I spent the weekend down in Southern California with most of my family. It was my brother's 58th birthday. He was very sick over Christmas, and his wife and friends were seriously worried that he didn't have much longer to live.
He has recovered from that bad cold, and is doing really well again. The toughest thing is that it is getting tough for him to talk. But on Sunday, the weather was great. We spent a few hours outside enjoying the sunshine. We kept the party simple with mostly family, but a few of Mark's friends from high school showed up. It was wonderful to see them. They have been visiting him every couple of weeks, and as he has become more and more house-bound, this is so important to keeping up his spirits.
I spent most of the weekend with 2 of my sisters and really had fun talking with them.
1. Old Phones
Most of the Eastside Stitchers know how old (and pathetic) my phone is. It is an old Samsung "slider." I can phone and text, and take horrible photos. It is virtually unbreakable, though, and although it has been dropped about a million times, it works great.
My older sister, Sue, wants me to get a smart phone. She knows that I can't group text, and for some reason, this really bugs her, so she is continually bugging me to get a new phone. She stopped talking smack about my phone this trip because on Saturday night, her iphone stopped working, and she couldn't figure out how to fix it. For the rest of my trip, she had to borrow my phone every time she needed to text or call someone.
2. My People
My sisters and nieces and nephews are definitely not my people, as far as knitting is concerned. I brought my Advent Calendar Scarf to show off, and while every one looked at it, they were not truly appreciative. Also, I mostly worked on my Planned Pooling Cowl (as it was the easiest thing to knit socially), and no one asked me what it was.
3. The Optimism of Knitters
I left for Southern California Saturday at about 11 am, and returned home at about 11 am, so about 48 hours. I brought 3 different projects.
4. UGH! Cursed Socks
I am knitting a pair of socks for my Godson, Scooter. He wants these really fun colorwork socks with sheep called, Sheep May Safely Graze, by Caoua Coffee. I started them last year, but got busy with other things, and set them aside. I decided to knit them as part of my Order of the Phoenix Mission (for HPKCHC), and make them double-knit rather than stranded colorwork, as I am worried that they won't fit a teen age boy if they can't stretch.
So, I frogged them, and restarted them as double-knit. Well, I got about half of the first chart finished, when I realized that adding 2 rounds of the main color before starting the chart wasn't such a good idea, and just made it really difficult to see the sheep.
5. Thank you, Allifer
I don't think I thank Allifer enough. She has picked me up from the airport so many times in the last 2 years. She works afternoons and evenings, so is available to do morning pickups. Even though she isn't working, it must get old to have me constantly asking her to drive out and pick me up. She never complains, and always seems happy to help this way. I really appreciate it.
6. Superbowl Scarf
I finished the Tweed Stitch Seahawks Scarf that I have been knitting for Himes. I finished it (the knitting) on Friday, and got up early and blocked it Saturday morning before leaving on my trip. When I got home today, I unpinned it, and wove in the ends.
f1bercat
shaping the planet with short stories.
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