Sometimes you're the windshield

After the week I've had, I feel like hospice is killing me.

Ironic, isn't it?

On the mend

Meh. It doesn't look so bad.

Except that with decreases, the colors aren't lining up so well.

Frog heap.

Better.

Much better. It's a thumb and a little embellishment away from complete. But wait, it won't be done until the mate is finished. At least it stands a chance of being finished now.

Not loving it

Always one to let relationships carry on too long, I'm considering ripping back the hand portion of my mitten. It's just not speaking to me so I'm breaking up with it. Maybe not all of it, but at least the part where I started to make decreases. It just doesn't look as good as I'd like it to look.

I promise to offer up proof of hideousness, frogging and re-knitting later. In the meantime, I'm going to hem that hat so at least something from this set stands a chance of being worn. When I do restart my mittens, I promise not to let the decreases go past one row if I don't like them. Sheesh. When will I learn to listen to my inner knitter's voice?

Speaking of relationships that have exceeded their expiration dates, so long Rich Rod. It took Michigan long enough to realize that you and their team had a really crappy thing going on, but, hey, better late than never.

Beyond the surface

Leo's slave master is down for the count after some kind of viral invasion force took over his body. After waiting all day yesterday for a walk, Leo resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going anywhere. With a big sigh, he curled into a ball and tried to sleep. Feeling really sorry for him, I bundled up and jangled his leash. The beast went bonkers. Surprisingly, he was really good on our walk, didn't jerk the leash or wrench my back and only tore into one neighbor's trash bag (came up with a mouthful of paper towel). He did try to attack one ornamental deer. People in our neighborhood should feel safer when Leo is out and about, or at least be assured that the holiday decor will not gather and plan a revolt. That dog can carry on at the same inanimate objects until he's certain they're not alive and then the very next day, he acts the same toward the same exact objects. Other than that, I think he's really smart. Either he has a short term memory issue or he's perpetually hopeful that one day he'll corner the real McCoy.

It's remarkable how many people do laundry at midnight and the array of dryer fabric softener scents is fairly amazing. The neighborhood, though quiet on the outside, was apparently very industrious indoors. Block after block smelled like a giant floral bouquet and if I didn't know better, I'd think I lived in a garden spot--not somewhere a few miles north of Detroit.

Having been led astray by a good book, I'm not much further along on those mittens and still have a bit of embroidery to fill out the bottom part of the mitten. Can you identify what's on the mitten from what I did get done? I swear, I've looked at this pattern for days now and was so charmed and focused by the hearts on the thumbs that I couldn't see what was knit and embellished on the top of the hand.


On the pattern, it looked like a blob of white with nothing really remarkable.

This is why I love color knitting. Things aren't always what they seem at first, are they?

I don't know how to break it to you, she said,

but I think my mittens are nicer than yours.

Secret Christmas knitting revealed and it's just as I imagined they'd look.

(Leo mistreating the model)

Bite my butt if you must, just don't bite my mittens.

Baby it's cold outside

Turns out last night was not a good night to be on call. Around 11 PM, I got a call about a patient I knew would not make it through the night. After the call, I could not fall asleep for fear I'd not hear my phone ring. Around 3:30 AM, I threw in the towel and prayed hard that the patient would somehow miraculously make it until morning. Forty five minutes later I was on my way to her house with my teeth chattering. We went from fifty-some degrees with a balmy breeze to a deep freeze overnight. Though the thermometer in my car read 22 degrees, it felt like 20 degrees less than that.

Slightly embellished at this point. There are many more French knots that have since been applied.

Since the day was pretty quiet yesterday, I reached the critical point where I'd have to make a decision about what this knitting will be when it's done. Should it be a pair of gloves as the pattern is written for, or should it be mittens? Gloves would be challenging and I know I can knit mittens standing on my head, so I was leaning toward the challenge. That's until I went outdoors at 4 in the morning. My hands, tucked inside usually warm gloves, were freezing and separated from their neighborly digits. My fingers would not get warm. With mittens, fingers can at least share their collective warmth. My decision was made by the weather and sometime today, there should be at least one mitten done and another on the way.

I do not have hairy arms like a man--that's black fuzz from my many layers of wool.

Since I was up and couldn't clock out until 8 AM, I tossed the last of the Christmas ham into the crock pot, added a mirepoix, chicken stock, garlic and a bag of split peas. I'm hoping by the time I wake up, the soup will be ready.

Good night for now from hospice central...or should I say good day?

A Cheesy New Year

Front side of the Inger Ski Gloves that will match my ski hat. I'm not going to let the fact that I don't ski stop me from finishing these. Though rather plain at the moment, these gloves will be embellished with French knots and cross stitch embroidery.

We knew getting into a restaurant after my husband was done working last night would be nearly impossible, so while he was working, I cleaned the house, went to the market and prepared a romantic dinner for two. We had a traditional cheese fondue and a salad prepared with blood oranges, honey sweetened pecans and Maytag blue cheese. Keeping with my cheesy theme, dessert was a store bought, but completely delicious cheesecake. Between the two of us, we polished off a bottle of bubbly while watching Moonstruck. This is a movie that never fails to make me laugh--even after watching it for the 20th time.

It was a perfect ending to the year.

Palm side of the Inger Ski Gloves. That's the thumb gusset for the left hand growing between the two green markers.

Today he's back at work and I work tonight from 8 PM until 8 AM. I'm hoping for a repeat of the last holiday I worked when not a single call came through the hospice hot line. In the meantime, I'm knitting and a little later plan to spin some yarn while I watch some football. With the exception of having to work tonight, I can't think of a better way to spend my day or launch my new year.

Well...Maybe one more piece of cheesecake will make it that much better.