Busy, Busy, Busy...

Summer Open Cardigan, Flannel Blanket w/Crochet Edging, Roll Brim Baby Hat

First and foremost,  I finally sat down and finished the Summer Open Cardigan.    As you can see, I finally hit on a solution for the pulling problem in front.   However, it is to big for me now and I am losing weight so it will only get bigger.    I am going to try to shrink it in the wash.  If that does not work, I may just pass it on to someone else.

The hat and blanket are for the Co-op.    It seems that there have been requests for more boy colored items.   As the mom of two boys, I can so understand that.    Cute boy stuff is much harder to find than girl stuff.   With that in mind (and because blue is my favorite color), I am focusing my attentions on boy colored items for the time being.    I used Patons Grace for the blanket edging and Knit Picks Comfy Sport for the hat.   I really like the Comfy.   It knits up very neatly and is supper soft to the touch.

Random Monday....

How could I not love living here?

Lots of little stuff keeping me busy over the last two weeks.   Hence the random nature of this post.

• Diabetes, good.    It has not been difficult at all sticking to the Diabetes diet.   I know there will come a time when I really just want to toss the whole thing and do what I want but I am not there yet.    In fact, as of Friday morning I have lost 8 #'s.    Just by eating right and not sitting around as much.
• Finally, I got back to the Summer Open Cardigan.    One sleeve is done, the other half way there.   That and tucking of ends, and I will have a new sweater to wear.
• For the co-op, I have been making baby blankets out of pretty flannels and then crocheting an edging on them.   They come out very nice but I am going to give a try to knitting an attached edging instead.
• Finished a couple of good books lately (one read, the other listened to).    Women, Food, & God was very interesting.    I am not sure I agree with all of her conclusions but there were a few things that rang a bell.   I actually listened to it twice through.   It was definitely worth the time.  Eat, Pray, Love was great.   I know I am a bit behind the curve on this one.   I read it now so that I would have something to compare the movie to.    I really liked this book and will likely read others by this author.
• Our youngest has asked to be home-schooled for just this coming school year (8th grade).   In Florida we have Virtual School which makes the whole process easier (theoretically).    He is very (dare I say, over) responsible and drives himself harder than we would like.   That could make him just the right candidate for this program.    We have conditionally agreed (pending a discussion with his guidance counselor).    I like the idea in theory but am a bit nervous about what the reality will look like.   How do home-schooling moms manage time for themselves?

That's it for now.   Hopefully, my next post will feature a photo of my new sweater :-)

Does This Ever Happen to You....

Before I get to the question part of the program, let me tell you about my visit with the endocrinologist.   It went great.    He did confirm the diagnoses of diabetes, but said that it is "extremely mild".    Better diet and more activity has already made such a difference that my blood sugar is already in the normal range again.  Consequently, I have no need of meds, and only minimal testing (which, he says, is for my peace of mind).    I just need to keep doing what I am doing.  I am so relieved.

Now to the knitting part of things.   The Summer Open Cardigan is all done except for the (half) sleeves and the Zen Pi shawl is all done except for the last row of the edging.   Sounds good doesn't it?    The only problem is that both projects have been in just this place for two weeks or more.   Now that they are almost done, I have absolutely lost interest in them.   How weird is that?   Does this ever happen to you?

Where "Young Girl Knitting" holds my sock....

My appointment with the endocrinologist is not until Monday but, until then, I am operating on the assumption that I do, in fact have diabetes.  With that in mind, I have been using a food tracker, sticking to a diabetes diet (per Diabetes for Dummies) and trying to be more active.  Since I absolutely hate the idea of traditional exercise, I have been making a point of doing things that I like that just happen to burn calories.    

Today, youngest son and I spent the day in St. Augustine.  We walked around for hours, had a dietarily (yes, I know that that is not really a word) correct lunch, and took in the Lightner Museum.   It was wonderful.   

One of the highlights of the Lightner is their music room, where they play different kinds of nickelodeons and music boxes.   It is really nice and, having seen/listened to it many times, never gets old (at least for me).

 Just outside of the music room, there is this statue titled "Young Girl Knitting".    It seems, though, that this little girl has a history.    It is signed "Ella Pollock Bidwell, Florence 1889".  However, no one seems to know who Ella Pollock Bidwell was.   She was obviously a talented sculptress, and there were a lot of  American artists in Italy at the end of the 19th century, but that is all we know.   How odd that her name does not turn up anywhere else.    A search online only turned up this sculpture as part of a Smithsonian inventory.  How could I not love a knitter with a mystery?   

Really?!

It has been a hell of a week.   Last week, I saw a new GP because my back was out.  Because I was a new patient and due, he ordered routine blood work.   On Monday I met with him to discuss the results.  Since I was asked to come in I knew something was wrong.  I was sure that the problem was my cholesterol but I was wrong.    The problem is that I have diabetes.   Just, sh*t!   I have been afraid of this for some time.   My brother & sister are both diabetic, we are Hispanic, and I could definitely stand to lose weight.    I am very aware of these risk factors so I try to eat a healthy diet and walk on the beach a few times a week.   Obviously, I should not have been surprised but I was just gob-smacked.    I have made an appointment with my brother's endocrinologist. There is no choice but to deal with this but I am not liking it one little bit.  

In the mean time, in order to work off some of this nervous energy, I decided to move some things around,  While moving something else, I tipped a wrought iron table over onto my foot.   The bruise is spectacular but at least it is not broken.  In fact, once the initial agony passed, it only hurts if I touch it.  What I did do, though, was to re-injure my back.   You heard right, my back is hurt because I dropped a table on my foot.   Yes, indeed, this has been a hell of a week.

At this point I am alternating between simple knitting (my brain is fried) and reading Diabetes For Dummies.

Hands Across the Sand

Hands Across the Sand

Jacksonville Beach

This Saturday we spent some time at the beach participating in a Hands Across the Sand event.  Hands across the sand is an international organization whose mission is to stop off shore drilling and keep our beaches beautiful.    We had wonderful weather and met some very nice people.  What I really loved about the day is how nice everyone was.    There were people on the beach who were not interested in "the cause". Some were very open about their support for off-shore drilling but no one, on either side of the issue, was anything but pleasant and respectful.    A couple of people even offered to take pictures for those of us participating.   It was a terrific experience all around.

On the knitting front, I did rip out the button band on the Summer Open Cardi.   After I re-knit it in the bigger needle size, it still pulled up in front.   My new plan, is to rip out the cast-off, and re-work that using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast-off.   My hope is that, with a stretchier cast-off, I will be able to block the front into shape.  

Say it isn't so....

Summer Open Cardigan

Here I am happily working on my top down cardi and I hit a snag.   When I tried this baby on after finishing the body, it fit like a dream and I knew (knew!) that the rest was going to be a cake walk.   As instructed, I used a smaller needle to pick-up and knit the ribbed button band.    I could tell that something was not right as I was casting off but it was not until I tried it on again that I realized that the smaller needle size brought up the front by quite a bit.   In fact, it changed the whole shape of the cardi and not in a flattering way either.   The only hope is to rip out the button band and do it all over with a bigger needle.   Man...I hate it when that happens!

This is not the only knitting glitch I have encountered lately.    I have been, successfully, knitting these felted bags for the co-op, using  Paton's SWS and Bernat's Felting Wool.    After being asked for the pattern a couple of times, I decided to write it up and submit it to Knit Picks Independent Designer Program.   With that in mind, I gave a friend the pattern and some yarn and asked her to critique the pattern.   That went really well.   The next hurdle was figuring out how to create a PDF file.  Got that done (PDF for Dummies is a keeper).   Again, I thought the hard part was done.  All I had to do was knit up a sample in a Knit Picks yarn.  What I had not accounted for was the fact their yarn would felt differntly than the ones I had been using.   The fiber did felt in that it be came a solid piece, but shrank hardly at all which made it a much floopier bag than I am used to selling.   I have ordered more yarn and am going to try it doubled with a size bigger needle.   The other thing is that it did not felt in my new machine (a top loader) at all.   I tried it twice at home and then took it to a laundromat where the results were better but, as I said, too floopy.   With this next attempt, I will take it  straight to the laundromat in the hopes that I will get the nice firm fabric that I am used to.

Hubby and youngest are watching Gettysburg (T2 has to read Killer Angels for this summer).  I hate war movies.   Perhaps HGTV has something good to watch while I rip back that button band.