Sunday 29 October 2017

I Think the Cough is Defeated

I am back and almost over my cough.  After a visit to my doctor last week, I finally got some new meds that actually seem to be working.  My table looks like a pharmacy now.

Reba had her last amino acid treatment.  She is showing real improvement.  Hubby and I know that the treatment is not a cure but it should make her more comfortable and stave off the inevitable for a maybe a few months to a year.  I am cooking for her and she is eating really well.  She has returned to her usual piggy self.  It is just fascinating to see her veterinary care team get excited about her gaining weight.  Who would think that this is a good thing in an already fat dog.

While I have been off work sick, I managed some knitting.  Not as much as you might think.  I was coughing so hard I pulled a muscle under my right arm and lost the use of it for 2 days.  No knitting time there.  I have also been very tired and did not feel like knitting. I have still not worked out how to knit in my sleep.  Despite the limitations, I did make some progress towards the 2018 Harrow Fair.

I was feeling really good about that progress until I updated my excel spreadsheet.  I have only truly finished one entry.


Knit from Ferner Wolle Mally Socks sock yarn.  I picked this up from the Little Red Mitten while Reba was getting her first treatment in London.  I bought a second ball as well to weave with.  The pattern is my own sock recipe for toe up socks.

This one is close to being done.  It is still drying and needs a loop added to the top.  The loop is knitted already and waiting to be sewn on.



The pattern is Old-fashioned Christmas from the book The Stockings were Knit by Mickey Landau.  This was fun to knit.  It needed big needles and worsted weight yarn.  I used Paton's Classic Wool.  I suspect that the red is a discontinued colour as I picked it up at the Len's Mills tent sale in London in the summer.  Off-white is always available but the white for this project came from Michaels.

The soft toy entry is coming along.  It will be a reindeer when it is done.  I have finished knitting the parts and have started to stuff the pieces.  It is fussy work and I can only stand doing so much at a time otherwise I will hurry the process and make a mess of the assembly.


The pattern is Best Friends from the booklet Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special.  I used a discontinued DK yarn from my stash.  An almost equivalent yarn is Paton's Classic Wool DK Superwash.  The the old  discontinued yarn is Merino wool whereas the new DK Superwash is no particular breed.

Progress continues on the girl's sweater entry.  The back is complete and the fronts are well on their way to the underarm.  I am doing both fronts at the same time.  Somehow I think it is faster.  It really isn't but in my head, since I only have to do the fronts once, it goes quicker.


This is knit from Paton's Classic Wool DK Superwash.  Hubby picked it up for me at this summer's SpinRite tent sale in Listowel.  He swung through Listowel on his motorcycle trip in August.  As soon as I saw this yarn I knew exactly what I wanted to knit with it.  I have now convinced myself that purple is a Christmas colour to fit my overall theme for 2018.

The tea cozy is still in pieces waiting for assembly.

I have my next three projects already picked out and have the yarn for at least two of them.

I am hoping the cough finally goes away soon.  I want off the meds.  There are leaving me with a horrible bitter taste in my mouth.  However, I am one of those people who follows directions and I will be finishing them off like a good girl.

Monday 9 October 2017

2018 Plan

I had lunch on Friday with my good friend A.  She is the one who just loves Christmas.  We searched through Pinterest, Ravelry and my Christmas pattern books for ideas.  The plan for 2018 is to make as many Christmas themed entries as possible.  Now not all entries with be Christmas related.  I do after all want to remain sane.

I came home and rummaged my stash.  A sub goal is to use as much yarn from my stash as possible.

I got to work and this will be a teapot cozy.


While it is blocking and awaiting assembly, I created these reindeer parts.


I cast on this sweater last weekend for my little cousin.  When Hubby came home from the Listowel tent sale  in August with this yarn I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it.  This will be my hockey knitting for a while.


I found red yarn in my stash for a Christmas stocking and I am making a list of yarns I need to pick up in Woodstock for other upcoming projects.  So far it is a short list!

Since my last post, I made Reba a second E-Collar.


This is from scraps of fabric from my fabric stash (yes I have one of those too!)  We have many vet visits in an attempt to help her get better and the staff at the clinics keep asking me where I am getting these collars.  Since she wears them 24/7 I picked up more foam for the stuffing to make a third.  They are going through the wash constantly and two is just not enough.

We finally have a diagnosis.  She has hepatocutaneous syndrome which is a rare condition in dogs.  It is a skin condition that results from poor liver processing of protein.  The result is scales and swelling of the pressure points; in Reba's case, her lips, her nose and her feet pads.  It is very painful, and there is often opportunistic bacterial infections.  The only treatment is an inter-venous drip of amino acids for the scales and anti-biotics for the infections. The amino acid drips only helps in about 60% of dogs and is not a cure.  It will only extend her life for maybe a year if it works.  However, Hubby and I decided to try it.  She was happily eating her meals and has gained back some of the weight she lost when we first determined that there was a liver issue.  If untreated it is always fatal in 2 to 5 months.

I got to spend a day in London as she underwent her last hope treatment.  My plan was to spent the afternoon knitting away the day at the Little Red Mitten.  That did not work out as planned.  There were so many lovely things in the store and before I knew it I was going to be broke if I didn't leave.  I did buy stuff before leaving and headed back to London where I parked in the shade of a tree and knit until Reba was ready for pick up.

I believe I see improvement in her feet but there is always a chance that I am seeing just what I want to see.  Her nose and lips are definitely better.   I am cooking for her instead of giving her dog food.  She is gobbling up everything I put out for her.   She needs to eat well in order to heal.   Hubby will be taking her this week for her second treatment.

The extra wide socks are on their way to Calgary.


I took a break from knitting yesterday and did some dying.  Hubby helped me pick up the walnuts from the tree around the corner.  I get a better brown colour when the husks are green.

I used some other dyestuffs from my stash.  (Yes I have one for dyeing too!)  I also mixed some  other dye stuff with the walnuts.  Here is what I got.


A while ago I bought  giant 250 gram skeins of dyeable yarn from Grand River Yarns.  I reduce them to 25 gram skeins so I have lots of yarn to experiment with.  I used to work with 100 gram skeins but my yarn stash just started to grow exponentially.  I could dye so much faster than I could knit or weave with it.

Not much knitting today either.  I woke up with a cold.  I am just puttering around cause if I lay around all day, I won't sleep tonight.  I decided to put this post together.  That meant taking photos and thinking.  Enough thinking already, time for more Buckley's.