Saturday, February 21, 2009

Winter thoughts and knitting

The last few weeks have been spent trying to cope with my husband’s diagnosis and the news of the need for IV chemotherapy rather than a less invasive kind of treatment, which means that his present condition is much more serious than previously thought. I am grateful for the generous outpouring of love and emotional support offered from friends and family. Words cannot express how much this has held me up and encouraged me to forge ahead with whatever is to come.

My knitting has kept me company and calm while waiting with my husband for doctor’s visits and CT scans. I finished the Fibonacci moebius. We have had a spell of rainy, cooler weather and this has been very nice to wear. It is made with a wool/acrylic blend called Amity. It reminds me of a scarf worn by Hungarian ladies in winter or something you would see in Dr. Zhivago.
With the colder weather, I was inspired to pull out the UFO Woodland shawl. I love this leaf lace pattern. It is made with some Baby Alpaca/silk from Liza Sousa , which is very soft and lusciously warm. As my shawl grew longer and longer, I found myself wrapping it around my neck and shoulders as I knitted. I was about to run out of yarn when I realized the last 12 rows had a different pattern. I will need to rip it back a little so that I can have enough yarn to finish it. I had only purchased one skein but it was over 700 yds of fingering wt. I think this was my most extravagant purchase at $44 a skein, but it certainly was and is worth it. It is so wonderful to knit with and will be absolutely sumptuous to wear.

Since I am trying to stay with my New Years resolution of finishing a UFO before I started new project, I turned back to the Hey Teach sweater. This yarn is a yellow cotton. The lace pattern is very easy. I’ve almost finished the back of the sweater and will soon start the front sides. It is actually a cardigan and will be nice to wear with the warmer weather. I am wanting to knit some more hats. I have a friend who just recently under went some brain surgery and will be needing a hat. I need to start doing something with my handspun yarn and I think hats are a good way to use it up. Hats are quick projects and with the weather as it is, hats are always needed somewhere. My husband will be starting his chemo on Monday. I have no idea if he will lose his hair, what little there is, but as he has been very sensitive to cold lately, a hat will be something to help him stay warm.