Very unseasonable fall

I started another project.  This time a sweater coat based on an old leaflet I've had for at least 25 years.  Just a plain cardigan only longer.  My store-bought sweater coat is fast deteriorating and I need a new one.  I practically live in them during the winter.  I plan on digging out Zach's sweater to get back to work on and if I can't find the pattern, start over with another one.  I haven't gotten that far on it so it wouldn't be devastating if I had to.  Still working on socks, as always.  I'm discovering I'm not a huge fan of self-striping yarn after all.  One skein was wound completely backwards from the other one so the patterns are reversed.  I wasn't arsed enough to fix it by rewinding the skein though.

Zach wants to learn how to crochet.  I've had my crochet books and magazines out looking through them because of the massive stash I've got to use up so I have room to actually live in this tiny house and he got interested.  He knows the basics of knitting but it bores him so he thought crochet might interest him more.  His first project is a crochet bag for his hooks.  They're $10 at the store and no way am I paying that much for something he can crochet on his own.  I've got one I made years ago but I have twice as many hooks in it.  Way too many for it to hold.  He can have half my hooks easily and I'll still end up with too many.  I'm still looking for a project for me as well.  I was thinking of an afghan since I can use up a lot of single skeins of yarn.

It's cold now. Unseasonably cold.  I should turn the heat on but I don't have the plastic on the windows and I'm adverse to heating up the outside so I'm just wearing more clothes.  I need to dig out my fingerless mitts so I can knit with warm hands.  But it's not too bad in here.  Yet.  I think it will warm up again before we need to turn on the furnace.  I never keep it warm in here anyway.  I don't think we've had the furnace over 62 in a decade.  I prefer 60 actually, unless it's really wet outside, then I'll kick it up to around 62 or so.  And I love to sleep cold so we keep it around 50 or so at night.  Although I might keep it at 55 now that I have congestive heart failure.  I can't afford to get sick anymore.  Not with a tendency to accumulate fluids in my chest.

We got the storm windows on over the weekend so it is a lot warmer inside.  Once I get the plastic on the windows it will be even warmer. This year I'm putting plastic on the newer windows as well.  They showed some signs of air leakage last year.  Can't hurt.  Maybe $5 a year extra for that.

I'm going to finish up supper and then crawl into bed under my warm covers.  I don't have a blanket on the bed yet but I do have a throw on top of the comforter.  I got a new comforter on sale this summer.  It was $60, nice and heavy, for $26.  Always look in the clearance aisles before buying anything.  Back to being as frugal as I can since the overtime has dried up.  His pay without overtime is a lot less than his pay as a foreman so it's going to be a tight winter.  Just when I could focus on being frugal, after my cardiac rehab was over, the overtime went away so I never had a chance to get ahead.  Now it's going to be a struggle just to stay where we are. 

Baked spaghetti is a pretty economical meal for the guys.  Don't know what I'll have but it will be healthy and not enough to eat.  I haven't lost a pound in a month even eating under 1500 calories as a rule.  Sometimes less but never over.  Sigh. 

Trying to find a normal routine

I keep hoping I'll get organized better, the house cleaned and spend most of the day knitting happily.  Alas, this doesn't seem to be happening.  I had one day of a burst of energy where I cleaned out a closet that was spilling out into the hallway, sorted stuff to take to the thrift store and then burned out at 5:30 p.m. and for at least 3 days following that.  I need to pace myself better.

I am, also, overdoing the physical things, lifting too much and pushing myself beyond my limits.  I still haven't learned to live within those limitations yet.  I would probably do better if I just did a little bit each day instead of trying to do it all at once.

I started a pair of slippers for Tom last night, frogged the crocheted top I was making for myself, found 2 extra pounds of yarn, giving me a total of 3 pounds of purple yarn to make a sweater coat out of.  Now to find the right pattern.  I also frogged the 70s cape.  Didn't love it the way I thought I would.

I worked on the second sock last night in addition to the slipper.  I'm also nearly done with the baby blanket and I'm already planning the next baby pattern.  Not sure if it will be a blanket or not but probably will since it's something easy to knit and light on the shoulders when knitting.  Doesn't weigh me down.

Today, though, we're loading up the car to take stuff to the thrift store.  I have no room in the dining room to move around because of bags and boxes.  Then I can dig out more stuff to take to the thrift store next month.  I might get caught up by next summer if I work steadily like that.

It was cold this morning when I got up.  We had one window still open but I think I'll close it tonight.  It's time to get the storm windows cleaned and on.  I don't want to wait until it's really cold to do that.  Zach is going to mow one last time this week as well.  We haven't had to mow in over 2 months due to the drought conditions we experienced here again this past summer.  I hope the farmers are doing okay.

I've got all my summer stuff put up.  Have to work on Zach's this week so he has room for his winter stuff.  Well, I don't have to work on his stuff but he's got to.  Tom's on his own, too. 

I stopped taking the lasix except as needed but I have needed it this past week somewhat.  It's hard to tell how much water weight I've gained since I'm eating 1200 calories a day and exercising.  I gained 2 pounds last week but my jeans were getting tight around the waist so I took one a day for a few days until they got looser.  Still, I don't understand how I can keep gaining weight on 1200 calories a day.  Since I write down every calorie I eat at the time I eat it, I'm not underreporting.  This has happened to me every time I've tried to lose weight.  I lose initially and then stop losing and start gaining.  I've even gained weight on 900 calories a day.  It's frustrating how my body resists weight loss.  Still I have no choice but to continue.  Although I switched back to vegetarian because I get more volume that way.  And I'm not as hungry all the time.  Although I will eat meat if I'm craving it. 

Well, I should get busy and get some work done.  I've already cleaned the kitchen and my bedroom.  I guess I'll do a load of clothes before Tom needs the shower.

I really just want to crawl back in bed though.  I'm sleepy all the time lately.

More car problems and much knitting.

We had planned to go down to Indiana this weekend, tomorrow in fact, but things are in limbo right now as the car started making some strange grinding noises in the right wheel.  Tom is out there right now looking at it but as it's already mid-afternoon and the clouds are threatening rain, I don't think anything can be done about it today.  If it does need something done to it.  I'm nervous about driving all the way down there...a 10 hour trip...not knowing for sure what the noise was so as far as I'm concerned, the trip is off.  I'm not a risk-taker.  Driving a car with a problem doesn't make the problem less...it makes it more of a problem and more always means more money, too.

I'll have to call my dad and let him know. 

I had stayed up late making a gift for my niece's daughter since her birthday is coming up.  We were going to celebrate all of ours since they're all so close together:  my dad's is the day before mine, my niece's is a week or so before his and my baby sister's in on the last day of the month.  I'll just mail the gifts to them since we probably won't go down now until the spring.  Tom will be doing some training at work and since his vacation days start counting down again very shortly we can't take that many days again just now.  Plus deer hunting is coming up next month.  We don't travel much in the dead of winter because of the weather so it will have to be spring. 

To be honest, this will give me time to get a bit healthier before we make the trip.  I've been feeling a bit "off" the past week.  Some heart palpitations, although not much, and some anxiety.  I'm no longer on the lasix except as needed.  I took a couple this past week because of some shortness of breath.  I'm still not sure how to live with congestive heart failure.  All the information I got during rehab was about the stent.  The insurance doesn't cover treatment for congestive heart failure. 

I've been knitting up a storm.  I just wish I could finish up a project before I start another one.  I got a free Crochet magazine and loved some of the projects in that so I started an overshirt.  My gauge is impossible to get right so I just adjusted the pattern to fit the yarn instead.  I have no problem doing that with crochet.  Just can't do it with knitting for some reason.

I'm also still working on the 70s cape and the baby blanket.  I have to kitchener the toes of the sock and start its mate.  Since we're not going down (unless Tom can pronounce the car wonderfully healed) I also need to start cleaning.  The house hasn't had a good cleaning for over a year at least.  And the past couple of weeks have been bad for me with the fatigue so it's gotten very cluttered.  Time to clean.

I do much better with fall cleaning than spring cleaning anyway.

Also time to put up my Halloween decorations.

Well, I'm going outside to see what Tom has discovered so far.

I've closed the contest for the book.  Susie B has gotten hers but the other entry never came back to my blog to notify me or even just to see the results so as far as I'm concerned the second book is mine. :)

Winners!

I only had two entries on the giveaway so I'm going to give both of them the book.  I can get another copy for myself later so the two winners are:  SusieB and Kymberly Pray.  Please email me your addresses so I can get them in the mail by next week.  I rarely ever check my gmail address so email me at kawaski@charter.net and I'll get your book out to you.

Thanks for entering the contest.  Even though I didn't have many entries, I enjoyed this and will offer something else in the future. 

Loving the knitting mojo

I'm frogging the red sweater because it's just too bulky.  I don't like the drape...heck, there isn't any drape at all.  Too stiff.  So I'll do something else with the yarn.  I was on gauge but it didn't look a thing like the picture.  Instead I'm knitting socks.  I had bought some sock yarn at the new JoAnn's we got recently.  Good price so I got several skeins.  Some is self striping.  That's what I'm working on now.  I might give them as gifts to the nurses in cardiac rehab.  They're so nice.

I love that the weather is cooling off.  I'm taking the a/c out of the window this weekend so I can watch the bird feeder while I knit in bed..  Still pondering turning it back into a living room but not yet anyway.  Maybe sometime when Tom is home for the whole weekend.

I still don't have a lot of energy even with the exercise and the weight loss...which isn't a lot but is steady now and while miniscule, is at least a sign I'm moving in the right direction.  I've got one more week left in my 50s.  Next Sunday I turn 60. 

I've got laundry going today. I was going to restring the clothesline but I think I'll do that tomorrow and dry the white clothes in the dryer since socks feel so much better machine-dried.  At least the dryer will feel nice today since it's so cool.

Otherwise I'm spending the rest of the day knitting and a bit of cooking.  I have some shopping to do but that might wait until tomorrow.  I'm not in any hurry.  I have 3 blankets on the needles right now so I think I'll dig out Zach's pullover and get back to work on it.  I'll have to figure out where I am in the pattern and relearn it, I suppose.  I much prefer working on pullovers to cardigans.  And I really hate the buttonhole bands that are folded over.  Too thick and the buttonholes never look right to me.  I got some purple yarn several weeks ago on sale so I think I'll make a wrap out of it.  Something to throw on when it's not freezing out.  Or something to wear while knitting.  I do have lots of things like that so maybe I'll do a pullover instead.

I started getting Knit 1*2*3, a knitting magazine in the mail.  I really like this one because the patterns use yarn I can afford and have access to.  It's frustrating to fall in love with a pattern that only will work in the yarn they have chosen and it's out of reach financially and is completely unavailable.  I have lots of things to watch while knitting this winter so I'm really feeling the knitting mojo today.  Lots of projects, lots of possibilities.  I also have plans to work on other crafts as well, like spinning, some crocheting, drawing, maybe some painting and hopefully I'll get some writing in as well.  Which means much less time online.  I haven't managed to be done with facecrack yet.  It's the only place I have to see some of my friends so it's hard but it lags my computer so much that I am more tempted each day to just give it up.

I've barely gone to Ravelry lately.  I should check it out more often and facecrack less.

Off to put the clothes in the dryer and back to knitting.

At least I'll have the pain meds for a few months

The nurse called back to tell me that the dr has refilled my pain meds but it didn't sound like the dr was happy about it and WILL see me again in a few months to discuss this.  I'm thinking of looking for a new doctor.  One who will treat all of me and not send me to a specialist every time something comes up.  I talked to some nurses today and found out no other doctor does that.

I nearly started a new project last night but I couldn't get it to come out right.  I may still do it.  It's a tunisian crochet cable scarf that I would like to learn how to do.  I know how to do tunisian crochet but this cable thing is a but difficult to understand. I saw it on a knitting show but I deleted the program so I don't have it anymore.  Maybe it's on the site.  It's either Knit and Crochet Now or Knit and Crochet Today.  Can't remember which.

I must get back to work on my dad's sweater though.  Which I will work on tonight as I'm not doing much  more than fixing supper.  It's been a hectic and frustrating week full of stress and little sleep so I'm tired and in a lot of pain right now.  Thankfully I can take some tramadol in just a few minutes and put my feet up for a while.

Still plugging along with the baby blanket, too...the sherbert green one.  I should get pictures of all that I'm doing.  I just keep forgetting to do it.  Maybe next week.

Not sure if I'm going to the family picnic on Sunday.  I'd like to go but if it's hot and I still feel this bad then I just can't sit that long in pain.  I'm going to try to make it.  I'll just have veggies to eat though.  Can't think of anything to take.  I'm too tired to fix much of anything to take.

Off to go lie down for a bit before fixing supper.

Not a happy day

Had my annual physical today and walked out of it frustrated and nearly in tears.  My rheumatologist retired in February and there are no others in my network so my gp told me she would manage my tramadol, my pain meds.  Today, when I asked for a refill, she told me she wasn't going to manage them because she's not trained.  My rheumie herself was frustrated that the dr wouldn't take care of my fibromyalgia as well.  Now I don't know what to do.  The dr told me there is a new rheumie at the hospital but there isn't and I still don't have anyone in my network who treats that.  I'll be out of pain pills by the end of the month and even if I could find a rheumie, it would take months to get in to see one.  The thought of being in pain again makes me want to cry.  I mean, I'm already in pain even with the pills.  Without them...

I guess it's possible my cardiologist might manage them for me but I don't see him again until January.  That's a long time to go without pain pills.

She also got me to agree to various other tests since my deductible has already been met.  Not sure if I'll do all this, because the deductible isn't all of the cost.  We still have to pay the 20%...plus I haven't received the bill for the heart cath, stent and hospital stay yet.

I'll wallow in yarn today in order to console myself.  I'm not nearly close enough to finishing up my dad's sweater so I'd better knuckle under and get it done.

Or cry.  Not sure which I'll end up doing today.

Giveaway!

I posted this on my other blog but since I haven't had any response there, I'll post it here as well.  You only need to comment on one post to enter the contest.  Either post will get you a chance to win.

I've never done one of these but I got an extra copy of a book that I ordered and rather than send it back, I thought I would offer it up to someone out there who likes fantasy books.  It's not a new book...several years old, in fact, but it's one of my favorites.  I read it to Zach when he was little...many times.  I had loaned my original out but never got it back so when I ordered a new copy, got the extra one, too.

The book is Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams and it's fantastic.  More like animal mythology/fantasy but reminds me a lot of Watership Down in many ways.

So if anyone wants to enter the contest, just comment on this post and on September 22nd (my birthday!) I'll randomly draw a name and send it off to the lucky winner.

I hope whoever wins it likes it as much as I do. 

Just a little post today

Still knitting away but with this heat I put aside the sweater and started a baby blanket in a beautiful sherbert green color.  It's a two row repeat so very easy, just a mild ripple pattern.  I'll pick up the sweater tomorrow when it cools off but for now...

Didn't get much sleep last night.  Don't know why; I just couldn't get my eyes to stay closed.  Got up after 3 hours of sleep thanks to Anne from Cardholder Services.  And the dog.  I'd like to sic the dog on Anne.

Supper tonight is using up stuff that is going bad in the fridge.  Potato/leek/mushroom soup and green beans with onion and some hamburgers.  I'm really craving meat tonight so I'll fix one on the Foreman grill.

Rehab is going well but I'm still not losing any weight at all.  I'm really tired of being hungry all the time and no weight loss.  If I add any calories, though, I gain weight.  Even at 1400 calories a day.  Sheesh.

Well, supper is nearly ready and I'm starved so...

Pushing myself too much

I really pushed myself yesterday at rehab and spent last night in a great deal of pain from the fibromyalgia.  Today is just as painful except I'm not trying to sleep in spite of it.  So it's a bit easier to live with today.  I don't think I'll push myself again like that.  Still, I put in 30 minutes on the exercise bike and will do another 25 later today.

I'm still working on my dad's cardigan.  Finished up the back and am working on the right front.  I'm past the pocket and nearly ready to start decreasing for the v-neck.  So far, so good.  I do need to get back to work on other projects as well since I'm doing so well on the cardigan. Although the sleeves have cabling on them so that will slow me down a bit.  But still, I think I can finish up other projects while working on it.  Like the little girl's sweater.  It might be big enough for my great-niece but I doubt it.  And I want to start a pair of socks for my dad.  It's not too complicated a pattern and the yarn is self-striping so I need a very simple pattern for that.  Just a small fake-cable down the sides, I think.

I'm gaining weight again.  I can't figure out how that's possible since I'm not eating more than 1300 calories a day.  I only seem to lose when I go below 1000 calories.  But I'm getting hungry all the time so I'm going back to eating meat again.  It looks like I'm only losing a couple of pounds a month though so it's terribly frustrating.  But I am increasing my stamina and my heart is getting stronger so I suppose I should be happy about that.  Just don't know why I'm not losing weight and gaining on 1300 calories a day.

I have some errands today so I won't be able to knit as much as I want and I'm not getting as much cleaning done as I would like but I am getting there.  Slowly, but I am making progress.  Time to go fix some lunch though so I'm off.