Deadline knitting

Dear Cynthia,

This past week, my family and I had a really great trip to Chicago. We parked our van in Kenosha and took the Metra line into town. We went to the Shedd Aquarium, which we all loved, especially the dolphins, and the Field Museum, and the Children's Museum. Plus, lots of walking and some trips on the Elevated and a bus and a trolley. (We bought a three-day CTA pass, which allowed us unlimited rides on public transportation during our stay.) It could only have been better if I had been getting sleep. My incessant coughing kept me up for all but two hours just about every night of our trip, and on our way back home, my husband dropped me off at Urgent Care. My eyes had been pouring out a gross, opaque discharge, were all red, and very puffy. And, there was this coughing thing..... Anyway, some antibiotic eye drops seem to have helped with my eyes, and now I'm using this "neti pot" (see photo) a few times a day. It's not a very fun process, but the results are worth it. In case you aren't familiar with it, it is basically used to mix up a solution of salt, baking soda, and water, and then to pour that solution into one nostril and let it come out the other nostril. Irrigation, they say. A half of a cup seems like a lot when you are pouring it into your nostril and watching it come out the other side. Rinse and repeat with the other nostril.....

Okay, knitting, right?!! That's what this blog is about?? I have several deadline knitting projects.

First is this felted bag. It is being knit from the middle down to the bottom. Then, it will be finished by knitting from the middle up. More on this as it progresses. I'm really going to try to have the knitting completed on it by the end of this week.

Second is this mystery project. I'm about halfway through the first ball of yarn (220 yards per ball), and I'm going to use all of both of these balls, so I have a little ways to go yet, with slow but sure progress.

Finally, my Foulard, which must be done by mid-month for a gift, and which looks just as it did the last time I showed it to you.

Also, I want to put a lining in one of my felted bags, and will show you that when I get to it, hopefully this week.

In a moment of insanity, but mostly because I wanted to help somebody out, I agreed to care for a two-year-old this week, five days, nine hours per day. She is a really sweet little girl, and her parents fired their current day-care-provider, and so desperately needed somebody to help out. I thought of all of the times other moms helped me out over the years, and decided that it's nice that we moms can all be flexible for each other and try to help each other out. Plus, it is a little bit of money for me to spend however I want (yarn?? Master Knitter 2nd level course??). And so, that means getting my meals planned and grocery shopping all done today for the week, so that I don't have to take three kids with me to the grocery store -- because I still haven't mastered taking only two of them there while remaining completely sane.....

Stay tuned for knitting progress as it happens (hopefully!!). And as you always say, "Keep knitting"!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)