Cap - and REcap

Man, what a week. Ever have one of those times where you alternate between despair and delight? Ever have a week where they alternate day by day? All I can say is, BOY am I glad I'm a knitter, for both times.

To start - last Monday began with a phone call from the partner of my long-time friend, from the emergency room. Seemed the Old Friend (36 years a friend) had developed pneumonia. Considering her asthma - her diabetes - her kidney failure (dialysis three times a week)... this was no "oh nuts I feel crummy". I spent much of every day all week at the hospital. Fortunately, thanks to exemplary medical care and facilities here, she stabilized and bounced back. There was a setback Thursday, but it was traced to something reparable which was repaired. She bounced back again.

That is, first and foremost, the sort of time when it's a true blessing to be a Knitter. I finished some 4" squares for Kay's project little squares, which I found soothing, although admittedly wielding size 2 needles is difficult when one's hands are shaking.

I also had a toque to work on, one at the stage where it's just plain straight perpetual ordinary knitting knitting knitting on a circular needle. "Barely Conscious knitting, I call it; I don't have to look. NOTE: I'm NOT a fabulous knitter, it's just that this is about my 32nd toque. Again, comforting. Soothing.

And the week progressed. It was frightening, tiring, educational, dramatic - and the relief of her becoming stable and rallying actually erupted today, interestingly.

Think of this: you have a child who disappears, gets lost. Your imagination parades before you Worst-Case Scenarios worse than anything Jerry Bruckheimer could come up with. The minutes are months long, you cannot imagine a future further ahead than five minutes and you can't see straight (they call it "blind panic"). Then the child returns home, announcing that he just went home with a buddy after school, forgot to call, watched movies, ate pizza, lost track of the time, no big deal. The relief at having him restored, untouched and unhurt, is almost physically tangible....and then, then it turns to RAGE! "You're FINE? I'll rip your finorkin' head off!!" Human nature,I guess...and after this very trying week, a gentle teasing remark I made to the partner was met with exactly that rage, and I was summarily ordered OUT! (By the partner, not the patient.) I left the hospital, returned home to a welcome afternoon of indolence. No hard feelings, I understand. I'll wait it out. Grim.

Now to the OTHER half of the week, the happy-knitter-tranquil part. First, I finished the Punkin Hats and managed to wheedle, bribe, cajole and sweet-talk all three little boys into putting them on long enough to take a picture:

Domanic put it on willingly, smiled obligingly - but I'm not optimistic about his wearing it all winter. Still, he said he liked it, and left the house with it firmly affixed to his head.









His little brother Xander was more reluctant, and this picture is the third attempt; the first had his daddy holding the cap on his head and the second had him covering it up with his blankie. Not optimistic about his wearing it all winter either. On the other hand, Xander's an Individualist, and at this point is reluctant to wear a jacket either. He may be one of those natural-born Wisconsinites who lives perpetually in denial about Winter. (He will be convinced, either by nature or Mommy, whichever comes first.




And Conner looked at his, pulled it on, and when I said "Now, I know you may not want to wear this every day...." said "No, I really Like it!" Awwwww....

Although you can't tell (cameras are weird guys) his shirt and the cap are very nearly the same color in the real world.

Of course, Halloween is over, and it's very close to December which, in my estimation, begins to lean heavily toward Winter, so autumn caps are going to be "so last week" in no time. Of course, none of the lads is yet of an age to be so fashion-conscious as all that, but you never know. The good news is, I think kids' heads grow less than the rest of them so these may fit them NEXT autumn was well.

And now to the Tranquil and Joyous part of the week (remember I said at the beginning, "depths of woe to tranquil pleasure"?) There were two events this week which were just so darn much fun!

As it had been the Lovely Daughter's birthday Thursday, plans were made to have her join me at the Sow's Ear for the Late-Night-Knit. It was WONDERFUL! It was sort of almost the first-formal-informal-semi-official-official meeting of the Hog-and-Blog Society! To my delight (and tranquility), Molly Bee was there, and Mrs S.A.B.L.E and Beth! The evening wss uncommon merry; Mrs S.A.B.L.E's Young Lad came along (I canNOT say "little boy", he is, I believe, a little taller than I am). He brought along some card tricks which DID amaze and entertain me, and Molly Bee amazed and entertained him with a toothpick trick, too. (She showed Lovely Daughter and me how she did it...I smiled and nodded but the truth is, I think it really WAS magic.) I have a wonderful story you tell with playing cards too, regarding the "suicide king", but believe it or not none of the card decks present were the right kind. NOTE: the Magic Lad had two decks; I brought an interesting deck for him to play with; I brought a miniature deck for him; I always have a bizarre deck in my bag. None would work for my story. I did a rain check. Nevermind.

I did very little knitting, actually, but a lot of bouncing and chatting. I filled Mr Dearling's request and got a nice gift card from the Sow's Ear for Lovely Daughter's birthday (she didn't open the card until she was about ready to leave, so she bought nothing that night, but hey - anticipation's half the fun!). I also gave her a ten-minute massage from our friend Donna who comes to the late-nights, which she enjoyed very much. (Ever notice the eyes of someone who's just had a good massage? Oooooooh yeah!)

Beth of Chocolate Sheep and I closed up the place again - our fellow Hog-and-Bloggers went home at more reasonable times, but we just ... gab, what can I say? We're working on Hog-and-Blog gang signs and trying to figure out some identifying bling...well, I found that the Ear still had little buttons with the Piggly Wiggly logo on (sweet little pig face in a white cap); I bought out the whole stock the remaining four buttons, and we'll wear those on little pins until something more dramatic comes along. NOTE: I need to do this more often so it's not so long and rambly.

I've been thinking about stuff for which I'm grateful. Watch this space.