Bronchitis and Socks

     It has been an interesting week. Mostly due to the fact that I have been sick since Christmas. Actually our whole family got sick to varying degrees of severity with a nasty cold. Mine turned into a sinus infection two weeks ago and then turned into a bad case of bronchitis last week. So with two rounds of antibiotics and lots of cough syrup under my belt... I have been sleeping...and well sleeping. Oh and sleeping some more. If I am not feeling better by tomorrow I will be heading back to the doctors. All I seem to want to do is sleep and rest. Sadly, my life doesn't allow this thing called "sleeping-all-day-because-I-am-sick" to happen during the weekdays. So when Henry is napping I try and nap but otherwise I need to be awake and alert. Because as we know a toddler left to his own devices will make for lots of messes and trouble. lol
   
     When I have been awake I have been knitting. And not on the socks I had been working on last week. No...I started a new pair of socks because... well... I wanted something bright and cheerful to work on while I have been ill. And nothing says cheerful better than a ball of Zauberball Crazy in the rainbow colorway (1564)! See for yourself. Isn't it bright and happy?

     Every time I see the socks in progress it puts an instant smile on my face. Usually followed by bouts of coughing and hacking. But smiles are happening none-the-less. =D I split the yarn into two cakes so I could knit the Magic Zauberball Socks by Tofutrulla. Let me just say...wow. This pattern with this yarn is more addictive than anything I have ever knit in my entire life. More addictive than Veera Valimaki's garter stitch shawl patterns. And boy do I love me some garter stitch. I have almost finished my pair of socks. I am on the second wedge of my sweet tomato heel on the second sock. Again, I am knitting my socks with Cat Bordhi's genius STH..it fits so well and I love how smooth it is. Though, I should have gone down a needle size on these heels. It will be fine for now, and I will probably add some nylon reinforcement thread to the next pair I knit as well. Even though the yarn is 75% wool and 25% nylon. Doesn't hurt to have some extra oomph of nylon for the heels since that is what I wear out first with socks. Never the toes...odd.

     Anywho. As I previously mentioned my addiction to this pattern, it is more the stripes than anything that I am addicted to. So I ordered another skein of this yarn from The Loopy Ewe (colorway 1507, pinstripes ) so I can start another pair of socks. And probably halfway through THAT pair I will want to order another skein. As I said..addictive...dangerously so.

     While I am waiting for my 2nd skein of ZB Crazy to arrive I will be happily knitting along on my current pair of socks. Then contemplating how on earth I will be tackling my messy kitchen. Seriously. It is nearing critical mass. During my bout with bronchitis I have only managed to do enough dishes to keep us in spoons, bowls and glasses. Aside from that things are piling up in all areas. Not that I am boasting. (who would boast about dirty dishes and mail piling up?!) But, just pining away for the days when my children are old enough ( and responsible enough ) to be trusted to do the dishes and bring me hot tea. Yes. Some hot tea would be nice...and crackers.

   

     Since I am not knitting much else at the moment I figured I'd take this time to show you a last minute knit I made right before Christmas for our decorations. I made a super-sized Dansk Hjerte  by Ann McDonald Kelly from the recent issue of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts. It was supposed to be knit to put on your tree as an ornament.

     Obviously I made mine larger. =D Big enough to put on our front door. And let me tell you, I love it. It makes me so happy to see it on our front door. My Great Grandmother would be so pleased. During Holidays at her house ( and my Nana's house ) she would help me to make these out of paper. So, naturally as soon as I saw the pattern in the IK HG issue I had to buy it so I could knit it up at some point. When I realized that we ( still!! ) hadn't bought a wreath for our front door I decided to remedy the problem. We have had this issue for over 4 years. We do have a scrawny, cheap looking wreath that lights up. But it would require running the plug around the door which doesn't look good in my opinion. So I knit this for the door, and voila! Problem solved, and my husband even remarked "Hey! We can even use it for Valentine's Day!". Not sure I agree with him on that. But it is a nice thought.

     As you can see we ended up with a bit of snow right before Christmas. It was exactly what I wanted, even though it wasn't enough for playing in...and not like I would have played in it with being sick and all anyways. 

     Back to my stripey socks and getting some of that hot tea I have been thinking about since I mentioned it in my post earlier. =D

Happy Knitting!

Kate