A Winter Hat

My head is ready for winter!!

I just finished this adorable slouch beanie.  I bought the yarn while I was in New York last winter visiting with friends. The pattern is from the Fall 2012 knit simple magazine.

I made it large so that I can fit all my hair under it when I go out in the cold. It is super soft alpaca. I might just leave it on all day. It feels like my head is being snuggled by a well loved blankie.

A Guest Post from Heather...

It Takes a Village: The Lessons of Cancer

No doubt you're familiar with the words, "It takes a village." It's a common thing to hear when you have a baby. While I may have scoffed at the words before, I know they are true now that I am a mom.

My little girl came into the world on August 4, 2005. The pregnancy was problem-free, and I experienced no complications save for the unexpected C-section I had to bring my daughter into the world. Of course, all the people of our "village" surrounded us once Lily was born; there were so many friends and family who wanted to meet our little one in person and to wish us well. It was a great time in my life. I wasn't expecting the nasty storm that was to follow.

Things went downhill shortly after I returned to work. After my first month on the job, I felt tired all the time, breathless, fatigued. I comforted myself by saying that it was all just new mom stuff. Except deep down I knew it wasn't, so I made an appointment with my doctor and subjected myself to the poking and prodding necessary to have a round of tests done. The culprit for my lethargy emerged.

November 21, 2005--only 3 1/ 2 months after my daughter was born--I was told I had cancer--malignant pleural mesothelioma to be exact. It's a cancer that affects the lining of the lung, and it comes from asbestos exposure primarily. I had been exposed as a kid without knowing it, and 30 years later it had come back to haunt me. My symptoms weren't new mom symptoms at all; instead they were symptoms of mesothelioma.

As I absorbed the news, I thought about my baby, Lily. And I considered what life would be like for her without me. I was told that if I did nothing, I would live 15 months. My daughter would be too young to really form any lasting memories of me, and my husband would be left alone, raising our daughter.

I resolved then to do whatever it took to save my life.

The choice that we were offered to help me fight this thing was drastic, but then the prognosis for mesothelioma is grim, so I embraced the choice and moved forward. My husband and I hopped on a plane to Boston, where I came to be under the care of one of the best mesothelioma doctors. On February 2, I underwent treatment for the illness. It was called extrapleural pneumenectomy--doctor's speak for removing my lung. After surgery, I laid in the hospital for 18 days. Then the next round came. That was chemotherapy. Finally, I had radiation. It was a surreal experience. I was a new mom. I had cancer.

We could not have pulled this off it we didn't have a strong village around us to love us, support us and pray for us. Our village had lots of different people, who came from different parts and times of our lives. It was strange. Often the people who I would have never expected to help, stepped up. The ones I was sure would be there, bailed. I will say this about cancer, it's a great filter. It helps you filter out those who aren't going to support you and identify the ones who will.

While my husband and I called Boston our home base, Lily lived with my parents. Suddenly, they weren't grandparents--they were the surrogate parents for this tiny little girl. Thankfully, they also had a village to help them. I babysat a lot when I was a teen. Now those girls who I babysat became Lily's babysitter. They were married with their own children, but still they volunteered to help my parents. They were the daytime sitters when my parents had to go to their full-time jobs everday. People who I knew from church growing up and who I had looked up to, gave my parents some much needed love and support, and new friends we had made in Boston helped us get through our ordeal. We got through the day that way--with their love and support.

But it was still hard. My baby girl was back in South Dakota, my childhood home, and she was doing all the things that a growing baby does--learning to eat solid foods, scoot and roll around. She was becoming a little person. But I only witnessed these milestones through pictures. My mom would email pictures and my husband would make copies on the community printer. Lily's life was in full bloom back home, but I only saw it in grainy black and white photographs. The nurses were regular "picture admirers." They regularly cooed over her just like, while trying to hold back the tears. Just like me. But Lily was the reason I kept going. I was fighting for her. And she was in the best possible hands while I went through my own struggles so many miles away. Even to this day, my parents have a deep bond with her even with the extended miles and months that often exist between visits.

And as a family, we've learned to embrace the life we've been given. It's fragile. No one ever said it would be easy, and we did the best we could with the hand we were dealt. When I forget this, I remind myself of my favorite quote, “Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.”

Therefore, embrace everything life throws your way. Cancer can be an interesting thing. There are bad things--plenty of them. But they bring unexpectedly good things. with my diagnosis--awful and as serious as it was--much good has come. For that, I am thankful.

Heather Von St James is a mesothelioma survivor and a guest blogger for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. Her story is one of hope and inspiration and she hopes to spread her message to anyone who may be going through similar situations to her own.
Check out Heather’s story on the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog.

What to knit?

I have found myself in a very odd position. What should I knit next? And, NO, I am not tired of knitting!!

I am waiting, just because, to start in on Latvian mitten number two. Here is the first one in progress...

I am tired of lace...I have to think a lot! 

And I am also tired of felting.

So, while I wait for something to inspire me, I have a fun surprise! Heather Von St. James will be a guest blogger on my site on Saturday. She is a survivor of Mesothelioma. Her blog, The Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog is her way of turning her pain into purpose.

She reached out to me and has a wonderful message to share. I am excited to be able to host her post, (yes it's a fun rhyme).

Until Saturday...

A Pink Pair of Felt Clogs pattern by Bev Galeskas knitting by Jo

It all started with a pattern by Biv Galeskas called Felt Clogs, published by Fiber Trends. These clogs looked so comfy I had to have a pair. I knit a pair for my husband, and then knit a pair for me. 

Add some Cascade 220 yarn and size 13 needles and I am set to go. I prepared the yarn, and left it on the coffee table...see picture below.

Next, meet Stella, my yarn loving corgi.

And now see that I have to start over before I have even begun!! Stella had a 

lot of fun while I was at the store:)

Because the yarn was so badly twisted in places I had to cut the yarn and roll it into several balls.

OK, so now I can start on one of the soles of a slipper. I had to make four of these. Two for each slipper for an extra thick sole.

You will have to imagine the knitting I did in the middle of this project. (I guess I decided not to photo journal the whole project.)

Here I have attached the two soles to each slipper and sewn up the inner sole.

Here I have sewn up the outer sole. At this point the slippers would fit a giant. I needed to felt them in a top loading washer. Thanks Christine!!!!

 And here they are on my feet:) Absolutely perfect.

Now even though it was not a very cold Minnesota winter this year I did wear them a few times. However, I may have left them at a friends house. If any of you find them at your house please return them to me. I am pretty sure I will need them for next winter!

The Birthday Shawl is complete! AKA Smokey Quartz Lace Shawl by Barb Kervin for Kollage

In the beginning (April 2011) I received birthday money and went shopping for yarn, of course! I found a bamboo yarn in my favorite Sunny Yellow color, and then looked for a pattern to go with it. I found This Smokey Quarts Lace Shawl, Item 3517, Designed by Barb Kervin for Kollage. I had never knit any kind of lace, I had no idea it would be so tricky!

The pattern is a "simple 4 row repeating pattern". Really, it should not have been so complicated, one of the rows was a straight knit row and one was a straight purl row. The other two rows were quite the challenge. Somehow, I had a really hard time making each row end on the right stitch! So, I think I actually knit 3 shawls if you count all the times I ripped out rows at a time and then reknit them.

Anyway, it is finished:)

OK, since this took me so long to share the news I will put it all in one post, so... start scrolling...

  
I created a provisional cast on (the pink yarn) and started knitting...

One 

Two 

Three

Four 

Five 

Six 

Seven 

Eight 

Nine 

For the last skein, I removed the provisional cast on and knit the final edge.

Ten 

Ta Da!!!! It took a bit longer than I thought, but it was worth all the time:) It looks better than I imagined it would. 

More to come...I am going to be at the Yarnover event in Hopkins in a few weeks. So, I have homework to do, and then, with my new knowledge, who knows what is next!! I'm sure it will be yarny and fun:)

My first free form mittens

I found some great pink chunky yarn in my stash. Yes, I was organizing the space and there it was...bright pink yarn begging to be knit.

After working on my Latvian mittens with its teeny tiny stitches, it seemed like a nice diversion to work with chunky yarn.

So, using my knowledge of the Latvian mitten pattern I started to knit.

And here is what I created.

Things I learned:

1.  Make the cuff long enough to cover your wrist.

2.  Make a division between the cuff and the big part of the mitten to keep the warmth in, and make it a more comfortable fit.

3.  When starting the thumb, wrap the stitches on the sides so that a hole is avoided.  See the picture above. In the top mitten I did not wrap (twist) the stitches and you can see a small "hole" where the thumb comes out from the mitten. On the bottom mitten I wrapped the stitches before knitting up the thumb.

A Headband Diversion

Even though it is getting a bit cold, and I will need my mittens soon, I got a bit distracted on a recent trip to my LYS (Local Yarn Shop).

OK, so on my way home from lunch with my family, we happened to be close to The Yarn Garage in Rosemount, MN.  I begged my sister to stop the car, and she indulged me!  She found two of her favorite colors in a really soft yarn, and I found a fun new pattern. The pattern is for a braided headband.

I actually wanted to sign up for the class which it taught by the designer of the pattern, but alas, at this point I am a working girl and the 10:30 am class time does not work for me.

Now that I am gaining a bit more experience as a knitter, I purchased the pattern with high hopes of making the headband by simply reading the pattern.

 

First of all the colors of the yarn are intriguing to me. I think you have to be 4 or over 40 to have the confidence to wear this combination.

The pattern is created for a single color of yarn. And apparently there is good reason for this. I restarted 3 times trying to get the braided effect my sister and I were imagining would work with this pattern.

 Nope! that is not it either.

 

Here is what I have so far. It started out so cool (the right side). This pattern has four sections which cable through the length to create the pattern. I think I may rip it out and try just using three sections with a cable to see what would happen!!??