MIA

by julie

So, I fell off the face of the earth...but I'm back! While I was "away" I was still knitting. First of all, I test knitted a pattern for Sundara. She dyed for me the most gorgeous torquoise somewhat solid yarn and I knitted my little heart out.









Then, I found the perfect pattern for the Aran Silky Merino the WHYers bought me for my birthday (thanks to BrooklynTweed for the idea). I knitted my heart out again. The shawl is smallish, but very soft and the colors are exactly the colors of the sunsets. The pattern is the Shetland Triangle Shawl knitted with size 9 needles. The finished size is 48 inches across the top and 24 inches to the point. I did not knit the last row as indicated in the pattern, but instead bound off and kept the edging straight. (I like the scalloped edging on really lacey shawls, but this shawl is not so lacey and it didn't seem to fit.)


I thought I might get 9 body repeats, but alas, I was about 4 rows short of yarn. Yes, I knit until I ran out of yarn, and then was forced to frog it. :-( But, thank goodness for lifelines. :-) This was the first time I had used a lifeline and it definitely saved me. I put one at the end of the 8th repeat so when I ripped out what I had spent hours knitting, it was easy to know where to stop, picking up the stitches was a breeze, and I was ready to knit the edging.

Now I'm knitting socks. (It is Soctoberfest, afterall). Three of us WHYers went to OFFF and came back with STR in the most wonderfullylicious colorway for knitting fall socks. I was unable to attend OFFF, but they brought me back a skein. I couldn't believe it! They are so generous. We are all going to knit socks from the same colorway. I'm making mine using Neuroknitter's toe-up pattern and the Oblique Openwork lace pattern from Shannon's sock book (I can't remember the name of it) with size 1 dpn.

Finally, I want to thank my fellow WHYers for being patient with my lack of posting. Just a quick word about what has been going on in my life that would keep me away. At the end of August, I found a huge lump on my 5-year-old German Shepherd's head. He was diagnosed with cancer the next week. By the following week he had surgery to remove the lump.

(Here is a picture of his shaved head and ear.)


Pathology results of the tumor found it was an intermediate grade sarcoma (low chance of metastasizing). The next step is to treat what remains of the tumor. They are suggesting radiation therapy, which would mean 20-25 treatments over the next 6 weeks. Fore each treatment he has to be put under a general anesthesia. My DH and I are very concerned that there will be negative behavioral and emotional consequences to such a rigorous and taxing process. We are considering an alternative approach.

To complicate matters, on September 22nd my DH had a 2nd hip surgery to repair torn cartilege in his hip joint. He will be on crutches for the next 3-4 weeks, which means I'll be doing far more around the house and for him than normal. So I've been a bit stressed. It is very nice to having knitting to help me relax and such wonderful friends to offer support. Thank you all!