A Slow, Hot Summer

 

   I took the advice many people gave me and decided to enjoy the slow pace of this summer.  It has been too hot to do much anyway, so why not?  I even did a little beach knitting finally.

As a result, I was quite rested when I talked to my dad last Sunday afternoon and found out my mom had had an "episode" and wasn't feeling well, which turned into a 48 hour visit to the hospital.  She had a TIA (mini-stroke) last June, but fortunately, had no permanent damage from it, other than a loss of confidence as a result of the fear of it happening again.  So when my dad said she thought it had happened again, I went to their house, and convinced her she needed to go to the ER, rather than waiting until the next day to call her doctor, which was her plan.  They ran all the tests, and it was determined that she had probably experienced a complex migraine, as opposed to another TIA, but since she also has an irregular heartbeat that seems to be worsening, her primary care doctor has decided to have her wear a heart monitor for a month, just to be on the safe side.  I'm really grateful that I was able to be available for her, without the distraction of work, and that it happened before my trip to New York.  She has pretty significant hearing loss, and even though she wears hearing aids, she still misses quite a lot that is said, especially under stress and/or when the doctor has a foreign accent.  

 

All the time I've spent sitting in hospital waiting rooms this summer has led to some significant shawl knitting time.  After I finished the Playground shawl, I cast on for Close to You, a pattern I'd wanted to make since last summer, according to my Ravelry page.  Although the pattern called for fingering weight yarn, I wanted to use this skein of Dragonfly Fibers sport weight instead, and so, of course, I did.

 

 

 

 

It didn't take long to finish it, and so I dug in the stash and found a beautiful skein of fingering weight and cast on again, to knit the pattern in the designer's suggested weight.  This is yarn from my knitting guild's retreat this past March, but I don't have the label at hand just now.m I love the subtle shifts of grey.

 

 

I leave Thursday morning for my New York trip, and needless to say, I'm really looking forward to it.  Hope to post a bit more frequently too!