The defeat of Technology

So last night the power went out briefly in the middle of watching Hitch, which was a delight, a good movie for a really good day. I thought aha! No reason to be depressed I can continue knitting, earlier in the week one set of batteries had gone out, and now as I turned it on to work, the other one. Rule 1 of battery operated toys, always have a spare battery. Got that DH, adding batteries for my knit lites to the wishlist. Working by candlelight wasn much fun and about the time I was going to give up, the power came back on. It took us nearly four hours to watch a two hour film. We love movies like that.

Sleepy Saturday - Yippee

J woke up in a good mood! No pain!!!!! So we went into our TV room, ate breakfast and watched a couple shows and then we both fell asleep, Miss Penny too. Being the wonder dog she is, she insisted on our waking around 3PM for J's meds (she gets treats too and that makes sure that she acts as a little alarm, food is important to this little dog). He still felt good. Sigh, things are beginning to look better again, I think we can start PT again on Monday. No knitting today. But I plan to get J to go to Hunter's landing for a late breakfast and a chance to sit on the swings and knit in the open air.

Arrrgh, part deux

So I got away as planned, well sort of, Barbara had another minor mishap, her two front tires needed air before she came to work. So then I went to MickeyD's or the poor womans Starbucks and intended to get a latte and some of those cinnamnon things. Get to site of the crime and realize I left without my wallet. I had enough change for coffee in the ash tray. Went home and spent another half hour looking for my wallet. Found it in my yarn stash. (I didn't leave in there in some Freudian shopping slip, did I?). Finally got to the library. Checked out Lemony Snickets, book one, read it in an hour and I could stop girly giggling. Checked a couple audio books for J, and knitting with dog hair, couldn't resist although Miss Penny doesn't have good spinning dog hair in any of her breeds, and couple more knitting tomes. Headed to Moms, who kept her word, no lists of stuff to do for her, she let me sleep. Ahhhh, a nap it felt soooo good. I was a a knitting nook when Barbara called and let me know her daughter had been in a car accident, I needed to come back. So much for my thought of going somewhere quiet for a cup of tea and a pastry for dinner. J was doing well when I got home, Miss Penny had been fed and Barbara was beside herself. She left, came back a couple of hours later to tell me that her kid was fine, a few scratches, insults by medical professionals and other than that all was well. Except her adrenaline was going to be pumping all night from the fright.

Arrrgh!

I know he's in pain, I know he has lost his autonomy, but sometimes he gets too cranky with me. I've tried to talk with him about it, I can feel my own frustration building, thank God for Barbara! She will do a 12 hour day tomorrow and allow me to really stay out for a while. I am taking the knitting, going to the bagel shop, getting a couple of lattes and heading to the beach. Then I will go for lunch and a matinee, followed by a stop by my folks place to take a nap. I may not blog tomorrow but will catch up on the weekend.

Osteoporosis Awareness

I just sent a letter to California Senator Alquist who is holding an informational session to the legislature in March on the impact of osteoporosis. Wanna talk impact? If any of the doctors taking care of J in the past ten years had gotten their collective heads out of their !@#$# they could have ordered a bone density test. It would have been low and he could have been started on meds that would have prevented all the joint replacements and pain. Over a lifetime of his medical issues it would have saved the state millions on his care. Two hundred for a simple test. I am actively campaigning to bring bone density testing awareness for the populations that took dilantin & tegretal as children/teens for seizures, mood disorders or whatever to get them checked early. Lets prevent osteoporosis from making 30 year old men have 125 year old bones.

Miss Penny Uses Perfect Body Language

So earlier today Miss Penny refused to go outside. It's wet out there. She hates water, we live less than a mile from a beautiful beach, we walk there often. She will walk on the right, in complete defiance of her training, she wants the human to get wet before she does. She will chase a shorebird to the water and come to a sputtering stop if her toenails get damp. She hides when anyone takes a shower, we might ask her to get wet. She has issues. So wondering when she will consent and getting caught up in my project I missed her earlier signals of wanting to go outside. Finally she went running into the bathroom, stared at the toilet, ran back to me and then to the backdoor. Pretty clear language skills that she wanted to go out! Very clever.

Knit Lites Save the Day

I already loved the knit lites on dark fabric, but today I found another reason to own a set. Blackouts. It was heavily raining this morning. So much so that when Miss Penny was asked to go outside to do her business, she trotted up to the backdoor, stuck her nose outside, looked up as if to say, "What? You must be kidding, it's raining out there!" Then she scooted herself backwards in a hurry and blew off any thought of going out, she'll hold it until the downpour stops. Back to the blackout. The power kept blitzing on and off and finally went off. No TV, no radio, Jason was sleeping, what's a girl to do...KNIT, the lites worked perfectly in the dim light of a rain storm and during the outage I added a couple more inches to the never ending felt project.

It's Late, near midnight worries

J has had a good day, no extreme pain, eating but since his recent set back he doesn't want to get out of bed and do his PT. I haven't had a lot of sleep the past few nights and I took a nap this afternoon. I am having a bit of trouble sleeping tonight. I heated up some warm milk added a plunk of vanilla and I am adding this note to my blog. Soon as I am finished I am heading back to bed with the ever growing felting project, I am more than halfway done, it is getting heavy. I am getting very worried about the felting itself, will it really shrink? Will it really be pretty, it just looks like a giant shapeless mass of knitting. I thought knitting was supposed to ease my worries, sometimes I think it just gives me distraction worries. Why worry about PT when the felt might go wrong?

Secret Pal 10 Questions

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Currently, I am *in love* with sock yarn, it is so much fun to knit a small sock or glove and have it just pattern itself. My blind DH likes it too, no annoying stranding in the back. I am not fond of rayon, slippery devil yarn at the moment. I hate repairing the stuff.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I use cosmetic bags with little zip pouches, and I am currently knitting a berroco pattern to felt a needle case, my first felt project.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I am a intermediate knitter, I can do everything but lace, reading charts makes me woozy. My grandma taught be the basic skills and my mom brushed them up.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I am making a froogle list for my husband I will list it in my profile when it is done.

5. What's your favorite scent?
Freshly made yeast bread, lemon trees in bloom, Pleasures by estee lauder, my husband freshly shaved, clean linens off the clothesline, and vanilla.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Dark chocolate, I am a Trader Joes addict, I go there for a coffee taster, food sample and dark chocolate whenever I need a break. I loved Chantico when starbucks had it, I was addicted, miss that very much. It was chocolate ectasy.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Ok laugh, I still like coloring books and colored pencils. I love logic puzzles. Solitaire Card Games. Cooking & Gardening we are planning a large garden this spring. Embroidery - Love it. I am currently tailoring and embellishing J's stage clothes so that when he returns to gigging he will have a "look". I am easily amused. I haven't attempted spinning, yet. I am a little stymied by crochet, but I haven't really applied myself to it yet either.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I love bluegrass, 80s, Cat Stevens, Opera, Musicals, Jazz, Classical, I like it all, if there is anything I don't like...it's when music becomes noise or painful.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Favorite color on it's own Green. Favorite colors together, purple, blue. brown, a nice camo combination and neutrals. Things I can't stand? Lots of orange can bug me; but I am game to try anything.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married, my DH is disabled, we have the cutest service dog in the world. My family lives nearby and we have the most awesome nurse who gives a hand. We are praying that as J recovers from his surgeries we will qualify to be foster parents and have little ones in our lives.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Being beach girl, hats yes, scarves-if they are lightweight more decorative then warm, mittens, not often. I would love a poncho.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I am totally into socks and fingerless gloves made with sock yarn right now. It totally rocks.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A case to eventually felt and then hold my needles, a right hand glove to match the left one I finished this weekend, a red sweater for redsweaters.org, a dog sweater for Miss Penny, A lap blanket for my husband and pair of socks on circulars. I try to keep 4-5 things going all the time, so there is something always in the "easy" stage and something that requires concentration.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes, they are the best, they inspire me!!!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
My current favorite is knit lites, I just love that LED on the end. I like Bamboo DPNS although the way my ribbing turned out on the glove I am thinking about getting Addi DPNs I always try to move things to circulars to take out weight. I just got a pair of flexible straights, I think they may be my favorite.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
He's called my husband, he is quite reliable and works for cheez-its.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
18 months, I am considering ripping it down and making something that I want to finish.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
April Fools - it our service dogs birthday!!!

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Musical instruments are strewn throughout the house, the cheap tourist attraction stuff you find in foreign countries. We have asked everyone we know who goes on a trip to buy us some musical trinket and then put it on display in our house. This year I am asking travelers to pick on 1-4 skeins of yarn while on vacation and send it to me to build a more varied stash. My husband and I are waiting with baited breath for the last Harry Potter book!!!! July is so far away.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
No knitting magazines, I love interweave and knit.1 I am dying to look over books about using just a skein, ethnic socks, and the one about fixing your mistakes would be a huge help.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Entrelac and illusion knitting are high on my list.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes, love it!!! I wear a size 8 so nice and medium, I like a turned loose cuff.

23. When is your birthday?
Sigh.... Ground hog day.

What do we look like?

This is J and I on his 31st birthday in October. It had only been two months since his joint replacements and he was back playing the keys. He is so determined to get back to gigging. I am determined to help him. His birthday was a very big deal, we celebrated his 125th birthday (his age in bone years). We are looking forward to the next bone density scan and perhaps celebrating his 80th birthday next year. A friend of a friend gave us a baby grand, a 1932 Story and Clark, and it arrived just in time for J's birthday. We adore it. We lost our living room, now it is the music room, we converted a spare bedroom into our TV room. Our house is itty bitty, but so are our needs.

Why I needed to Knit

My husband is a gifted musician, jazz keyboards. I am going to get permission to put an MP3 on the blog of his work. We've been married three years and our second third anniversary is approaching in May, long story. My honey is a blind dude, it's not at all a disability, he is a very capable and well educated despite adversity. If blindness were the only issue, I wouldn't be knitting. He also has epilepsy, of the intractable form. Last year in search of better treatments that would allow for a more normal life for us both, he went off his very successful Vagus Nerve Stimulator to prepare to enter a study that places recording/treating electrodes at the sites of the seizure generating cells in the brain. To know where precisely to place the electrodes, they do a Deep Brain Mapping, placing recording electrodes on the brain and then weaning him off all meds to cause seizures to localize where in the brain the seizures occur. He did have the seizures, it should his brain had several areas of focus and he didn't qualify for the study. We also learned that he has osteoporosis, very severe, at the age of 31 his bones have the same density as someone who is 125. We found this out tragically, when he was having the seizures for the brain mapping. He broke both his hips and right shoulder. We also found out he had compression fractures in his mid and low spine. Due to the extreme deterioration of this bones the only choice was to replace them all, so a week later he had all three joints replaced as he recovered from having the electrodes removed from his brain. Rough week. We spent a total of 40 days in the hospital, I never left his side, sleeping in a recliner and making sure his needs were met. We've been home six months, the recover is slow. His seizures and blindness both impact the speed of his therapy and ability to move forward.

His osteoporosis is caused by a number of factors, seizure meds, being blind, not spending enough time outside getting vitamin D, low testosterone. We have talked to a number of groups urging awareness of osteoporosis in those who took seizure meds as children to prevent tragedies such as my husbands.

My friend was right, knitting the same horrific repetive stuff I hated as a child has become a wonderous therapy. I knit to meditate. I knit to empty my mind of all my worries. I knit to have something to do when J needs someone to stay close but needs the quiet calm. I knit to feel a sense of accomplishment when his therapy is progressing so slowly it doesn't seem to be getting better. I knit to stop figgitting when I can't sit still. I knit to have something to do when he is sleeping. I knit to learn new things. I knit for chairities to contribute to others when I can't leave the house. I knit to enjoy watching a chaotic ball of yarn become stripes of jewel tones on a glove. I knit colorful socks for my husband to wear on stage when he is ready to gig again. I knit sweaters for our service dog, so she can stay warm. As a young caregiver sandwiched between caring for my husband and my elderly parents, I have sought out local resources to help me cope. Finding none, I did find that local knitters are very cool. Joining in a class or stitch and bitch gives me an outlet of normality. Reading knitters blogs makes me feel apart of the community when I cannot leave the house. I knit therefore I still am. Besides, it's fun, YEP Grandma, ya hear me up there, you were right, it's fun!

The Prescription for Knitting

I learned to knit as a child. I actually remember as learning to R...I....P over and over and over. Grandma was patient, but sitting still that long was soooo hard. I excelled at sewing little dresses, made a quilt when I was 12 but knitting was not my thing. Grandma tried until the day she died to get me to give it another try. She must be chuckling in heaven, nudging my grandad, see I told her so! I started knitting again about a year ago, at the insistence of a friend who is also a psychiatrist (every one should have a mental health pro as a pal). I was overwhelmed by life (more about that later) and wondering if I needed therapy and prozac. She looked at me a wrote a prescription: "Two sticks and a ball of yarn". She said it would help with my ability to remain calm in the storm, it would give nervous mind and fingers something to do, it would provide a meditation space wherever I went and most of all it would reduce the anxiety and stress. Reduce stress, she must be kidding, all I could think about was Rip, rip, rip, hours of knitting and ripping!!! However, I chose to follow her advice, went to Mom and dug out some sticks, some yarn and a how to book and reminded myself how to knit.