oriental

I ordered the pattern, downloaded it, and while I was printing out color charts, I stitched it - one-color on a bag from Bath n Bodyworks.
The design is BFC Creations 383 - Chinese Quilt Blocks I.
I am such a procrastinator - I can't believe this happened so quickly.

train ride

my first time on a train - took the scenic route from Springdale AR to Van Buren AR - and found a great quilt shop there in VB.

Fantastic time with good friends---

Oct 22 sunup

My burns healed fast, though my skin is still darkened.

My hair is growing - but it's only half an inch long. At least I finally have eyelashes again! And eyebrows! I had actually bought some brow pencil with little stencils to mark the shape of eyebrows. But it's hard to figure out where they go when you have none. Many times I got them uneven, but I wear glasses, so I figured that helped to hide them. Now they are small, and thin, but at least I know where they are.

Since I last posted I have made three (THREE!!) pairs of Socks for Soldiers, but sent 2 of them off without pictures - huge camo ones, medium ones in grays, and the latest - brown andorange marl leisure sox from Knitpicks Essential Twist

The Sunday Lizard

Well, last SUnday, our cat caught the Sunday lizard (actually a blue-tailed skink) and we thought it might have been mortally wounded. But earlier today, the Sunday Lizard popped out again. We heard the plink plink of a small xylophone. Our cat was digging in the toybox. Suddenly my husband saw the cat chase Sunday into the kitchen. He grabbed the cat and I grabbed the lizrd. I set it free outdoors, but I'm a little sad that we won't see him again...but maybe next Sunday, however he got in in the first place, he might remember...

Do-Once-a-Month-Cooking

OK, so I've tried a couple of times to do a limited bit of this. It really works - if you then go to the freezer and eat the stuff.

http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Once-a-Month-Cooking
http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page
wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

peripheral neuropathy

Let me try to explain peripheral neuropathy.

It seems like my fingers are numb -that makes it harder to type, and it makes it impossible to pick up a button off the floor. Right now up to the first knuckle - but sometimes it spreads up my fingers and sometime even my hands.

But at the same time, it feels like those pin-prick sensations when your hand or foot has fallen asleep. So you feel both numb and pain - weird.

The pain is small, and nearly constant - just enough to keep me from falling asleep sometimes. Of course now I have the rads burns, and some pain meds, so the neuropathy doesn't bother me now - kinda like an old joke : I can't feel the pain in my hands because of hitting my head on the desk to make a larger pain.

Well , that didn't sound like a joke even to me...

Woo Hoo!!

I had my last radiation treatment on Weds!!

I am burned, and it hurts, but thanks to creams, dressings, and pain meds, I am really pretty comfortable.

I don't have to drive an hour and a half (one way) every day!!
I have three hours a day more time!!!

I finished another pair of socks for my son (yeah, size 14 shoes!!

don't forget

I don't want to forget any of this. Even the nausea, even the fatigue, even the tingling in my fingers. I want to remember it all- the machines, the waiting, but most of all the people-the nurses dancing, the hugs, the people fighting through pain and nausea, those who have to go through this three times, the ones whose names I don't know and will never see again....

Socks for hubby

A million years ago, I knit my husband socks. But recently, he has refused my efforts. He has always said that he has ugly feet - he does have fungus in the troenails, and even six months on the medication didn't help. And he does wear out socks pretty fast. His theory about socks is to buy 8 or 10 pair exactly the same, so he doesn't have to match anything. But I had this KnitPicks essential, and it is so soft, that he finally said OK. He loves them! I have made him 2 pair so far, one navy and one in denim blues.

more sox

I saw the skein with teals and charcoal at my LYS, and grabbed it. I normally dither about purchases, taking forever to make up my mind. But this was an immediate "Well, HERE's my next pair of sox!" I had nearly finished the first sock before I saw the Kafe Fassett signature on the label. Now, I have looked at Kafe designs, and generally think they are too busy - too many colors- too much going on. But these, these are just right! I made them identical, but had to go through half a skein to find the right start place. Then the next time I went to my LYS, I found the denim/navy colorway. I may be getting more of this stuff!

Sunday Lizard

We have a lizard - and, no, we didn't do it on purpose...
and no. I don't have a picture(Any misspellings are because the cat sees me typing, and wants to check out the keyboard).

Two Sundays ago, my grandkids were watching TV, and DGD said, "There's a lizard under the TV!" But no one else saw him, and I wondered...

Last Sunday, just before the grands arrived, a lizard came into the living room and lay down in a spot of sunlight. I wanted to grab my camera, but I was only about two feet from him, and didn't want to move and scare him. When the grands knocked on the door, the lizard disappeared - NOT under the TV, but I'm not exactly sure where. Jer told the grands that he was hiding in the toybox, so they dragged everything out to look. Of course we haven't seen him again. I guess I'll wait until Sunday...

enjoying living

I hate to maybe jinx anything, but so far, the rads are a breeze. i have a new kitty, and she climbs up on my shoulder, and that hurts more than the rads. (and hurts longer - those kitty nails are sharp!)

I teach Spanish and French.Several years ago, I needed graduate hours in Spanish. It was actually cheaper to go to Costa RIca and study at the University there than to go to my nearby (but across state lines) university. So I did everything I could in Costa Rica. I kept saying "I'll never have this chance again!!" I went white water rafting (level 3 rapids), and LOVED it! (You have to understand - I don't swim well. I am perhaps the only person who passed beginning swimming at University of Missouri, but still was allowed (encouraged, actually) to take beginning swimming again.) So the entire time I was white water rafting, I enjoyed the added thrill of fear of dying! We paddled so hard that, when we stopped for lunch, several of us couldn't stop our muscles from trembling. It was glorious!!
A few years ago, a friend of mine talked me into canoeing with her. She worked at a canoe rental for the summer, so we had all the gear we needed, and she really knew the river. The water was high, and fast. There was one bend in the river with an overhanging tree - a LOW overhanging tree. Of course we overturned. My friend was really worried about me. Of course I was wearing a life vest, and it saved me, and I managed to swim back to the canoe and we even managed to recover all our stuff (in floating duffle bags). Afterward my friend said, "Everyone bites it at that tree!!!" But I'm still glad i went!!

Another strike at vanity

Chemo is poison. It attacks every rapidly-dividing cell in your body.
That's why we lose our hair. That's why our red and white blood cells get destroyed, and we feel weak and are more susceptible to common viruses and bacteria.

Now, formerly I had a skin condition - similar to psoriasis - but according to the dermatologist, not. It was scaley, itchy, weepy, and flakey. A long time ago, I had it all over my hands. Just before chemo it was over both shins and the top of my right foot(nope - not a spot of it on my left foot - go figure)

Now, skin cells are rapidly developing cells.....

That means that the chemo attacked the skin condition --- AND IT COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED!!! Yes!! And since I lost all the hair on my body(including eyebrows and EYELASHES!) I don't have to shave my legs any more. So don't tell me that there aren't any advantages to chemo!!

For a while I was attempting to brush on brown stuff in the shape of eyebrows. But I really wasn't sure exactly where they should go - and the wig has bangs, and I wear glasses and the frames kind of hide that area a bit anyway....

So I had begun to come to terms with the way my body looks right now. But don't get complacent, because there is always a NEW ATTACK on your VANITY.

It seems that toenails and fingernails are rapidly developing. Think about it.....

My fingernails are distorting, discoloring, and peeling from the quick out. The nail underneath is thin and soft. And my toenails are coming off. I don't remember reading about this particular side effect. But yeah - my left big toe nail came totally off today, and the only reason I still have the right one is that I tape it down so it can't catch on a towel or sock.

Ah, vanity lost again!

They lie!

Well, I guess I'm finally ready to blog about cancer. I was diagnosed last Halloween. Trick or treat!!

I had surgery in Dec, and have been having chemo since Jan. When I first visited the oncologist, I had to go to "chemo school." They gave me an entire 3-ring binder full of info. The American Cancer Society and the Breast Center all have lots of thick, glossy brochures - free to the public. They state that 97% of breast cancer patients survive 5 years or more.

They lie.

Patients with MY type of breast cancer, with MY type of treatment, even though I am receiving the very latest-Taxol (and the oldest- Adriamycin Cytoxan, which strangely can't seem to be improved upon) AND will have radiation this summer, have only a 75% 5-year survival rate.

Now, I know that I should be looking at all this from the "Glass is three-quarters full" point of view, but frankly, being a Pollyanna isn't my forte.

I just know one thing: I don't plan on dieing any time soon.

Camel Nantucket Jacket

Nantucket Jacket from Interweave Knits winter 2006

I wanted long sleeves... I also wanted to knit in the round. I think Elizabeth Zimmerman said that tubular body parts should be covered with tubular knits - or something like that. I also hate to seam stuff, and often think that even yarn catalog pictures show horrible seaming...

Another pair for SFS - Lang Jawoll with Dyed-to-match reinforced heels and toes. size 1 bamboo double-point needles

SFS socks

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOCKFORSOLDIERS/

Regia Stretch camo - 11 inch feet shrank to 10.5, 8.25 inch finished size legs - also made a pair of BBS in Regia Stretch Black. The black rubbed off on my fingers as I knit - hand washed and rinsed in vinegar. They also shrank - but I hope they don't bleed any more. I like the new SFS sock band.

Turns out I CAN knit a pair of these socks in four days (4!!!) - but that's only if I am not working - and it kills my hands, so that I can't knit for a couple of days afterward - and I pretty much don't want to.

more CIC sox

Carla donated tapestry wool for CIC socks. This is the first pair. I have enough wool for about 16 more pair. Elsa Williams needlepoint yarn, 32 sts, size 3 Harmony wood needles from Knitpicks

Apple Laine socks

I like to call these "Teal Duck" - the colors are all natural to a teal duck, and I just love the mottled look. THey are super soft, and my size - but they belong to Socks for soldiers. Oh, well, I got some yarn yesterday for me. maybe.

tam2 browns

tam1

I love the book Knitted Tams by Mary Rowe. I purchased 16 colors of Palette from KnitPicks, and here's number 1.