Happy Gold Star For Spouses Day; WIPs: the year of…

Happy Gold Star For Spouses Day. Yes it is a national holiday for spouses. Let’s give our spouse a round of applause for taking the time to help out when its needed most. Right now I need Lee’s help as we go round 3 with surgery, this time its my mastectomy on my right breast.

Lee’s gold star he gets is for helping set up the apartment for my recovery. Each surgery I have had, he placed clean linens on the bed; made menu for meals to make. I actually helped him on that as I chose dinners that were quick fixes when he came home from work.

That gold star he got on Sunday was for vacuuming the entire apartment, except for our spare bedroom, aka my office space, the yarn and fabric center. Gizmo and I sat in here while Lee emptied the vacuum of its dust bunnies several times.

While I have been recovering from the previous 2 rounds of surgery, I have been working on some WIPs that the knitting guild I belong to has designated as projects to finish this year.

WIPs list was created and it includes custom order scarves and a crochet duck, lap throws, cowls, wraps and several blankets, My list is large.

From my wips list: Valentines Heart lap throw. I started this last January when the designer Repeat Crafter Me posted it to her blog in January 2020. The idea was darling, I had to make it. The original pattern called for 4 blocks, I chose to crochet 6 blocks.

The blocks were finished, as I was running low on yarn, I put aside. A year later, instead of crocheting more blocks, I used what yarn I had remaining, and crocheted mini solid granny squares to make wide enough to lay across my lap. Check that project off my to do list. Gizmo’s favorite spot in office to sleep (unless it’s my chair)

One of my largest wip is the knitting guild’s yearlong KAL/CAL sample blocks for 2020. Fast start, getting many blocks complete, then it fell to the wayside. Custom orders, along with sewing over 500 facemasks in the summer and fall. This project will get finished as more yarn is on the way this week. It needed more color to round out what I already had.

While recovering after surgeries 1 & 2, I have also been doing a mystery knit along and crochet along. We are making a full size blanket to curl up in. The crochet blanket began, and during a break in the six week cal/kal, I wanted to try the pillow size KAL. Learning new techniques and will be ready to continue it once I am well enough to get back to knitting and crochet.

Yes, too many projects these days, but I need this to keep my mind at ease. Since my diagnosis last November, my life has changed. With covid-19 behind us, we got our first vaccine, waiting until the 14th for our second. The gold star for spouses day is most deserving to Lee.

Kathy Bartholomew