Yes, Odessa is done. Finally. And just in time too. Mom is losing hair rapidly 
and I am taking this to her this weekend. I could’ve had this done earlier. But I made a stupid mistake last week when I was feeling frustrated. More on the frustrating situation in a bit. The stupid mistake happened after switching to DPNs. I thought I could use the tail end to identify the beginning of a round as usual. WRONG! The
stitches shift with this pattern, and the tail end shifts with them of course. After a few decreasing rounds I thought I made a mistake somewhere due to the position of the tail end. I started picking back because I couldn’t see where the mistake was. (DUH! There was none.) Then I dropped a stitch right next to a YO and couldn’t figure out how to fix it. I was tempted to just rip it and re-knit. Instead I left it alone for two days and was able come back and figure out the fix. Phew! It is now blocking. Not sure if I like the yarn choice though. Originally I wanted a cotton blend for warmer weather but decided to go for a wool blend for elasticity. I didn’t know at the time but it turned out to be the yarn called for in the pattern. I bought Rowan Cashsoft DK. I can’t describe the color. It’s not pink, and it’s not lavender. Sort of in between. One ball is more than enough for the hat.
Now. About that frustrating situation. I can go on talking about this for days, but I’ll try to keep it short. You can probably guess, it’s mom-related. Not just about her condition, but the most frustrating part is about the kind of help she gets at home. My sister, Lily, who lives with mom and not working (Lily, her husband and kid are all living at mom’s.) volunteered to care for mom full time (with compensation of course.) Here are what happened recently:
- During the last doctor’s visit I went with mom, we found out that she wasn’t getting enough food and water. Mom ended up going through re-hydration that day. How could this happen when three other individuals live there with her? Especially when one of them is being paid to care for mom full time?
- I visited mom last Saturday and found out that she had forgotten to take her meds for 2 days. Nobody thought to check on her. And it happened again a couple of days later.
- Something happens every time Lily takes mom to the hospital. I go to the consultations. Leaving the less complicated visits for Lily, who lives with mom and they are only 5 minutes away from the hospital. But somehow she just can’t get things done smoothly. She would be late, or get the priorities all wrong and end up staying hours longer than necessary. No matter how careful I instruct her with these visits. There was one time that she left mom’s purse at the hospital after the chemo. $900 was missing when she picked it up. Something is fishy about that. I won’t elaborate.
- More than half of the time when I visited mom I found Lily up in her room, leaving mom by herself downstairs.
OK, I want to stop right here. I just don’t think she is sincere about taking care of mom. Unfortunately this might be another scheme of hers to not work but still get paid. She’s done things like that. But whatever this is it can’t go on. My other sister Angela and I are looking to find someone to stay there full time to look after mom. Meanwhile I am checking up on mom everyday. I’ll also be there for every hospital visit. I’d feel better doing that myself.
:: sigh ::
Onto happier things. I received several packages. Hmm… Am I doing “retail therapy”? Well, these are necessary things. So there! I got a package from Blackberry Ridge. Two hat kits to make more hats for mom. Four Corner Hat (the colorful one) and Swirling Leaves Hat (Vines in the Evening). I can’t wait to get started on these. But I think I need to find something more suitable for warm weather fast. Something using cotton blend yarn. Any idea? Oh, I also got yarn samples for all of their yarn.
This also came in the package. Yes. Spider Queen! I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to knit this shawl. 
Although the yarn, Thistledown Singles, is not the thinnest I’ve ever seen. It will definitely be the thinnest I’ve ever knit with so far. There are 4 hanks of this. Yes. HANKS! That means I have to wind them into balls first. Not to worry. Other things arrived too.
Yes. I also got my cotton cards, ball winder and vertical swift! I love my swift. And my winder and swift love each other too. The winder sits on top of the swift nicely. I can’t wait to see how this is going to work. I will take a few photos of it in action for an update.
I also got a craft light. But you don’t need to see that. Just something to make my knitting universe a little brighter.
