Yopping Update #30 - Well that didn't go as planned

What is that expression?  "When you make plans, God laughs."  Yes, that sums up my week.

It all started innocently enough.  I had a quick breakfast on Monday morning after a lovely chat with my daughter and grand-daughter.  I headed out for a quick doctor appointment to have my plantar warts treated and then I was headed to the pool for a swim.

At the doctor's office I mentioned to her about a dizzy spell I had on Thursday while grocery shopping and then again the previous night while doing yoga.  She checked my blood pressure and then had me stand up to check it again.  Apparently there was quite a drop, and my heart was slow and irregular and while all this was happening I got quite dizzy again.

Long story short she sent me to emergency.  And so it began.  Waiting.  Xrays, Blood tests (a lot of blood tests), Cat scan,  more blood tests, specialist brought in and it was decided I should stay overnight for another, different Cat Scan in the morning.  If that wasn't bad enough I wasn't given anything to eat until 3:30 and then it was only 1/2 cup of orange juice.  My husband went to the cafeteria and found a gluten free muffin and a bag of chips (super healthy, no?).  When it was decided I was staying he went home and got me some more substantial food (peanut butter and banana sandwich) and the charger for my phone because it had totally died by 9pm.

Woken at 6am for more blood work, 7am for pharmacy consult, 8am for cat scan and finally back in my cubicle by 9am (with no breakfast).  Luckily dh had brought me fruit and crackers and humus.  After a quick snack I fell asleep (thank you atavan) until noon when the specialist woke me up to tell me all the tests were fine.  WTF??

I was discharged with the plan to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours this coming week and then to see if that shows anything untoward.

After discharge I got my dh to take me out for a HUGE plate of pad thai, then I went home for a shower and a l o n g nap.

Wednesday I had some work at the school and decided I might as well go for it, so I worked Wednesday and Thursday.

Thursday night I was blessed to go see my great-niece in the starring role of Mulan at her middle school.  It was wonderful and so were all the hugs I got from my nieces, and great-nieces and great-nephews.

Friday was my first Tai Chi lesson of the new term.  (I missed last week because of snowmageddon).  Then it was off to my Croatian lesson.  I bought a new croatian novel that I read to my teacher and I am quite proud of how much I understood without her help.  Yay me.

Saturday we had another lovely video chat with our daughter et al, and then we finally got around to some much needed housework and three loads of laundry.  A good friend came for tea and a chat, and then last night I finally got around to getting the sweater I have been knitting to the point of joining up the sleeves with the body to begin the raglan decreases.

I am so nervous that it isn't going to fit properly that I have asked my son to do some measurements on the sweater he has that I knit for him 8 or 9 years ago.  I will keep you posted next week because now I hit the parts where I am combining the three different patterns.  Eek!

This morning I received this lovely photo from a friend I had knit a baby sweater for.

she has lots of growing room

I have more meetings at the school this coming week, and I hope to get to the pool a few more times then I did last week.  Of course I can't swim on Tuesday while I have on the heart monitor.  Bummer.

So that was my week.  Not what I planned at all, but at least, so far, all indications are positive that it isn't anything serious.  There were a lot of us in emergency that day with similar symptoms.  It makes me wonder if there is some weird virus going around.

I will leave you with one of the many joys of my life.

this sweater my sister knit for my daughter 31 years ago and now it is on my grand-daughter

Oh, and I finally mailed the little english robin to my son.  On Friday I got this:

how cute are these two?

Have a good week all.  I will try to stay out of the hospital for the coming days.  Wish me luck.

Yopping Update #29 - Three for One

Well, snowmageddon seems to be over now.  We were housebound from Sunday to Thursday.

what the heck - this is the balmy westcoast of Canada!

Things were getting serious because by Thursday morning - after our morning cuppa coffee we only had this much coffee left in the house.

Time to call out the National Guards!

It was either get the car out, or call a taxi to pick us up on the street beside our house.  Car was out thanks to salt, kitty litter, and my dh shovelling while I used a broom to get the 14 inches of snow off the roof of the car.  

Our other big concern were out little hummingbird friends.  We had to keep bringing in the feeder at night so it wouldn't freeze and then get it out at dawn each morning.  One day when it got down to -7 we had to bring the feeder in twice during the day to thaw.  This little girl sat on her swing by the feeder for a couple of hours.  

she looks innocent, but she kept chasing the male away when he tried to feed

serious icicles

I was suppose to work three days this past week, but the snow cancelled school for two of the days, and I couldn't get out of my driveway for the other one, so all got rescheduled for the week to come. 

Reading posts from my friend in the blogosphere inspired me to tackle my craft/study/yoga room on Monday.  So in two hours I went from this:

to this:

Now I have my stash where I can reach it and entered into Ravelry I might add.  I also used my husband's new label maker to put nice labels on all my teaching file boxes.

notice the tacky labels on the file boxes

much better

I also organized my knitted socks drawer and put a few pairs in the give away pile because I don't wear them anymore due to making them too big when I was a newbie sock knitter.  I think some of the pairs I have in there are about 10 years old!  I have to make room for the new ones I have planned, right?

I even set up my new desktop easel that my friend gave me.  I am ready to paint when the mood strikes me - which I hope is soon.  

the happier life poster was made by my daughter to remind me

And of course, due to the snow-in I had lots of time to knit and netflix. (Schitt's Creek, Grace and Frankie, Six Feet Under, Retribution....etc.) 

I finished my peace park shawl and I LOVE the colours.  I was playing yarn chicken in the end - but, as you can see

I WON!

I changed the bindoff to the bird's eye edging (from sandhill county shawl) cause I don't really like picot bindoffs.

So I had nothing on my needles and I was awaiting my knitpicks order - but with all the snow I wasn't holding my breath.  However on Tuesday this arrived:

Snomagenddon didn't stop the Postman (well it did for the rest of the week)

And by last night I had accomplished this:

This is a sweater for my son.  I had chosen the Joukahainen pattern, but after reading pattern notes on Ravelry people were saying the shoulders were fitting too tight.  So I pulled down my tried and true Patons classic pullover pattern (I have had this pattern since I was 12 and knit my first sweater) but this pattern involves lots of seaming.  I hate seaming raglan so I turned to the Curse Your Boyfriend sweater pattern which has the body knit in the round up to the raglan decrease  - the sleeves knit up to the raglan decrease and then you put the whole thing on one needle and do the raglan decreases then.  I will do the cable raglan decreases from Joukahainen, but I also had read that the neckline for the Joukhainen pattern is quite high, so I will use the neckline from the classic pullover pattern.  It is a little nerve wracking what I am doing but I think it will be alright in the end.  I always start sweaters with the sleeves because a) I hate finishing the front and back and then STILL have sleeves to do, and b) it is how I figure out if I am getting gauge.  My gauge is perfect - so onward.  Three patterns to make one basic pullover.  Who am I, and why do I have to make things so complicated?

I wasn't able to get to the pool until Thursday so I found some youtube yoga classes which I did every day and I am hopeful that this is helping my hip.  I finally got to the pool on Friday and Saturday and it felt great to be back in the water. 

I started reading another Croatian mini novel yesterday and I am happy that I understand most of it without looking up too many words.  Baby steps!  (I have missed two Croatian lessons because of the snow so I hope to have some progress to show my teacher this week.)

My beautiful girl turned 31 on Wednesday (which also would have been my father's 96th birthday.)  It has always been a blessing to me that she was born on what would have been his 65th birthday.  She is so far away but thanks to Whatsapp we can chat almost daily.  It is inspiring to watch her become the beautiful person and amazing mother she is.  I can't wait to see her little family again this coming spring. 

And of course, what would be my Sunday update without this:

hiking with momma

Have a good week yoppers and readers.  Stay warm, stay connected and remember - Spring is coming.  No really, it is coming!

Yopping Update #28 - Socks and Shawls

It is snowy here today.  Our first real snow of the winter.  A perfect day for staying in my jammies and knitting on the couch.  Also reading and of course updating everyone on my Year of Projects to date.

First a finish:

These are Twizzler socks and they were on my Year of Projects list for 2018-2019.  Better late than never, right?  I LOVE the fit - nice and snug.  I will definitely knit this pattern again.

I cast on the International Peace Park shawl which represents the relationship between Glacier National Park in Montana, USA and Waterton National Park in Alberta, Canada. 

Of course as with the Twizzler socks I discovered a mistake at one point about 4 inches back so had to do this:

It seems this might be my mantra for 2020.  Make a mistake?  Go back and do it over.  You won't regret it.  Are you listening, Mary-Anne?  I won't regret it.

I got to the pool six times this past week, and I attended a yoga class at my Rec Centre as well.  The doctor gave me a muscle relaxant to use at bedtime and I have been sleeping through the night which is a blessing.

My son is flying home today from his band's ten day tour in Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.  I am holding him in my heart as air travel seems so precarious to me these days. 

Sending peace to all those affected by the loss of life when the Ukranian airplane was shot down just after take-off. Sixty-three Canadians were killed and where I live there is a large Iranian population and seven of those Canadians were from our community.  So very sad for it all.  Peace people.  Just. Peace. I am praying for the families and friends of all 176 people killed on January 8th.

May the sun shine on you and in your heart this coming week as it is shining on my grand-daughter.

First day playing in the sand

Yopping Update #27 - Twelfth Day of Christmas

Happy 2020!  Is it just me, or does anyone else hear Barbara Walters' voice saying 'twenty twenty'? Just me?  Okay, never mind, let's carry on shall we?

First a finish - my SandHill County Shawl.  Suffice to say I LOVE it. I have worn it a few times and have received lovely compliments.

I started a pair of socks on New Year's Eve and knit about four inches but then in the clear light of January 1st I realized it was too small and I needed to go up a needle size.   So I frogged and started again and here is my progress to date.

Twizzler socks from last year's YOP list - finally got to them

I am waiting on an order of wool from KnitPicks so I can start a sweater for my son.  It is a simple raglan pullover just like one I knit him many years ago.  This one will be in a dark gray and I can't wait to get started on it.  It will be good Netflix knitting.  I love the name, Joukahainen,
 - very Finnish - and I love the Kalevala so it is all good!

I have been making progress on my swimming.  I swam 500 metres on January 1, and yesterday I swam a full kilometer.  So far so good with my arm.

My hip is still giving me grief and I see my doctor tomorrow and will ask about where to go  or what to do next.  I am wondering if it is sciatic pain after all.

Today is the Twelfth Day of Christmas.  Instead of 12 drummers drumming I give you one grand-daughter laughing!

Happy New Year Yoppers!  We got this!