**Please note: If you are reading this on Facebook, I am on a FB cleanse right now and I am not participating much. If you want to comment on this post, please visit my blog at http://thetribaldancer.blogspot.com/**
It's pretty nonstop here at the Moore household. Last week I got word that my eldest brother, Ken, was in the ICU with severe pancreatitis brought on by a gall stone that had become lodged in his system, blocking his liver function. His digestive system basically shut down, and he was unable to eat anything, subsisting on IV saline alone for about 4 days. My sister was down there helping care for him that week, and the day after she left, I flew down to take over. He was home, but not very mobile, so I was doing laundry, cooking meals, and generally keeping him company. By the time I left 5 days later, he seemed to be doing much better, but was still in a fair amount of pain, distended belly, and various portions of his endocrine system were still swollen and not working at capacity. The day after I got home, he was back at the doctor getting more tests and x-rays, and potentially re-entering the hospital. I have not heard from him since his x-rays yesterday and am keeping my fingers crossed.
More lighthearted bits and bobs after the jump, I promise.
Here at home, I am gearing up for starting classes again next month. Unfortunately, with all that happened this summer, I never could get the foot surgery I had planned to. And sad to say, my brother's home is an apartment with parquet over...CEMENT. So no cushioning at all, and my foot is really messed up in pain from walking on that all day every day. But the show must go on. So I am starting back with only two classes, and praying that I can hold out until the holidays and maybe take another hiatus around Thanksgiving (after the Nebraska workshops) and get the surgery and be done with this pain!
Also I am doing some nesting. Bought some new bed linens, including some lovely huge, colorful euro pillows to dress up the bed when its made, which makes me smile. Today has been about getting my yarn stash as moth free as I can. I have had some yarns in the bottom of a bin in the living room that got eaten up. So I am doing a freeze-thaw-freeze cycle to try and kill the buggers off. I bought some new plastic bins and cedar blocks to store them in once this process is completed, and hoped that will be good enough.
I finished my first colorwork project while hanging out at Ken's. I made Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts for Chris. He was long overdue for some new fingerless mitts--he asked for some last year, and I started a pattern I was making up myself, and I made one of them...and ran into second glove/sock syndrome. I didn't like how those were turning out, honestly. These, I LOVE. I plan to make some for myself. They were SO easy! And I learned how to combine Continental and English knitting! It was my first time doing English style knitting, actually, so doing it in combination on a colorwork project means I am pretty damn proud of what I accomplished!
The pattern is harder to see up close (like a camera held in one hand photographing the mitt on the other hand ;), but looks great with a little distance. Chris was thrilled, which makes me beam.
When I finished that, I started to get some more blocks worked on my Dianna entrelac shawl. This is a photo from before I got another row onto it. This one is going to take some time...but I am loving how the colors are revealing themselves.
The weather is improving as the week goes on, which is nice. Spent some time in the garden today, weeding, deadheading, and watering. I keep meaning to take some new pics to share here, but keep not getting around to it. Some things are really blooming beautifully (like the petunias are TAKING OVER THE WORLD), and others are struggling (like the creeping lady's mantle that squirrels apparently adore to no end and keep digging up), but overall the garden has been thriving. I especially love my heliotrope, in all its purple glory, and the coleus are hanging in there and looking firey and spikey. Pics when I get the chance.
For now, it's back to working on my new website and getting ready to announce the class schedule and get that ball rolling. I hope your summer is going well, my friends.
It's pretty nonstop here at the Moore household. Last week I got word that my eldest brother, Ken, was in the ICU with severe pancreatitis brought on by a gall stone that had become lodged in his system, blocking his liver function. His digestive system basically shut down, and he was unable to eat anything, subsisting on IV saline alone for about 4 days. My sister was down there helping care for him that week, and the day after she left, I flew down to take over. He was home, but not very mobile, so I was doing laundry, cooking meals, and generally keeping him company. By the time I left 5 days later, he seemed to be doing much better, but was still in a fair amount of pain, distended belly, and various portions of his endocrine system were still swollen and not working at capacity. The day after I got home, he was back at the doctor getting more tests and x-rays, and potentially re-entering the hospital. I have not heard from him since his x-rays yesterday and am keeping my fingers crossed.
More lighthearted bits and bobs after the jump, I promise.
Here at home, I am gearing up for starting classes again next month. Unfortunately, with all that happened this summer, I never could get the foot surgery I had planned to. And sad to say, my brother's home is an apartment with parquet over...CEMENT. So no cushioning at all, and my foot is really messed up in pain from walking on that all day every day. But the show must go on. So I am starting back with only two classes, and praying that I can hold out until the holidays and maybe take another hiatus around Thanksgiving (after the Nebraska workshops) and get the surgery and be done with this pain!
Also I am doing some nesting. Bought some new bed linens, including some lovely huge, colorful euro pillows to dress up the bed when its made, which makes me smile. Today has been about getting my yarn stash as moth free as I can. I have had some yarns in the bottom of a bin in the living room that got eaten up. So I am doing a freeze-thaw-freeze cycle to try and kill the buggers off. I bought some new plastic bins and cedar blocks to store them in once this process is completed, and hoped that will be good enough.
I finished my first colorwork project while hanging out at Ken's. I made Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts for Chris. He was long overdue for some new fingerless mitts--he asked for some last year, and I started a pattern I was making up myself, and I made one of them...and ran into second glove/sock syndrome. I didn't like how those were turning out, honestly. These, I LOVE. I plan to make some for myself. They were SO easy! And I learned how to combine Continental and English knitting! It was my first time doing English style knitting, actually, so doing it in combination on a colorwork project means I am pretty damn proud of what I accomplished!
The pattern is harder to see up close (like a camera held in one hand photographing the mitt on the other hand ;), but looks great with a little distance. Chris was thrilled, which makes me beam.
When I finished that, I started to get some more blocks worked on my Dianna entrelac shawl. This is a photo from before I got another row onto it. This one is going to take some time...but I am loving how the colors are revealing themselves.
The weather is improving as the week goes on, which is nice. Spent some time in the garden today, weeding, deadheading, and watering. I keep meaning to take some new pics to share here, but keep not getting around to it. Some things are really blooming beautifully (like the petunias are TAKING OVER THE WORLD), and others are struggling (like the creeping lady's mantle that squirrels apparently adore to no end and keep digging up), but overall the garden has been thriving. I especially love my heliotrope, in all its purple glory, and the coleus are hanging in there and looking firey and spikey. Pics when I get the chance.
For now, it's back to working on my new website and getting ready to announce the class schedule and get that ball rolling. I hope your summer is going well, my friends.
