Lazy blogging

I find it hard to believe that so much time has passed since I last posted anything. What a slacker! At least I can blame it on being Summer, even if that isn't necessarily the cause. LOL I'm afraid the past weeks have been very, very busy with good and bad things.

July 1 I had to have our sweet kitty put to sleep. He had kidney disease, and although we tried a number of different treatments, he just didn't improve and continued to deteriorate. He went from being a very thin 12-lb kitty to being about 5.5 lbs at the end. It was time. I am at peace with that, but it was very, very hard. I not only had to be the one to do it, I was also the one who had to tell the kids - who were devastated. That's both of my cats gone in 7 months, both unexpectedly. I'm feeling naked without my cats.

Himself seems to think this is an opportunity to be an animal-free household, he's convinced that the litter box creates dust that is deadly to his electronics. I say, he never bothers to dust - EVER - so how can he blame all the dust on the cat litter? I also say, we will have cats again and I really hope it doesn't cause an argument. The kids and I need animals to be happy, and the hamster just doesn't cut it for me. We'll see how this turns out.

The other bad news isn't really mine, but a dear cousin's news. She successfully battled cancer about 10 years ago, when she was 18. She had no symptoms prior to a collapse, but once she was in the hospital and the doctors found her cancer, they literally gave her days to live. With a great deal of prayer and chemo, she survived the cancer. Sort of. It seems that the treatments badly damaged her heart and lungs. She has been undergoing evaluation for the past few months in preparation for lung and heart transplants. However, this past week, the trip to the hospital (from OK to Cleveland) wiped her out and the doctors feel that there is nothing more that can be done for her. They expect that she has about 3 weeks left in her earthly life.

She is a beautiful young woman, a teacher, and has decided to leave the hospital and return to her home and hospice. Prayers are appreciated for her and her family, and I know many more than I can imagine are being offered in her behalf.

So perhaps you can see why I've stayed away from the blog. Too much sadness and I can't help but mention it here. Still, thanks for your patience. I will now try to turn it around a bit.

I am spinning away in the Tour de Fleece. I did miss about three days, but I also spun a bit on the day of rest, so I'm only down two days. Right? My goals are to get into the habit of spinning on a regular basis and to get that ruby Merino spun up so I can knit with it. This yarn is supposed to be for a bag for my other grandmother (not the one who's is receiving shawls). I'm making good progress and I've probably got just a little over 4oz left of the fiber to spin. I've got more fiber to play with if I finish this stuff, and if I can get some spinning in every day for the rest of the tour, I should get to try out new stuff.

I have made no progress on the Pi. I'm afraid it is knit five rounds, rip three around here. I think I've got it in hand, again, but then I started spinning and just haven't spent any more time on it.

I have made progress on the sweater for Himself. Sort of. I was nearly three repeats into the cable pattern when I figured out I was making an error. You see, I photocopied the chart from the book and made sure it was all there. What I didn't do was make sure all the shadings transferred. (You see where I'm going with this?) Anyway, it turns out that there are parts of the chart that are shaded, so the cables are slightly different. You'd think I might have noticed something since it seems to be impossible for me to remember front, back, knit, or purl without looking at the key every time I do a cable. Hmmm. The key had four different cable symbols. Why? I apparently didn't care, until I was three repeats into the darned thing. After comparing the photocopy to the book, I could see that the shading did not copy, so all the cable symbols looked the same. I've penciled in some shading now and I've ripped, because it will bother me, and I'm now one repeat into the pattern. It might just be wishful thinking, but I think the cables are looking better and more defined than they were before.

Tuesday I spent a few hours teaching a 12 year old boy to knit. He has no patience, but surprisingly I did. He is well on his way to a scarf (his choice, for a friend girl - not a girlfriend, nudge, nudge) though he believes that he will never need to learn to purl. heh. He did ask me to make him a hat, which I did yesterday. I'm thinking I'll do one for his brother too. So that is my project for today, and maybe tomorrow. We'll see how the time works out.

There's also another quilt square for a wedding quilt. What is with all the weddings?! I think this is the last one (no other weddings scheduled until next year), which is good. I'll get pictures up soon. I hope.