Doing Better Each Day

About this time last week, I was on my way home from the hospital after surgery. The surgery itself went great (took about 2 hours total), but the first few days home were difficult. It was hard for me to move or do much on my own and I think the anesthesia didn’t agree well with me (whenever I slept, I’d wake up feeling nauseous), but I was walking pretty good and even went outside to walk on Saturday and Sunday. Matt went back to work on Monday and by then I was mostly able to do things on my own. He’s been home each day for lunch, which has been nice since I’ve been getting bored at home.

Tuesday my mom and sister came by and kept me company all afternoon. Wednesday some of my knitterly friends came by – Karen, Lani, Alita and Lisa. Lani was kind enough to bring some frozen meals for Matt and I, which was very much appreciated since I can’t do much housework or cooking still. Plus, the time with friends was great since I didn’t get to go to knitting group this week. My friend, Grace, stopped by Wednesday as well. She brought us dinner before she went to a yoga class. It was nice to have her come over and visit. Tomorrow Jessy is stopping by and I think my mom and sisters will be by this weekend, too.

Took a few days before I knit much after getting back home because I wasn’t feeling much like sitting up at first (mostly laid down and napped). Now, though, I’m back to knitting and I’ve been doing a lot of it! I’ll get to that part, but first I’ll show you what arrived in the mail just before I had surgery last week and since I’ve been home.

Last Wednesday, my Chevron Love Mitten Kit came in the mail from Knitterly Things. I can’t wait to knit these up! Should be a lot of fun even though I won’t be wearing them again until next winter. I got the “Tiny Dancer” kit. Irresistible combination of colors I had to have!

I ordered a pattern from The Loopy Ewe that was waiting for me in the mailbox when we got home last Friday. The pattern is Swedish Fish Socks. I already have some stash yarn in mind for it.

On Monday, I received yarn from The Yarn Bearer from the “Nightmares” sock club. This month’s theme is “Falling.”

I’ve really enjoyed being part of The Yarn Bearer’s club. The yarn’s I have received are beautiful! So glad I decided to join :o)

As for what I’ve been knitting… I’m still working on Decimal and it’s coming right along. I’m at the waist shaping portion. Seems like the more I knit, the less spittly this yarn is (though it’s still a bit splitty). I’m loving the resulting knit fabric, regardless of the splittiness of the yarn, though. The color, too!

I was working on the Baudelaire socks, but decided to rip them out. I had turned the heel when I decided I just didn’t love them. It was a combination of the yarn being a bit fuzzy/splitty and just not really loving the pattern. Wednesday I ripped them out and it felt liberating! Since I no longer had a pair of socks on the needles after ripping the Baudelaire socks out, I cast-on for another pair with the yarn I got Monday (above). I decided on the Marlene pattern by Cookie A. in the Fall/Winter 2008 issue of knit.1. I wasn’t sure how the yarn and pattern would go together, but I was pleasantly surprised with the lovely result.

Initially I cast-on using US 1’s, but I couldn’t get the sock over my heel after two chart repeats, so I had to rip it out. Went up to US 2’s and it seems perfect now. The pattern has been an easy and fun knit so far. I think I have 2 more chart repeats before the heel, so it’s even further along then the picture above shows.

Haven’t been working on much else. I’ve been spending a lot of time watching TV, online, and knitting. Of course I’ve been doing a fair amount of walking, too, since that’s a big part of my recovery. I have a while before I go back to work and recovering is my main focus. Each day I’m walking and doing a little more!