Tots and Spots

An outbreak of head to toe rash on Saturday following a week of super cranky baby (which we were attributing to cutting molars) has left the house (and nerves) in an uproar. He was a bit spotty on his belly Saturday morning, and then the spreading began. Three hours later, as I was pacing around the ER with him, he was getting more rashy by the minute... arms, legs, hands, feet. My baby was turning into a red blob.

At first they determined it a non-specific viral rash. Then they decided it was hand, mouth, and foot - also a viral rash, just one with a name. Reading up on HFM, it didn't seem to really match what we saw, especially since that chiefly appears on the named areas and sometimes buttocks. His was much more all-over and not blistery. By Monday, much of the rash had cleared and calmed. His face, which was the last area to show the rash, was then the worst, and he was still really irritable and short-fused.

Today, Wednesday, it seems to have all totally passed.

I really intended to knock out a chunk of my Must Have sleeves over the weekend, but I didn't. I just wasn't 'into' working on them. I won't finish by my birthday next week, but that's okay. I've sort of consciously decided not to finish. That doesn't mean I won't still end up making the mad dash this coming weekend to finish, but I'm not planning on it.

I tried working on the Climbing Roses stole some. It is slow going. My only experiences with lace thus far have been on needles size 5 or larger, and I fell in love with lace, the idea of lace, and the process of lace. Unfortunately, my love affair may have been shortlived.

Working this project on 1's is painstaking, and I'm not one who shies away from 1's, after all, my socks are almost always on 1's. The bamboo may be causing some of the problem as the KnitPicks Shimmer feels sticky on them. The yarn is hard to slide, and working standard k2tog stitches is incredibly tedious. I think the needles just aren't tapered enough for this lace weight yarn. So, I'm not enjoying the knitting. I'm not ready to give in though. It's my first lace weight project, so I'm trying to give myself some leeway and the chance to find a rhythm with the project. I'm hoping once I get another repeat done, I'll be able to see the lace pattern more clearly... and fall in love.

While my own knitting feels stilted right now, I've spent a lot of time yarn hunting online. Mom's coming next week, and on our trip to LEGOLand, she and M. both want to work on a Clapotis. We do have a long car ride ahead (one of us squeezed between car seats in the back), so it's possible some car knitting will get done. That's not M's style, but Mom and I might get something done. Neither of them believes me when I tell them Clapotis is really an easy knit, so this way they can do it together. Mom isn't sure she wants to make her first one out of Lion and the Lamb. Had she, I wanted to give her the yarn for her birthday. I had spotted what I thought might be the perfect colorway... Valentine. Looks like a perfect Red Hat colorway, and Mom is the 'queen' of her Red Hat club. (In further looking, other Lorna's colorways, like Miata, also seem to have the red/purple thing going. I'd have to see one in person to really know, I guess.)

If you have a red-hatter in the family, KnitPicks also has an Eros-style yarn in a Red Hat colorway and a simple shawl pattern for it in their May catalog.

In poking around on eBay and yarn sites, I was again stunned by how many beautiful colorways of Lorna's there are. Just amazing! I think I could work my way through Lorna's colorways in sock yarn and be pretty happy. I also spotted a few small projects perfect as a cluster of to-do items for M's birthday.

So, I wrote much of this entry earlier in the week. It's been in my Palm, tucked away on the back of the bed, so it didn't make its way to the blog.

In the interrim, my hand/wrist is acting up, so I'm having a lot of trouble using my right hand at all without a lot of pain all the way down to my fingers. Probably a tendon flare, but really frustrating. I went ahead and knitted some on a sock last night, which M argued was really silly since the gripping motion especially on the small needles likely aggravates the problem. She's right, no doubt. So, I'm trying to take a break.

Crazy how when you know you should 'not' knit is when you want to most!