The Fairy GodKnitter

Next Year's Christmas Card Photo*:

Phoebe looks all sweet and innocent here, doesn't she?

Since it is the holiday week and since she is our only house dog at the moment, I will not tell you all the mayhem she has caused.  We'll just use selective memory and treasure the next few days with her underfoot around.

We are well, segwaying from Christmas to Mom's birthday to New Years.  I love having both of my boys under the same roof, their relationship is the thing I treasure most.  I also treasure them shoring me up when the holidays stress me out and the fact that the later they sleep in the day, the better the chance I have of thinking that I could get the laundry back under control.

I am sneaking in a little shop work when I can and hope that my dinged up hand can return to knitting.  More in a day or so....

 

* No cards sent this year, instead I donated to our peeps at Make A Wish of WNY

And then I walked into the vacuum cleaner

And ten minutes later I was upright again and looking for bandaids, ice and pain meds.

And a new vacuum cleaner.

It was not the best timing, with so much to do in the next few days, but once my wonky left thumb decided to stop twitching, I decided that nothing was broken and the wonky day continued.

I'm fine, I think I have been super tense all week and my pratfall has broken that tension.

Connor did well at Tuesday's CT scan.  He was super nervous and nearly decapitated me in the weird door at the hospital, but I saw it coming and avoided it.

We won't have the scan results for another two weeks though.  I have a copy of the films and try as I might, I can't tell a thing from looking at them. 

Connor is much more relaxed since the scan is behind him.  It helped that we ran into the nurse mom of one of friends just after the scan and then a half dozen of his Swing Choir friends at the breakfast place.  He also went to a mini class reunion last night and has discovered that distance does make everything better. 

My sister and Miss Phoebe are here.  Their arrival has made the house feel lighter and happier and Gary is loving having a dog follow him around. 

It's all good, just busy-busy.  I'm charging my camera battery now, - photos soon.

Tomorrow

Connor has a CT scan scheduled tomorrow morning.  This is part of his annual follow up, last year was the baseline, but he is now at the point where recurrent disease might be visable.  These tumors are mostly slow growing, but since they are so rare, it's hard to predict and very frustrating.

Connor is coming off a nasty head cold*, a grueling push to finish the semester and looks too skinny to me, so I am a little more apprehensive than I was last year.

It is delightful to have him home, although I do not understand why he brought so many pieces of clothing that may or may not be clean.  He does not want this scan because of the IV, but he also wants it behind him so he can enjoy the rest of the break. 

Please think of him if you can.

* After 2 days of questioning, he revealed the left sided nose bleeds he had while his head was stuffed up.

National Cupcake Day!

Thank goodness for Twitter and my compulsive need to call Cookie every time I take a ride to the post office, or I might have missed knowing that today is National Cupcake Day.

In celebration, I'm having a little giveaway over at the Ravelry group, please feel free to enter.

The past few days have been busy-busy.  We drove to Elmira to see Connor perform on Saturday.  The campus was decked with purple lights:

Connor was fabulous in Ordinary Days.  I continue to be astonished by how far he has come as a singer/actor.  He was dealing with a head cold, tons of last minute papers/projects and lack of sleep so it was good that we did not distract him for long.

Sunday was Griffin's 16th Birthday:

It was a quiet one, but after cake at home, we drove 3 slices over to his GF's house and ended up having a lovely impromptu visit with her family.

The last few days have included my finishing my holiday shopping, Jim finishing my incredibly wonderful new dye space:

This just a small portion of the counter space, I can now dye 4-6 times what I could before and the custom sink height is just perfect.

I also managed to resurrect and finish a baby gift for Our Todd and Mrs. Our Todd.  It's the Babette Blanket I started a long time ago:

The sewing together of squares wasn't that bad, but crocheting the edge nearly did me in.  I love the finished blanket and I hope that it will be a welcome gift.  Best of all, I have enough of the yarn to make another one someday.

Tomorrow I drive to pick Connor up for his 3 week break, we've had non stop crazy rain all day, I hope it stops before I have to drive.

I'm still working out Griffin's Christmas sweater, photos next time.

December, Days 1 - 10:

1) As reported yesterday, we have our first snow:

2) Remarkably, the snow is still here today - usually the first fall doesn't stick.

3) It will be gone by Wednesday though.  Griffin wants Ski Club to start this week, so I'm hoping it survives or better yet, moves into the south towns.

4) My dye studio is not quite finished.  As I sit here, I can hear some sort of power tool whirring.  Jim says today, but that's what he said days ago.

5) Still, it will be fabulous.

6) Griffin turns 16 tomorrow.  That is fabulous too, but I keep having waves of nostalgia about my baby boy.  They are fleeting though.  Last evening we saw his GF in her school musical and went out for dessert afterwards with her family.  Seeing him as someone who is also important to another family is really good.

7) I am sort of almost finished with holiday shopping.  I have done very little decorating, but there is a plan to knock that out tomorrow. 

8) Today we travel to Elmira to see Connor perform in Ordinary Days.  He has had a sinus infection sneak up on him, but he can still sing.  He also has a few papers to finish up, another show tomorrow and then a few exams before I go back to get him next Friday.  We are not staying over tonight - if you are looking for me, I'm in the car.

9) I am working on a sort of secret knitting project.  Griffin has been wearing a hand me down hand knit that Connor left for him.  He wears it a lot, loves it, looks great in it and so the committee decided that he needed another one.  Cookie spun the 30 ounces of yarn in about 4 days:

It's Cupcake Fiber Company SW Merino in a trio set consisting of two shades of teal and one of brown.  Cookie spun each color as a single, plied the singles back on their selves and then plied the three colors together.  So it's a 3 ply that really is a 6 ply and it is knitting up a 4.25 stitches to the inch. 

10) I plan to knock out this sweater in the next 10 days.