I HIDE YARN

Here's the Point

Remember I am a s-l-o-w knitter.  Many in the Secret of the Stole group have finished both points.  These were to be knitted simultaneously, but I knew this was a bigger challenge to my lace and beading experience than I wanted to tackle.  (Translation, when tinking - I don't want to have to tink twice as much to get to where I need to fix my mistake.)

I wish I were a better photographer.  The Knit Picks Shadow yarn in the color sunset is truly beautiful.  It is not a solid color as it appears here, but a blend of sunset-type colors.  The beads also do not appear quite as orange as they do in the pictures.  They just make the lace look like it is lit with fire in a few places.


This was just quickly pulled tight and pinned quickly.  I should have done a little better at getting it to look more even.


My attempt to show the beads close up.  Now I am off to knit point 2 and attach them together for the remainder of Hint 1.

(The fancy-schmancy picture tweaking is brought to you by Picnik for FREE..try it, it's fun!)

+++This concludes the knitting portion of our post, which is brought to you by the following brief rant about how ridiculous insurance companies can be+++

My husband had to remain in the hospital over the weekend for the following reason.  The hospital social worker could not get pre-approval for discharge/IV drugs delivered to the home on Friday, because the doctors did not sign his release until early Saturday morning.  When she called to set it up, she was told...BECAUSE WE DID NOT GET PRE-APPROVAL - WE WOULD HAVE TO PAY ALL FOR ALL OF HIS IV MEDICATIONS (very expensive, as he usually comes home on more than one IV drug)THIS WEEKEND IF HE WAS RELEASED.  This is what makes their statement totally ludicrous.  If anyone has any doubt why insurance costs remain what they are...remember this stupidity...

• We have reached all out of pocket expenses with his insurance company for the rest of the year - we met it in early April.
• That means no matter how long he is in the hospital, they will pay 100% and we will pay zero.
• They were fine with him staying in the hospital until Monday for "pre-approval"

Okay, let's get this straight.  Because they were not willing to pay perhaps $1,000-$1,500 for IV medications this weekend (which they would have discounted), they are more than willing to pay several thousand dollars for a hospital room, round the clock nursing care, doctors stopping in for their share of the medical payment pie, etc., etc., etc.  Remember when he is at home, we do all of his IV treatments.  No visiting nurses are needed, except once a week to change the PIC line dressing.  They will have no problem paying for all of the IV drugs for home starting on Monday.

Do you still wonder what is wrong with our health care system? 

They love to send letters every month or so announcing some drug has gone generic and perhaps DH could switch to that, instead of whatever drug his doctor has prescribed, as a way to save money.  When possible, we do that.  I think the next time I receive one of those, I am going to put a big arrow pointing to the back and write a statement about how they could save thousands of dollars by using common sense.  When presented with the option of sending a patient home on IV meds; reducing their costs by thousands, perhaps they should rethink their pre-approval process or find a way to warp speed it through.

Secret of the Stole KAL Begins

But am I ready?  I had beautiful yarn and beads...remember?

But I have yet to be successful at swatching this yarn.  Perfect yarn, perfect beads (center ones match) and a very imperfect knitter.

So we went to plan B...

This yarn is Knit Picks Shadow in Sunset.  It is lace weight, but a tad heavier (thus easier) to swatch.  I also got one of their new option colored bamboo needles (not pictured) - ohhh I LOVE IT! 

Here is a close up of the swatch, not washed or wet so therefore a bit skewed.  See anything missing?  Yep - no beads.  They didn't arrive yet.

I am going to attempt to swatch the peach yarn again before I actually begin the KAL.

Winston can't wait to see the first clue...

I Am Taking A Whuppin' From My Yarn

The swatching for the Secret of the Stole knitalong has begun, and I am taking a beating.

I ask you, how could such beautiful yarn be so cantankerous, difficult and downright onery...not to mention thread-like.  This is really tiny lace weight, more like cobweb I think.  It is delicious as it is a combination of cashmere and wool.  It is even titled Gentle Lace Yarn.  I have made about three attempts at knitting a swatch.  Changing the needle, taking my time, figuring out some bead placement.  I have discovered this yarn is impossible to tink.  It is smooth, but so tiny you can't see what it is you are unknitting.  Stitches fall away as if they are free at last. 

The sad thing is, I really can't blame the yarn.  It's my lack of experience with such tiny yarn.  I keep thinking practice will help.  I remember the first time I tried to knit socks on tiny needles.  That felt impossible, too.  I can now knit socks in abundance.  I will not let this yarn whip me.  I may, though, have to put it away for another time - when my concentration is better - not to mention my skills.

Look at the delicious pictures.  You will never believe something so beautiful could be torturing me.

The yarn is actually a light peach.  The beads are deep peach, light peach, and ivory.  (It's hard to be sure about bead colors - or yarn colors for that matter - online.)

EEK!  Look how tiny that yarn is.  Thread, I tell you, has more heft.

Although it is hard to tell from this picture.  The middle beads are about the same color as the yarn - both light peach.

What's not to love about a yarn seller who provides a project bag with the yarn.  Both the yarn and bead seller were lovely people.  I can't help, but wonder if the project bag was included to keep the yarn from wreaking havoc on the postal service.  Tying up innocent postal workers across the country.  I'm KIDDING!

Truly I recommend both The Yarn Place & Artbeads.

I'm In! I'm In!

The last time I had checked Ravelry for my place in the queue, I was somewhere in the 3000+.  I would check every time I read a blog where someone had just gotten his or her invite, and I would get my pout on because I would have jumped up about all of 10 places.

Imagine my surprise when I checked my email a little while ago and I had an INVITE!  Of course I have no clue what I am doing.  Most of my stash is in my yarn room, which I can no longer access (thanks to a wheelchair that doesn't do stairs.)  So I imagine it will take awhile before I manage to get all of my stash photographed for Ravelry.  Falls over laughing at the thought of...

1. admitting the full scope of my stash
2. photographing all of it
3. I might be finished in the next decade

If you want to look for me on you can find me under Blissfulknitter.

Last week I took my first few steps in about 3 years.  Today I get my Ravelry invite.  What's next?  World peace?

In other news, there has not been much knitting.  I have had a lot of little things to take care of that manage to stretch out over the parts of the day I'm not on the phone, reading posts in Bloglines, being cared for by my daily caregivers, laying prostrate on the bed between two fans because the Midwest is still on "bake in hot oven until done."  We have central air conditioning, but the wall of windows in my bedroom defeat it easily with the amount of sunshine that comes in.  Our bedroom is about 25 degrees hotter than any other room in the house.

Somewhere during all that fanning and sighing, I lost my danged mind and signed up for this:   I know!  I have not completed the easy shawl I am knitting, but have managed in the past couple of weeks to purchase the pattern and yarn for the Bee Fields Shawl (can we say WAY over our skills?) and now I have signed up for the Secret of the Stole, like I am going to be able to keep up with the clues and the knitting and beads and the chart.   Feel free to start laughing.  Okay enough with the hysterical wheezing, spitting and knee slapping... I can hear you.

Speaking of which, I don't think I have suitable yarn or stash, unless I filch the beaUtiful yarn that Kim dyed for me (you can get some too) called Tupelo Honey.  I see it might be a tad short in yardage.  Darn.  That could mean I need to buy yarn and beads.

Kauni Progress & an Amazing Event

The Kauni shawl has progressed.  Maybe not as fast I would like her to, but she is getting more difficult to photograph.  Someone mentioned on a blog I read (I don't remember who, sorry) that they thought their Kauni yarn was more muted than other Kauni they had seen.  They speculated that perhaps theirs had been overdyed from a gray-based yarn.  I have begun to wonder the same thing about mine.  Although I still love the color progression, it is not as bright as some I have seen.

I am getting into the dark red - purple progression.  I wish it showed better in the picture.  I have actually knitted the amount of rows the pattern calls for before beginning the border.  However since I am knitting on smaller needles, I need to add a few more pattern repeats to make it the right size.

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Okay, this is where we would have a drum roll, or special music to introduce the amazing event in my life.

I CAN WALK

I know!  This is so amazing it is difficult to fully comprehend.  Now it is only a few steps at a time, and as I told my MS specialist this week - "I have something to show you...it isn't pretty, but it's amazing."  Then I scooted to the edge of my wheelchair, and he began to get visibly nervous.

"You're not going to try to get up are you?" he asked alarmed.  I think his career may have flashed in front of his eyes, as we were alone in the room, and I was about to do something that could turn out very, very bad.

I assured him it would be alright, then I got up and walked my funny little walk, that looks like a bouncing frog, about 6 steps to the window and back again.  I sat down and he gaped in amazement.  He wanted to know what had happened to cause this.  How long had it been since I had actually walked? 

Not counting a few months ago when I reported being able to walk a few steps - which apparently was some kind of fluke that did not reoccur - it has been at least 2 1/2  possibly 3 years.  Not only that, but I have not been able to walk unassisted without canes or crutches since 2001.  I did this walking without aid or assistance.  Now it has always been a small amount of walking.  In 2001, I could walk or stand a total of about 6-8 minutes.  That dwindled down to a few steps, and then stopped all together.

The probable cause of this event (next to lots of prayer) is a small thing called a dose pack of Prednisone (steroids) I had to take for another condition.  Now this is almost impossible to believe, because when a person with MS progresses and cannot walk or has other major setback issues, it is medical standard to put the person on megadoses of steroids.  You receive 1000 mg of solumedrol by IV for a 3-5 day course.  The side effects are horrendous.  I have endured this three different times without success.  The only thing I reap are the side-effects like the headache from hell, insomnia, mood swings that are like turbo-charged PMS, acne, and insatiable hunger just to name a few.

A dose pack of steroids is made up of 21 - 4 mg. pills taken over the course of 6 days.  Six pills are taken the first day, then 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  I asked him if he had ever seen such a thing before, and he said never.

We discussed the possibility of me staying on a daily low dose of Prednisone.  It is not without risk.  Steroids leach the calcium out of your bones, and can cause osteoporosis.  There are other problems associated with steroids - especially when taken long term.  Weight gain (oh joy I REALLY need that - not), acne, mood swings. 

The dose has to stay minimal to keep the adrenal gland from shutting off natural cortisone to the body.  This supplies your "fight or flight" syndrome and keeps you from going into shock during surgery or a trauma.  Sometimes shutting it down cannot be avoided when steroids are needed to save a life (like when I have taken daily injections for acute asthma), or when they are taken as part of anti-rejection drugs following organ transplant.

We decided it was worth the risk considering the trade off I am receiving.  May it continue and do so on the least amount of steroids possible.  I am still in shock and awe.  This will not get me out of my wheelchair, but even a few steps makes everything easier from transfer to daily care.  I also hope my knees regain the ability to straighten and flex, so I no longer continue walking like a bouncing frog.  But who am I to look a gift horse frog in the mouth?

I may actually get out of solitary confinement being trapped in my bedroom.  Look out family room, I have my sights set on you next!

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Should I be concerned that Winston likes to wear my clothes?  He can never resist lying on whatever I am about to put on, or whatever I have just taken off.  I snapped this after I had just unpackaged two new lounge wear gowns I had received in the mail.  They were lying on the bed to be added to the laundry for washing before wearing.

As you can see, Winston takes the words lounge wear literally.

More Kauni - More Colors

The Kauni shawl continues to keep me entertained.  The knitting is addictive, because you keep knitting to see the next color change.  Or maybe it's just me, and I have been shut in for so long - it takes very little to entertain me.

I should be further along on this shawl, but I couldn't resist the urge to BRAG, in my last post, about how easy this pattern is.  The Forest Canopy Shawl is a well-written pattern, and Susan is a great person (even if she is a Red Sox fan - heh.)  However I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with lace.  I love lace, and lace hates me.

So after my bragadocious post, the lace felt compelled to smack me around a bit.  I knitted 8 rows and tinked 7.  This does not bode well for progress.  For the newbies, tink is knit backwards.  It is essentially what you are doing when you unknit each stitch, until you have progressed back to an error free zone.  This is opposed to ripping or frogging, where one rips out rows with great abandon.  Something one cannot do when one has not put in a lifeline, or at least not do easily with lace.  It can be difficult to get all those little yarn overs back in their correct places, once they are taken off the needles.  I managed to make some mistake-free progress this evening.  Umm...lace goddess...not bragging here, okay?  Just stating the facts.

So progress was a bit hindered by my klutziness or inability to count to eight perhaps.  Add to that one useless doctor's visit to a doctor I did not need to see, and a urgent call to another doctor for assistance with bleeding thighs, and the effects of that particular ailment and the steroids necessary to bring it to heel.  Ugh.  The reader's digest version...

I got a new computer chair a few months ago, and promptly broke out in an unsightly rash - apparently allergic to the fabric.  This didn't seem all that odd as I am allergic to some of the strangest things - like each and every adhesive known in the medical world - every tape (no matter how hypo-allergenic it purports to be) - up to and including the lowly bandaid.  See exhibit A taken 9 days after I had blood drawn and forgot to remove the bandaid until the next day.

So we covered the chair with a sheet and thought all would be okay.  My sucky immune system kicked in and made a little rash a big deal.  It doesn't help that I sit all day long (the inability to walk bites the big one sometimes), and I hate staying in bed just because I should.  I can't knit in bed.  The super smart power wheelchair I have that tilts and reclines to keep things like this from occurring is too big to maneuver in our bedroom.  Oh how we need a house makeover with accessibility - sigh.

So I was not as good about "resting" the area (i.e. lying on my side in bed) as I should have been.  I sought medical attention when it got bad, and we thought we had it under control and almost healed.  Then it went from bad to worse, and when I was leaving bloody thigh prints everywhere - the urgent call was made which resulted in the dreaded steroids.  That explains what I am doing up at 3:00 a.m. typing a blog post.  I will spare y'all the gruesome sight of the back of my thighs.  You're welcome.

Since I can't knit when I am in bed, and the time I am most awake is in the middle of the night when my husband is in bed - I can't knit then either.  That has seriously crimped my knitting progress, because I WANT to knit this shawl, I need to knit the Kauni yarn just to see the next color appear.

Okay - enough about bandaid irritations and bloody thighs.  I know you really come here for the dog pics.  There has been some serious dog talk lately about a certain blog-hogging dog, and the lack of pictures of other, equally loved dogs in the household.  It just happens that a certain Yorkie is always available to have his picture taken because I am his full-time day job - heh.  The others come and go too quickly to get pictures very often.  But today, we have three of the four household dogs on parade...in alphabetical order...except for Molly who disappeared under the bed when the camera appeared.

Remy - a.k.a. the snuggle hugger awakened by the flash.

Miss Sachi who looks bigger than she is in this picture.  Three pounds of holy terror who stalks every room just looking for something to get into, especially paper that is waiting to be shredded into a million tiny pieces.  She was also awakened by the flash.

Remy & Sachi with the dog whisperer, M, who asked me to cut her head out of the picture because she has been working some very long hours.  Yes, she is holding two dogs at a time.  When she is on the love seat, she has four dogs at a time.  They all love her dearly.

Last but not least...the blog hog himself...Winston.

Caught napping on the job again.  My dogs are champion nappers for sure.

Hey Mom, enough with the flash already.  Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?

How Winston deals with the paparazzi.

Kauni Beginning

I know I said I was going to work on the monkey socks, but I couldn't resist the lure of the cake of colors known as Kauni EQ.  So I started the Forest Canopy Shawl.

Isn't it funny after you work with a yarn awhile, little things that bothered you before seem to melt away.  I think I unfairly labeled the Kauni yarn harsh like burlap.  My opinion was skewed no doubt by the fact that I had been knitting socks exclusively from super soft yarn.

I found the pattern easy to follow, which is saying something for me and lace...we don't always get off to an easy start.  I wanted desperately to get to the first color change - and although you can see a little variance - I was about one row short of the big change when my DH decided it was bedtime.  As I knit, compute and everything else in my bedroom, that put the kibosh on further lace knitting.  Here's how far I got...

A good luck charm was present as I knitted, perhaps that is why I got off to a good start.  He was sleeping on the job however, so I take most of the credit for the knitting - heh.

May you have a safe and happy Labor Day if you are celebrating!

Hello Kauni!

Like so many knitters out there, I took one look at Kauni yarn and fell head over heels in love.  Apparently I was late to the love pool, because by the time I had fell in said pool, there was no Kauni to be found on this continent.  Shops that were willing to get it in had no idea when to expect a shipment to arrive.

Never one to let a small detail like that stop me, I googled frantically and followed up every rumor of a lead.  I hit pay dirt in Denmark. Lisette was quick to email updates, and the entire transaction was easy.  Her site can be changed to English wish is a huge help.  She has Kauni yarn in many colors from solids, to various multi-shaded beauties.  I was head over heels for Kauni EQ, and barely glanced at any of the others.  I see she is well-stocked on Kauni EQ having 142 of the 150 gram skeins.  I'm just saying.  No affiliation here, just a very satisfied customer.

I knew I didn't want to make the cardigan, as beautiful as it was.  I decided on a shawl.  Yes, I know I have two unfinished shawls on the needles, what's your point?  At first I was going to knit a shawl designed by Jeanie Townsend, for Astrid's Dutch Obsessions.  I had seen the shawl on Jeanie's blog.  Jeanie sent me four different shawl patterns.  Many of you will know her from the Townsend Sock Group.  Jean has more talent in her little finger than many have in a lifetime of study.  She is a prolific pattern writer of beautiful knits.  Here is the one with Kauni EQ.

Before I had a chance to cast on, I saw this one (scroll down to Aug. 12th entry) using Susan Pierce Lawrence's Forest Canopy Shawl. 

LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING!

Yest, I was in love.  This was IT.  I have the perfect person to make it for and everything.  It will look magnificent over her navy winter coat.  It is smaller, therefore more likely to get finished, right?  Just nod your head, and play along...okay?

The Kauni came in two huge skeins of 150 grams each.  I have already wound one, but the other is in it's original commercial skein.  The small light blue skein is 8/1 (lace weight) included as a gift from Lisette because the order was slightly delayed.  That was very sweet of her as it really was a slight delay.

Next up is the wound skein(s).  I was winding along without a hitch, when I came to a splice.  Unfortunately the splice added a color out of order, which began a sequence in reverse.  Drat.  Thankfully it was really a small part of the skein involved.  I did notice a fair amount of "flotsam and jetsam" in the yarn.  Little bits of twigs or whatever also found in Noro yarn.  What is it about self striping wool?  Can they not get the sufficient graduation of color without bits and bobs of unknittable fiber?

Lest you wonder about the color placement in the two skeins...I know it looks like I have wound them in opposite directions.  I work from the outside thread of yarn wound into balls.  It keeps the ball from collapsing onto itself making a big mess, and also leaves a neatly wound smaller ball if you use less that the full skein.  For instance, I had a very nice, neat little ball of lilac yarn to include with my sockapalooza pal's package, in case she needed to mend the socks or wanted to reknit the toes, etc.

If I do indeed use all of the larger skein, it ends right (inside) the larger skein right at the place I would start knitting from the outside of the smaller skein.  Of course if I need even more yarn - I will wind the other big skein.

Next I knitted a swatch.  Uhoh, I think some of my readers just fainted.  I hope they're alright.  To the left of the garter middle row is the yarn knitted on size 6 Holz & Stein ebony need.es  To the right is the yarn knitted on size 5 Addi Turbo Lace needles. I prefer the former  I will check again once the swatch is completely dry.  I could probably get away with knitting with size 7 needles, but I think I will start with the 6 and see how it handles the lace.

I was a little dismayed to discover this yarn knitted like burlap.  Ouch!  It is rough like some Shetland, but it softened nicely after a soak in Eucalan.  Although I am knitting the shawl, it is good to know that this yarn is very sticky and would lend itself to fair isle, steeking and split-splicing quite easily.

So I'm off to knit on the monkey socks I started when searching for the right pattern and yarn for my sockapalooza pal.  It should be a good combo of knitting.  When my hands are sore from knitting the rough Kauni, I will soothe them with the super soft yarn Violets sock yarn from Dani at Sunshine Yarns.