If you haven’t read my blog post from last week, please do as that will fill you in on the story behind my mental and emotional challenges these days. They’re likely to hang around for the long term, but right now I’m still in shock over the whole thing. My knitting time this week has been limited drastically due to the circumstances. But I did knit…

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

I have just two projects to share this week, and both are finished objects. I focused on the simple stockinette because that’s what I could manage. Last Monday I was almost done with the fingering weight hat, but I had more crown decreases to complete. I finished it pretty quickly.

Once the hat was done, I worked solely on the Advent scarf when I could muster the energy to knit. The hardest part was grafting the ends together – I had to be sure to set aside enough of the main color to do this while not having much left over. The tail is buried in the scarf, and the grafted line, though obvious now, will hopefully block to be less obvious. Even if it is still visible, though, I’m not really concerned. It’s nice and warm. It’s a gloomy day, so this isn’t the best lit picture. Hopefully I can get a better one later.

I have carried my rainbow SHaG sock around with me for a couple days, but I haven’t knit on it yet. That project is still on the gusset increases before the heel.

Cast-on Conversations

I do want to start putting more time into the Aran sweater, but it’s not a very portable project, at least not from a hospital standpoint. I have wound yarn to knit a pair of boot topper/legwarmers as one of my projects for the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party’s Q2 challenge: craft a gift for someone using DK weight yarn. The pattern is pretty simple, so this would make for good hospital knitting.

Book Banter

I’m grateful to have a lighthearted romantic comedy on my Kindle to give me some mental distraction when I can manage it. I’m now over 40% through Philippa Flynn’s Year of Panic and Piracy by Jacqueline Firkins.

Meanwhile, my son is listening to the full-cast audiobooks of the Harry Potter series, and I’ve also gifted him with Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, part of the Inheritance series focused on dragons that he enjoyed alongside the wizarding world of HP. When I last checked, he was in the early chapters of Chamber of Secrets. I particularly appreciate that a number of the cast members were also in the Game of Thrones series.

Health Highlights

This segment is more about my son, as I hope you understand. There isn’t much news at this point. The hospital staff has been treating things like fever and infection when they surface, and pain management is an ongoing thing. His PT assessment identified things to help him going forward. I hope to get an update today as they should be visiting again.

I do have a personal update with respect to the sleep apnea device from Daybreak that I’ve been using since late July. It appears to be working more consistently, so now I’m monitoring my snoring alongside the breathing disturbances. In short term, the data is looking good, but I’m looking for consistency.

Grandson Glimpses

Last Thursday was our metro community’s universal night for Trick or Treat in celebration of the Halloween holiday, Central Ohio doesn’t schedule this event for the actual holiday when the holiday falls on a weekend. I don’t have confirmation of this, but I was told some years ago that this practice started because high school pranksters abound on Halloween, and the communities are looking to protect their younger residents.

My grandson had a delightful time “haunting” a nearby community to scare up some candy. And he was his very friendly self throughout, saying hi to everyone, complimenting people on their costumes, and asking to pet their dogs. He didn’t always remember to say “thank you” but he was generally well behaved. A few people were particularly touched when he called out “I love you!”

We walked about 1.25 miles in an hour before ending his candy-collecting adventure. Mama and Sissy headed to the hospital, and I took the munchkin to visit some friends as they were handing out candy in another neighborhood. This gave him the opportunity to be on the giving side of the fun, and it seemed like it was just as enjoyable for him as the receiving. We all laughed as he asked the same question when kids walked up: “Would you like some candy?” He’d drop pieces in their bags, and if they didn’t walk away, he’d give them more. The final costumed kiddo for the evening arrived and he asked, “Would you like some candy, little girl?” That amused everyone, especially the young girl’s dad. Note: the girl was both older and taller than him.”

My grandson also got to have fun playing in my neighbor’s big pile of leaves. I walked him over when I saw them outside with their grandson, and he was more than welcome to play with his new friend. I thanked my neighbor the next day, and she offered us the opportunity to return for additional play time until they mulch the leaves with their mower this week. Sissy got in on the action yesterday, and the siblings had a blast. This is an excellent bit of exercise for the kiddo since he’s dealing with the emotional toll of daddy’s mysterious absence.

Tail Talk

Another one suffering for my son’s absence is his cat. Sadly, there’s not a whole lot we can do except make sure he’s eating and drinking and pet him when he permits. For the first week, he remained in his cat tree almost exclusively. Saturday, we got a pleasant surprise as the sad-grumpy boy made his way downstairs and tolerated River enough to get a change of view.

Meanwhile, River continues to enjoy the elevated life on my bed a good amount of time. She has slept next to me a couple times this week, likely to offer her emotional support. Mostly, though, she just likes looking out the window (Cat TV, as my friend says). The munchkin has enjoyed petting her when she permits it, too.

Random Ramblings

My mind is still quite scattered as I’m attempting to navigate this situation. Today I returned to work for a regular meeting, and I’ll continue to catch up on things that I missed last week. I now have the paperwork to request some leave time under the Family Medical Leave Act, so more administrative “fun” for me.

Knit on.