Monthly Archives: January 2011

Royalty, knitting, and seasoning

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You know how one bad thing follows another?

For instance you have pneumonia then you break a cap/crown on your tooth at 7:15 in the evening when none the dentists are available and it’s snowing outside?

o-o-h

Or you could look at it another way.  You get a four-day weekend and the opportunity for a shiny new tooth.

Royalty

Yeah.

The good news is that I’m feeling better. (Thank you for all the get well wishes.)  And it was a mere ($685) crown and not the actual tooth that broke.

My previous dentist retired so I changed dentists a year ago and have been to this new-to-me dentist a few times for cleanings.  “Good job.  Keep brushing and flossing.  See you in six months.” 

Nothing as dramatic as replacing a crown.  Cha-ching!  Been there.  Done that.  Have the souvenir.

On the up-side I finished the left front of the cardi I’m knitting.  The right side is to the arm hole shaping.  I was 15 rows into it and thought I missed a couple of row counts so I ripped it back to the beginning of the arm hole shaping, only to realize that I didn’t miscount.  Oh, well.  There’s still progress even with all the tinking and correcting mistakes.  (Results of the fuzzy pneumonia brain.)  Granted I am using worsted weight yarn and size 9 US needles.  It should go faster than fingering weight and size 2 needles.

Just before dinner last night Mr. Aitch made me laugh so hard, I thought I was going to cough up a lung.  Seriously, I was really hurting but it was funny, too. 

We (Mr. Aitch did help…a little) made a big pot of vegetable soup for dinner last night with the leftover roast beef and veggies we had for the dinner he fixed Sunday evening.  The soup was ready so Mr. Aitch said he’d get the salt and pepper to put on the table.  I said, ” I seasoned it already.”

Sneezonings

He said, “You sneezed in it already?” and started to laugh.  I started to laugh then went into a coughing fit for about five minutes.

It hurt.  No lungs were coughed up and I certainly didn’t need a couple of broken ribs on top of everything else!

Anyway, we thought it was funny.  Maybe you had to be there.

I have a brain…

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…and sometimes I use it.

Not able to go to work yesterday and today, I managed to knit between coughing spells and medication. I also had to use my brain when I discovered a mistake.  A mistake 22 rows ago.  I decreased and shouldn’t have.

I was distracted Sunday evening and did a SSK (slip, slip, knit) ten rows too early.  A decision had to be made as whether it could be fixed without too much trouble, ripped it back to the offending row and reknit, or continue as if nothing happened.

Since I knew the decrease was there, I could not ignore it. 

Ripping  back 22 rows was not happening.

I dug out my Knit Fix Problem Solving for Knitters by Lisa Kartus and decided I would treat this mistake as if it were a dropped stitch.  But it wasn’t quite as simple as a dropped stitch.  I had to go through a SSK decrease on my way back through those 22 rows.

Knit Fix to the rescue

All totaled I had to go back 22 rows, three stitches wide and do the correct decrease in the correct row and column.

I’m up to the arm shaping and decided to knit each side separately from here on up.  Plus I need to add buttonholes in the right places and I really don’t know what the right place is until the left side is finished.  If I was feeling 100%, I could probably figure it out.

Knew-moan-ya

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…or pneumonia.  Pick the spelling that works for you.

I thought by Friday afternoon I had kicked this nastiness to the curb only to have it come back during the night with a vengeance.  I don’t know how Mr. Aitch slept so soundly with my tossing, turning and coughing all night.

When he woke up (and I was semi-conscious) Saturday morning, I asked him to call the urgent care clinic to get me an appointment ASAP.

Pneumonia.

I was so sick yesterday that I could not open my eyes.  Too sick to knit though I can do that with my eyes closed but not follow a pattern and count rows with decreases.

I feel a bit better today.  I can open my eyes and count.  Finished the back of the sweater I’m working on and just started the fronts. My aunt told me many years ago to try to knit the fronts or at least the sleeves at the same time so the row count and tension would be the same.  Smart woman.

Papaya Cardi

The color is not quite this bright.

I had to get out my Knitter’s Companion to figure out how to do the sloped bind-off to avoid the stair-step edge.  Just like the kitchener stitch, I have to look it up every time.

Mr. Aitch has dinner in the oven and the roast beef is starting to smell really good.

Writing this post has worn me out.  Time to rest.

Hoarse

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My new BFF

 

It started with a tickle in my throat on Tuesday.  Wednesday it was scratchy.  Thursday my voice started to go.  Today this nastiness has worked its way up into my sinuses and down into my chest.

When I was a kid, my mom would apply some menthol-based ointment to our chest and throat when we had these symptoms.  Then she’d wrap a piece of wool or wool sock around our neck to keep it warm.  I don’t remember if it worked but it felt good.  Maybe I should knit myself a neckwarmer and try this again.

One of my goals this month is to make a new straight knitting needle roll.  I need a piece of canvas or cotton duck for the outside of the roll and of course, I don’t have anything sturdy enough for my liking.  I was going to stop at Jo-Ann Fabric on my way home from work yesterday to buy some fabric.  It’s even on sale!  It’s always nice when one needs something and it’s on sale.  My head was pounding and I felt horrible so I just went home.

And knit.

Maybe I’ll feel better this evening and shop for some fabric.