Just a bit of hand sewing to go![/caption]
I want a Chemo Uniform.
I want something that’s easy to put on, take off, wash and just NOT THINK ABOUT.
Perfection would be a pretty linen dress that’s a big apron with lots of pockets. So I made it. I may make another (in a different fabric) because this is going to be going on for more than a few months, and I just don’t want to have to spend time deciding what to wear each day.
Yesterday Gerry, Andy and I went to “Chemo Class” and learned about things to watch out for during my chemo (which starts on Monday, Aug 20 – our 25th Wedding Anniversary…) and get details on the average Chemo day, tips on dealing with the nausea, etc. It was a good and helpful 40 minutes given…
A cable is, essentially, a group of stitches that is divided into two smaller group. Either the first group crosses in front of the 2nd group to create a Cable Left (aka Cable Front) or the first group crosses behind the 2nd group to create a Cable Right (aka Cable Back)
CABLE 4 LEFT
The first technique symbol on the key to the left is the Cable 4 left. This is a cable made up of FOUR stitches.
I’ll be posting about my OWN knitting of my Split Cable Wimple, and here’s where you’ll come for tips and tricks and to ask questions in the comments. If I can’t answer your question(s) right away, I’m positive someone will jump in and give it a good try! First, and foremost, let’s discuss the symbols that are used in the pattern. You don’t HAVE to use the chart, the pattern is written out for you, but when discussing the different techniques I’ll be referring to the stitch symbol to as well as the stitch technique name.
I’ll be happy to blog about the how my knitting is going every week or so, point out highlights and address issues that folks may be having. It will be a nice change of pace on the blog from “Ow, I hurt.” or “Ish, I’m tired!”
If you’ve never knit lace, this may be easy enough to get you going. There IS a cable in it, and I’ll be happy to discuss my technique for cabling without a cable needle. The lace work is simple and very repetitive, and once you get the first repeat you SHOULD be able to read your work and memorize the lace. Or not. I don’t like to put expectations on folks for their personal knits, I just hope this will be simple enough to be fun, and challenging enough to be interesting.
We could treat this as a casual, online class. I’ll post tutorials as I can, and you guys can share info with each other if you want.
I don’t know where the disconnect is, but I’m hoping that when I go back on Thursday for my “Chemo Class” I’ll get a better feeling about the place. After my meeting with my doc, when ALL I wanted to do was crawl home, write a bit, do some research and contemplate what I’d just been told, I had to spend an hour standing up, leaning on a high counter, while one of the receptionists scheduled appointments.
Making a woman with so much cancer pain stand at a reception desk for an hour scheduling simple appointments just seems cruel. At the least it seems they should have a dedicated scheduler on staff where a client can SIT DOWN with office staff and work through setting up appointments.
The diagnosis of my cancer was PDQ (pretty damn quick), coming immediately after they’d finished my MRI on July 23rd. At the time I was a bit nonplussed when the ER doc, after one test, made a pretty conclusive initial diagnosis; “Well, you DON’T have Fibromyalgia, you’ve got CANCER.” After a bit of discussion I…
I don’t have a ton of pride, I’m more of a self-respect type of woman. The nurses at my various procedures are constantly trying to tie up my gown, or throw another robe on me, scandalized by my milky white rear end floating like a moon around my bed.
But I will cop to a certain pridefulness in front of my kids when I want to appear to be strong. Once Max is back at school, I think I’ll be able to relax the standards a bit, not hold myself up quite so high, and I’m glad he won’t be here every day to see my fight through the chemo. It’s a sad day when simply being CLOTHED is considered a high standard.
The plan at this point is for my dye assistant, Layla, to pick up some of the slack I am dropping during my recovery, and perhaps to do some specialty orders. We won’t be up to our old dye schedule for quite a while, but perhaps we can devise a new normal to allow us to continue to develop color ways, products and projects, while at the same time allowing Layla and Kathleen to have more creative input into the biz.
That part is HARD for me. I wouldn’t call myself a ‘control freak’, but my NAME is on the company (well, 4 letters of my name) and I feel an ownership of the creative side that I might not feel if we had just named our company, “Minnesota Nice Yarns” or something like that.
Apparently my tumor has been a sneaky pete, waiting around, hiding in places where only an MRI would find it. I can’t be TOO angry at the tumor, after all, I made it. And I’m enough of a crafty woman to appreciate a good (artistic?) creation.
[caption id="attachment_6061" align="alignright" width="300"]
During each radiation treatment Xrays were used to align the laser for best zapping power[/caption]
The tumor has grown straight (well, not really in-a-line-straight) through my T10 vertebra and is going into my T9. There’s also some growth to the right, which I can feel, which is the weirdest thing in the world.
