Still Knitting

I've neglected blogging for a couple of weeks now -- but haven't stopped knitting. We're still in the midst of a "crisis" in both of my parents' health, though the crisis isn't as pressing at this particular moment. Each parent spent a night in the hospital last week -- different nights, different reasons, and extremely stressful for everyone. Mom seems to be on the mend, though she has some significant ongoing health issues. Dad's in the midst of tests and procedures to determine whether there is something that should be done -- it is taking longer than expected to figure things out and what has been found along the way is... frightening. The big lesson for me has been that I need to take proactive steps to protect my health, namely exercise. With help from Weight Watchers, I've got my eating under control in a way I can (with work) sustain and have lost over 10 lbs. The next 10 will come off with exercise added in. The cardiologist told my father (I was there) that his quitting smoking 30 years ago and continuing to stay physically active were the two things that have made his pulmonary problems much less dire than they might be. OK. I hear it. Now I have to do something about it.

Now, I have been noticing that my arms have stayed in pretty good shape, despite my not lifting weights or anything, and my theory is that knitting is good for the arms. My arms are actively engaged in knitting at some point every day! So, I declare myself off to a good start :)

I've made very good progress on the wedding stole. The way this is made, you knit the center square and then knit each of the two ends off of that. I've got almost one whole end done -- just the last chart and a total of 17 rows left to do.

The Debbie Bliss sweater sleeves are up to the point where the top shaping begins. Those won't take long once I get a chance to work on them. I'm knitting the sleeves at the same time -- a trick I LOVE, since sleeves are the last parts you usually knit and it is so nice to have them done at the same time. Plus, it assures that the shaping is the same for both.

I started the Latvian Mitts (on the cover of Knitting Traditions recently). They are a good mental challenge, and a wonderful color fix. But they are definitely at-home knitting.

So, I keep knitting despite the challenges, and look forward to some serious knitting time over the next week -- maybe I'll even get some blogging time to tell you about it!