Ooooo! Two consecutive days of blogging!
On this fifth day of illness I think I’m turning the corner and am firmly on the mend. Sometime during the night I regained the ability to breathe through my nose, which is a very good thing. On the other hand, my voice was rough and scratchy last night and barely there this morning. I spent about 10 minutes on a conference call for work early this morning, talking for about one minute all total. Most of my comments were relayed to a colleague via IM and she obligingly was my voice. I took the rest of the day off.
I did venture out for a bit today. I had to get to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription (a maintenance med refill) and also get a few other supplies. I think the short consultation with the pharmacist was the final bit of talking I could manage today. But I did manage to pick out some decent cold medications. My body doesn’t deal with phenylephrine very well, and most cold and flu formulas have some in it. It took a bit of hunting and lots of label reading to find a couple of things that will help me with the remaining symptoms and not mess me up. Gargling with warm salt water seems to be helping my throat, too, so I’m hopeful that I can telecommute tomorrow and participate in all the conference calls.
These past few days of forced down time have really done a lot for me mentally. I finally feel like I’ve had some real time away from the craziness of every day life. Weird how it took getting really sick to make the crazy stop, but there it is. As I feel more well, I also feel refreshed and able to tackle some things that have been roadblocked in some way: like a few knitting projects that have been stuffed in a knitting bag and hidden away for months.
I first started blogging as a way to write about my hobbies of knitting and gardening, but I’ve hardly written about either of these topics in a while. That may be because for me the greatest thing knitting has brought to my life is meaningful relationships. These days, most of my friends are knitting friends. So the actual act of knitting — while still important to me — is not as important as the relationships I have with friends and others. I’m happy with that.
Nonetheless, I decided to clear up some blocked projects. Last year, I made some really bad choices for knitting projects. I did accomplish making some nice things — a couple of hats, a Moebius scarf, a light weight sweater and some socks (of course…I’ve always got a pair of socks on the needles), but I also had started a few projects that languished and I thought it was time to tidy them up. Two of these projects — both sweaters — were Annie Modesitt patterns.
I don’t know what it is about her patterns, but it seems every one I try is doomed. The very first sweater I ever completed was her Pinup Queen pullover (Ravelry link) from Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch book. I struggled through that pattern and eventually completed it, but it was too large for me. I didn’t understand the concept of ease and thought it was best to err on the large size. I was wrong, and learned a lesson I’ll never forget. I ended up giving it to my niece who has broader shoulders and she seemed to appreciate it. (I’ve never seen her wear it, and I told her once that I’d be happy to take it back so I could reuse the yarn, but nothing ever came from that hint; the yarn was Rowan Summer Tweed and was not cheap, so I was quite serious.)
The two projects that I frogged last night and today were Annie Modesitt patterns gone awry. One was the Twisted Float Cocoon Shrug. I wasn’t very far along on it, and I thought the yarns would be better used for another purpose. Frogging took a while because the yarns were twisted around each other, but now everything is neat and tidy. The other pattern was Charade (Ravelry link) from her Romantic Hand Knits book. I couldn’t bring myself to purchase the original yarn in the pattern since it was so expensive. The yarn I substituted (Katia Jet) may have been less expensive, but it was resulting in a product that would be much too heavy. So…to the frog pond it went!
I now have another clean knitting bag and have freed up some needles and cables. While I may not have completed a project, I think that’s good progress for today. Now, on to some actual knitting! I have only about an inch left on the collar of a Featherweight cardigan (Ravelry link) and a pair of plain socks on the needles. It’s nice to be working on things that are achievable. 🙂
Windycitygal 