The Kindness of People I Know in Real Life

Remember a few days ago when I wrote about the wonderful socks that my blog friend Lorraine knit for me?  That was the first post I wanted to write to let you know how lucky I felt - and feel - to have people who care and take the time to show it.  Personally, I long to be more like that, and really want to try to be.  But most creative things I do take me a long time to finish, and I usually spend more time wishing I'd make something than making it.

Anyway, I digress.

Someone I've known for a long time, since we met when working many years ago together at Rosie's, is Carol.  As a matter of fact, I saw the very first yarn she ever dyed and made into a scarf for a fundraiser at her kids' school.  Now of course she is a famous yarn dyer and knitting designer, and knitters all over the place know who she is.  We don't get to see each other all that often, but we are in touch a lot, and trade insults all of the time on Facebook.  Even if she was only an everyday knitter like I am, I would love her, because she is hilarious, caring, and shares a lot of the same social and political views that I do.

While I was recuperating from surgery, she posted a few pictures of square she had cut out to make a quilt, mentioning that she was making it for someone special.  The squares were so pretty, and some quite whimsical.  I've seen her quilts in pictures before, so I knew it would look amazing once it was finished.  I was also jealous of the person who would be receiving it.  A week or so later, she posted that it was in the mail to the recipient, and I thought "Oh that lucky person."

Never, ever, ever, did it even cross my mind that the person she was making the quilt for would be ME!  But a few days later, a nice, cushy package arrived.  The return address was Carol's, but I still didn't expect to find a quilt inside.  But I opened it up, and there was one of the best quilts I'd ever seen, and she had chosen fabrics that seemed to be made for me.

I've tried on more than one occasion to photograph all or parts of it, without any kind of success.  You can get the idea of it, but I have a dinky little digital camera and no real skills, so the things I wanted to be able to show you, I just could not capture no matter how much I tried.

Carol has been nice enough to grant me permission to use the photos she took and published on her blog when she wrote about making the quilt.  So now, you can see what it really looks like.  Take a look:

 Cut out squares

 Arranging the squares

 Look at the variety!

Finished quilt

 Folded quilt with awesome turquoise binding

 !!!

The back

I still cannot believe that someone made me a quilt - and as you can see, it's not a teeny tiny one, it's quilt-sized!  And as if that was not enough, she also enclosed a skein of her Black Bunny Fiber yarn and a hat pattern* - I mean it when I say that I was pretty overwhelmed by the contents of the package.   I see the quilt every single day, and it makes me smile, and feel so happy that I have a loving friend like Carol.  Everyone should be so lucky, you know?

But please don't tell her I've gotten all grateful and mushy here, because that might just ruin the whole relationship ... ;-)


*I will show you the yarn and hat pattern once I have rearranged my stash and it is safe.  Right now, the patterns and yarns are tucked deep into a closet, since the Koodle has recently decided that destroying both is the most fun thing on earth.

Saturday Randomnosity

I'm pretty sure that is not really a word.  But it is now at least in my personal lexicon.  I don't know that it will ever reach the popularity of my favorite personally-made-up word, "Elstwise," but there you go.

Anyway, my brain is to scattered to focus on a focused post so you get this one.

I have just started two pairs of socks.  One pair is for myself, and is Halloween themed.  The other is a pair for The Tim, allegedly for our anniversary on October 28.  Or his birthday on November 18.  Or for Christmas ...

Added to just generally feeling like crap, I am now getting a cold.  Great.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to Rosie's for a few hours, to see how I do.  I'm not doing a whole shift, but I want to see if I can handle at least a little time.

Apparently I am the only person not worried about getting Ebola.

The Phillies sucked this year, the Pirates lost in the wild-card game, so now I want the Baltimore Orioles to win the playoffs and go to the World Series.

Though I have now lived in Philadelphia for many, many years, I will likely never pronounce the word "street" as "shtreet."

Also, in Philadelphia, there is a Street Road.  That always amuses me.  I do not, however, think there is a Road Street.

Unlike the rest of those around me every day, I am looking forward to the cool weather of fall.

Not everyone has to love animals like I do, but I am suspicious of people who don't like animals at all.

Also, people with no sense of humor concern me.

It's a cool, rainy day here.  Perfect for staying in and watching the Notre Dame football game on TV.

Next Saturday, Dug and I will be participating in the Mutt Strut!  We had so much fun last year, and this year we have even gone past our [admittedly humble] fundraising goal! Having said that, you are more than welcome to still donate here.

I am also looking forward to next weekend because it is a long weekend for us - we get the day off for Columbus Day.  Yes, I know it celebrates someone now considered a monster, etc., but it's A DAY OFF PEOPLE, LEAVE IT ALONE!!

And on that happy yet threatening note, my blathering for the day is finished.

Have a wonderful weekend!  :-)

On To the Next Thing, Whatever That Might Be

Tomorrow I return to work from my medical leave.  To say I am not looking forward to doing so would be an understatement.  However, it is what it is and I know that I am incredibly lucky to have a job in the first place, and to be well enough to return to said job.  Plus, it will be really good to start getting paid again, since I have not been paid during my medical leave.  In the end, having money to afford to live and pay bills does make a big difference, you know?  ;-)

I am a little disappointed that I had to give up my standing desk, per my dr's instructions.  He said that in a year or so I could go back to it, but by then who knows what will be going on at my workplace, or if I'll even still be there - things are "changing" all the time.  Granted, I would be miserable with a standing desk at least for a while, but the good thing about it was that it made me move around more, and believe it or not, I slept better at night!  Again though, see first paragraph - I'll live ...

In the meantime, I've been trying to get some things done that are low-energy but decent results around the house while I've been home.  I finally got around to sorting through towels and sheets to keep those usable, and organize the linen closet.  That was something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I could do it sitting down.  The end result was a much cleaner-looking and better organized linen closet, and some towels to donate to our local vet and one of the local animal shelters.  Win-win.

I also asked The Tim to get out my sewing machine (it is stowed in the sewing table, but is too heavy for me to currently lift), because there were a few things I wanted to do.  I experimented with making some kitchen tie-towels out of some of our extra kitchen towels.  These days, I don't see them anywhere to buy, and we use ours ALL the time.  I had a teeny bit of success, but have in mind what I want to try next so that (theoretically at least) the results will look more like this:

The two that I completed are usable, but I don't expect them to last long due to some things I failed to take into consideration.  Still, I'm on  my way.  

The item I am most pleased with was something that I had been thinking of trying for a while.  I have had a Nook Simple Touch for a couple of years, and always have used the bubble wrap sleeve that came in the packaging with it to carry it around.

I was always intending to knit a cover for it, like I did for my Nook Tablet, but never ever got around to doing that.  But then I had an idea to sew a pouch for it, that would hold he bubble wrap container as well, so it would still be cushioned.  So I poked around in my fabric stash, and found something I thought would be perfect for it.  Some measuring and sewing, et voila!

I put velcro strips on the inside top seam, to keep it closed, but found this button and thought it gave the whole thing just a little more zip.  I am really happy with the result, though I know that the Sewing Gods and Goddesses were appalled that I didn't press the fabric at any point during the process.  But I was on the third floor, and the iron and ironing board were in the basement, so it just wasn't gonna happen.  And since it was neither an article of clothing nor a gift, I was fine with skipping that step - it's not like it's gonna stay crisp and fresh-looking once I start schlepping it around in my bag anyway!

The sewing machine is now put away, since I knew that I wouldn't get back to it for at least a few weeks, since I'm sure that heading back to work will wear me out.  Since space is not overwhelming in our house, it's better to put the machine away until I use it again.

So the last few days of my time at home have been busy but in a good and relaxing way.  Now it's back to the usual, but different, routine and figuring out the cans and cannots of that.

Never a dull moment, huh?

Have a good week, everyone!

One Month Later

Hello again!  Today marks the one-month anniversary of my surgery.  At this time a month ago, I'd been out of surgery for about three hours, and the nurses came into my room and MADE ME GET OUT OF BED AND SIT IN A CHAIR!  My brain knew it was a good thing, but my body was not convinced.  At. All.

I was in the hospital for four days, and though I didn't feel "good," I was more than happy to be able to come home.  It's been painful, difficult, and challenging, but compared to a month ago, I have made a ton of progress.  I walk every single day, twice a day, a little bit further (farther?  I can't remember) each time, which is pretty much the only physical stuff I'm allowed to do until the end of October (!).  I can shower and dress myself, I am no longer on the strong painkillers (though there are times when I wish I still had them), and though I'm not eating a lot, I do have an appetite.

Until recently, I wasn't able to read very much at all, since the words would swirl around on the page.  Fortunately, I was able to do basic (i.e., garter stitch) knitting, so I didn't completely go crazy.

And so, I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who left kind comments, offered prayers, and kept a good thought for me.  I appreciate it more than you could possibly know, and I truly believe that kind of thing makes a difference in the universe.

I'll be back soon, but wanted to let all of you know that I'm doing OK.  I must warn you, there might be some stories about my surgery and recovery, but you are in no way obligated to read that stuff.  I can also promise though, lots of stories of the kindness of friends, both real and virtual.

So until next time, take care.  :-)