Whoooaa!

Ok-to catch ya'll up on what has happened over here....on the day that I posted my last post, I was feeling a bit under the weather-couldn't get warm all day and unusually tired. It was about a week before my little one was set to have surgery so I thought maybe I was just feeling stressed that I wanted everything to be done (i.e. the quilt she requested, like her big sis had for her surgery, the knitted bunny she wanted, the soft food grocery shopping and full house cleaning that my house really needed). So, I trudged through most of the day until hubby got home. Then I went to lay down for a bit and fell asleep for the rest of the night. Very weird for me. The next day, I couldn't lift my head off the pillow and that is when I knew it...I had the flu. Exactly one week before my daughter's surgery, I had the @#$% flu! What to do?? Well, nothing! I couldn't do a thing about it! I cancelled the knitting class I was supposed to teach, I couldn't knit(!), so I just laid there and cried and slept....and slept some more.
I got tamilfu from the doctor, who followed up with a phone call two days later, and told me that my bloodwork showed I had a sinus infection and the influenza, and he warned that I better do "nothing for at least 4 days and when I felt better to take it very slow." How?? My daughter was having surgery and so much needed to be done! Well, I found out the hard way that I should've heeded his words...The day after my daughter's surgery, I went overboard a bit and felt the same aches and pains that I had the week prior. It scared me so bad...but it worked. I dropped all housecleaning and knitting and just focused on her care and sleep and I'm finally beginning to feel better-back to my old, slightly tired self. I'm finally knitting again too so all is right with the world. And, daughter is doing so well post op, that I might be able to exhale a bit today...we'll see...

What's on my needles isn't necessarily what's in my head???

Yep-of course, like any other knitter, I've got stuff on my needles and umpteen projects in my head. So much so, that it is actually beginning to stress me out a bit. I've got my daughter's sweater to wrap up (currently on sleeves), my youngest is having surgery soon, so her request for a bunny trumped the sweater for a bit, I've got a beginner knitting class to teach on Friday and accompanying that is a scarf that is nearly done (needs a bit of blocking), two baby gifts to get done (the baby is almost a month old already, and a quilt for youngest (b/c I made one for oldest daughter when she had surgery-must be fair, right?).....These are the times I wish I had octopus arms and could just keep on knitting all day and night. I'm also playing around with some crochet earrings for my etsy shop (will make an appearance soon-hopefully) and upcoming projects for the shop for spring. Since I'm no longer working again, I've got the time to do this and hopefully make my shop run again. We'll see...

Wondering if anyone can help me? I'm looking for a good, comprehensive book on knitting stitch patterns-not patterns for clothing, just different knit stitches to play around with, like trinity stitch, brioche stitch, etc. Do you have any good reference books that you turn to? Let me know...thanks

Back to Life....

Yep, I'm back!!
Seems so long since I've been on here-so much has happened and yet so much is still the same. Weird??
This year comes with many hopes in all things yarny-one of which, is really fun and what I'm excited about. I'm hoping to hit one LYS in my area a month-yep, you read right-one different LYS a month and I'm going to review it each time I go. I will write about my likes and dislikes and hopefully, I will tempt you to visit one or all of these fine stores. This is to support my LYS's the best way I can b/c as so many small businesses are having trouble these days, it's important to support what stores we find so important to us.

On the needles right now: A cowl-neck tunic for my daughter in size 10, a toy airplane and hat for a new baby (daddy is a pilot), and two bunnies for my girls-their special request. Also hoping to get some thrummed mittens on soon for myself, thanks to the tempting shout-out Yarn Harlot gave them awhile ago. Which brings me to another conversation she just wrote about: startitis While I of course, subject myself to this sometimes, instead of satisfying my need to start the umpteenth project right away b/c I have no patience, it actually makes me quite anxious-not in a good way. I'm one of those weird-o's who prefers to tackle one thing at a time-knit-wise, and so I rarely cast on for more while working on another project. I know, weird, right? What do you do?? Are you a startitis victim or do you plod along, no matter how boring, until the task at hand is complete?