Knitting has been reduced to fair simplicity lately.  I halted on the lace shawl as I was considerably attracted by another couple of shawls (and styles) and began to wonder if I would prefer one of those.  So, until I figure that out…

I finally got started on the second Endless Knot Sock a couple of nights ago.  God knows why it languished so long, but I’m glad it’s under way finally and am looking forward to having the pair to wear.  I do realize the picture is endlessly lame since it shows little more than a ball of yarn - but it was one of the better ones I managed to take this morning so I’m going to show it anyway :)

I am also working on something highly technical and complex :)

String!

Well, it’s actually going to be used as a come-hither cord for a monitor arm.  Eh, more explanation is required…

Last Saturday, I had to rush my father to the hospital as he was vomiting seriously and very dizzy.  He couldn’t even hold down a glass of water and hadn’t had any real food or sleep in 24 hours.  Oy…

The consensus is now that he has a hernia through which his stomach has partially intruded into the chest cavity, twisting in the process.  Surgery is going to be required and is scheduled for the beginning of next week.  Now, he is in decent spirits and not in any real difficulty now that the problem is known.  He is eating, however, on an entirely intravenous basis (except for the ubiquitous ice chips) and would about kill for a cup of coffee and a piece of blueberry pie.

In other words, he’s going to be in the hospital for a while.  I assured him this morning we could have Christmas in his hospital room just as easily as anywhere else and he seemed fine with that though I know he’d prefer it to be otherwise.

He has a nice, big room to himself which comes with a lovely flat screen TV (equipped with a nice variety of local and cable stations) on an arm by his bed.

It’s somewhat similar to the above image.  The problem is that when a doctor or nurse swings it away for access, they seldom move it back and he can’t reach it from the bed.  That’s where the string comes in :)  I’m going to work this thing to about 5 feet (or for however the yarn holds out - at least 4 feet, though) and incorporated a couple of knobs at one end (increase a few times, insert small ball of leftover yarn, decrease back to I-cord width, knit a couple rounds, do it again once or twice more) so he’ll have something easier to grasp than the skinny cord.  The other end will go around the monitor arm.  That way, he’ll be able to pull the TV back by pulling on the cord.

At least that’s the theory!

Goldie has discovered the joys of mohair…

Complicating things here chez Wolfandturtle, was the sudden (although not totally unexpected) news that Myria’s father passed away yesterday afternoon.

So we have things to deal with and it’s going to be a…strange holiday season to say the least.

In light of this, The Yarnpath and Chatters will be going on hiatus until after the first of the year.  I’m having issues even thinking straight, let alone knitting anything worth blogging about.  C’mon - string?  And you thought the sock picture was lame :)

I will be back sometime the first full week of January.

Until then, I wish you all the warmest and best of holidays and the brightest and happiest of New Years.  I treasure each and every one of you who comes here to read my paltry writings, and sincerely hope life continues to be good to you all.