NaKniSweMo

Mission Accomplished!!!

I finished my overdyed Koigu Kersti On The Easy Side sweater that was my #1 goal for the NaKniSweMo. There were way more stitches than it would appear with all of the on-the-needle swatching & re-knitting that I did!! You can definitely see the lighter yarn on the sleeves - again, it just deepens my appreciation for the yarn dyers out there who can predictably replicate their awesome yarns. This has sated my dyeing desires for a bit but I'm sure that I'll feel the urge ... someone better warn Buffy!!!

I also finished China Clouds, knit 3 scarves for my Dr.'s secretary & nurse who have been awesome squeezing me in to see the Dr. & helping me out through some of the chemo drama and for one of my best friends who has been an super supportive, and banged out a pair of mittens for Amanda this past weekend.

Phew!! December is not likely to slow me down ... I'll share what I can but some things are still Top Secret! Yeah, you know the drill ;-).

I got a Rx for Arthrotec - it has totally taken care of the crippling bone/joint pain that I was suffering in my legs and the excruciating stomach pains. The drugs in the chemo therapy affect the faster replicating cells in our body - hair follicles and stomach linings are at the top of the list. My fingers are crossed that the subsequent treatments are controlled by the Arthrotec and don't get worse ...
I've got a bit of an eye infection that I have drops for. Irritatingly, the eyelashes on my right eye have mostly come out as a result so I have unbalanced eyelashes. SIGH, it's the little things.
I've also noticed that I don't get "sleep sand" in my eyes in the morning anymore. I guess that the chemo is totally cleansing my body ... how bizarre. My eyes also water constantly, which is annoying.

Just 2 Steps Back

Geez Louise!!! So I'm almost done the 1st sleeve on and it occurs to me that the fabric is looser than at the bottom. I'm normally quite good at Mary Poppins (practically perfect) tension so I start thinking. Yeah, a little late for that missy!!! Back at 40 sts I worked on swatching with the two different needles (SB & the Sigs) and the two different sizes (4mm & 4.5mm). I think know now that I must have either switched needle sizes at some point or loosened up. So it's back to knit 1 - the Kersti is standing up well to all of this use I must say and it's lovely to work with so it's not such a hardship.
It's also giving me the opportunity to space out the sleeve increases. To maintain the integrity of the patterning while knitting one below increases need to be done by 2's. So on the sleeve that puts a 4 stitch increases at the seams. Elise & I had talked about this when we did the originals and for ease of writing and knitting the increases are at the same time. I decided to go with staggered increases on my sleeves - which I had forgotten about until I was well into it - just another one of my lovable little OCD quirks.

I'm seeing my family Dr. on Thursday. Since the very first treatment I've had pressure in my chest, like my heart is pounding harder. I mentioned it right away and they did another ECG and it was fine. I bring it up every time I see the oncologist the day before treatment and they've chalked it up to anxiety (especially with the problems I've been having sleeping) even though I assure them that between being a knitter & having a kitty that I'm the most mellow and well-adjusted (okay, maybe that's going too far ;-) ) cancer patient around. So, I mentioned it to Simone again on Friday and she showed me how to find my pulse (I could never reliably find it ... which is also why current CPR training says to not even bother trying to find a victims pulse, it takes too much time that could be spent on actual resuscitation) and told me to monitor how often the episodes were occurring and my pulse rate. I'm compliant and what else do I have to do?? It turns out that it's not so much anxiety & a racing pulse as my heart is actually skipping a beat. Usually about every 25-30 beats but I really feel the pressure when it's skipping every 5-10 beats. It's been going on for the last 10 weeks all day (probably all night) and the oncology nurse that I spoke to on the phone didn't seem overly bothered so hopefully when I speak with Dr. B she'll put me on a Holter monitor and someone can tell me if this is actually bad. I know it's not good but I don't know if it's really bad. It's definitely from the chemo but I don't know if it's going to get worse or if it's really damaging my heart or just giving it a nice work out.

Measurable Progress

I have finished another pair of socks!! This is a bit momentous because even though I usually have a pair in progress I work on so many other things that socks seem take me forever, which is also why I tend to do just simple stockinette ones. Though I really do want to work through Cat Bordhi's sock book and maybe do one or two of the Yarnissima sock kits that I have.

Before I start on something new - something for Elise I think - I had to turn my attention back to China Clouds. I have both sleeves and the LF done and I'm past the armhole shaping on the RF. It's coming along nicely & I'm still loving working on it.





I finished the Eleanor Cowl out of Malabrigo's Silky Merino. It really helps keep the back of my neck warm at home! Even though I cast off loosely it's a bit snug going over my head - if I were to knit another one I would take the time to do a sewn bind off for even more stretch.
The hat is Jared's Koolhaas hat knit for me by my friend Joan. It fits wonderfully & is Amanda's favourite!



The Koigu Kersti that I over dyed has a definite range of vivid to lighter. The picture shows the lightest & most vivid out of the 14 that I did. I think that what I am going to do is start the sleeves in the lighter skeins, changing to the more vivid skeins for the body then back to light for the other side. I think that it will work out well and hopefully a bit graduated. I will make it so.

I'm feeling good - the 2^nd round of treatment has not hit me any harder than the 1^st. I'm feeling the tireds coming on today though, I'm glad that I have absolutely nothing planned for tomorrow and very little for the rest of the week.


I think that Mischief is being very spoiled by my being home; she absolutely loves insinuating herself onto my lap and I just have to work my knitting around her. I don't know if she just likes having her main human around or if she really sense a need in me for her singular comfort. Once she's settled & I can knit it's really nice.

Adventures in Dyeing - Results

I dyed 6 skeins of Shelridge Farm's Ultra fingering weight yarn. My plan was to put a pink in each one as a part of my personal story for my next Sweet Spot strip. I had no doubt that Buffy's yarn would have a Sweet Spot and my sister beat me to the punch! She was fascinated with the technique and loved Buffy's yarn so off she went. I'll start on mine probably later in the week - by the time I do my next treatment tomorrow, finish Shedir le Lime & Shedir le Avocado, finish my current SIP, put in more time on China Clouds ... LOL!!









The Koigu Kersti that I over dyed came out beautifully - I can't wait to see how it knits up!! I am going to knit up an On The Easy Side from Knit One Below for me!!

Oh - Buffy also gifted me with some of her lace yarn that had breaks in it so are short skeins. I'm going to weigh them (Thank you my Friend!!!) and work out the yardage and see how much I can do with it. When I'm done I might dye the finished project or just leave it au naturel!

I am really hoping - fingers & toes crossed - that this round of chemo will not affect me any worse than the last one ... I have so much yarn that I want to make into stuff!!! I got a Rx for some sleeping pills (Ah my Lories, how I have missed you!!!) and a kick ass acid antacid which should make the next week(s) easier.

Fallout

Day 14 - My hair has started coming out right on schedule. I told Amanda that it had started happening & she said, "Already?".






Day 16 - Up until now I've been able to look in a mirror and walk around in public and not have to think "Hey, I've got cancer". Like I said to Amanda this morning, "I'm starting to look like I've got cancer now".

I have to just not touch my head or it turns into a hair removing session that borders on OCD. The dead hair won't come out with just combing/brushing, I have to pull it out. So it's a whole thing of running my fingers through my hair, kind of twisting and grabbing hair and pulling, but not too hard because some hair is still attached. My scalp is sensitive anyway and it's giving me a headache, all of this pulling.

It's hard. I know ... I'm beautiful, it'll grow back ... blah, blah, blah. They don't call hair a woman's crowning glory for nothing. I think hope that I'll be fine once it's gone & I can get used to it & learn to rock the bald.

So there was nothing for it but to put on my Shedir & go look at wigs. I let Amanda have the day off so that she could come with and nothing starts the day better than Starbucks!!





I love the blonde and the long red - I'll go back next Friday when Kerwyn gets paid (like my taste in yarn,my taste in wigs does not run to the low-end!!) and get them fitted & styled. Our insurance companies will reimburse us for part of it the rest will be paid back in my happiness.
I've added a poll in the sidebar - I'd love to know what your favorite look is!!

I am trying to get as much fun & living and stuff done as I can during the time when I'm feeling well. OMG - you should see my calendar for the 3^rd week in October!!

I baked banana bread - it tasted as good as it looks!!!


I have arranged for a dyeing workshop at Shelridge Farms on Monday; I'm so excited!!! We are going to be dyeing sock yarn but I'm also taking along some Koigu Kersti that I bought on the DKC trip a few years ago. It was a serious bargain because they discovered that the dye was not colourfast. I am trying to sun-bleach them a bit more and then will overdye them with Buffy's help so that I can make an On the Easy Side from Knit One Below.


If my hair can't look great (until I get wigs that is!!) I'm totally going to have lovely hands!! The rings that I had ordered from Silpada came - I love them!!! I've gone through the catalog and marked off more that I want.