday was possibly the most praised work of literary fiction in 2018. I'm not sure I can finish this one, either. Yes, the writing is strong, but the story of a 20-something aspiring writer and an elderly literary star is passionless and dull. Halliday herself had an affair with Philip Roth when she was younger.

My most-fun read of 2018 -- well, actually, listen-- was a book I would never have picked out if so many of my treasured blog friends hadn't talked it up. So my sincere thanks to all of you who recommended: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.

I listened to this one, too, which I highly recommend. The reader captures the accents and inflections of the characters -- without taking on such a strong brogue that the dialogue is difficult to understanding. Listening to this book was sheer joy.

And Yet Life Goes On

I am still reeling from the mass shooting at my former workplace, the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. Last night, I dreamed about a shooting happening at my school.

How did I manage to choose two professions that are low paid and attract mass murderers? Don't take career advice from me!

But life does indeed go on, and that is a good thing. It is 96 degrees here, with a heat index of 117! We actually ran our stand-alone air conditioner for a while. It works, but it is incredibly noisy!

I can walk in the mornings, but it's good weather for sitting under a fan and knitting. I pulled out these mother-daughter mittens that I started in 2007!

And I finished them! 

The pattern is from the book Kristin Knits by Kristin Nicholas. The yarn is her Julia yarn, which hasn't been made for years. That is a shame because it is a beautiful yarn and a pleasure to work with.

The lesson I have learned from this project is to never embroider mittens. It is really, really hard to start and end threads in a narrow tube shape!

Now they go into the gift box until an appopriate mother-daughter pair needs a gift.

A Lovely Long Weekend

Finally...snow! We didn't get a lot, but it was enough for Keith and I to hit the golf course to cross country ski. The tracks were skied-in -- as opposed to beautiful machine-made tracks -- but I'm not complaining. It felt so good to be out and moving across the snow.

I do love knitting on a long winter weekend, so I was able to make some progress on my Vintage Fairy Light socks:

And I'm slowing knitting rounds on the super-bulky Clara's Cape. In real life, the pink is more subdued than it looks here.

I made it to Madison Urban Sketchers for the first time in a while, and we had a record turn-out: 20 sketchers! We were at the Chocolatarian -- and, yes, this cafe is as delicious as it sounds -- on the West Side.

As we often do, my friend Tsela and I sat together, so we drew the same thing. You can see her drawing on the left and mine on the right.

However, it hasn't been all fun. I have been working on modifying a 100-question biology semester exam. Finals start Wednesday, so it will be a crazy week.

All Good Things Come to an End

I'll be heading back to school today. While I do enjoy my students, I'll miss those long lazy mornings for coffee and crafting. My daughter flew back to Miami yesterday, and I'm going through a bit of withdrawal. We had such a great visit!

I won't have as much time now for knitting... 

Fairy Lights Socks

...or making jewelry...

...or hanging out with this girl:

But I'm sure I'll adjust to work. And Spring Break is only 3 months away!

Tinkering Around the House

Winter cold has finally arrived here -- although no snow to speak of -- so it has been a good weekend to haul out my beloved ponchos and stay warm and cozy. 

I'm slowly cleaning up my craft room. This weekend, I decided to clear off my workspace -- a task in desperate need of completion -- so I finished a few jewelry projects and took apart others.

The necklace above is a beautiful design, but those bright blue beads do not match its elegance. The white beads are rather expensive, so I determined to rip it apart. That's the easy part. Sorting the beads, however, took much longer than I expected.

I finished the Shawheid hat by Kate Davies. In an earlier post, I said I was knitting it out of the discontinued Telemark yarn. I was wrong. It's knit out of the recommended Jamieson & Smith. My carried threads on the back were a bit tight, but a good soaking and blocking corrected for me.

I did get out of the house a few times. A friend and I went to see the movie Ladybird. It has lots of cute and authentic moments, but the mother character wasn't believable, which kind of undermines the whole story. Afterward, she fed me some delicious lentil soup at her house. And this morning I treated myself to a latte at a local coffeeshop.

Today will be busier. I have a number of errands that have to get done. It's just as well. I need to adjust to winter weather!

Hope your weekend is relaxing and refreshing.

Swimming in Stitches

I can't be the only Midwesterner who is obsessed with the ocean.  Most of the planet is covered with water, but so many of us have to settle for lakes or rivers when we're longing for water. I am never surprised by how expensive it is to live near the sea because I can't imagine anything better (unless there's a hurricane, of course).

I have two watery projects going. One is a summer dress that I'm turning into a seascape with phantasy phish based on 19th-century drawings.

This project is pure fun. I just start stitching and go with the flow. Very relaxing!

The other is my main quilting project, which will go on display this winter at Madison's Overture Center. This has been a lot of work, but I'm nearing the end. 

Here's a sneak peak at the fringe. I hope it gives a watery feel.

I hope your weekend has been more relaxing than mine. I volunteered to be a proctor the PSAT on Saturday. Yes I was paid, but a six-day week is exhausting! This would be a great retirement gig, though. That leaves one day for getting my livf in order and doing the homework for the mindfulness class I'm taking.

And my embroidery club at school starts up on Wednesday, so I'm washing muslin as I type, so the kids will be able to dive right in. Then I'll need to cut it up and zigzag the edges so they don't unravel. There are times when my sewing machine is my best friend.

On a Happier Note

Although my weekend started out with an unfortunate knitting event (see yesterday's post), it picked up from there. For one thing, I was able to bike for the first time in almost a year. It felt so good to get the exercise and to be able to go downtown without looking for parking. I am pleasantly surprised that the incision from my July 6 surgery (on the back of my right thigh) is fully healed already.

On my first trip, I visited my dad, who is in rehab now. A week ago he landed in the ER with sepsis. That was his fourth ER trip in 7 weeks. Three of them resulted in hospitalization and this is the second time he was released to rehab, not home. Poor guy. He is going through a lot.

I also went to a fund-raiser for the local Rape Crisis Center and to a sketching event with a friends.

And, I finally had time to try a project from this great book I got from the library:

If you look closely, you can see light pencil lines on this sheet of paper:

Then I covered the lines with a watercolor resist pen by Christine Adolph.

Then I played with my paints:

Now I'm waiting for a special Ranger transfer foil to arrive in the mail. When I rub that on these little paintings, the white lines should turn gold! These are little paintings that I'll make into cards. If the gold really works, I want to try larger paintings.

And I'll leave you with a picture of our darling kitten:

She's a keeper!

It's Never a Good Sign ...

... when I don't blog for more than a week.

My dad has been complaining of back pain. He's also been having a lot of trouble with mobility. So, we made arrangements for him to move into the assisted living section of the retirement community where my parents live.

Yarn bombing downtown Madison! I love this.

But before we could get him moved, he ended up in the emergency room. Turns out the poor guy has a compression fracture in one of his vertebrae. He'll need a stay in rehab before moving into his new digs.

I've been embroidering a lot of ocean stuff lately. 

In between that, I've put in quite a few hours getting ready for school, and we are trying to make some progress in decluttering our house so we can put it on the market int he spring. We don't want to move far, just to downsize.

There simply aren't enough hours in the day, are there?

Stitch Markers Rock

Many of you commented on the challenge of casting on 472 stitches for my Winter Ridge Cowl Shawl (that is really a poncho). Vicki noted that she uses stitch markers every 20 or 25 stitches. I couldn't cast on a lot of stitches without markers!

For this project, I used stitch markers every 50 stitches. Using them every 25 stitches would have given me too many markers to keep track of.  It was painful, but it worked out. And I'm very happy with the project so far.

I am a true believer in the long-tail cast-on. I was taught by a Norwegian woman when I was 10, and I can do it in my sleep. It is flexible and looks great. But even I don't want to try to figure out the tail for 472 stitches especially with yarn that ain't cheap!

For this project, I used the cable cast-on (which has nothing to do with cables, as far as I can tell). I don't think it's as stable, but it did the trick.

Update: I had my staples out today, and the healing is going well. The nurse warned me that it will take a full year for my incision to heal! But I should be able to drive soon, so I'll settle for small victories.

Have a great weekend!

Getting Some Things Done

I think I've turned a corner and the pain level has really dropped. Still, this has not been a terrible recovery. I knit an entire shawl already:

This is an Antarktis in a Knit Circus gradient (can't find the ball band!). I thought I had too much yarn, but I was wrong and I had to end a bit early. I can't move around enough to block yet, but I'm sure it will block out to a good size.

I finished the painting I started on a day trip Keith and I took before my surgery to Viroqua, Wis.

This is a beautiful old building. To me, the touching thing is the For Sale sign along the side of the building. I'm not sure painting is the right word because I used Derwent Inktense Pencils, my usual medium.

I packed up a box of hand knits for the folks on Pine Ridge Reservation, one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the United States. You can learn more about this project at the Ravelry group. I mostly sent mittens and scarves.

I've been trying to knit outside for a little while every morning, before the mosquitos swarm! Yesterday I noticed that our yard is dotted with these:

It's a mushroom, not a flower.

Summer break is roughly half over, and it's going way too fast! When I can move around a little better, I need to go into school and start getting organized for next year. I learned the hard way last year that the pace is very fast in high school and I need to hit the ground running!

Getting Out A Bit

I have been able to do a few outings since my surgery. The most fun was a visit to Studio You with my friends Marsha and Tsela.

I decided to paint some dessert plates as a wedding gift. It didn't occur to me to take a photo of the first one before it was taken away to be fired, but here is the second one:

As you can see, I'll have to go back to finish this one.

Both Marsha and Tsela are talented artists. Here's Tsela with the vase she painted. I reminded her when my birthday is.

Marsha had knee surgery a few weeks ago, so we both very much appreciate Tsela ferrying us around and putting up with our very slow walking pace.

For the most part, though, I'm just hanging around the house and trying to heal, welcoming visitors, knitting, reading and spending time with Nagi. He's very cute, but not much on conversation, as you can see.

Hope your weekend is relaxing and fun.

Whether to Share, Good News, a Lesson and Knitting

I'm sure that none of use bares all online. I certainly don't want to advertise all my short-comings to the world. Then there is the question of tone; I don't want to be moaning and complaining all the time. Who wants to read that? And often the difficulties in our lives involve other people, so we need to respect their privacy.

I've been thinking about what to share online a lot since early May, when I was diagnosed with a skin cancer, Squamous Cell Carcinoma. This is generally a very treatable cancer that stays on the surface of the skin. However, this lesion on my right thigh was misdiagnosed by a dermatologist a decade ago, so has grown unchecked -- until it bothered me enough to see another dermatologist this past spring.

It took the dermatologist less than a second to look at it and order a biopsy. I knew then that it had to be cancer. The biopsy came back positive and a Mohs procedure was scheduled for July 6. Two months is a long time to wait when you don't know the extent of the cancer, but the rush of the last month of school helped distract me, as did the trip to Copenhagen.

The Mohs procedure went well. The doctor is reasonably confident they removed all the cancer, but she is going to put me on a chemo surface treatment when the incision heals. And the incision is healing beautifully so far! If I get through the next week without any signs of infection, I'll be in the clear.

I should mention that my husband is an amazing nurse, and my incredible daughter flew in from Florida to be around at this time. Of course, my mom is here in Madison, too, to help out.

That's the good news. Here is the lesson: Be paranoid about odd things on your skin! I don't know how the first dermatologist missed that this lesion was cancer, but I sure wish I would have gotten a second opinion! It would have been a much easier procedure when a smaller area was involved.

As for knitting ... the photos are of an Antarktis, my second. Until the surgeon went in with the Mohs, we didn't know how deep the cancer was or what the recovery would be like. In the days before the procedure, I set up this project as a mindless, soothing knitting activity. And it has been perfect.

I'm usually careful about keeping track of ball bands, but somehow I lost this one. What I can tell you is that the yarn comes from one of my favorite (and local!) dyers: Knit Circus. Fortunately, the recovery is going very smoothly and I can also work on other projects, so I won't be boring you with endless photos of this shawl!

I haven't been up to reading blogs and commenting, but I'll be starting that today. I look forward to seeing what you've been up to!