I'm free!

I had my port for the chemo removed last Monday! It feels good to have "graduated" and gotten rid of that thing. It wasn't unpleasant and only mildly inconvenient but it was a symbol of cancer and I'm glad it's gone.

It was more painful than I expected getting it out.  I was sore but the discomfort gets less every day.  I will say that it is very strange hearing and smelling the cautery being used on my body .....

Somehow, I am not sure how or why, I contracted cellulitis in my elbow area of my left arm.
I first noticed pain and swelling there the day after the port removal. I didn't even look at it - just assumed I had banged my elbow in a stretcher or the OR table and it was bruised. By Wednesday, however, I was in a lot of pain. I looked at it and it was swollen, red and hot. The first thing they did was to get an ultrasound of the veins in my arm to be sure I didn't have a clot. Good news there. No colt. Next I saw my PCP who diagnosed/confirmed cellulitis, which is an infection in the skin and tissue, usually in an extremity. I am on antibiotics and it is finally improving, though Friday was a bad day. I was really sick.

I have an FO!  The Escalator Socks for DH are finished. This particular pair of socks has been on the needles for over 4 years so it really is a great accomplishment to finish. :-)

In my current WIP rotation is the I Want that Wrap poncho for Courtney (just over halfway) and Capall Dubh. The body is finished on the cardigan and the stitches for the sleeves have been picked up. I am now waiting for Angela to catch up and then we will zip down the stockinette sleeves.

I cast on in Fyberspates Vivacious 4 ply yarn in color 605 (greens and some browns) for the Axis fingerless mitts. I love this yarn I garter stitch but I am not sure this project will be finished. The gauge given in the pattern is 22 rows in 4 inches, so about 5.5 rows per inch. The increases are supposed to be every 8 rows for 5 repeats. That adds up to almost 8 inches. These are fingerless mitts! 8 inches before the thumb is separated? Something is wrong here, though no one else mentioned it in their project notes. I am already adjusting the pattern because I am using a different weight yarn but this is weird. I may frog this project. I hate to do that because I love the look of the mitts. Maybe I'll just make up my own thumb gusset positioning .... I hate to have to do that on a paid for pattern .....

ETA I did frog that pattern. I may try again in the called for weight of yarn but I don't know …. The gauge of yarn had nothing to do with the math being weird.

I am now using that yarn to knit Mulnomah. I love this yarn in garter stitch.

I joined another KAL. I know, I said I had to stay away from KALs but this one works well for me. It's a choose your own monthly challenge and for April I chose working on WIPs. I figure out how much yardage I have left on a project, then knit as much as I can on that project or projects through the month. At the end of the month I get points for yardage, weight of yarn knitted and other stuff. In May I choose another challenge and, since there are 15 to choose from, I think I can make the challenge fit in with my other goals for that month or quarter. Since I have to wait for April 1 to start that, I put aside my current WIPs for the weekend and cast on 2 projects - the Multnomah and the Nautilus Scarf .
both are smaller projects that should move pretty quickly but are very enjoyable right now.

We have daffodils coming up in the garden and yesterday we had snow off and on all day. But spring really is here. I was outside hanging clothes on the line to dry and my fingers weren't frozen when I came in. The clothes didn't freeze, either. (I have brought in sheets that were frozen stiff from being out there. We had to defrost them before we could finish drying them). I can feel the spring itch - I want to be gardening and I want to clean out closets and start knitting new things.

Enjoy your spring.