Etherknitter

"Routine" post-op

I've been to war, and returned to blogville.   "Routine" post-op is in the eye of the beholder.  Nothing is routine when it is YOUR body that has experienced the controlled trauma that is surgery.  How do you define a "minor operation"?  Answer:  An operation  done on somebody else.
Here is the aftermath: 

I am happy to answer any questions (by email) about the ground-breaking post-op analgesia catheter I was sent home with.  I have had almost zero pain, despite hacking, sawing, bone breaking, bone shaving and surgical incisions.  The picture is obviously an Etherknitter's eye view of the Situation.  I hope the bones will knit as quickly and happily as my WIPs.   

I'm planning on a pink cashmere scarf for the anesthesia resident who took care of me.  While thoroughly drugged and blissed-out, I asked her about her favorite color.   Any non-knitted suggestions for male Indian anesthesia guy who deserves a huge thank you, also?  His  work with a needle was flawless - and I'm a tough audience.  I was able to stay awake for most of the procedure - even peeked over the screen to see how things were progressing and what the damn bunion looks looked like from the inside. 

The Rowan wool cotton swatch appears to have made gauge.  I'm full steam ahead on the Marla sweater. 

I got pix of the Japanese baby, Kai, under the baby blanket I knitted.  My knitter's heart feels very very warm right now:

Life is good.

Swatch swoon, single sock

The Bliss cashmerino swatch is history.  It came out to 26 st/inch instead of the necessary 24.  Changing needle size (again) would have produced an open weave.  The DH nixed that.  So I brought home Rowan Wool Cotton, in a similar rosy scarlet shade, called "Rich".  The swatch is in progress. 

I finished the Mountain Colors Mountain Goat Pineneedle sock.  It surprised me.  Not scratchy.  Not pebble-y on the underfoot because of the looser weave.  Nice colors.  I think I'll wear it home on my one good foot from the hospital.  With a nod to Margene, it is the best use to which I can put a single sock. 

The picture is in front of my computer.  Norma's post on malapropisms is on the computer screen.  The post-it behind my foot has the Lorna's Laces colors I'm contemplating for a patterned sock (Raindrops and Lace).  The shot serendipitously did not show the chaos that is my normal desk habit.

Google searches that lead others to one's blog continue to amuse.  Check out Spark-o-matic's last two posts on this topic.  If you would be offended by knitted garments for male naughty b-i-t-s, you might not want to click this link.

And please go visit Kim and send your get-well wishes.  When I recently commiserated with my sister-in-law about the whole family being sick, and I noted that it sucked, she said, "No, actually, it blows." 

I have needles.  I have yarn.  I have patterns.  I WILL have pictures.  Soon.

 

                                                                              

Focus! Focus!

Hyperfocus in one area is draining the focus out of another.  I'm busily preparing for the post-op state.  Based on recent weather reports of a foot of snow tonight,  that state will probably end up being slightly south of the Arctic Circle.  I'm gathering all the special needs....shower stool - check, extra pillows for propping the foot - check, feminine hygiene products I just couldn't  send the husband out to get- check, hair color from L'Oreal that I couldn't even begin to describe to him-check.   So the knitting is suffering.   Knit group will probably be cancelled, so I will be asking you (later on the in the post) a question about increases.

In the meantime, let's look at unremitting, impossible and ridiculous packrat behavior:

This pile is composed of every yarn end I have clipped since last October.  The pile is deeper than it looks.  What IS the Etherknitter thinking??  I certainly understand why you would wonder.  For this:

   

and this:

          

I hope the birds enjoy easy pickings that will make a soft, warm nest.   What appears to be the final addition to my stash from last week's foray is shown next.  It is Classic Elite "Wings", 55% alpaca, 23% silk, 22% wool.  It is for the Irish Hiking scarf pattern.  I didn't like the initial scarf in the rough wool shown in the link.  However, the KAL demonstrated that in a softer yarn, the scarf is lovely. 

It is being guarded by Sopris, a Colorado mountain goat.  He assures me that he is not AT ALL related to the Mountain Colors namesake, whom he thinks is more closely related to a parrot.

Not all knitting is being neglected.  I have swatched the husband's choice of yarn.  Despite his insistence on cotton, he did what we all do, and was seduced by another pretty face yarn and color.

This is Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino.  Right gauge, #4 needle.  A man's sweater in DK, on a #4?  Yeah, this sweater will be done in about a year.  I'm looking into Rowan Wool Cotton, which recommends a #6 needle.  Deliberations and negotiations continue. 
And finally, my question.  Marla sweater has an inch of garter stitch as its hem.  I need to increase 8 stitches before I start the body.  Should I do a M1 or a bar increase?  Vicki Square says do the bar.   What will blend in best?   

                                          

WiseNeedle teaches whys of needles

Indeed, my hands (and brain) were very busy yesterday in 2-circ sock class.   The only picture obtained during the afternoon occurred at minute #1, and was a shot of Kim's demo socks.  Actually, it was almost a demo of Kim's complete sock drawer.  She claimed to have more at home, but I've never been the gullible sort.   Three hours passed rapidly, fingers flying.  I got the concept, I got a new cast-on, and I got a fix for the hole in the row of picked-up stitches that I was complaining about one or two posts ago. 

Perhaps we are our own harshest critic.   As one respondent to Kim' s blog pointed out, teaching is an incremental process that evolves in fits and starts.  I don't know how one teaches a class aimed at a mean level of expertise, when the people who sign up fall throughout the -2 to +2 standard deviations from the mean (the famous bell curve is what I am describing here).    Kim was enthusiastic, focused, prepared.  We had an excellent time.

The hardest part of learning a new skill, at any age, is retaining what one doesn't use immediately after the learning occurs.   The human brain, a fairly inefficient sorter at best, throws away what it thinks it doesn't need.   Lots of knitting manuevers, done once or twice, end up in the brain bit bucket if not reinforced by repetition.   

I was relieved that I was familiar with basic sock construction.  I doubt it would have fit together for me, if I had been struggling with that 3-D concept at the same time that I was knitting and listening to instructions.   Here are the socks of the Master:   

I'm not convinced socks on 2 circs is better than dpns.  I'll give it a go, and make a decision after having gathered enough experience to be intelligent about it. 

In the meantime, Kim gets a big thanks for being patient with eight knitters, and for making sure no knitter was left behind (against her will).                                                    

 

It's all about........YOU?

Just before KnitGroup on Thursday, I stopped for tea.  The woman behind the counter, brusque, gruff, but efficient, had on a unique pair of pants.  They were scrubpants-like, drawstring waist, white, with black print all over them, saying:   IT'S ALL ABOUT ME .  I complimented her on the pants.  I liked her chutzpah.  She smiled (hadn't seen that before on my many forays into the shop), and offered that her boyfriend was really mad that she bought them.  I then overstepped most social boundaries (I am allowed to do that in my job, and it has always spilled over into other interactions).   "Is he stilll your boyfriend?"  asked the Etherknitter.  Pause.  Pause.  "Yes", she replied, with nonverbals that said, "there are things going on in this relationship, and I really want to talk about it, but who IS this woman, let me just take her money for the tea and the cookie she is calling dinner so that she will leave".

That set me thinking.  Made me realize how rarely it really IS  "all about me".   It's the cry of the three-year-old inside of us, when we realize that it isn't about us at all.  One of my favorite nurses  was teasing an egocentric surgeon.  She mimicked him:  "Enough about me!  Let's talk about you.  What do YOU think about me?"   

Let me offer a concrete example.  You become aware that someone you care about seems more distant.  You wonder what you have done to offend.  You try to figure out what you have done to make the person angry with you.  The more well-adjusted person will talk about it with your loved one.  That's when you find out that he (or she) is  miserable because of a talk that is due, or a project that is late, and not going well.  It had NOTHING to do with you.  That's why we (I?) have established multiples of compensatory behavior to shore up the parts of ourselves that are pissed off that it really isn't about us.

Packrat behavior.  Pulling things, material goods around us, in order to buttress our insecurity about our lovability.   Yarn stash.  Pattern stash.  "I might need this Addi Turbo for my next project."  I'm doing it in preparation for my down-time.    Here's the results of my trip to NH:

Another beautiful baby blanket pattern.  Two baby sweater patterns for the Japanese baby, named Kai  (Japanese for Ocean).  A good basic-to-intermediate text for when I'm brain-dead and can't figure it (whatever IT is), out by myself.  Knitting on the Road, which has been so very well recommended in blogland.  I have loved many patterns bloggers have knit from this (especially Conwy).  Knitlit (Too) for giggles. 

BoogaJ has included some interesting new blogs recently.  One especially piqued my interest.  I'll find it again, and provide a link, as I think it is worth reading.  In the meantime, my Lorna's Laces color card has arrived.  (Thanks for another great idea, Cassie!)  I'm going to pick a solid color for Raindrop Socks.  Tomorrow is my sock class with Kim Salazar  for socks on two circs.  Should be fun!

*WHACK*OUCH*WHACK*OUCH*

What happens when the pattern says, "25 stitches/4" on #6 needles" and the husband likes yarn that is "25 stitches/4" on #3 needles"?  If one likes the texture of the resulting gauge swatch, is the major difference simply needing more yarn?  Is there any way to predict exactly how much more yarn one might need?  Or is this an instance of "why bang your head against the wall" when it doesn't even feel good when you stop?   Should I gently suggest he choose a different yarn?  He REALLY liked the color.  I've been trying to protect him from the aspects of knitting that break one's heart, but I may not be entirely successful this time around.

I can (officially) knit again.   And, after meeting with my foot guy, I can tell you that I am going to have A LOT of knitting time for about six weeks.   Let's make sure we see this as a feature and not a bug. 

I'm going to attempt some retail therapy tomorrow, and find some satisfying, but less complex patterns.  (I think we were talking a couple of paragraphs ago about NOT banging one's head against a wall.  Did I even listen to myself??  Is "satisfying, but less complex" an oxymoron?
I'll let you know when I get back from the LYS.)

On other fronts, I have been granted pleasant and generous entry into the KnittingBlogs webring.  I am SO happy to achieve legitimate knitting blog status.  It felt almost like summer camp dorm inspections, making sure my blog was in good order, and looking spiffy.   I got that button up toot sweet (thank you, husband, for the quid pro quo), and I am pleased.

I will post on acquisitions when they are achieved.  Two weeks and counting to surgery.

Sick sock sets scene

I am one #6 Addi Turbo short of a sweater project.  So I'm diddling away on the mindless sock.   As you can see from the picture, it looks like a reasonable sock:

But I'm just not lovin' it.  Based on the number of stitches that are picked up after the heel is turned, there is no avoiding a hole somewhere along that line.  It's not because of the short rows, which is what I thought when I made the first set from Lorna's Laces Shepherd worsted.  I darned the hole in the first pair, and now there's another darned hole to darn.  I don't expect, nor want, my socks to be like sweaters, where once you finish knitting the pieces, you have to do more twiddling to make it look good.  Reminds me too much of the crew neck on the husband's last sweater.   I won't use Mountain Colors Mountain Goat for socks again.  It really isn't fluffy enough to make a coherent fabric, and if I go down on the needle size to get a tighter fabric, the gauge will go all to hell.   I'm just not going there.   I can see Second Sock Syndrome coming.   

The husband has chosen his next pattern.  It was unequivocal.  We were paging through the "Men's DK Sweater" binder at Wild and Woolly.  His finger came whistling down on the page, and that was that.  The pattern is of archeologic interest: the staff commented that there are no other $2 patterns in the store.   This is the mandate:

Don't you just love the guy's expression?  It looks challenging.  It looks like the photographer has just said something really inane, and the model is thinking very evil thoughts about him.  (Some of the ancient patterns my elderly aunt has given me  show female models with equally outdated and bizarre poses and expressions. )

We'll see what yarn he picks.  I told him anything but orange. 

Winter?? *whine*

No, I am not an optimist, but in order to survive this winter of 22 storms (and counting), one must learn new skills.   So we are going to ENJOY the new snow (damnit) and XC ski today and tomorrow.  I think some wine will work its way into the festivities. 

Knitting group on Thursday solved all problems.  The sock is fine, Eric's glovelet is fine, I simply obsessed over perceived imperfections.  I fondled some Debbie Bliss and Rowan cotton/wool combinations at my LYS, and found peace in my soul.  I will enjoy working with yarns like this because of the resiliency imparted by the wool components.  I'm looking for the Cotton Fleece and Cascade locally so I can compare, and then leap.  This is the only consolation for having sh** for stash.  I can acquire guilt-free.  Thank you SO much, fellow bloggers and readers, for all the tips.  I learn so much from you.   You should see me sitting here in front of the computer with little light bulbs lighting up over my head.

It is snowing.  I hope those poor robins are okay.  I can't find a hat pattern small enough for them, can't figure out how to keep it on their tiny heads, or whether it will screw up their aerodynamics.  And yes, how does one place it there in the first place? 

Even if spring is playing games with our psyches, we still have the comforts of knitting. 

SPRING! SPRING!

Do you remember back in....what was it....November?  December?  We all posted exquisite snow-on-landscape pictures.  Today, the snow is old hat.  It howled through the night, blowing crystals of hoar into the porch, onto narrow sills, and into my bones.

But this afternoon, I found this in my katsura tree.  I'm in zone 5, Massachusetts.  So this is my first sighting of 2005:

WIPS and chains

Sometimes, there seems to be no other alternative.  The WIPs become our Jacob Marley burden.  So finish them we must.  But honestly, that's just a  disingenuous way of saying, "I'm stymied on my other projects, my wrist hurts, and I'm going to do something simple until the impasse breaks."

Behold!  My only stalled WIP:

It is a Plymouth lace scarf pattern, DK alpaca.  Note the lack of markers.  The scarf was started, and stalled, in pre-Cassie days.  The markers are queued up and ready to leap onto the needle.  I have not been happy with Plymouth baby alpaca yarn.  I made the cranberry lace scarf for my librarian/educational coordinator.  THREE knots per ball.  Tell me who loves weaving in a gajillion extra ends, and I'll send 'em the final ball.  (Just kidding...it goes back to Patternworks with a whiney, but accurate note.)  The pattern is mindless, the results quite attractive, don't you think?

On other fronts, my husband has finally done it to me.  Before you leap to the conjecture that this has become a (I almost wrote p-o-r-n-b-l-o-g and decided I didn't want all those google hits) different sort of blog, let me rush to assure you that we are still on the subject of knitting.  He asked for a cotton sweater.  I'm in pain.  I don't like cotton.   It is not resilient.  It is not fun.  It doesn't feel good.  So I'm asking, nay, begging, the blog community to help me on this one.  What can I use for a lighter weight sweater, that has some elasticity, contains no silk, that would make a man happy?