Unemployed and Loving it??

The title says it all. My last day at OU Medical Center,specifically Children's Hospital was this last Friday. Of course I was sad to say goodbye to the day to day operations of the department and all my wonderful friends/co-workers but I was honestly so busy that last week that it did not hit me until I was ready to walk out the door for the last time. I had to make it thru 2 holidays and moving out of my apartment in just a few short weeks. And those last few days of work were filled with lots of good food and friends stopping by to say their farewells. But now I am home and mostly unpacked and it has hit. The sadness goes all the way down to my toes. I ache knowing that my co-workers will still be there taking care of my patients that I bonded with. I long to push the buttons on the scanner and see wonderful images of someone's insides. I miss talking with my fellow professionals and being treated like I really do know something. But all of this aside, I will enter this new phase of my life with joy and expectation. Knowing I have time to do all of the projects in my head. Ok, OK, maybe not all of the projects!! Having the time to sleep when I want and wake when I am ready. Not dreading the phone ringing in the middle of the night to call me in. Not knowing that another child has presented with a horrible brain tumor. So I am sure in a few days all will be well and my mourning mentality will fade into oblivion. And then "watch out world" Here I come!!

I have been busy packing and cleaning the house which is long overdue. I have found a little time to look on line at houses in Tennessee and have found several worth looking into. We thought we had this house sold but the deal has temporarily fallen thru due to DH's future neck surgery. We thought once he got thru to see the specialist things would move faster but now he has to wait until the end of Feb to even see him. So we will wait and we took back the offer we had on the table. So everybody wish DH God speed on seeing the neurosurgeon and healing from the surgery that I know he will be getting.

We did get some great pics of the DGD's over the holidays wearing their knitted Christmas presents from me!! Katie's hat is a little shy of being long enough but she seems happy to wear it. Maddie of course looks ravishing in her earwarmer/headband. I need to get busy and make some more for her mom and sister.

My last weekend of call was slated to get my apartment packed up and the car loaded. I did get that done but also managed to get to all 4 of the LYS's in OKC. Several were having sales for the New Year's holiday. I bought enough sock yarn to make 1 pair of socks from each shop. I also bought some random colors of Cascade 220 to work on the felted rug I am making. I picked up some variegated yarn to make a new pair of fuzzy feet. But probably best of all is my very first Elizabeth Zimmerman DVD. I bought the Knittering Glossary and have watched about half of it so far. Both she and Meg Swanson(her daughter) knit by picking the yarn which does make it harder to imagine the techniques they are demonstrating but I think I will be fine once I am actually trying them. I also bought the first Barbara Walker Stitch Encylopedia which almost completes my set. All in all I had a great time blowing my mad money stash and have lots of raw materials to fill up my next few months.

I did not get any nature shots this week. Not much is going on out in the world to photograph even tho our weather has been awesome. But I have been out with Lexi on the leash enjoying the peace and quiet of the back yard. I have been getting nice walks in each morning armed with my iPod and some knitting podcasts. So I plan on getting back on a regular schedule with blogging and hope to have some projects to post for next week. But for now I need to get some knitting done before it is time to go to bed. See ya all next week...

Has it been Forever?

It does seem like forever since I posted last. Life has been running around me like a whirlwind and I tend to stand in the middle, dazed and ineffective. But I am here today and I will try to catch up just a little on what is going on in my life. The above picture is from the ice storm we had 2 weeks ago. It was much more damaging to Oklahoma City than it was here in Lawton. There are still people without power due to downed trees. My apartment was without power for 3 days. I went and stayed at the hospital on the floor for 2 of those nights which made me appreciate heat, lights, a warm shower and my fluffy, warm, cozy, quilty bed that much more when I finally got back to it. Today the weather is awesome, cold but sunny. The birds are having a heyday at the feeders and both cats are enjoying watching them.


My knitting projects lately have been Christmas present related( who's weren't!!) I waited until the last minute of course and had to knit like a madwoman to get anything at all done. Part of the reason was lack of inspiration. But on a recent shopping trip to Yarn Gourmet in OKC I happened upon all the Barbara Walker Stitch Encyclopedias and I found a pattern for a lovely knit spider pattern. It was just the spider not the hat but I knew it had to be used for DGD Katie!! She is into unusual things and I know she will think this hat is too cool. First I knit just the spider to get the feel for the complexity. I tried it in DK weight yarn and the spider would have been a foot tall!! But I switched to sock weight yarn and I figured it was just small enough for this hat. So I cast on enough stitches for 4 spiders separated out by some twisted stitch cables and knit away. It honestly took me a week to carefully knit past the spiders but once I was past that the rest was just trying to figure out how to decrease in a eye pleasing head hugging way. I almost ran out of yarn and if I would have had just a bit more I would have made the hat just a little taller but it should still fit like a skull cap and where she lives is not that cold. I posted it on Ravelry and immediately got 6 favorites on this project!!



Of course I had to make something for the other DGD. She is much more girly and so I thought a headband earwarmer would be much more her style. I figured it would be the easy project-wrong!!! I had to start over 3 times. First time I tried a much to complex style and would have never gotten it done in time. Try 2 was too big and I will frog it soon. This was try 3 and I think it is quite pretty. It is out of KnitPicks Shine Sport and I will be buying and using more of this soon. I do hope it fits her but if not it will fit her mommy and I will make another for her. In fact when I talked to her mommy I was told that both girls saw earwarmers out at Old Navy and commented that they wanted one but the adult sizes were too big. Also mommy wants me to make her one with a hole for her pony tail?? I guess I will get creative after Christmas and see what I can do. I am not sure why you need the hole, just put the headband under the ponytail but she seems to think it is a cool idea so what the heck, I will try!!




Last weekend was a sad one for me. I received the news that my all time favorite singer-songwriter had passed at only age 56 of prostate cancer. I have always loved the music of Dan Fogelberg even when very few knew who he was. When I was alone in the house I would put on his CD's, turn them up, and sing from my heart. The few songs that he did that made it big on the radio were never my favorites. I find songs like Netherlands, Nexus, Only the Heart May Know, The Reach, Forefathers, ect. to be much more to my liking. I am not sure I could even list my one favorite song or album that he did. Even as I write this my heart aches for the unwritten and unsung songs that must have still been in his heart. May heaven's choir be that much richer for his passing.



Lexi the kitten is still very much a terror. She is now completely at ease in our house and the lives of her humans and fellow housecat Jack. I woke up night before last and found them cuddled together in the space between DH and I in bed. I have seen them play like they were both kittens although Jack gives up way sooner than Lexi and just watches her. She flys around the house in the morning like she was in training for the Olympics!! And she loves her toys and her crinkle tent. I have a hard time knitting because she wants to grab the knitting needles and yarn. I have to wait until her all too brief nap time in the afternoon to get anything done. I have tried to get more pictures of her but all I get is a blur and that is on sports mode and a very fast shutter speed!!



Work is almost over. Just 2 short weeks to go. In fact I am saying good bye to some of my co-workers already. My favorite anesthesiologist left this week for the holidays so I will not see him again along with several of the CRNA's. I also found out my 2 long time Radiologists may not be back while I am still there. That is sad because I did not get to even say goodbye to the one. I have also had to say goodbye to more patients and that has come with some heartbreaking results. My all time favorite patient came last week and on what should have been a good clean scan of his brain we found new disease. This is the 2nd time his cancer has returned and that is never a good thing. And to find out right before Christmas. We also got news that another one of our older kids with brain cancer has had a reoccurance with a scan at an outside facility. So as I leave I will have plenty of prayers to say for these boys and I will have to find a way to keep up with their progress. It has always been a sad part of my job but I was hoping to walk away with everyone doing well and that is not to be. I guess it is just a way for God to remind me how important what I did was and to consider returning to work at some point in the future.

Moving is coming along I guess as well as can be expected. We had a shipment taken on to Tennessee already and the house barely looks different. Of course DH sent things I think we need here and left other stuff we could have done without. But we will make due and hopefully this transition with be short lived.



So with all of that I will finish up and get back to business here at home. Just remember to live your lives like it will end tomorrow. Because Dan did and he left the world with few regrets.

Once in a vision I came on some woods

And stood at a fork in the road

My choices were clear yet I froze with the fear

Of not knowing which way to go

Oh, one road was simple acceptance of life

The other road offered sweet peace

When I made my decision

My vision became my release

Dan Fogelberg,Netherlands from High Country Snows 1985

New Love of my Life

Well our world has been turned upside down by a new little ball of fur. Meet Lexi, short for Lexus. She is about 3 months old and very very playful. After taking her to the vet today I bought her a few new toys to keep her occupied. Her favorite is this crinkle tent. She has 3 openings to dash thru and funny string things hanging inside to bat at. She jumps in the tent and waits until someone walks by and then jumps out and attacks them like we can't see her in there!! Our old cat Jack has taken to her so amazingly well. He watches her play and lets her come right up to him like she is going to attack him. But she stops short of full out attack. I wish I could understand cat dynamics because I would have bet that these two would have never gotten along. Jack has even started doing some playing himself which I could never never get him to do. I just hope we can keep both of them healthy and that Jack does not pass on his FeLv and FIV status. The vet seems optimistic that we can get her vaccinated fast enough to offer her protection against the Leukemia but possibly not the Aids.

This week was devoted to work, packing and just a little knitting. I did the practice spider last week and with those numbers more or less made a hat pattern. Or at least a plan. Today I finally finished up the actual spiders and now am trying to do the decreases at the top of the hat. Here is where I will have to play it by ear to keep it symmetrical and attractive. I do think she will like it although when I told her about it all she had to say was "YUCK"!! The yuck was for spiders not the hat. But she said she thought it would be cool to have a hat everyone runs from. This week I plan on starting a couple of earwarmers for Maddy also from sock yarn on hand. I will probably use cables from the new Barbara Walker I plan on buying this weekend!!

Well I am down to the very last month of my employment at Children's Hospital. Boy the emotions are changing almost daily. For 6 years I loved my job and it was only my husbands desire to move that made me set an end date. But as this year has progressed, policies at the hospital has made me ready to throw in the towel. But of course, as I have had to say goodbye to my favorite patients, I have had a harder time. I have had hugs, compliments, tears and joyous farewells all tugging at my heartstrings. This next couple of weeks there are more kids that I will be seeing for the last time and I think it will keep getting harder. Still seeing healthy kids when before they were not, makes it all worthwhile. I know that last day will be so difficult to walk away, from the kids, my co-workers, the docs and of course the thrill I get just scanning. But with new chapters come new adventures so we will be waiting for that next step in our lives. Hopefully it will not be a step off into the deep end!!!! Till next week, keep those needles busy and live well.

Let the Snow Fly!!

As you can see-The Adult Tomten is done!!! I struggled to put the finishing touches on over the Thanksgiving Holiday. In between re-doing all the buttonholes, getting called in and having to wait for the blocking to get dry, it finally was ready to wear on Saturday. Just in time to wear to lunch with DKF Carol. After a nice lunch I strongarmed her into going to the park with me to take pictures of my cozy garter stitch wonder. I didn't plan to find the ducks or even to feed them but boy a spare bagel comes in handy when you need a photo-op!! Of course, if you know me very well you will not be suprised to find that I have several things I wished I'd have done differently. I bought the vintage buttons in Houston without the project there with me. So I think the buttons are a bit too big. But there would not have been any smaller vintage buttons in that green to be bought at any cost. So I live with the buttons. I also wish I had made the bind off just a little looser. There are several ways I could have done that and I won't bore you with the possiblilites. I also would have put the first buttonhole about 5 stitches higher but I just couldn't tell when I was knitting on the buttonband. I had almost 300 stitches crowded on a 60" needle so they were bunched up and I was not able to try it on to see my progress. But really, I love this jacket. It is warm, cozy, soft, fits very well and should last forever if I succeed in keeping it away from the moths.

I felt so good when I got to the LYS on Saturday. I was feuled by the Tomten success and was ready to tackle anything. I had an idea of making a colorwork skull hat for Katie for Christmas. It called for black & white fingering weight yarn and that was not to be found. So while I was regrouping I picked up one of Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns. In book #3 I found a gorgeous spider motif. It is a one color motif using twisted knits and purls. She used to love spiders so I thought "Make a hat with spider's all the way around" So I bought the book and some DK weight black yarn. When I got home I started a swatch and found the DK to large. I quick pulled out some navy sock yarn and whipped up my wonderful spider. She turned out lovely although just a touch tall for a hat. But I think I can adapt it just a little and shorten in enough to make a nice hat. I decided to make the hat in a light grey Jawoll sock yarn since it will show the pattern better. It will not be the warmest hat but it will be cool. I did decide I must have all the other Barbara Walker books and the sooner the better.

I also had to bring home some more Cascade 220. I bought some to make Fuzzy Feet for me and then just a random color to have on hand when I start to work on my felted rug. I thought I might start the Fuzzy Feet this week but when I printed out the pattern it calls for needles I do not have on hand so those I will order this week.

We have finally really started moving furniture for the pending move. We got rid of our couch at home and brought the apartment couch down to replace it. I sure like it better, makes the living room look bigger. But that is not the only thing I brought home this week. It seems one of my ex neighbors decided it was alright to abandon a little kitten when she moved. When I came home Friday night from work all the usual cats came running for me to pet and feed them. But there was one new suspect. She is a tiny all black, skinny little thing and I could not help but want to rescue her. I figure she may have been hanging out in the garage for at least a week and just eating when and what she could. She was cold and scared but came upstairs willingly and ate like a pig for 2 days. She was fairly skitterish at first but when DKF and then DH came up she didn't freak at all. So then I brought her home thinking that Jack Cat would have her for lunch. He has never liked other pets in the house. But to our amazement, he was the perfect gentleman. He has hardly hissed at her at all and actually will sit near her for quite some time. They have even eaten from the same bowl at the same time. So I guess she is ours for good. I wasn't ready for another pet but sometimes God sends them to you and you just need to be ready to love.

It is another regular work week for me. Plus in the evenings I need to be packing up my apartment so the knitting will probably be slow this week. But I will keep trudging along with the rest of you. Just a few more weeks to finish up Christmas projects then on to something much more exciting. So until next week......knit till you wilt!!