It is finished!

As of Sunday morning at 9AM I consider myself a breast cancer survivor. I finished my last radiation treatment and have nothing else scheduled. I am free!!! My next checkup isn't until November.

I took this week off to rest and recover from my treatments and it's a good thing I did. My mind is ready to return to normal activities but my body is not quite there. So we will make the drive to NY is stages with rest periods built in for me and spend the next few days with Mom. She will turn 80 in a couple of weeks, I haven't seen her since March and it just seemed like a good time to go. I have little doubt that I will be pampered as much as I will let her pamper. :-) Together with Mom is a good way to rest and also celebrate the end of treatments.

Driftwood is progressing well. I have joined to knit in the round and will bring this project with me today when we leave to visit Mom. My Ravens sock is at the toe decreases. Thirty minutes of knitting and grafting will have them finished other than weaving in ends, of which there are a million. I knitted stripes and elected not to carry the yarn up the side to avoid puckering. I will caston on the second sock and weave in the ends of the first one in bits and pieces while I visit. I put aside the Garden Maze sock that I was working on from the Tour de Sock. I was trying hard to finish those up promptly. However, I promised eldest son a pair of Lebowski socks and his birthday is in a little over a month. I decided to knit his socks next and finish mine at a later time. So, the cuff is finished for one sock and I start the striping today. His colors are black, grey and blue. I think they will be great for this sock, though the black is hard to knit on in some light. I am using Cascade Heritage Silk sock yarn. It feels wonderful.

I have been considering how to use my handspun yarns that I have been collecting since I started to spin. I don't care for patchwork projects, the yarns are not only varied fibers and colors but also weights of yarn so they don't lend themselves to knitting a fitted garment. I have decided to go with a blanket knitted with natural colored fibers in the brown family. I can add to it as I spin more of my smaller amounts of fibers. I will concentrate on spinning to the same, or at least a consistent weight yarn when spinning my other fibers to add to this blanket. I am bringing this project with me to NY also. Mom has a good eye for color and design so I will get her input on how to go about this. I could try a log cabin style, circular, blocks, stripes or any number of other things.

Have you seen the Fall Twist Collective? I love this issue! I saw several (at least 4) sweaters and mittens that I want to knit. Couronne is one, the Perfect Storm Mittens for another. I am drawn to the Perfect Storm mittens are more because I loved the book than because I can't resist the pattern, though it is cute. I just think they will make me smile all winter as I shiver (except for my hands). Rafters, Hawser, Underwing and Foxcroft are other patterns I really like. I think I will try to spin for Underwing. The amount of yarn needed is not large and it will be a good exercise for me to spin for a specific project, have a reasonable chance of finishing it and then knit.

Have a great week and holiday weekend.

The weekend

It's Saturday and I am resting. Its unimaginable how tired something that you can't see can make you feel. And how long it takes to recover. Sigh. 6 more treatments.

I am sitting on the deck (in the shade as ordered) reading blogs and Ravelry and knitting on my Ilima socks. The sun is shining, a breeze is blowing and my feet are up. I wish I could share a picture but blogger does not seem to be able to access the photos on my phone .....

I picked almost a dozen ears of corn today, a few tomatoes, green peppers and hot banana peppers (those belong to eldest son. I won't touch them).

It's a good day. Enjoy yours.

Driftwood

The Driftwood sweater grew this weekend. We went out on the boat on Saturday - it was a wonderful day on the water. We were both (DH and I) refreshed and renewed mentally and emotionally after a nice water fix. ;-)

I love the 2 colors I chose for the Driftwood sweater. I hope they love me when it comes time to wear it. I usually stay away from all orangey colors and this one is called Ginger. Lots of people at the yarn store voted for it when I narrowed it down to 2 options. My Maze Garden second sock got some attention - the cuff is complete (a very tedious k1tbl, p1 rib) and I am ready for pattern knitting. My new KAL project, the Ilima socks also got some attention. I was right - the pattern is easy to memorize, so it will make a great travel project when I don't want to knit on the Ravens socks, which are also getting longer - I am working on the heel gusset now. I should have 1 sock finished by the first regular season game.

Has everyone's garden been a problem this year? I feel like mine (actually, Bob's, since he has been doing all of the work) was not so great. The cucumber plants have all died off and the tomatoes are not ripening. We should get some corn and a few watermelons but that's it. :-((

That's all for today. I am really going to try to update this blog more often and see if I can figure out how to upload photos. Have a great week.

More than Half way Through!!!!!!

I have 12 of 33 treatments to go! The end is in sight and I can't wait to get back to normal. Actually, it will be a new normal, but no more treatments!!! Yippee!! Labor Day weekend will be my rest, recuperate and celebrate weekend.

Meanwhile, I have been knitting. I finished the first sock in the pair of 2 different pairs of socks. There is a cabled pair, called Little Deschutes being knit in a kelly green Cascade heritage sock yarn and a beaded pair called Walking Through the Maze Gardens. I have cast on the second Maze Gardens sock. I also cast on for my long delayed Ravens socks. I have had the yarn for these socks for years but never took the time to knit them. I will make them striped, plain stockinette so that they are easy to knit while watching football and easily identified as Baltimore Ravens socks. ; )

I have a lot of UFOs that I would like to finish up but I needed a boat knitting project and so I cast on one more thing .... It's the Driftwood sweater. I am knitting it in Cascade Sierra in Ginger and a blue color. I have not yet decided whether I will knit it as a pullover or convert to cardigan. I am trying to knit more on other things - the socks, for instance - and only knit on that when we are driving or boating. I am not 100% successful but doing pretty well. I have quite a few UFOs that are smaller things that I thought I would have finished by now but that's how it goes sometimes. With everything else going on in my life I am not going to stress over what order I finished knitting projects in.

I am getting settled back into work, readjusting to working 5 days/week. Since I am still dealing with radiation I am not able to work longer than 8 hours (and might even have to cut that in the last week or so) but I am getting through work every day. That is a huge accomplishment for me.

The veggie garden is a disappointment this year but I am hearing that from a lot of people, so it's not just us. Actually it has been Bob's garden this year since I have been unable to do much with it. We had lots of cucumbers for a while but the plants are already dying off. We have only had a few tomatoes (they are there but stay green) and green peppers. It looks like we might get a few watermelons this year and I have hope for potatoes.

That's all for now. I think I am going to try to get one of my sons to figure out the tansfer of pictures from camera to computer so I can show you what I have been working on. I just can't be bothered it seems. ;-)
Have a good day.