Cancer Comfort Cap

I don't think I've actually said this here before but my Mom's health problems are Breast Cancer, she was diagnosed just a couple weeks before Christmas last year. Just when she found out she could have her hip surgery any time; gotta take care of the cancer first though. In order to make sure she has something from me to keep her warm during what will likely be a difficult time as she goes through chemo treatment I plan to knit her several hats. This is the first.

I hope to do at least two more so she has a choice of hats to wear since, unfortunately, she has been told that this type of chemo almost guarantees hair loss.

Pattern: Cancer Comfort Cap by Universal Yarn
Yarn: King Cole Cotton Top DK in Grey
Needle: 3.25mm & 3.5mm
Gauge: 24 stitches and 32 rows = 10 cm in Reverse Stockinette

Fun fact, it is one of my pictures that shows up when you look at the yarn's Ravelry page.

Ahab
Also, unfortunately it's more bad news; I found  lump on Ahab. When I took him to the vet she found three more, she did an ultrasound and did not find anything untoward inside him but I still want to have the lumps removed and biopsied so we know what we're dealing with here.

Every time I turn around this year there is more bad health news. I'm actually done with 2020 and I'm quite prepared to skip to 2021 anytime now.

Current Weather
-3C and partly cloudy.

WIP Update

And just like that another week passes, how do they slip away so fast? I was even on my own this week and it still raced by.

Ahab got to come to work with me on Thursday; lucky dog. Not sure why he's looking so worried in this picture, although I did take it early in the day. He had a blast all day with people petting him and giving him cookies. He must have eaten at least half a dozen treats and made a dozen new friends. As usual everyone loved him, I wish I knew how to work a room like that. Although it would probably help if I was so incredibly cute.

Also on Thursday I found out my VISA card number had been stolen. I have no idea how or when; actually when was probably around September 26 since that's the first stolen charge I found on the account. But I have no idea how, I've never given my card out to anyone questionable that I can think of. I've been on the phone with the fraud unit at the bank twice now and the card is cancelled and a new on one it's way to me. I'm still seething over this. Plus I have a migraine headache today, which sucks.

Knitting

But onto more pleasant things. This week was all about sweaters until yesterday, first the black sweater - I am now working my way up the back of the yoke.

The red t-shirt has been cast back on, this time I'm starting with a temporary cast on at the arm pits and working down to the bottom. Then I will pick up the stitches from the temporary cast on and work the yoke from there.

On Saturday I was inspired to try and work out the Awww-Poo Bag pattern again. I think I may have got it. Technically this could be seen as an FO not a WIP but since I haven't finalized the pattern I'm putting it here. Plus I hurt too much to post twice today.

Current Weather
8C and partly cloudy. A lovely fall day.

In Loving Memory

Soccer crossed the Rainbow Bridge this morning. He was bleeding into his stomach; basically bleeding to death internally. He can rest now. He couldn't walk or wag his tail anymore so it was definitely time to rest.

In his youth Soccer wagged his tail constantly, even in his sleep. He considered a 16KM hike a good warm up and always did everything with the utmost enthusiasm. In his old he tried age to keep up the enthusiasm but it became more selected. For years I said I could power my house if I could figure out how to harness his energy. Later he could only have managed to recharged my cell phone.

He hated hoops, hoola-hoops, tires; anything circular. When I tried to teach him to sit in the middle of a hoola-hoop lying on the floor he refused to put a paw inside such a thing. When I taught him to jump through the agility tire, for months he ran around it three times to make sure it wasn't hiding anything sinister before very carefully jumping through. He almost managed to learn to play Flyball. He would run over three jumps until he was bleeding from the nose but refused to run over four jumps. He could be incredibly stubborn.

He was taken from his mom too young and as a consequence had socialization problems all his life; then was abandoned by at least one, more likely two or even more families before he came to me. I promised him I would never leave him. I kept that promise and was right beside him as he left this world.

2017 Year in Review

Pets

I hate leading off with bad news but I must sadly say that I lost Squish this year. He had been ill for a couple of years with thyroid and, more recently, kidney failure but when he suffered a stroke (I think it was a stroke, he showed all the classic symptoms that EMTs tell you to watch for in a human) and was left partly blind and unable to walk I had to let him go. Rest easy my Squishy-cat; I miss you still.

Mouse has adjusted to being the only cat quite well and has embraced her Siamese genes by mewing constantly, mostly when she wants food; which seems to be every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, she has suffered from IBS for most of her life and has now added pancreatitis to her list of ailments. Watching her suffer through a flare-up is horrifying; the poor little cat is clearly in agony when it happens. And there isn't anything the vet can do for her, no medication or anything; all we can do is watch and hope she doesn't get worse.

Eclipse has not had any change in her health status but she does have cancer so I don't know how long she will be with us. Could be years could be months, with cancer you just never know.

Soccer's kidneys have started to fail so he's on medication for that. And he developed a fat lump on his side very quickly just before Christmas, monitoring for now and it has not become hard so far. He also seems to have a depressed appetite, food doesn't seem to interest him much and I had to move him onto a prescription vet diet; at least he'll eat it, he was refusing to eat anything for a couple weeks last spring and he's not a dog that should skip many meals given that he's always been a bit scrawny. For now he's still eating and doesn't seem to be in pain so we're monitoring.

Ahab seems to be that last healthy pet in the house and still loves playing Scent Hurdle. I'm keeping him running only one heat per race otherwise he seems to be really tired before the end of the tournament.

Knitting and other Fiber Arts

And now, let us take a look at the fiber accomplishments of 2017. I spent most of this year unemployed so my production level was high.


First completed project of this year was a pair of socks for my Niece. My Nephew's socks were completed in 2016 for his 2017 birthday so they show up on last year's review.










Followed immediately by a pair of socks for myself.

Then my Calgary Sister texted me a picture and asked if I could make her a hat like the one I had made for my Niece for Christmas 2015 in black or grey. How can one refuse? I called it Space Wurm not because of the colour (a true black) but because I was watching space documentaries while knitting it. Colour would have been a good reason to call it Space Wurm too.




Next, having learned that my Wee Niece's mauve Wonderful Wallaby just barely fit, I made a larger one for her. I have actually seen her wearing this in several video calls with her! Now, that's the way to get yourself hand knits. Or for your mother to get you hand knits. Either way.





Then came a pair of John Deere socks. I had originally intended these as a gift for a friend but one ended up longer than the other by about 1cm so I'm reluctant to gift them. They're waiting for me to make a decision.




Next I completed the first three of a series of Hats. I had some old Wool-Ease in my stash that I could never think what to do with. I can't even remember what I originally bought it for; so I made it up into a bunch of hats. This also lead to an important question - What do you call a group of hats? My personal favourite was a friend's suggestion of a "snuggle of toques".

Then came my UK Vacation. There were many adventures, but of relevance to knitting - while on the train from London to Edinburgh it broke down so I had lots of time to work on a pair of socks. I knit most of a sock while stuck on the train then completed the pair in the lounge of the hotel in Edinburgh. They're in my Scent Hurdle team's colours and I've been wearing them to tournaments, well, in winter that is.







And I finished another entire pair of socks while visiting with my Sister in Aberdeen. These went to my Mom for Mother's Day, which is celebrated in March in the UK so she got them early since we were in the UK and they were finished and it was UK Mother's Day. She did not get a second pair for Canadian Mother's Day but only because I didn't have time, I would have if I'd had time.


Upon returning home the hats continued to drip from my needles, it helps that Wool-Ease is a really chunky yarn, giving me a total of nine in various sizes. I originally intended to give these to charity, except for the medium green which I kept for myself, but they kept getting claimed by those who saw them on the table at the front door. In the end I kept the medium green, the solid red went to my Mom, the large charcoal to my brother-in-law, the blue with red stripe and grey crown to my Niece, the large green to my Nephew, the charcoal with red ribbing to my Sister, the small blue to my Wee Niece, and only three went into the charity box. Still, they all found a good home.

Then I did some experimenting with loom knitting, I would like to do more of this but I'm having problems finding the right tools. I have a feeling this could mean I'm pushing the envelope here. Cool beans. I did a small blanket that I ended up not liking because I chose the wrong cast off and messed up the pattern, this may get frogged yet. Plus, I have since found that double knitting works really well when you are working with two colours, so I really I feel I should be pushing this technique more and using three or more colours.


Next a sweater for me. I wore this lot through the cold snap over Christmas and New Years.











Then socks for my Dad for Father's Day.




Another sweater for my Wee Niece. The colour in the picture is completely wrong, it's actually a light blue. Since its in Scotland taking a replacement picture is tricky.






I enlarged the fish from the "A Recipe for Fish" blanket pattern and made a dish cloth.






Followed by a couple of Aww-Poo Bags. Still working on perfecting the pattern for these as I'm not 100% satisfied with it.

A flaming red 10 Stitch Blanket. My awe for the genius of Frankie Brown continues unabated. No particular plan for this at this time. I'm not worried; there's always someone having a baby.






A blue blanket. I had no recipient in mind when I made this but it worked out well when it went to a friend of my Scottish Sister who had a baby boy this year. The friend lives in Canada so there were no shipping costs incurred.




Some cotton socks for myself as I always seem to run out of summer socks. Not that I wear socks much in summer but it is good to have some.






Next some boring and practical dish cloths. As you can no doubt tell from the Franken-Cloth I was using up old stash to make these.

Another Aww-Poo Bag, this one came out a bit small, so still working on perfecting the design.











Another baby blanket, tentatively thinking of trying to sell these. And if that doesn't work out then I have plenty of baby gifts. There is a diamond pattern in this blanket, you can't see it at all in the picture but I assure you, its there.




Reached into my stash and worked up a baby car-seat blanket. The picture may not show it well but there are holes you can buckle a baby car-seat through. That way the baby can't kick the blanket off. This was this year's only crochet project.





I had purchased some alpaca sock-weight yarn to go into my Mitered Square Sock Blanket but I ended up with too much orange so I used the alpaca (why wouldn't you choose the alpaca?) to make mittens instead. There is a finger hole in the right mitten so you can text or use your GPS without removing your mittens.





Then I finished the first Christmas present, my Nephew's Star Wars Scarf. This was my first try at double-knitting and I have fallen completely in love with the technique; it is awesome. Also, I love this pattern and am still debating doing one for myself. I fear that if I do though I'd better also do one for my brother-in-law.




There was enough alpaca left after the mittens for a headband. It is currently far too cold to wear this.






And Christmas present number two, more double-knitting to make a Horse Scarf for my Niece. The colours in the picture are really off, the background should be light beige, same as in the Star Wars Scarf picture, and the scarf itself is dark purple and mauve.



And then another little blanket, blue with a leaf pattern. This picture is pre-blocking, I suspect the pattern will calm down and it will look much better once I take some steam to it.





And finally one last blanket with a single snowflake pattern but mostly stockinette stitch. Finished this on Dec. 30, although like the blanket above it still needs blocking, so it just squeaked across the wire.






Completed this year:
38 projects
36 knitting projects
9 chunky hats
7 little blankets
7 pairs of socks
3 sweaters
3 dish cleaning apparatus
3 Aww-Poo Bags (experimental)
2 double-knit scarves
1 wurm hat
1 pair of mittens
1 headband
1 loom knit project
1 crochet project

Current Weather
A balmy -20C and sunny. After over a week of -30C temperatures -20C feels positively warm.

2016 Year in Review

Let's take a look back at 2016.

Pets

Eclipse is still trucking along up at my friends' place. I suspect she loves retirement.

No health crisises from the felines this year. Squish continues to take his thyroid medication and he's actually not too bad about taking his pill twice a day. Other than that the cats are maintaining the status quo.

Soccer has another raging ear infection to finish off the year, I hope I can get this cleared up soon. He also seems to have slowed down a lot in the past few months. I hope it's just age as he turned 12 recently, I don't know his exact birthday as he was a rescue but I put it at sometime around the end of the year.

Ahab loves, loves, loves playing Scent Hurdle. He earned three titles in 2016. He started off running every heat in every race but starting in the fall I cut him back to one heat per race. He's old and I don't want him to get hurt playing the game. He sure gets excited if I pull out the barbells for a little practice.

Knitting

First thing finished in 2016 was a pair of socks for myself. Made from leftovers from a couple other pairs. I'm imposing a personal minimum of three yarns before they're Frankensocks.

Then I finished a sweater for myself. It didn't end up fitting as well as I'd hoped it would so I don't wear it much. This may end up in the Frog Pond yet.

Then came John Deer Knubbelchen in preparation for my Wee Niece's visit in the summer. Oh, and my Sister and Brother-in-Law came too but we all know who the important visitor was.

Next up more socks, for my Nephew this time. He's having a green phase which has continued into this year as he wants sock that are "green with maybe purple" for his birthday. Never argue with another person's colour choices.

Then some irresistibly cute Monster Pants. I made these too big for my Wee Niece but better than too small when it comes to kids.

Socks for my not-so-Wee Niece, she's still totally into pink. I live in despair that she will ever discover that other colours exist. No, not really; but I personally just don't care for pink. It's a harsh colour to my eyes. That's just me though.

Then I realized that if I was going to give my Wee Niece a toy upon her arrival I had better have one for the other little girl who was coming. My sister traveled with a friend who also has a young daughter. So I made a second Knubbelchen. I've been told since that this has become one of her favourite toys. How thrilling!

I wanted to try making more three dimensional toys but decided to break into the genre slowly so I made myself a Wee Little Bunny. He's presently sitting on my desk at work watching over my (dying) computer. The colour doesn't show particularly well in the picture, he's actually a soft yellow.

A friend of my boss had her gallbladder removed and since I'd knitted a "replacement" for myself as a joke when I had mine removed he asked if I could make another for her. Why not?

Feeling a bit more confident knitting three dimensional items I made a rabbit for my Wee Niece. When she received him on her birthday she kept putting him in a mixing bowl. My Mom decided we should call him Basil the Bunny because she was clearly trying to cook him up. We'll have to wait and see if that sticks.

Then along came another sweater for my Wee Niece. If you're sensing a theme here you'd not be wrong.

My sister who never wears socks (different sister than my Wee Niece's mom) asked for a pair of purple socks. How could I resist such a plea? I mostly knitted these while watching some exceedingly boring SQL training videos. They kept me awake.

At last something for myself. This sweater has been seeing a lot of wear. It's made from sock weight yarn so it can be worn indoors. This is a basic bottom up seamless sweater. I love seamless sweaters, mostly because I hate sewing. Learned that after making a couple of flat knit sweaters.

Found this pattern and simply could not resist making a dragon for my Wee Niece. I may have to make more of these as they're so terribly cute.

The first sock weight sweater was such a success I made another. I have a third on the needles and yarn for two more after that.

Some summer socks for me. These are mostly cotton so they're nice and cool for summer. If we get summer, which doesn't always seem to be a guarantee around here.

Then came the Great Sweater Crisis. I started making a Wonderful Wallaby using the colours found in a Hudson Bay blanket but it looked like it was going to be too large. So I made this little Mauve Wallaby which I greatly feared would be too small, have now spoken to my sister and it fits, just barely. It's made from sport weight yarn using the smallest Wallaby pattern with the sleeves and body shortened a bit.

In the end I did finish the Hudson Bay Wallaby and I sent it over to my Wee Niece with my folks when they went over for Christmas this year. I'm so jealous of the fun they must be having over there.

And because I had so much fun making toys I finished off with a Polar Bear. I think she's a girl we'll see what my Wee Niece decides. The sweater is not part of the bear so I predict lots of "take the sweater off, get someone to put it back on for me" from my Wee Niece.

My older Niece and Nephew also got toys this year. They don't look like much but who couldn't use a Hacky Sack? Maybe they'll become all the rage at the hockey rink. They also got books for Christmas although they were delivered on Boxing Day. The Hacky Sacks were a great hit and we spent close to half an hour playing with them, guess who got to help demonstrate them?

The tentative plan is to knit three more for each of them for birthdays or Easter so they can have juggling balls. Maybe I'll use the leftovers from their Birthday Socks; that's a thought anyway.

Then socks for Mom for her birthday in early December. These were late and are presently waiting for her to come home from Scotland.

Since I'm using up some vacation time at the end of the year Dad's birthday socks got finished in plenty of time for his birthday in January.

And finally socks for my Nephew. This puts me ahead for 2017 as his birthday isn't until February. He specifically asked for "green with maybe purple". And so I deliver. Colours are much darker than they appear in the picture.





Let's break down the numbers, just because:
24 projects completed
8 toys
8 pairs of socks
7 items for my Wee Niece
7 sweaters
3 items for my Nephew
2 items for my not-so-wee-Niece
2 bunnies
2 knubbelchen dolls
1 dragon
1 bear
1 human organ
1 pair of pants (trousers for any UK readers)