I'm trying - YOP update

I seem to be a collector of problems.  I really don't want all the health problems though.  I'd rather collect vintage buttons.  I now have vertigo and then migraines and tension headaches triggered by it.  It isn't the worst thing because it's left sided so I can go to PT and somehow they have the magic to fix that.  I guess there are other types of vertigo that are not so easily treated.  I'm trying to look at the bright side on this.  I'm irritated though because I can't drive right now.  I just got my car a few months ago and already I can't drive it.  I am paying $75 a month for an exercise program and now I can't go.  I was doing so good too, getting stronger and losing weight.  It helps to have someone there to help push me but also help me modify to something doable for me. That price is for an unlimited plan too but last month I only made it 2 times because the doctor said not to go again until after I go to PT.  If I change the plan it will actually cost me more.  It is in the morning on weekdays so if I can't drive I can't go.  I also have other appointments and things I planned and I have to reschedule or find a way to get there.  I have to have a ride to go to PT because they will trigger the vertigo.  My first appointment is 9/2.

My husband and I are about to go on a trip to Anchorage to celebrate our 35th anniversary coming up on 9/1.  I'm not sure what we'll do.  We usually don't plan and just go and see what we find along the way.  We are going to rent a car and we could drive to some place outside of Anchorage we haven't been to yet.  Who knows what we will find.  I don't know if it will be rainy like it is here.  The hotel we use has these huge bathtubs so I could just get some bubble bath and a good book lol

I haven't been working on anything much because of the head spinning and headaches.  I do have a project that I need to finish but I put it in time out for a while.  I did part of it but I'm not really happy with it.  This is a poncho for my sister and I'm not sure if I'm doing it the best way.  I've never done this sort of thing before.  I usually just follow the pattern as written but I need to rework it.  I have about half of this done, or close to that, but I want to rip it all out and start over.  I would rather take it all out and fix it otherwise I don't want to work on it.  I want her to love it and want to wear it.  Also, I know she would tell everyone she sees that I made it so it needs to look good.  

She wants this poncho called Butterflies that's in a pattern book I have called Knit Ponchos by George Shaheen.  I feel very honored that she's asking me because she doesn't knit very much.  She's a great crocheter and is much better and changing patterns.  I want to make sure it's going to look good.  It calls for bulky weight yarn and she wants me to use worsted weight.  She lives in Texas so she doesn't want it to be too hot to wear.  I'm trying to work out how to make the pattern work while adding extra rows and I'm double wrapping the eyelets to make them bigger so they look more like the original pattern grouping of the 4 "butterflies". 

I'm using I Love This Cotton yarn and she loves the color.  I mostly have it worked out but I'm having a problem with the eyelets.  I had to add rows and stitches to make the grouping look similar to the pattern.  Is there a trick for keeping the knit stitches between the two eyelets looking neat and not loose and sloppy?  Where there are two eyelets I am doing this - YO (2 wraps), p2tog, p2, YO, P2tog.  On the return row I knit across dropping the extra wraps.  The stitches in the center between the eyelets and leaning into the eyelets and no matter how hard I try they won't stay.  Is there a better way?  I forgot to add that the purl side is the outside so I should have taken the picture of the other side.  I put the picture below but the lighting is bad and the color is all wrong.  Also, this will stretch out from the weight of the yarn and will be more open.  I really hope there is a way to make this look better.  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.  

I think my eyelets look like a run in nylon stockings.  I can take a knitting needle and tighten them up afterwards but I would have to keep going that.  

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

DJ

And knittin', knittin'....

  "I am not the weather. I am the wide and open sky, and so I can let pain move through me and out of me." - Josie George

Let's get it started....  

song by the Black Eyed Peas  

I have not been feeling so hot lately but I am doing my best to do life.  I haven't been able to knit or read much for a while until last night.  I picked up the baby blanket I'm working on and got some done.  I've been knitting on it today in between household chores.  I have finally gotten the groove of this pattern.  I made so many mistakes when I first started and took it out several times but then I looked at the pattern repeat and counted the stitches.  I put in markers between where each repeat should be and that has helped a lot.  If I have extra or too few stitches I'll notice before I move on.  At first I was counting after each repeat to make sure I hadn't missed a yarn over or something.  Now I don't have to do that anymore.  There are 16 rows to the pattern but the even rows are easy (just knit the knits and purl the purls & yo's).  I think this will be a very pretty baby blanket and the yarn is so very soft.  I like that it is a light weight yarn because it can get hot in Alabama.  

• The pattern is Bernat #778 Cable and lace Blanket (intermediate level) 
• The yarn is Loops & Threads Soft Ombre in Plum/Periwinkle/White (light 3 weight)

I have gone on a few small adventures that I will have to post about later.  I did not go very far but found some interesting historical things close by.  A few of them I have seen before but didn't really explore in a thorough fashion until recently.  

I did listen to an audiobook although not the best.  It took a crazy long time to listen to an audiobook I would normally have finished in 1 or 2 days.  It was James Patterson's Cross My Heart (Alex Cross #21) James, I'm not thrilled.  It was really only half the story.  I'm continuing on with the next book, Hope to Die.  I hope it is better and less depressing.  I'm sure he didn't die though since the series has more books lol  

I've had a few medical adventures that were not nearly as fun.  I got a new med, it started working and then I had side effects so had to stop taking it.  I got a different new med and when I added it to my Samsung health app on my phone where I can set up reminders it popped up a warning about a serious interactions with another med I take.  It said it can cause heart rhythm problems among other issues. I called the clinic and the doctor was out of the office.  The nurse there did not seem to take me or my health app warning seriously.  While talking to her I just googled it and got the same exact warning.  She said, "oh but that's google.  You can find anything on google."  She wasn't interested when I said I could check the source (NIH).  I told her I would call my pharmacist then and my Rheumatologist who prescribes the other med I have been on for years.  My pharmacist is phenomenal and really went to work for me calling different doctors and other people.  Now I have a new doctor who is apparently skilled at figuring out the best meds for people that won't cause interactions and hopefully without side effects.  To be fair, I am a tricky patient but tricky patient does not want to die from a drug that is supposed to help.  

Off to another day...  hopefully full of fun adventures and chocolate.  

Fun things I found in Denali

So here are the things I picked up when I was in Denali.  At Denali Rocks I picked up this butterfly that is made of carved Fruit Jasper.  If you google that and look at some more pictures of it you will probably realize, like I did, that it is named that because it resembles fruitcake.  I love butterflies and I thought this would look good with my fairy figurines.  There were so many neat things available in this store that it was a daunting task to pick what to buy.  They had guitars, ukuleles and other things covered in beautiful mosaic that were hung on the walls.  Those were expensive.  There were rings, necklaces bracelets and so many pretty display pieces.  I also bought a couple of cute mushrooms to go with my fairy figurines.  I love the one made of Lapis Lazuli.  I'm not sure what the green one is. 

I have a collection of trinket boxes so I like to have small things to tuck inside of them.  I picked out this tiny skull carved out of red gold stone.  It is so glittery in real life!  It is mesmerizing.  I also bought a couple fossils.  There were little baskets filled with them of all different types and sizes.  

 The woman that worked there, I'm not sure if she was the owner, was a cool lady.  She patiently told me what each thing was so I could learn more about them.  I wish all the people that worked in stores were so friendly and willing to supply information about things.  I enjoyed watching her work on assembling things to put out in the store.  Outside the store, around the corner a bit, there was a large block of concrete with some good sized pieces of pure white quartz that people had been breaking up into smaller pieces.  I picked up a few small pieces to take home.  I found one that kinda looks like a chicken and I'm going to paint a few details on it to look like an all white chicken.  My sister loves chickens.

The yarn store called Polychrome Fibers was also amazing.  There was a rainbow of beautiful yarns of all different sizes and types, kits, project bags, stitch markers. etc.  It was a small store but the selection was amazing.  I had such a hard time making a selection that I actually left with nothing.  I thought about the a few that caught my eyes and what I would want to make with it the whole time I was in Anchorage.  I made the decision just in time so I could swing in on our way back home.  I bought some beautiful yarn and I also bought a crochet hook that someone had crafted with a bamboo handle and glass beads on top.  I wish I knew who made it.  I got it in the size I use the most - H, which I think is 4.5mm.  A picture of the yarn I got is in the previous post. 

I also found these cute art prints in an art gallery in Denali.  They are painted by Christine Nethe.

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I had such a fabulous time on that trip and I can't wait to go on another adventure. Maybe I'll go to a different place in Alaska next time. ~D