Bye Nezumi

 

  When I woke up on March 28th I had a few texts from my family telling me that Nezumi had to be put down.  I always called her my step-kitty.  My best friend from high school got her when in college but then got caught with her in the dorms.  She then had to find somewhere for Nezumi to live, and her own family was allergic to cats.  My mom took her in then, many years ago.  My best friend and I at some point joked at one of the anime conventions that we had gotten married, and that the convention was our honeymoon.  Since she had Nezumi before we got "married" she was my step-kitty.  We even danced together at my wedding during the couple's dance.

  I found out that you can flip their head down along the body and now they look even more worm like.  I didn't think I could like them more, but they keep surprising me.  I'm really close to publishing the post about them.

  On Instagram I saw someone who did her single crochets a bit differently than I do.  They were pretty cool looking, so I decided to try it on a worm.  The top one is normal and for the bottom I wrapped the yarn the other way before pulling it through the chain.  The regular is thicker in the body and the other is wigglier.

  This is really fun from Lion Brand.  It would make doll making a lot easier and the name is just fun.  I don't think they have enough options for a perfect skin match for everyone, but I bet most people can find something close enough for their project.

Woven Lattice Hats Galore!

Pattern: Woven Lattice Hat B (small) - Yarn: Red Heart Eco-Ways in Cinnabar - Needles: US 8

   I'm almost done with the revisions on the hat pattern.  That means that I only have to make the XL size to figure out how much yarn is needed.

Pattern: Woven Lattice Hat B (x-small) - Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Dusty Rose - Needles: US 8

  I think one of my sewing machines is haunted.  The person who had it before me said that the part that connects the arm to the needle just disappeared one day.  Then the shop lost the bit that holds the thread onto the top when I got it fixed.  Now I can't find the cord that powers the machine and has the pedal.

Pattern: Woven Lattice Hat B (medium) - Yarn: unknown - Needles: US 8

  PT Fred visited my mom again.  She told me that he made some adjustments to the brace itself.  Turns out it hadn't been fitted to her body height in the first place.  He thought maybe it had to do with swelling, but he had to adjust it down, and last time I checked swelling doesn't make you taller.

  Went to Stitch N Bitch at Santinis because the group has decided to start meeting there again!  There were 7 of us in total, one who was a new person who had just moved into the area this last Friday.

  It's times like these where I get grumpy when people donate yarn with no bands or any way to identify it.  I have found some great yarns that look really good, and feel really good to work with and in the finished item.  I want to be able to find more and keep using it, but I have no idea what it could be.

  I posted about the yarn to the group on Reddit called What Is That Yarn and they have given me some ideas that I am going to check out as to what it might be.

• Red Heart with Love: wrong skein shape, more puffy feeling

• Loops and Threads Impeccable: sooo close, twist is a bit less tight and isn't a big enough skein

• Big Twist Soft: I would think this is it, but I can't find it in brown anywhere

• Lion Brand Vanna's Choice: also pretty close feeling, but too small of skein

  More worms, they are just so fun and easy to make.  I saw someone post some with ears on the Random Acts of Crochet Kindness Facebook group.  They tried to post about how they did it but must have put too much of the pattern in their reply because it got taken down.  I have figured out a way, not sure it's how they did it, but I like the outcome.

Birthday!!

  I started my day by hearing Tank barf in the other room.  So, then I cleaned cat barf off the couch, floor, and the step ladder I've been using as a seat for when I do work at the coffee table.

  Once I got that done and got all my usual morning things done, I took Bill to the airport.  On the way I told him that this gives him more time to get me a really cool gift.  I got a message from him if he had left his hoodie in the car, at home, or somewhere in the airport.  I was enroute to Bath & Body Works, but I swung by the house because it was vaguely on the way.

  While I was there, I found his hoodie, but not where he thought he had left it.  Since I was back home for a bit, I took out the spider from the basement that we had seen before we had left for the airport.

  I was hoping to get a certain hand soap and something for my planned bath.  I found out that the soap I wanted was a summer item, so I will have to come back for that.  Happy Easter Tutti Frutti Candy and Pink Grapefruit Sunrise are two scents I might have to get more things in.  I didn't know it was going to have a small bit of shimmer in the bath bomb.  The color looks the closest on the bottom of the first picture with the label.

  I usually get my bubble tea from KungFu Tea, but since I was already at the mall, I got one from Panda Tea House instead.  The Ube Milk tea just caught my attention and I was thinking of also getting a bubble waffle, but passed on that this time.

  Someone in the Universe isn't happy that this is the second time I've gotten bubble tea from somewhere other than KungFu Tea.  I think I've learned my lesson.  There were two spots where the plastic didn't get sealed to the cup.  I now need to add more napkins to my purse for occasions like this.

  I've been wanting to get a fried fish for a while now and I finally got it.  I like the belt fish better, but the tilapia is also pretty good.  Tank was really interested in the smell of it and the fact that I was eating something, but wasn't impressed when I tried to give him some.

  My dinner was some reheated leftovers because they sounded good.  I reheated the fries in a pan and it worked pretty well.  Bill hadn't been impressed with the lamb dish he got from Amphora.  As I was bringing the food down to the basement, I felt something uncomfortable on my foot, but that happens.  It then hurt and when I looked at it, I had cut my food on the ball near my little toe.  I then had to clean blood out of the carpet and vacuumed the rug since I couldn't find the sharp item.

  The food was pretty good, though I wasn't able to figure out what it was easily.  They had substituted his order from lamb stew to this item.  The beer was really good and I'll have to get it again.

  For the rest of the night Tank and I watched YouTube videos and knitted.  Didn't want to move around too much because who knows what else might happen.

Frittata!

 

Pattern: Crown Hat - Yarn: Red Heart Eco-Ways in Cinnabar - Needles: US 8

  If you were wondering what all those random hat pictures were, they were previous incarnations of this hat.  I had a cool idea in my head about how I wanted to make this, and it just didn't work.  I probably started and restarted this hat about 11 times.  While this isn't at all what I was picturing, I do really like this.  I have already thought of a way to improve it, so it might become a real pattern yet!

  We made an Italian themed frittata.  My mom had a bunch of eggs and she is going to start getting Meals on Wheels later this week.  I added marinara to the eggs.  The filling is chicken, Chinese eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and mushroom.  A mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese rounded it out.  

  I'm getting good at helping my mom.  I have helped take off and put on the body brace at least twice a day.  I've helped change the padding on the neck brace front a few times, and the whole thing once.  So if anyone else ever needs help with this and they have the same brand of braces, I can help out.

  Bill didn't think it would be easy for my mom to get in my car, but we got her in there and took her to an appointment that the hospital had set up for her.  It took over an in the small room hour to see the doctor for the check-up.  He wasn't sure why we were there since she has specialists.  The X-ray from Saturday showed there was no more air bubble in her chest.  Since we were so good, we decided to treat ourselves to some sushi.  The directions to Bento Sushi took us to a Target but then when we did more research discovered it was actually in the Safeway at the other end of the shopping center.  We went to Quickway Japanese Hibachi instead.

  Nezumi will be grumpy when I leave because I'm good at keeping her plate full.  She can't eat dry food because he causes her to throw up, and she only eats a few mouthfuls at a time.  That means that someone needs to watch her plate and put out a new spoonful or two of her wet food once it's empty.  I also don't mind if she sleeps in the bed with us.

  During my stay we have watched all of the main episodes of Nailed It on Netflix and we have now started on the two holiday themed seasons.  I've been working on the Version B of my Woven Lattice Hat, and it turns out I don't have to make as many changes to the pattern as I thought.  I'm even thinking of adding one size up.

But Without Chicken

  We ordered chicken from a place that went by Rotisserie Roast and also Boston Market a few nights ago.  We ordered the rotisserie chicken bowls and they came without any chicken on top or any in the bag.  The nice lady at GrubHub got us a refund for those and we placed a second order for just chicken.  We got the smallest piece of bread with it.  I don't think we'll be ordering from them again.

  I took Nezumi to get some of the mats shaved off of her on Friday and did some grocery shopping.  When she got back, she ate almost a whole can of food in about an hour and was walking around like she was very drunk.  She tried to jump onto the stool and barely made it, I had to lift her the rest of the way.  Turns resulted in her falling over and she was iffy on standing still.  After a lot of coaxing and half carrying her to different places around the house, we finally got her to settle down.

  It was 60°F yesterday and somehow 28°F today.  Went in for a chest x-ray to keep an eye on the bubble in her chest and to see if she has been turning her lung raisins back into grapes.  The day nurse at the hospital said that you have "grapes" in your lungs and when you get banged around that they can turn into "raisins".  The breathing exercise device can help you to change your "raisins" back into "grapes".  My mom has a fracture at C7, compression fracture Th4 and L1, a small hole in the outer layer of her lung, two cracked ribs, and a cracked sternum.

  I got the Chromecast hooked up for my mom and showed her how to watch YouTube on her TV.  We've been watching a lot of knitting and crochet videos on YouTube and some Nailed It on Netflix.

Melbourne Marathon 47 

• MKmaineknitter 6 

• Hollive 3 

• companion42 6 

• gmilor 7 

• RLknitter 15 

• MinnieMay9 5

• Craftistic 1

• DebO31 4

  The numbers are in from the Hatathon!!  I'm so proud of my team!  We didn't get the most hats made, but it was pretty close, team London got 49 made.  It was a lot of fun and I am going to try and do it again next year.

PT Fred

 Pattern: Woven Lattice Hat - Yarn - Red Heart Unforgettable in Gossamer - Needle: US 8

  The Red Heart Unforgettable really reminds me of the Universal Yarns Classic Shades.  Both are super soft and great to work with as long as you are comfortable working with a 1-ply yarn.  1-ply, or single ply yarns are a bit more delicate because the twist is what gives it stability.  Most yarn takes a few 1-ply strands and twits them around each other.  That makes the yarn sturdier because the plies can hold the twist better against each other and it can also be springier.  However, the number of plies has nothing to do with the thickness of the yarn.

  I took over on Mom-duty on Sunday.  She had been feeling fairly fine overall.  The back brace is in the way of her left shoulder blade.  The foam that we added and have moved around has helped some.  The only times the injuries from the accident hurt are first thing in the morning going from laying down to sitting and when she has to cough.  I've been instructed what to make for various meals, and what chores to do.  I have been following orders very well.  Nezumi has been liking the extra lap-time.

  We got a visit from her physical therapist, Fred, and he helped move some stuff around and said that the back brace might be too much.  Otherwise he says that she is doing good and needs to make sure to keep walking around and to not lift too much with her arms.  He asked about the accident and got to hear the history of her van.  He also asked if we were sisters.  She has been left with the orders to keep walking and to push the body brace down throughout the day because when it rides up it gets in the way.

  I've been trying to work on this hat and it wants to resist.  I've ripped it back to the six rows of ribbing about three times so far.  Hopefully I've gotten it figured this time.

  My mom liked the way I did the decreases on the hat at the top, so once I get this one figured out and off the needles she says that I should write out the alternate crown style to the pattern.  I don't want to lose all the work that went into writing the pattern the first time, and I also don't want to sell the alternate version as a completely separate pattern, so I think I'm going to have A and B versions.  When you buy the pattern you will have both, but they will be different files.

A Whole Chair and Almost A Hat

  I found this fancy shower chair for my mom to use.  I had to put the legs all the way down for it to fit in my small car.  My dad thought that it was going to be too big for the shower, but once they got it in, it worked out really well.  The back lets my mom lean on it and the width allows for the shampoo and body wash to just be there within easy reach.  She can also turn off the water without having to reach too much.  It was a very good find.

  I got to hang out with Steven again on Friday for dinner.  It was a lot of fun because it's been so long since we've seen each other.  I was able to finally give him his Christmas present.  Bill and I had even seen a movie with him on Christmas, but I had forgotten it at home.  He's one of the few people where we can just talk about whatever for hours and easily lose track of time.

  I had planned on finishing that hat for the hatathon but didn't make it.  I'm still waiting to see the final numbers for each team.  I don't know if they are going to count the 1/3rd of a hat I posted on the last day or not.  I hope all the teams got their numbers, but I also hope my team made more hats.