Update Monday

Let me just start off saying that the package of yarn arrived safely, but not after it had left the state to figure out where it needed to go. I really don't know what the mix-up was since the address on the package was correct. Watching the package tracking was sort of like watching the downloading bar progress and then jump back when you are really waiting on that information. But it came and here is what was in it:


The yarn is more of a blue than the photo shows. It is Lorna's Laces Solemate and it is destined to be come Bigger on the Inside. Unfortunately, or not, this particular shawl isn't for me. I'm making it for my sister-in-law, who surprised me with an amazing Dr. Who inspired present for my birthday.

Yes. That is a stained glass Tardis candle holder. Which she made. So I think she deserves the first of these shawls that I knit. I'm about to the halfway point of the lace panel on the shawl. The pattern is a very interesting construction. You knit the lace section from one end to the other, increasing then decreasing as you go. Then you pick up stitches along one edge and knit the Tardis design down from there. I can't say that I'm really enjoying the lace section. It's an easy enough pattern but I just can't seem to get into the groove of it. Perhaps because I'm trying to do it while watching TV. I'll try listening to podcasts instead and see if that helps.

I'm liking the yarn so far. It's quite lovely to knit with and not turning my fingers blue while I knit, as often I find the deeper blues do. My only complaint is the condition of the skein. One of them wound perfectly. The other....

as you can see, not so much. I don't know why this keeps happening to me. I'm not sure if I blogged about the Rios debacle a few years back. Two of my three skeins did this. It is as if when winding the skein they went the wrong way for a few rounds and then back again. My husband has spent several hours this weekend working on this. He's like a vampire with a knot obsession, a real vampire, not the sparkly kind.

I'm making headway on Gaia.
 I really like this pattern. I'm further along than the picture here shows, but this gives you the idea of how the yarn split up when I separated the knots. Oh Noro, why? But the nice thing is that I can follow this pattern when I'm completely drugged up, so that's good.

And why was I drugged up, might you ask? I had my first infusion to treat my MS on Friday. I finally got my test back and found it was safe for me to begin treatment. I was armed with my two shawl projects, a book and my DVD player with some Babylon 5 and Pride and Prejudice (wasn't sure what my viewing mood would be). I took the day off, not knowing how it was going to effect me. And it's good I did. The first six doses of the once a month treatment include an IV dose of Benadryl, in case of allergic reaction. Now I regularly take Benadryl, and it doesn't have much effect on me. Well, Friday was a whole different story. That stuff hit me fast and hit me hard. I had been reading the pattern for Bigger on the Inside, and suddenly it was just a blur of letters to me. I spent much of the infusion napping...well I spent most of the rest of the day (and night) asleep. To be fair I had been hit with a small stomach bug that struck down my husband earlier in the week. It took him a day or so to sleep that off, so I think it was the one-two punch that knocked me out. Either way I was next to useless. I guess we will see with next month's infusion.

Mother's day was low key, but rather lovely. From Little Miss I received a version of the handprints poem and her prints on some nice watercolor paper. From Little Dude it was a box painted and decorated (handprint on top) and the poem inside with a bracelet that he strung. My husband gave me some flowers and a package of smoked salmon all to myself.

We had our trees worked on finally. The damage from Snowpocalypse left them in need of major attention. We had a lot of hangers that would drop whenever the wind picked up. I was terrified to let the kids play outside. We joined forces with our neighbor so that the tree company could come out once with the heavy equipment. In the end, we each had a tree removed. I'm sad to see the lovely old red oak go, but it needed it. Our tree guy is one who prefers to keep trees, if it is safe to. So when he says it should go, I trust him. It ended up that this particular tree was rotting down the center from the top down and and bottom up. The hadn't quite met in the middle yet. But now we have somewhere to put the big pirate ship playscape in our yard.
Here's a few pics of the felling of our tree: