Our Holidays

were busier than usual, since we've had medical stuff, and Christmas stuff, and visiting family stuff. (Yes, we're as full of stuff as any Thanksgiving turkey.)

I have lots of pictures (the ones one is of L, wearing a mustache, which was the prize from B's dad's cracker, another is of me with my sister M.S. at my parents' house), and lots of other ones of family opening gifts, being present, and so on and so forth. There will be more pictures, but not today. I'm tired, as we spent all day in the car. I did finish a lot of B's sweater sleeves (thank goodness for forced project knitting), but I'm too tired to do too much tonight. I just didn't want to end the year with a Christmas post!

There was Christmas knitting (not lots, but some) and I finished a project while driving out to KC. I worked on my clapotis (it's really just a scarf in the guage I worked it), and I'm at one more repeat before the decreases. I really did finish a lot.

Tomorrow, I'll write about all that happened last year. But on Tuesday, expect me to whine/vent/be worried. The surgery is on Wednesday, and I'm scared.

Merry Christmas!

We saw reindeer!
We saw a Christmas train.
It must be Christmas!
Merry Christmas from us to you. May your holidays be peaceful and bright.

More Mittens!

L's new mittens: started on Friday and finished yesterday.

One thumb is blue, the other is red.

He loves them, as you can see.

And today I

did lots of stuff.Yesterday, we went up to the R grandparents so we could all go to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo. It was raining, but that's okay. The lights still looked really neat, and no one got too cold or too wet. It was fun.

I also finished a pair of mittens that I made for M. These were a very quick knit. I started them on Tuesday (when I gave myself a sick day) and finished them yesterday afternoon. They are knit from the leftovers of the Scottische Kilt Hose, so Nature Spun Sport from Brown Sheep. I knit them on size 3 dpns from Ann Budd's Knitters Book of Patterns. He seems to like them.
I've started a pair for L, but this is as far as I have gotten:

The dogs have made the day interesting. Murphy (blind and elderly) managed to get himself and Lulu skunked. What a great way to start the day. Maisie chewed through a seat belt in the SUV. Luckily, we only have two children and three seat belts, so we can survive until we get the $200 to fix it.

Murphy is a fuzzy dog, so maybe some time next year eau de skunk will completely evaporate.

And like many days, the insurance company sent a lovely letter saying, oops, sorry we aren't going to pay for that which we preapproved. (It's been taken care of. But really, the Friday before Christmas?!?) But all in all, a pretty good day. I really should start wrapping presents soon, though.

Aw!

L has learned how to write. See the note he wrote to me (and B).

Good News

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. I appreciate it. I'm not too worried about the skin cancer, but I am worried a lot about the sinus surgery. Not many people have more than one.

M's solo went extremely well. I'd show you a picture, but when I transferred the pictures to the laptop, and deleted them from the SD card they were ALSO deleted from the hard drive. Maybe I'll be able to get a still from the video I took.

Friday was a really good day--I turned in my grades, ran some important errands, and generally got things done, even with the worst headache/cold ever. B's also feeling better. Our boys are in a lot of the pictures for the camp brochure, and some of the pictures are ones that I took during Mini Camp.

Most surprising (for those of you who know L) is the weekly progress report from his Kindergarten teacher. Everything was marked satisfactory. I want to know if there's another L in his class! If it is something that needs improvement behavior-wise, L needs it.

Tomorrow is the Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols up at G.S. M's becoming a very good singer, and really enjoys it.

And for all of you out there who don't have their tree up either, just remember that Christmas doesn't start until the evening of the 24th and isn't over until January 6, Epiphany. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Confirmed

It is indeed a basal cell carcinoma. I'm scheduled for surgery on Dec. 26, at 4:00 pm. They were going to schedule me for January 2, but as I'm having sinus surgery the next day, I thought that would be a bad idea. Pain in the neck and pain in the face didn't seem like a good plan to me! : )

L's infusion is going at the moment, after a few minor technical issues. I'm going to start supper soon (we're having sausage and egg pie, aka quiche, with veggies). I have given 4 of my 5 finals as of this morning, and I'll have the last tomorrow morning. Tonight I am going to finish grading the lab practicals and make sure that my keys are ready. I'll still have notebooks to grade, but oh well.

I'm ready for the end of the semester. It's been fun, but really hard work this semester.

And the Dermatologist Says

It's not a weird blemish on my neck. It's a basal cell carcinoma.

Actually, we have to wait for the biopsy to come back on it, but he's 99% certain that it's a basal cell carcinoma. He has had them himself, but he's a little surprised at my age--apparently this should have waited to show up for another 4 years. He's so sure though, that he's already discussed the two different surgical options for removing it.

At least this surgery is really minor--I don't know when it's going to happen, but hopefully before my sinus surgery.

All other pains are hereby on notice.

Blocking

It's amazing what blocking can do. Even though I liked the kilt hose and the Christmas stocking, they look so much better blocked. The stocking is quite large, now. The others in the class (I took it to get away from the house), had much smaller stockings. The colors aren't true for either picture, but you can get the idea.

Ta Da!

I finished these last night. Finally!
All that's left is washing and blocking.
I hope that they fit P!

Lookie! Christmas!

I'm over here trying to keep my spirits up--it's only December first, but the temps have been dropping all day. I've already seen snow flurries too.

So, this is what I finished while the boys were at choir rehearsal: I think it looks quite nice, but it will definitely be better after some blocking. I really like stranded knitting. It's really fun to watch the pattern emerge from the needles and knitting both English and Continental is really fun. I'll need to make another one of these, in a different sort of pattern for the other inlaw. I'm not sure who will get to use this one (we use the ones my mother knit us), but it must be used by someone.

Details
Pattern: Annie's Woolens JOY Christmas Stocking
Needles: Size 8 DPNs and 16" circular
Yarn: Cascade 220.

I started this at class on the 21st of November. I only worked as far as I was supposed to for class, and then at class on Monday (28th) I worked the heel and all but 4 rows of the foot pattern. I went home and had to finish the foot before I went to bed. Yesterday, I finished up the toe. I have even woven in all the ends (and there were quite a few). We're going to block it at class this coming Monday. It took very little time, considering I've been doing other things, too.

Now, I need to finish the Kilt Hose so I can start working on B's sweater.