Pandemic Diary: Lazy Sunday and knitting plans.



How are you all doing? I hope you are listening to the advice of the scientists and not allowing this tragic pandemic to be a thing of politics.  Please think about the vulnerable people in your community and follow the commonsense guidelines they have set forth for the good of all wherever you live. I am so lucky to be blessed with young adults in my house who go to the store for us (though I confess to a couple runs to the store  - mask and all!).  I have friends who are dealing with compromised immune systems- or spouses with compromised immune systems -  and they have to take so many more precautions. I was in a meetup on Zoom with a bunch of those friends and what they go through right now is an eye-opener! As for us, the DH is still on furlough - finished those last two days at the hotel - and some six weeks later, no ill effects, thank goodness.  He is still rather stubbornly going to the market and the store, but he does put his mask on. 
 
The courts remain closed to the public, but if a hearing can happen remotely, they can do that. Even with that very recent amendment, the backlog is going to be... let's just say interesting.  There was some talk of having night court, but that probably won't happen. (Too bad, I was hoping it would be shades of Harry Anderson...) With that, I have plenty of work-related tasks to fill my day. Much of my work was done at home previously, with the odd foray into the office, so it's not terribly different.  The only thing I miss is seeing my clients in person. 
 
Our adult kids stay in touch with us and with each other - in fact four of them and a spouse got together last night by having cocktails and dinner outside of the house of one of them, sitting six feet away from each other! Right now, all of them are participating in a fundraiser for BARCs - an animal shelter - by playing trivia online. And, in the midst of all of this craziness and misery, one adult kid who lives with us just put a bid on a house.  Fingers crossed, she hears tomorrow about approvals.  I hope she gets it; the house appears really well constructed, in a nice, quiet  neighborhood that at the same time is not far from the Beltway.  Her sister, our Penultimate Offspring, who also is living with us as she finishes law school, sans graduation, will be moving in with her - an excellent idea, though we will miss them both.  

I had a bit of a health incident a couple of weeks ago.  I had literally just finished lunch - it wasn't particularly huge - a half sandwich and some chips - and almost immediately, this crushing pain hit me smack dab in the middle of my chest - either a horrible case of indigestion (reminiscent of Alien!)  - or a lot worse.  After reading so many times about how women's heart attacks often feel more like gut pain, I got really worried and asked my daughter to call 911.  Luckily, our second oldest daughter was not on duty at her job as a dispatcher.  The paramedics arrived and immediately did an EKG, which, thank goodness was normal.  But the pain was not going away, so I decided it would be best to head in to the hospital, much as I hated to do that.  I was apologizing all over myself for using that resource, but they were already there and I really needed to know what this was.  Unfortunately, our third oldest - the one who called 911  - told the dispatcher that I was short of breath (I was breathing heavily because I was in pain, not due to difficulty breathing). This precipitated the need to basically quarantine me in the ER and conduct a test for COVID19.  The end result of all this: No COVID19 (I kinda knew that), but my gallbladder was definitely unhappy. I was sent home with instructions to follow up with my PCP, and a host of blood test results.  I will be doing that tomorrow. After having had two more of these spells, I definitely don't want to have any more.  I've cut back on fats and alcohol - no real biggie - but there may be more I can do to turn it around - or at least stave it off until surgery can happen.

Well that was thrilling, wasn't it, LOL:)? How 'bout I really put you to sleep?

On the knitting front...

Despite continuing to work, albeit at home, I do have a couple of additional hours every day for crafts, even though things at work often take lot longer than usual.  I also don't have much to do by way of  commuting. As stated in previous posts, I've been working on finishing some sweaters that have been languishing in my WIP pile.  This past week, I finished two of them. First, the Trillium cardigan by Michele Wang:


 
 It fits perfectly - and when the weather gets cool again, I think it will be a nice sweater to wear to work.  The second sweater I finished is the pullover I thought I'd finish first - Felix by Amy Christoffers:
 I'd say I'm looking pretty pleased with myself here.  It fits just fine as well.  As you can tell, I knit it longer - I am not a cropped sweater kind of gal.  The white areas on my upper arms are actually the lace bits at the raglan sleeve shaping - a really nice detail of this design that you often see in Amy Christoffer's patterns.
 
 I imagine this will show better with a turtleneck or shirt underneath. 

 I have another bunch of projects I'd like to put a dent in if not finish soon. Watershed by Amy Swenson:
 


Daffodil by Marie Wallin - I am well underway, but need to rip back the shoulder shaping  on the front and reknit to the correct length.  Back is almost done. This is an earlier picture that shows the color better:


 
 Hinterland (pullover) - not much done on this - I am a bit farther along than in this picture:




Bonne Marie Burns' Fisher Lassie cardigan:
 
 

 Meg Swanson's Saddle Shoulder cardigan - featuring her mother, Elizabeth Zimmermann's sheepfold cable:):

 An aran sweater for my son, mostly by Melissa Leapman:
 

   Brick by Clare Lee:     
 

 Stonecrop by Andrea Mowry:


 
 


Leftovers Cowl by Wendy D. Johnson - a local-ish designer!


Sorrel by Wool & Pine:


 
 And finally, I have two more projects waiting in the wings - never mind the other (mumblety-mumblety) projects already on the needles:)!

The Throwback cardigan by Andrea Mowry:
 

 
 
 And this bag 'o beauties is going to be the Calla shawl by Natasja Hornby (Laine Magazine, Issue 7):


 
Well dear 2.5 readers, if you are still with me, there's one more thing I'd love to show you - a recent book acquisition and I couldn't be more thrilled:







Cecelia Campchiaro has done it again -in Making Marls, she brings you into her way of looking at knitting and you don't see things quite the same way again.  Just reading the forewords written by Meg Swanson and the women from Mason-Dixon Knitting - Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner - is a treat.  It's one of those knitting books I will likely read in depth and read again, just as I've done with her previous book, Sequence Knitting.  It is color theory and sequencing, art seen through the eyes of a scientist.  As a practical thing, it's a compendium on putting yarns together.  I show you just a few pages out of this brilliant book to pique your curiosity. It is not a cheap book, but it is worth the cost.

Well, dear readers, be well, stay safe, stay HOME if you can and whatever your points of view, please be assured I wish you health and prosperity. God be with you 'til we meet again+ 

 
 


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