Thank you and--Woohoo--pictures...

First and foremost, I wanted to thank Jan for her understanding comment. Yes, the last couple weeks have been both a Godsend and also a trainwreck. After handing off all the phone calls to dear Hubby, he realized just how much our dearest Aunt has been failing in her memory, so he gave me full permission to run with whatever ideas I had. We are in an extremely lucky position because Mark already has durable power of attorney and our dear Aunt has enough income to pick a place that looks more like a hotel than a nursing home. I won't go into a lot of details but it looks like we could possibly move her this coming week.

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And, yes, it's been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life. But things are moving at lightning speed and I don't want to stop now. It's something that needs doing if only to give our dear Aunt a warm and welcoming place where we know she's being taken care of and I know she'll enjoy once she gets used to it. I hate the thought that she's become so isolated because she's living alone in an apartment complex where everyone works. Now she'll be in a place with people who care and will make sure she's eating. (Yes, I swear she forgets to eat. Not that she's doing it deliberately, but she just forgets that she hasn't eaten.) She'll have new people to meet and get to know. She'll have people who don't care that she often repeats the same story in the same conversation. She'll have the security and safety of a place that's truly lovely and welcoming.

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So things are in motion and we could possibly be moving her this coming Thursday. My bosses will have a heart attack because this is a critical time at the job where overtime is practically mandatory, but family comes first and always has. I'm sorry about the timing, but dear Aunt is more important than a couple extra hours of overtime.~

So... to pictures. Don't laugh, but my wonderful friend, Sylvia, wanted a picture of me wearing my new red Albertville Dale of Norway. I had just come home from my spinning group last Friday and I was chatting with youngest daughter and her boyfriend and she pulled out her camera. Sorry, but I couldn't resist. If you know me at all, I'm almost never downright silly, so I grabbed the opportunity and ran with it. This is me in my third to last (?) creation. I look a little pregnant (at least, to me I certainly look that way... LOL), but the sweater fits nicely and you can just see the variegation in the red kettle-dyed wool. Both the red and the creamy white are Araucania Nature's Wool. The other two colors are tangelo and chestnut in Knit Pick's Telemark sport weight yarn. The color combination worked beautifully and I certainly can't complain. This might just have to be my entry in the Durham Fair this coming September. That is, unless I come up with something better, but I'm not sure how I can top this one.

Here's the next sweater. I still have to put it together, but I'd needed yarn quickly, so I stopped at Michael's and purchased some Patons. This is just a basic drop shoulder, but the pattern is based off the Fibonucci sequence. The pattern itself is simple. 4 stitches: knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 1. Repeat as needed... /wry g/ But you can see the progression of how the simple stockinette grows between the pattern rows. 1 row. 2 rows (1+1). 3 rows (1 + 2). 5 rows (2 + 3). 8 rows (3 + 5). 13 rows (5 + 8) and so on.

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To finish the neck, I'm going to try a basic boatneck. Crochet the stitches around the armholes and then cut them open. Do a 3-needle bind off for the shoulders and then sew in the sleeves. Then, depending on how "finished" the neck looks, I might do a simple single crochet around the neckline. To keep the neck from dipping low across the back, I did add two shortrows between the future shoulder seams. Just so it won't dip low. I don't mind that the front of the neck will go straight across my neck, but I don't want the back dipping. But this is something I won't know if it works until it's all done and put together. So I'll have to bring this one back later with a picture of me wearing it to see if it actually works.

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So how we move to the next sweater that I'd begun. Not sure I'll get this one done before summer, but I'll keep it as a work in progress. For my birthday, Mom had bought me EZ's The Opinionated Knitter, which is full of all of her old newsletters. I took charts from her 2nd and 3rd newsletters and I'm mixing them up and trying to see how many I can incorporate into one sweater without repeating myself. As you can see, I'm trying to vary the patterns in terms of width as well as height. I'm even trying to vary them as to swirly, like the sideways s's and geometric with harder edges. So far, I'm really, really pleased with this sweater. All knit in Knit Pick's Wool of the Andes yarn in colors Bare and Jalapeno on a size 7 needle (4.5 mm). I made copies of the pages with the graphs and I'm highlighting as I go. This is not only to mark where I am (in case I have to put it down), but so I remember which ones I've used and which ones are waiting to be used.

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I still have to finish the sweater mentioned before that because I might put a boatneck on this sweater also if it works. That hasn't been determined yet. Oh, one note that I'm doing and trying on this sweater. I'm using a total of 220 stitches for the body. The bigger patterns are broken down so they're centered in front and back, with partial patterns that end and begin again at the side seams. But I have a couple patterns that are based off 4 sts. 220 stitches are divisible by 4, but 110 are not. So rather than have a half-pattern at each side edge, I simply carried it all the way around for the full 220. So not all patterns break at the side edge, but others do. That should give an interesting look when finished. I don't see a problem with it so far.

Here's the latest cast on. It's Tank Top #25 from the latest Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2009. They suggest a metallic yarn in fingering weight and then you double the yarn. Uh huh. Metallic isn't exactly in my repetoire and I can't see me wearing metallic more than once a year. So I've opted to use Knit Pick's Comfy Worsted which is a cotton/acrylic blend. The color looks weird to me, but it's sea foam. It's probably my mint green walls that are deadening the color or my monitor is severely off (which I already know, but it's amazing how I can pick colors that go together when they look screwy on my monitor... LOL). Anyway, I'm knitting it on a size 6 needle (4.0 mm). Rather than knitting the front and back separately and then seaming them together, I knit the whole bottom of it in one piece. Can you tell yet that I adore circular knitting? /wry g/

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I also shortened the length of the piece because I'm 5'8" in my dreams and, let's face it, those models they use? At least 5'8" if not taller. I'm fairly short waisted and long in the hips. So I knit 6" for the waist shaping at the bottom and then 5" for the bust increases above the waist. Eleven inches might still be a bit long as I hope for this to fall right at the top of my hips. But I'd rather have it be a bit long than way too short. OTOH, their suggestion is for a total of 14" to the beginning of the armhole and I know that's way too long. I'm not only shorter than a model, but I also outweigh your standard stick by at least 30 lbs.

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Anyway, I'm now dividing at the side seams. I'll knit the back while leaving the stitches for the front on the cable. Then I'll knit the front and begin to pick up stitches for the neck and armholes. What intrigues me about this pattern is that the straps are created by the armhole facings. You actually cast on stitches and join the front and back by knitting the facing. Then turn it around and knit the neck by picking up those cast on stitches. (Or is it the other way around? Whichever, it doesn't matter. It intrigues me, so I'm doing it.)

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This pattern is also a test for me. First is if I can knit to a time frame. I'd like this done by next weekend so I can wear it with my black jacket to the basketball banquet with my daughter. (She manages the girls' team, so let's be the supportive Mom and go with her.) Wouldn't it be a hoot if I can finish this before then? Second is I love the idea that this cotton is machine washable and dryable. It's going to be a nice change from hand washing and blocking all my wool sweaters. Finally, I've made some changes to the original design and I'd like to see if it actually works.

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All this because I have more yarn in my bag. I'd like to make the Nora Gaughan tank top from the same Vouge issue for youngest daughter to wear to her high school graduation in June. (That would be design #22) I bought Knit Picks' Cotlin in Island Coral for her. This is a color that will be gorgeous on her now that she's settled on a reddish brown for her hair. I also picked up more Cotlin in Blackberry for a skirt. I'm hoping to also complete the Vacation Skirt pattern from the March issue of Creative Knitting. I think the two would make a lovely combination and Dee is very excited by the idea of wearing a whole outfit that Mom knit for her. Besides, she is one of those teenaged girls who looks like a stick. If she weren't so short, she could definitely be a model. When she stands sideways, she disappears. (Don't worry, I've warned her. I was that way in my teens. I no longer stand sideways for anyone if I can help it... LOL!)

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Anyway, this just begs the point of another picture. Yes, have I actually added pictures or what?!? This is my knitting bag. A full-sized bag that I bought over at the university for a mere $24.00. Best investment I ever made. I can carry my current work-in-progress plus I always also carry a ziploc containing my latest pair of socks. Hmm.... didn't get a picture of that, did I? Sorry 'bout that. But I always carry socks in case I'm someplace that the full bag would be awkward. I can just grab my socks and carry those with me. But this bag can carry just about anything. I have my project, magazines for ideas, books, clippers, stitch markers, extra needles and cables, as well as my thermos of coffee for work in the morning and even a small snack if need be. The front pocket has gum and an inhaler if I need it. I can even tuck my iPod and headphones into the inner pocket.

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We're talking that I'm ready for any and every knitting emergency out there. Caught in traffic? Not a problem. I not only have current sweater-sized project, but also an emergency sock in case I finish that sweater. Pens, pencils. Paper for notes and a notebook that's woefully behind on updating. I even have a small sandwich ziploc bag of leftover sock skeins in case I need to toss in a lifeline.

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And the nice thing is that no one has ever questioned me. I've carried that into the XL Center in Hartford when we went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra so I could work on a pair of mittens while waiting for the concert to start. (Talk about timing. I cast off the last thumb just as the lights went down.) They simply glance inside the bag, see all my knitting paraphernalia and let me through. Same when I went with beloved daughters last year to Warped Tour down on Long Island. They were combing through everyone's backpacks and bags and saw my knitting, smiled and moved me right along. They didn't see the 4 water bottles at the bottom that I'd stowed for all of us. Never even questioned me, which was a good thing because water was something crazy like $5 a bottle. Yes, there was a water truck way over in a forlorn corner that we could refill our bottles, but I brought them in without question. And even managed to sit for a while and knit on some socks.

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Today is a day for raking and trimming. Spring Break was a bust. I wasn't able to get out in the yard at all. So today is the day to rake out the hostas and daylilies as they've begun to sprout. I also have to trim back the grasses so the new shoots can get some daylight and encouragement to peek through. I don't want this year to be like last year. The surgery set me back so far that I wasn't able to get into my yard until late June and, by then, the weeds had taken over. I spent the rest of the summer doing nothing more than damage control.

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But not this year. I'm going to get out and get things in order so in another three weeks, I can start full bore on my yard and house. There's three weeks left to the semester and then I'm off for the summer. I won't get a lot of knitting done (other than Dee's top and skirt), but I'll spend the summer spinning as much as possible. Spinning is okay because my hands don't sweat. Knitting, though, is hard because I'm on a sweater kick. The last thing you want in steamy humidity is a sweater in your lap... LOL! Anyway, lots of projects planned for the house. (I'm determined to get my bedroom painted this year as well as that entryway taped, spackled and painted.) Lots of cleaning up in my yard. I just hope I can afford to add some more perennials to my garden out front. It's filling in nicely, but I still have some empty spots that need color.

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Have a wonderful and productive week!!! Spring is beginning to sprout and it's time for me to take back control. I wish the same for all of you!

Almost no fooling...

Oldest daughter called me on April 1st and said that the university newspaper had reported that the school had bought a whole bunch of FEMA trailers and were going to put all the juniors in the trailers up in the Hilltop parking lot. Hmm... how are they going to do that? How will they get electricity? Where will they move the cars?
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Yes, it was an April Fools' edition. And what am I doing? I'm trying to figure out the logistics... LOL!
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Somehow I survived the week. Problems with my dearest aunt-in-law are escalating, so that's now moving to a front burner. I'll call Elderly Outreach again starting tomorrow and beg if I have to in order to get some help with that situation. I feel bad for Mark because I've been making him answer the phone... er, most of the time. In the past, I'd intercepted most of the calls and dealt with whatever cropped up. In essence, I was trying to save him from the worst of it. But that wasn't a good idea because now he truly sees what I've been seeing for the past year or so.
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Just a quick example is that she called last week because she thought she saw sparks and flames when she started her car. (We know now that she hasn't been driving much because her odometer has only logged 400 miles in the last year.) anyway, the battery was dead. So Mark and I went over, he jumpstarted the car and asked if he could take it for a few days to drive it to make sure everything is okay. Yes, everything is fine. I think it's because all of the indicator lights light up when you initially start the car and she doesn't understand and thinks they're sparks and flames jumping out from the dashboard. So Mark drove the car home and this is when we discovered that she's only driven approx 400 miles in a year. That was last Sunday.
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She called us Friday, worried because her car was gone. She did ask if Mark had taken her car, but she was worried because it was gone. It wasn't in her garage and it wasn't parked in front. And she was out of cigarettes. (Don't even go there because the one thing I do know is that she's never smoked in her bedroom or in bed. For 20 years, she either stands at her kitchen counter or sits at her kitchen table while smoking.) So Mark took her some cigarettes and, yes, he has her car. Then she called yesterday because she's in trouble with the Dept of Motor Vehicles. She'd received a notice that her emissions was expired and they'd taken her car. No, another reason Mark took her car is because he has an appt on Tuesday to take it through emissions for her. They didn't take her car. We did so we could take care of this. Then she called again because she's out of bread. Twice, she called about this one. So he called and asked her if she needed bread, though he'd been to her house the night before. No, that's okay, she could wait because of the terrible storm outside.
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You have to understand that she was almost hit by lightning as a child, so she's always been terrified. Yes, we'd had some thunder earlier in the evening. I imagine she'd closed all of her blinds so she wouldn't be scared by the lightning and still thought the storm was raging (though, in reality, it was periods of light rain and I only saw one flash of lightning and a few rolls of thunder). So that could wait until today.
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Well, speaking of our dear Aunt, she just called. She's out of coffee and really cranky because she hasn't had any coffee yet.
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Poor Mark is in the shower. No, he can't deal with the daily problems. We're going to have to fix this and get some help. So I'll start calling again tomorrow. Six months ago, I was dealing with this by myself and Mark wasn't exactly supportive because he didn't see the extent. Well, it's gotten a LOT worse than it was six months ago, but at least he's going to work with me to get dear Aunt the help she needs.
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The funny part about this whole thing is that my mother-in-law is actually the perfect person for this type of thing. She really is terrific. When dealing with someone who's not exactly firing with all pistons, my MIL can have the patience of Job. She works with a woman right now who's in the same kind of circumstance that dear Aunt is and my MIL deserves a medal for the way she can gently nudge her patient in the right direction. The problem is that dear Aunt and MIL don't get along. Dear Aunt has the funds to pay MIL to come in a few hours a day and do things like the laundry and shopping and make sure she eats at least one hot meal a day. And MIL would be wonderful at it. But they would be like putting a match and flame too close together.
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Oh dear. I feel really bad for Mark, but he needed to be driven to the edge before he'll let me see that things are done that need doing.
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Okay, that all said. I've started my EZ Scandinavian design. I received my yarn from Knit Picks and it's going to work really really well. But I also received the new Vogue Knitting. A couple of their tank top designs are really pretty. I'm actually feeling a new surge of creativity in a different direction. I'm thinking of KP's Cotlin in a few tanks for spring and summer. Two of the designs in their metallic section are wonderful. (I'm thinking the short sleeve with the cowl that's knitted top down. Wow! What a truly gorgeous design.) But no way am I thinking in terms of metallic. I'm thinking cotton or linen or silk or some combination of the three. Simple classic designs with small details that truly set them apart.
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So I imagine my next purchase will be some Cotlin for one of them. Yes, I even like the new Nora Gaughan design. Done in Cotlin in that new pale salmon color? Wouldn't that be really pretty on a hot summer day once I get working on my summer tan? I'm thinking the 4th of July fireworks over in Hamden. Oh yeah, this would be the perfect tank to wear to an event like that.
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And I wonder if I have enough time for the capped-sleeved cowl for the basketball banquet next month? I'm not sure I could finish it in time, but that would certainly be lovely in a two-tone natural cotton or cotlin over a plain pair of black pants.
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Okay, off to shower and make some phone calls. Be ready once Dee wakes up so I can get some pics of all my lovely sweaters out in the bright sunshine. It's either that or I'm going to be tempted to run outside and start my spring clean-up of the yard. I have lots of raking and plants that need their spring cutbacks. Hmm.... choices, choices. Don't you just love a world with choices?
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Have a wonderful week and I'll be back with pics. (If I'm really talented, I'll get the pics, upload and just edit this post to add them in, but it remains to be seen if I'm actually that knowledgable... LOL!)