Knitting Kninja

The young lady’s lungs took precedence over knitting in my last two posts, and you all have been so wonderful and supportive, but now that we’re almost all the way better here (save for a lingering cough), I think it’s about time to get back to knitting and navel gazing. Personally, I much prefer both those activities to worrying about the state of my offspring’s lungs.

I have a number of finished projects I haven’t shown you, but no really excellent pictures of any of them. Nonetheless, I’ll start with the best first, just so you can be let down at the end. I’m sorry this won’t be a more comprehensive post, as I’ve had a lot I’ve been thinking about lately, but it seems very hard to find time to sit down and write.

Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket
Yarn: Catalina Baby Silk, with Malabrigo Merino Worsted on the edges
Needles: U.S. size 10 dpns and 16″ circular
Yardage: About 425 yards of the Baby Silk and probably about 150 yards of the Malabrigo
Modifications: Smaller needles, slightly thinner yarn, contrast edging, slightly smaller than a standard throw

This is a very popular pattern, with 1368 examples on Ravelry thus far, and what’s not to love? I was pleased to find that it’s actually a fairly simple pattern. I don’t seem to have learned all that much in my years of knitting sometimes, and I can still be tricked by a beautiful finished product into thinking that something is a lot more complex than it really is. I wouldn’t tell a beginning knitter to plough right in on this one, but I think it’s definitely feasible for an intermediate knitter who has used dpns before, and who has done some simple lace work. The original 1942 doily pattern contains an error, an error that is corrected in the Rainey Sisters‘ version of this pattern, so I recommend going there first if you plan on knitting the Hemlock Ring. Of course, numbers being what they are, the chances are good that you’ve already knit a Hemlock Ring Blanket.

I’m very very happy with my contrast edging. I hadn’t seen one of these with contrast edging, though I’m sure someone else has done it. I had no choice, though, if I’m honest – I ran out of the blue yarn. Here are a few tips for anyone else who wishes to have similar contrast edging on their blanket. I knit to the second to last row of the repeat and did one knit row of the brown before going into the edging. By the time you’re at the edge, you’re going around a pretty big circumference. I had half a skein of that lovely chocolate Malabrigo, obtained when DarlingFloy and I swapped our leftover Malabrigo, and I thought that would be enough. No. I ran out about three fifths of the way around the border and had to make a desperate run to the yarn store, where they had three skeins of Malabrigo in Rich Chocolate, but not one that was a match for the skein I was using. As it happened, this didn’t really matter, since the edging is a sharp enough contrast that the difference in skein color doesn’t show up much at all, drowned out by the contrast of the blue. But it was a close one. Make sure you have enough yarn on hand to really do the edging!

This blanket is for my grandfather. I wanted to knit something for him, and most of what I could come up with seemed trite or silly, or unnecessary. I figured that blankets are something that most of us use and love, and the Hemlock Ring is the prettiest one I can think of. I’m glad to have knit it. It’s a relaxing project, and takes much less time than one would think. I’m sure I’ll make one for our living room at some point.

The Catalina Baby Silk is a blend of baby alpaca and silk, and it feels really soft on the skin. I think alpaca is a nice choice for a blanket, and since it’s so drapey, this was a lot easier to block than I feared it might be.

And for the let down, here are a few picture of end of year teacher gifts, all knit in Malabrigo Worsted or Seleccion Privada:

Next time: thoughts!

Thank you all so much for your well wishes, offers of help, and general kindness. I promise to reply to each and every one of you soon, but I’m a little worn out today, so it may be a few days.

Eleanor’s appointment went well, though she was tired and stroppy and generally rude.  I suppose that in a way that was a good sign.  Anyway, her lungs sounded pretty clear and her treatments have been stretched out to every four hours.  The doctor I saw yesterday said she thinks it was likely a mucus clot in her lung, and that it blocked everything up for a while, which would make sense, as the first doctor she saw noticed that there was one spot that seemed to be more blocked than the rest.  Either the clot is broken up or it is on the move, because she’s nearly back to normal, save for a cough (good – can get mucus out of the lungs), some slight wheezing, and total insanity from the various medications she’s on.  Luckily, she’s generally a fairly calm child, so insanity in her is not too bad.

Unfortunately, I’m the sick one now, which isn’t a big suprise, since I was under the weather to begin with, and then went through all of that stress and adrenaline.  (Etymology break: Apparently it’s adrenaline in Britain and epinephrine in the States, but I’ve only ever heard it referred to as adrenaline by anyone who isn’t involved in the science of the human body.  I’m not sure why the distinction.)  Anyway, I’m taking it easy for a while and luckily, Nora’s being pretty self sufficient and playing with just the right amount of activity.  Too little, and a clot could form again, too much and she’ll exhaust herself and risks other complications.

I’m going to eat a little and lie down.  Even knitting is making me tired, so I’ve got a project that is on larger needles to work on, because that seems to be a little easier.  It’s boring to lie there and do nothing.  I’ll probably rent a trashy, but kid appropriate, movie as well, and just veg today.  Thank you so much for all of your good thoughts and words.  They are truly appreciated.

We had a big scare with Eleanor yesterday, and I’m feeling the need to tell as many people as possible about it so that she can have as many people as possible rooting for her.  This isn’t a very organized post – I’m just going to copy and paste from the posts and emails I’ve put elsewhere.   It will probably sound familiar – we had a similar scare with Liam some time back.

It’s been a long, long day. Daniel was sick this past weekend, and this morning, Nora and I were sick, too. Luckily, she had a well child check up that I’d scheduled last month. Yay for coincidences. We went in, the check up went well, and sure enough, her lungs were a little congested, so they gave her a breathing treatment and gave me a prescription for an inhaler and a small spacer. I took those to the pharmacy and tried to hang out until the prescription was ready, but they kept extending the time, so I went home with Nora, who seemed pretty much OK. After we got home, though, she was very whiny and whimpery, and she wouldn’t eat her lunch, even when I tried to bribe her with a donut. I didn’t think too much of it, assuming she was just under the weather still. We picked up the boys and when we got home, she seemed very unwell, very whiny and whimpery again, and just off. I told her to go lie down, and she did. I got the boys set up with a movie and went to check on her. I couldn’t find her at first because she’d humped herself up under the covers. When I got very close to my bed, I saw this tiny white little face with the eyes half open and the mouth hanging open, and she wasn’t moving, and her chest was heaving like she was struggling to breathe. I said her name a number of times and she didn’t respond. That was one of the scariest things ever. Then I shook her arm a little and she made a small crying sound. She was able to respond to a few questions, but she just kept whimpering and then she fell asleep – sort of. She was still making little crying sounds. I called the doctor and they said to bring her right in.

We went back to the doctor’s office and she was grey and semi-conscious, and the doctor told me later that barely any air was moving in her lungs. She had a breathing treatment and it did very little. At that point, I was told she’d most likely be hospitalized. But then the doctors consulted together and decided that the most likely thing the hospital would do was give her more breathing treatments, so they decided to do it at the office. She had four in a row. By the end of the second, she could talk a little more and her eyes stayed open, but she was too weak to hold a small book and her skin was still cold. At the end of three, she could hold a toy and sit up. At the end of four, she was jittery and shaking, but she could stand up, and she was talking almost normally. Then she was given a shot of steroids – prednisone or cortisone, I can’t remember which. Then she threw up on Daniel, but she was essentially cheerful, so we were encouraged. We’re at home now, and she’s here, too, but it’s not over. The doctor bullied our insurance company into getting us a machine to give breathing treatments at home, and it should be delivered soon. We have to get up every three hours tonight and give her a treatment and tomorrow she goes back to the doctor. If anything gets worse, we have to go to the hospital.

And that’s where it stands. She’s gasping when she talks and she’s very very hyper, but otherwise OK right now. It seems to be her first asthma attack – she got Liam’s variety, which lies dormant and then springs with a vengeance. I’m not pleased. They both have the super dangerous kind, while Gabriel has consistently bad asthma on a day to day basis. Yay for genetics. There was some concern with pneumonia, but she seems to have responded well enough to the breathing treatments to rule that out.

I feel sort of sick and scared. She went downhill so fast, and the doctors said that while she should be OK, no one expected her to get so sick so fast to begin with so she needs extra attention and care. I seriously thought she was dying for a while there. I’ll update you as it goes on.

<update>

The machine arrived, and luckily she likes it better than the one at the doctor’s office. She was starting to gasp a little, but the machine definitely helped, and she’s hyper (for her) but breathing pretty well. Not perfectly, but heck, it’s breathing. The next treatment is at 11. I’m so tired, but I’m sure I’ll have no problem staying awake.

My house is a big huge mess, which was kind of embarrassing when the man came to set up the machine, but I guess that doesn’t matter. Man, I am so just burned out. I’m so glad I could hold it together when it was really bad, though. I didn’t want her to be scared or alone. Now I just feel so weak. I hope there are no more crises to necessitate strength for a while.

<update>

The best news so far: she just came in (the treatments give an adrenaline rush and she’s had a lot more than is usual for a person of her size, so she may be up most of the night) and when I asked how she feels, she said, “Much better.” Every other time I’ve asked her how she’s feeling today, she’s said, “Sick,” or “Bad,” or “Really bad.”

<update>

She’s a lot better this morning. Completely and totally insane on medication, but entirely cheerful. Her breathing still sounds a little off, but we’re repeating the treatments every three hours, and it’s definitely helping. She has an appointment at noon.

Sorry for the terseness – I am sick myself, and this hasn’t improved my situation. I’ll give a fuller reply soon.

___________________________

So that’s where we are now.  If you could send some good thoughts in my little girl’s direction, I’d appreciate it.  She’s doing very well, but her breathing is still a little ragged, so I’m still nervous.  I’m sure she’ll be fine, but it’s been a terrible couple of days.  She’s currently having a tea party with her stuffed animals, which has to be a good sign, and she’s eating again and seems pretty happy.  It’s hard to feel secure, though, when she seemed mostly fine yesterday and got un-fine so fast.  Asthma runs in my family, but neither my siblings nor myself ever had it this bad, and I’m shocked at just how bad it can be.  And grateful to live in a time when medical treatment is so good.

That’d be the February Lady Sweater, by Pam at Flint Knits!  Gorgeous, no?  I lust after the gorgeous Sundara yarn she used to make it no less than the sweater itself.  Wowsa.

My creation

Originally uploaded by Jejune Ennui

I was bored, and I’m falling pretty hard for Flickr, so I ended up playing the game by cast on cast off.

The rules:

Using fd’s Flickr Toys,

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Tag yourself if you want to play! It’s a lot of fun.