Hallowe'en and knitting.

Happy Hallowe'en (sort of, it was last night after all). I hope everyone had fun with the ghouls and ghosts and princesses last night!

Hallowe'en was great at our house. We were all a bit sad that my friend Christina and her boys couldn't come as her oldest was very, very ill.... We've made it a bit of a tradition to go together and have only missed a couple of years since we moved to Calgary. This year was particularly sad because they are moving to Egypt and we may not be able to go again...... sigh.

On a more upbeat note, our decorations were a hit! Dale went all out and blacked in our front porch with black plastic. I told him it couldn't be too scary (there are a lot of tiny children in our neighbourhood), but wanted it to be a bit nerve-wracking. That worked. Particularly with the older kids. They would stop at the end of the garage and we could hear them discussing who would go first ("I'm not going first! You go first! I KNOW someone is going to jump out at us!")... then would then creep towards the porch, giggling nervously..... and then... nothing. We didn't have anything too scary, just some fog, a strobe light and a few decorations... it was all about the approach. Not knowing whether it was scary or not seemed to be the best part. The funniest event was a brief moment when Dale came in the house to re-load the candy (we're guessing 100-150 kids again) and a 8 or 9 year old boy came to the door.... we heard an enormous scream and a huge crash and then a burst of hysterical laughter. Apparently the storm trooper I had hanging in the window scared the begeezus out of him (I thought of a scary mask, but I wanted startled, not reduced to nightmares)... he was so scared he even dropped his huge bag of candy.... the laughter was his mother..... I thought later, that I should have asked her for her number.... I liked her sense of humour.




Chey decided to be a Dragon this year and told me I needed to be a princess ('cause Dragons eat princesses...... I tried not to take it personally) and Eli chose Pikachu. I don't normally make costumes for the kids... I'm a good mom, but not "Super-Mom", but we couldn't find a Pikachu his size (that was a price I was willing to pay) and so, I sighed and said I'd try.... Turns out, I'm not bad at making costumes...... No pattern, just a stuffed PIkachu (a Pokemon character, for those readers who don't have small-ish children, or who are lucky enough to have children too small to know what Pokemon are) to go from...... The costume went so well, I even offered to make one for Devin (the boy who ended up being to sick to Trick-or-Treat)... his also turned out exceptionally well, all things considered.

Here we all are. Dale was originally going to be the tooth fairy, but we couldn't find the fairy wings in the kids costumes, I must have thrown them out at some point, tattered and ripped as they were.

The weather was great and the kids had fun (as did we)..... I love Hallowe'en.


I also finished my test knit this weekend. It's absolutely lovely. I've written down my mods on my Ravelry project page, and so don't feel the need to repeat them here. But here is a picture.....

Updates....

Wow! It's been 3 weeks since my last post.... I didn't realize so much time had passed. What have I been up to??? Being sick, mostly.... We had both a stomach flu (which I managed to avoid and Chey was only minimally affected) and a cold come through the house. I knew it was going to happen; both kids are in new schools this year, which means a whole new crop of germs to bring home to share with the rest of us.

We also been waiting for October 22, the date set for Eli's Tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy. I've been trying (in my own way) to have Eli's tonsils removed since he was 2. He had more than seven bouts of tonsillitis between 15 months and 2 years and we were referred to an ENT who said that although his tonsils were abnormally large, he would "probably" grow into them......

He hasn't.

Now he only has one bout of tonsillitis per year, but they have caused other problems. My latest mission to have them removed began when I read that enlarged tonsils (and the related obstructive sleep apnea) can cause many ADHD-like symptoms and that by removing tonsils in children that have been diagnosed with ADHD and obstructive sleep apnea, the symptoms of ADHD can disappear (due to improved sleep). Now, in Eli's case I don't think this will happen, I truly believe that his ADHD is the garden variety genetic version, but..... if his symptoms can improve once he starts sleeping properly........ need I say more?

To further this cause, Eli had an overnight sleep study done this summer at Alberta Children's Hospital and it was determined that he did indeed have moderate obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Brooks (his new ENT) then recommended that his tonsils and adenoids be removed. The most interesting part of this for me, was that Dr. Brooks felt that part of the reason that Eli is so small (he's eight and the size of a small 5-6yr old) was also probably due to the obstructive sleep apnea. Because Eli never really settles into a deep sleep, his growth hormone release is restricted. Not only that, but it takes an enormous amount of calories to snore and toss and turn and choke in a person's sleep, which means even the few calories he does eat, get expended during his sleep cycle........

The surgery was Thursday and I didn't know what to expect. I had my tonsils removed when I was around his age and it was no big deal, but I, apparently, am unusual because everyone else I talked to said that the healing was brutal...... Eli also tends to be...... excessive.... in his response to pain..... The crying and screaming children in Day Surgery certainly didn't help settle my concern.... But, Eli went into surgery like a champ and came out..... fine. He said he didn't have much pain and the worst part was that he couldn't blow his nose. That night was difficult, but not because he was in pain... because when Eli is very tired, he can no longer control his emotions and he HATES (and I cannot emphasize how much he dislikes) medicine.... he would rather be in pain or sick than take any form of medicine... which is not a choice after surgery... he HAD to take it and the nurses came in every 4 hours to enforce the rule..... This resulted in out of control hysterics on Eli's part and frustration on mine (and the nurses) part..... Each time, the nurses were unable to convince or force him to take his medicine and I had to step in. That and the constant beeping and children crying and uncomfortable chair to sleep in made for a very tired Mommy, but at least I could be with him...... that's all that was really important. Now that he's home, he's totally back to normal. He probably won't even have any pain meds today (he only had a dose of Tylenol yesterday morning and night and a small dose of codeine, which was my decision, not a result of him being in pain) unless he complains of a sore throat or ear.... It's only day 3..... I think it's even been easier for him that it was for me.....




On the knitting front, I am nearly finished my handspun scarf for Syd. IF I had brought more of the yarn to the hospital, I would be done, but I didn't realize that I knit that fast...... I had finished all of the yarn I brought by about 4pm on Thursday..... good thing I brought a super-secret project along with me...... I even nearly ran out of yarn for that!










My test knit is also progressing. I am struggling with the sleeves, something is not working out.... I might chart the whole sleeve to see what the issue is, but I'm not motivated today..... It will be very pretty when it's done though.....

Test knitting...

I've recently asked to be included in a test knit for Lily (lprajogo on Ravelry). I saw the request, liked the sweater, had some yarn for it and, more importantly, was between projects (kind of, we'll talk about that later) and voila!. This is the sweater . I am currently doing a gauge swatch (properly, meaning I'm actually going to do a full size swatch and wash and dry it before it's measured. I thought a test knit was due proper respect) in a lovely superwash merino from Indigo Moon. I hope it's the right yarn for the sweater because the colour is lovely. If not, I have a couple of other options in my stash.


I, also, have finally finished the cashmere gloves that I started at the beginning of summer. I shortened the cuff and the fingers and made each finger a bit skinnier for my little hands....








Still working (OK, the term "working" might be a bit strong... perhaps "thinking about working" would be more appropriate) on the Super Fibre Sampler.... I'm nearly finished with the first portion (only 2 left to spin and ply) then I can post about it....