February Wrap Up!!

Slipped off the blogging radar again.  The whole month of February - just gone!  How does that happen.

Thankfully nothing negative was involved.  Just time getting away from me.  Lets see what I can do to catch up.

I finished the knitted blanket I made for my grand daughter - it is a blanket she will use here - should we ever get back to normal times and she can visit again.  I was glad to be done with it.  It was huge and easy to work on in a mindless fashion, but I had other stuff I was itching to get to!

Then we had a little scare with this old man “grand child,” my daughter’s dog Milo!  He had some breathing issues and she got an initial evaluation from her vet with an X-ray ... the vet thought he had lung tumors - probable cancer - and at his age, extensive testing was just not an option.  Quality of life care was the recommendation ... and maybe some steroids to slow down the tumor growth and make him comfortable.  Her vet wanted him seen by a vet internist to evaluate and make suggestions since he is already on pain meds for his back issues.  That visit provided a different opinion, thankfully and it is not cancer.  But without expensive testing and maybe some uncomfortable treatments involving anesthesia, (also not an option), a definitive diagnosis could not be given.  At present we are just content that it is not cancer. Making him comfortable in his very senior years is now the goal.

And after the scare of maybe losing him, I found this charming picture of him when he wasn’t so gray. Now his is the wall paper on my computer screen.  My daughter isn’t going to be the only one devastated by his passing.  We just need to enjoy him now.

This month my grand daughter turned 3.  We, of course, could not be with her so her parents held a virtual Birthday Party using Zoom.  All her family joined her on the computer and we enjoyed watching her open her presents and eat cake.  (Have I said recently just how much I HATE this pandemic?). I think I could tolerate it better if I had full access to my family.

And here I am in line (6 feet apart, of course) at CVS waiting to get my first Covid VAX shot just yesterday.  The effort required to get that appointment was just too much.  So many people and not enough vaccines.  But I am grateful I managed to get onto a schedule. I have had no reaction to this first shot, but I understand that the second shot does produce some fatigue. My second shot is scheduled for the end of the month.  Of course, now I start all over again trying to get my husband on a schedule for his shots.  I check the schedules for 3 pharmacies, 2 max vaccine mega sites and the health department when I wake before I even have coffee and about 6 more times during the day and last thing before I go to bed at night.  It just never ends.

I have started 2 more new projects - both are crochet.  The first picture is a sample of a technique called mosaic crochet.  This is new to me.  The pattern is from the Queen blanket (on Ravelry) that I plan to make very soon.  This Queen blanket was part of a CAL last fall and it has extensive video support on YouTube. For the sample I chose 2 light colored yarns - which was stupid.  The patterning would be so much more dramatic with more contrast. The yarn I have purchased for this pattern has plenty of contrast so it should be more fun - and the pictures will be better.

The second project is from Annie’s Craft Club.  I kept getting ads for this club in my Facebook feed.  I finally just gave up and started the club. The blanket is striped and each stripe is a different crochet stitch.  The acrylic yarn is called Premier Anti Pilling Everyday Worsted and it is my new favorite acrylic. It doesn’t split, the colors are really lovely (although my photos don’t do it justice) and it is very soft.  Feels nothing like typical crunchy acrylic.  This project, too, has video support which I follow very carefully.  I am mostly a knitter and I know the basic crochet stitches, but I have learned so much from watching both videos.  Being able to “read” your knitting or your crochet is so important.  I understand the structure of the knit stitch very well - and these projects with their video support are helping me understand the crochet stitch at a much better level.  I am really enjoying both very much.

Anyway, that is my February all summed up in a single post.  

Hope that all of you are doing well - and staying well.  We are so close to the “finish line” of this pandemic now that a vaccine is finally available.  Everyone, keep wearing your masks and stay 6 feet apart ... and if you are able, please get vaccinated so we can all return to a normal life with herd immunity in place.