An Interesting Day

Top to bottom: slipper sock, Bryony’s C2C, my C2C

It’s been an interesting day, and an exhausting one. My PIP decided to work on the downstairs bathroom today, which left the girls in my care all day. That’s exhausting, because Bryony was full of questions today. I thought two years of age was the age of constant questions, but the recently-turned-six midget was coming up with as many as she could today, most of them unanswerable by me, and after thirteen hours of that and the two of them fighting, my patience is running a bit thin, in direct proportion to the size of the headache they’ve given me.

I’m sure part of it stems from the fact that two of the bunnies left today for new homes. One went to a friend of mine, the other to a friend of hers who works for a nursing home. That one is going to become the residence pet. I’m glad we handled them as much as we did; the babies are tolerant of being held and cuddled. It broke my heart a little to see them go, but six rabbits in one cage is far too many.

Fiber arts-wise, I’ve been crocheting like mad, and playing with new stitches at the same

Moss stitch blanket, Celtic weave, lattice blanket, Celtic weave belt

time. I’ve got a number of projects in progress, so when I get bored with one, I can move to another for awhile. Presently, we have the two Night Furies still going, two corner-to-corner blankets (one for me, one for Bryony), a moss stitch blanket for Aneira, the beginning of a Celtic weave blanket whose ownership is still up in the air, a baby blanket for one of my best friends who’s due on February 25, a Celtic weave belt for Bryony, a blanket that looks like lattice for the PIP, and a pair of slipper socks for me. The first C2C afghan is finished, except for washing and blocking, and that one will be going out next month to someone special to us. Which reminds me, I should probably take a picture of it when it’s completely done, because where it’s going, more than likely I will never see it again.

I know, that’s a ton of projects all still in progress, but what the hey, they keep me from boredom!

I’m using a pair of really chunky yarns for Bryony’s blanket, for two reasons. One: it works up really quickly, because this kid has no patience whatsoever. Two: it works up really quickly, because I can only stand to hear “Is it done yet????!” so many times before I finally lose my patience!

The outgoing C2C afghan

I’m really enjoying Aneira’s blanket, because I’m enjoying the moss stitch, which is new for me. So are the lattice and the Celtic weave, honestly, but the moss stitch is the least complicated with a texture and look I really like. Celtic weave is the most complex of the three stitches I picked up from Pinterest and YouTube, and the lattice is in second place for complexity. Moss stitch is simply alternating half double crochet and slip stitch, and it looks beautiful. Aneira is really enthusiastic about it, and she was kind of “meh” about it when I first started, but as it’s worked up, she is really liking the texture as well.

Of course, it’s going to take me forever to finish any of these projects.

I’m really missing spinning and weaving right now, but I have to find a new chair before I can return to either of them. With a hip replacement, I have restrictions on so many things now, and one of them is that when I’m sitting, my knees have to be level with or below my hips, and the hydraulics of my current chair have broken. When anyone sits in it, it slowly sinks down to its lowest level. I’d like to find a comfortable chair that doesn’t employ hydraulics for the height adjustment. Guess I’ll be researching that for a bit!!!

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Life is what happens…

…when you’re busy making other plans. Isn’t that always the way of things? It’s been extremely busy since March, and nearly none of it has been fabric arts.  I had started a couple of blanket knitting projects though. Both of the blankets that I’d knitted for my girls on looms have started to unravel, and I don’t know why. Briony’s is the worst, with gaping holes in it, though she’s still carrying it around together with the now-ten-year-old crocheted blankets that are still intact with only a couple of easy repairs. So I decided to try double-knitting on needles, which turns out to be fun if you can keep track of which stitches go to which side. Needless to say, the only way I can do that is to use two very different yarns in the making, at least as far as color goes.

But, as I implied, both blankets have moved to the back burner for now. Friends of mine lost their home due to a fire in their complex, so they and their two girls moved in with us. Originally it was supposed to be temporary, but everyone gets along so well that we decided to make it permanent. So we’re now a family of eight. Twelve, if you count the dogs, and I most definitely do! Like hubby and I, they’re also a mixed couple, she being black like me, and he being white like hubby. Their girls were friends of Aneira’s from her first school, and I loved them the first time they came over. So now the girls’ ages are 4, 8, 9, and 9. Chaos reigns!!! Four girls, three of whom basically count as ‘tweens and one of whom wants to be a big girl so badly she can taste it, essentially means constant argument. Normal, I know, for siblings, which they might as well be at this point, but it drives the parents absolutely insane! Because they fight over the most minor of things, from who has more hairbands to who stole what doll from whom. Add in the rest of the neighborhood girls, bringing the total to seven children in and out of the house on a daily basis, and the arguing increases exponentially. Sometimes I think the only reason all the parents have not yet committed suicide is the fact that we don’t want to give the children the satisfaction of winning!

My friend is native to the area as well, as we aren’t, so my girls have acquired a whole host of family through her: a grandma, several aunties, uncles, and cousins. They’re ecstatic with all this new family, and everyone treats them – and hubby and I – as family as well.

Speaking of family, my brother and I hadn’t seen each other in years, everyone being busy and all, but we made a trip out to see him and my dad, who has Alzheimer’s and lives in a very nice facility for dementia patients. They live in Nevada, which, for all you folks who are fortunate enough to live elsewhere, means it is hot. I no longer live in the desert for a reason, and that is one of my top reasons!!

While we were there, Dad fell and broke his hip, and a hip replacement was needed. Because of the Alzheimer’s, Dad is a flight risk, so my brother, my sister-in-law, my hubby, and I had to take shifts staying with him. You would think that wasn’t necessary with a broken hip, but dementia patients don’t feel pain in the same way other people do, and there were numerous occasions of having to stop Dad from trying to get out of bed and walk out. As a result, our four day trip turned into eight, and drew all of us closer together, which was a good result of the entire ordeal. Overall, things could have been much worse.

Dad is now in a rehabilitation facility with a locked unit and is doing very well. Hip replacement surgery was the Friday before last, and he was walking again the following Monday. Not bad for 81!!!

Unfortunately for me, hubby enjoyed the return to the desert, and he and my brother ganged up on me for a bit to convince me to move back. Unfortunately for them, none of their persuasions worked in the face of the 114 degree temperature that was hammering us at that point. I’m very happy with the temperatures here in Colorado, thank you. The day we arrived home, the temperature was a lovely, comfortable 77. Since then, the hottest it’s been is 90. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will convince me to go back to the desert. Alaska, maybe, but not the desert!

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