Beaumont Hospital Knit shop

Today I went for my annual mammogram. I know that last month was Breast Cancer month but I couldn't get an appointment. Better late then never right? I went to William Beaumont Royal Oak Michigan and they have the coolest knitting shop right there in the hospital. They sell yarn and have knitters there to help you while they are open. The prices are a little cheaper than the regulars stores since they are considered a non-profit business. The next round of classes start in January and the lady said they are thinking of doing something for charity. I put my name down on the mailing list. I hope they have a time when I can go.

In the meantime, I await the results from the mammogram. I did have a dizzy spell during the test. You know how they say "hold your breath"... well, I must have held it too long. Anyway they checked me out and I was ok. I also did something very important. I had the hospital put down my allergy to Norvasc on my chart. That way when I go to the ER they will not give me Norvasc. I also went online to MedicAlert and updated my bracelet. (gee maybe I can get my DH to get me one with Diamonds for Chanukah) ;-)

happy knitting

Oh Heat what a joy

What a surprise to come home at midnight last night to find no heat! The house was down to 66 and getting colder by the minute. No wonder the cats were meowing like crazy Monday morning. Now how come they couldn't just talk English and say "Hey MOM, its friggin' COLD IN HERE". I could have called the furnace man on Monday.

So what do you do when you have no heat? Crawl into bed under the electric blanket and quilts and knit of course! That's what I did while waiting for the furnace man this morning. I finished the ribbing on the helmet liner and was able to do about 2 inches on the hat.

The furnace man was really nice. He said the igniter was cracked. He showed it to me. And all it looks like is a section where someone may have scratched off some coating. That and the labor was the new filter was $214. Well worth it since it gets mighty cold in Michigan. Guess I'm good for another year. Now I can sit and knit back with the living and not hidden under piles of blankets. Maybe Mom's right being down there in Florida where it's warm... awww but then I'd miss all those pretty fall colors. It sure does look mighty pretty outside today.

Knitting SFS yarn

I'm so happy that I finally got some yarn to start knitting a pair of socks for soldiers socks. I joined the group a while back and just couldn't find any black yarn locally. The group has a list of black superwash yarn that the military will accept. As a military Mom I understand how strict the military is. They want plain black in those boots and that is it! But as a mom of an Army Medic I will tell you that they also must wear a pair of white socks under those black socks. So yes we need white socks too. So my next pair will be white. Too many times my son would tell me about the soldier who didn't wear his second pair and had blisters. My sons are now Veterans but we still have other sons and daughters out there fighting for us.

Between knitting the helmet liner (about half done) and this pair of socks I am in knitting heaven.

Knitting and watching DVRs

I have decided one of the biggest drawbacks of watching TV shows on the DVR's (or TIVO) is that you spend way too much time speeding past the commercials to knit. By the time I put the knitting down and pay attention to where to get back to the show so I don't miss anything I have lost my place in my knitting and don't get any enjoyment out of the knitting. I am either going to have to not knit while watching the DVR or do it while I have someone else to do the DVR thing... hmm maybe I can get my DH to do that for me. After all I do not intend to stop knitting just to watch TV.

OTN - I have 3" on the helmet liner and hope to start on the short rows tomorrow. That will be exciting since I have not done them for a while and have to teach myself how to do them again. Also I will use short row again when I do short row socks.

Knitting on black yarn

I dug into my knitting bag to start on one of my UFOs. The project that I decided to knit was the helmet liner with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes "Coal" (100% Peruvian wool) and it is really "black".

I figured since it only has about an inch of ribbing on it then it was like starting from the beginning. What could go wrong from there, right? Well, right off the bat I realized that with my new eyes I would need more light.

If I were home I would have turned on the Ott light. But I was on my break at work. So I had to improvise. I moved the desk lamp closer to my hands. Well, that's ok for a few minutes but that's no fix. What if I want to sit somewhere else. I don't want to take my portable Ott lamp to work as I use it in my craft room so I can tell the difference between all the colors of yarn. So my next quest is to find a good lamp at work to sit near while on break knitting.

In the meantime, I think I better pick one of the projects that uses lighter yarn for knitting at work. I think I'll finish up my opal socks.