Hi folks, friends and family from a super windy Village in the Western Cape. Wow the wind has not stopped for days, maybe even weeks. Yesterday a new client picked up their mending and asked me "does the wind always blow here?" I tried to answer honestly and after thinking for a minute or so, said "honestly, yes it does". Today when I came home to find my garden chairs lying next to the garage, which is quite normal when the South Easter is blowing. At least the sun is shining, the wind cools things down, a lot.
Well, September can happily come to an end now and I will not be sorry to say goodbye. What a month it has been. It is also the Anniversary month of my late husband's passing which never gets easier. Busy as usual which is good with all my projects or works in progress now completed. My chunky blanket is finished and every bit as nice as I hoped it would be. It is like being held in a marshmallow. In total it took me under four hours of actual work and seeing as it was a first for me I am super happy with the time and the end result. The chunky zip up cardigan I was making for a client is also finished and he fetched it on Saturday. Whew it fitted, which was the scary part and he left wearing it. What did amaze me was that it only took just over six balls of 100 gm wool - I used Elle Karoo Tweed Chunky. There was so much wool left over because they purchased 16 balls. I don't remember ever knitting a smart, zip up, fold over collar cardigan with only six balls of wool. Big yaaay, as well as the fact that my pattern was worked out for me by the AI that I have used for crochet patterns, with one or two adjustments by myself and the collar from a completely different pattern. The end result was exactly what he wanted and I envisioned. With all my projects finished I could turn my hands to my own blanket which I've been planning for months. I bought the wool as soon as I saw it, but my personality being what it is, I can't start something like that while I have outstanding / unfinished projects waiting. My blanket is the same Elle Karoo Tweed in a dusky pink with the flecks in it. I am purposely knitting on bigger needles than suggested for the wool because I am going for a particular feel and drape. It must be soft and loose, wrap around and still be airy. The finished blanket / throw should be fairly big as I am going to knit until I run out of wool. Watch this space going forward 😉. Mending keeps coming in and keeps me busy which is all I can ask for, I feel truly blessed.
The family are all well although it was a trying month for some. BigBear had a surgery near his collar bone which was successful, a bigger cut that we expected but very neat. Naturally this restricted his movement a lot and our little prince didn't understand why Daddy couldn't pick him up and rough house with him, they adapted and did very well. I think it will probably niggle him for quite awhile during the internal healing process. Munchkin a.k.a. Little Prince is an absolute delight, Jelly Bean and I spent a few days there earlier in the month and as he is learning to string sentences together it very often ends up with the adults in hysterics. Mom and Dad took a video of him pulling at his shorts, he kept saying he wanted his knees closed. Well, no one actually knew what that meant and it took some minutes of guessing (he was also in the process of toilet training). It turns out he wanted to wear long pants and not shorts = close his knees. 😂 Princess is coming to the end of her Uni studies and is working on the last projects they have been given, well done my angel, I am so proud of you and can't wait to have you back home. Hubby has been in hospital for a week after a roller coaster few days to get to a diagnosis. He has upgraded our solar system and inverter, doing a marvelous job but, two Sundays ago he and our gardener lifted the three huge solar panels up onto the roof. We all said he should get someone, more people to help him but he did not. Sunday night he said his shoulder blades were sore and I gave him some muscle relaxants. Monday no better and then on Tuesday morning he woke me up really early in agony. He was convinced it was a kidney stone. I rushed him to our 24 hour Medical Clinic and after doing a sonar and two morphine injections, which did nothing, they sent us to Somerset West to the Hospital. He was admitted to the ER immediately and they gave him a very strong pain killer three times, these didn't even touch the pain, sent him for a more thorough Sonar and could find nothing. So after an entire day in ER we were sent up to the ward where he was given a bed and they planned to run more tests. These included Xrays which showed a collapsed disc high up in his back (which we already know is not good). There were no kidney stones and also no definitive reason for the levels of pain. Eventually on Wednesday a Specialist was consulted and ordered an MRI (up until then he had still been under the ER doctors care) The results of the MRI showed a serious infection around the damaged disc, in his spine. Thus began a series of blood tests to isolate the infection in order to treat it properly. A second Specialist was called in for this and the infection was identified. No one is sure how he picked it up, when he got it or any explanation other than it is water borne. Now they know what they are dealing with and are hammering it with antibiotics and the pain killers, the pain is almost gone. Today was the first time I have had a semi lucid conversation with him and if the infection count continues to come down adequately he may be discharged around Thursday, with oral antibiotics. What a ride for him although I think much of it is a blur due to the drugs and it has really worrying for us. We are praying for a full and complete recovery with no lasting side effects.
And that folks is why I am more than happy to see the end of September and start a bright, shiny new month. After all that I am now more than ready for a cup of coffee and to get back to my knitting. Our four Villages have no electricity due to maintenance and JB and I are more than grateful for our upgraded inverter, it is doing a marvelous job. I am going to sign off for this month and wish each one of you a wonderful week. May October be kind to us all. Stay safe and well Ciao Ciao.
Big, soft chunky blanket.
Client's Jersey
My blanket wool waiting in the queue
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