February Knitting

What do you do when you can't get out (at least not without difficulty)?
I knit. Here are the things I've finished so far this month.

Slip stitch shawl, started January 28, finished February 5.

Purple tulips shawl, started January 29, finished February 10.
I started this at the weekly knitting get-together, with yarn I had just picked up from the donated stash at church. When Jan asked what it was going to be, I said, "I think it will be a shawl." Since she is the type of knitter who never starts anything without a pattern in front of her, she couldn't understand that.
The 'tulips' are a modification of a Snowdrop Lace stitch pattern from a Mon Tricot stitch dictionary.

Baptismal blanket for a baby who will be baptised at my church. I've been making these for a few years. Most of the symbols I use are from my own charts. I have two more on the needles now. I started this one on January 31 and finished it February 13.

Slip Stitch scarf, started February 13, finished February 14. The colors are actually somewhere between those in the two pictures.
I don't know why Lexi has her eyes crossed - silly kid - oh, well, she's beautiful anyway.
I think I'll make a scarf like this in black and white and a bit longer, for someone taller (Lexi's not quite 13 and still rather short).

Yellow Tulips scarf, started February 14, finished February 15. The same tulip pattern as in the shawl.
I'm considering a shawl using three shades of yellow, with seven or eight rows of tulips.

Of course, I currently have several other projects on the needles.

Medical stuff and weather

I don't know what's wrong, but I can't see the bottom of that other post I just did when I try to 'edit' it, therefore, a separate post.

Last Wednesday, the urologist said that the IVP and ultrasound didn't show anything significant. He did a cystocopy that day, which also showed nothing significant. He wants to have another urine specimen in six months.

Yesterday I went back to the surgeon  for a routine post-op visit. Since she wasn't able to free the catheter from the vein, she left the tip of it in. Since it had been in so long, it had grown onto the wall of the vein. She was afraid to pull too hard, because that might result in damage that she would not be able to correct. She said it should not cause any problems in the future, but just in case it somehow got infected, she gave me a copy of her case notes explaining what she did.

We got some snow Monday and Monday night - only about two inches, but around here that can cause problems. The roads I needed to use were clear, but not my driveway. I had no problem going down in the morning, but was afraid I'd get stuck coming back up like I did when we got snow earlier this winter. While I was in town, I stopped in to see a friend I hadn't seen for a while. She recommended that I buy a bag of cat litter on the way home. That sounded like a good idea, so I stopped at Dollar General in Fancy Farm and bought a small bag. When I got home, I couldn't get up the drive, but didn't feel like getting out and spreading cat litter, so I backed out onto the road and used the water tower's driveway. From there I was able to drive across my back yard and into my usual parking space.

We Have Ice!

The tops of the pine trees are drooping.

So are the bottoms. You should be able to see between the two trees, but all the branches are drooping to the ground. The bird bath got knocked over (neighborhood dogs?) a few weeks ago, and I plan to wait for spring to pick it up.

I can usually walk under that branch of the dogwood tree, but now it's touching the ground. I hope it doesn't break. At least I'm not hearing the gunshot-like sounds of trees splitting and large limbs breaking like I did five years ago (Has it really been that long?)

Stitches?

Do they use needle and thread at all now? I took the little bandage off after two days as the instructions said. This is what the surgery site looks like this morning. I go back to the surgeon on February 4th.

The IVP and ultrasound ordered by the urologist were on Wednesday; I go to see him next Wednesday to see if there's anything amiss. I really think not. My sister said she has had blood in her urine for over 20 years, and nothing has ever been found. Maybe it's just a family thing.

No More Port

Almost 7 years after it was put in, my port came out yesterday - it hasn't been used for 3 1/2 years.

When they tell you to be at the hospital at 10 am for surgery at 11 am, they are making their best guess at how long the surgeries before your will take. However, sometimes things don't work out that way. It was 4:19 pm before they rolled me into the operating room. The surgery before mine had turned out to be more complicated than expected. I hope some of that time was also used for the surgeon and OR staff to eat some lunch, use the restrooms, etc. Taking out my port only took a short time; I think we were back at Sara's house by about 5:30. I spent the night on her couch and got up when Rose got up for school. I left there about 8:30 - only 16 hours after anesthesia, rather than the 24 they recommend, but then I had not had much anesthesia.

I had some knitting with me, so I didn't mind waiting. We had 18-month-old Lily with us, so a bit after noon, Sara took her home, fed her lunch, put her down for a nap (Reggie was there) and came back. Around 3, she left again for something she needed to do, and came back with Lily just before they took me to the OR.
About 4 pm, I went to the nurses' station and asked one of the nurses to call the radiology department and reschedule the ultrasound and other tests I was supposed to have this morning. They are now scheduled for tomorrow morning, so I am about to begin the 'prep' for that. What fun!

I don't feel like doing anything!

I did finish that baby blanket on Sunday, and I've done a few more mitered squares on the scrap blanket I started 2 1/2 years ago. Tuesday while waiting at the urologist's office and at the auto repair shop, I did quite a few rows on a scarf I started at the end of December. That scarf is my current 'carry with me' project. I had it with me on Wednesday when I accompanied Alyssa to St Louis for Brady's final post-op visit to the surgeon, but I didn't take it out of the bag.

I should get out my blocking wires and block a scarf I finished several months ago, and also steam-block a shawl I finished at least a month ago, but I don't feel like it.

I think it's the cold weather that has me feeling this way. I also feel like I'm in a holding pattern until after the surgery Monday to remove my port and an untrasound on Tuesday that the urologist has ordered. Maybe after that I'll feel like doing something.

My Knitting

I have several projects on the needles, but after reading several blogs today by other knitters about what they are knitting, I want to start something else. I really need to finish that baby blanket for church and work a few more rows on Carmen's blanket. I'm going to be good and do those things before starting anything else.

Looking out my kitchen window this morning, I noticed that my birdbath has been knocked over - neighborhood dogs? Since the paths to it are flooded, it will stay that way for a while.