La Prairie – Yarn, Books & Roses

Hannah and the CoalBear: The Mother of Cats is Broken (Again)

Hi. I’m Hannah.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in my box keeping my eye on the Mother of Cats lately.

Life has been so boring lately at Casa Mother of Cats. Last week the Mother of Cats noticed that she had a sore lump on her arm along one of her tendons. Then her wrist started to hurt. Then her arm and hand started to hurt a lot and her wrist got swollen, so she put a brace on it. I hate the brace because it is clunky when she pets me. I was already unhappy about the brace when she got worse, and her wrist and hand hurt so much that she couldn’t even get our tuna open!! THE HORROR!!!! She stopped letting us outside and just laid around sleeping and ignoring us. While this was going on the weather changed outside and I didn’t even get to go out to see what was happening.

All of the leaves fell off of my tree, and it suddenly got really cold. Most of the birds that were hanging around the feeder disappeared, but that ~~darn~~ cute dove and the bunny look like they are planning to hang around forever. We love to play in the dead leaves and to watch the doves, but did the Mother of Cats let us out all morning like usual? No. She did not. She just dumped out some tuna without even mixing it up properly and went back to bed. This is not the care that I am accustomed to receiving!

She spent a couple of days immobile with heat packs on her wrist over the brace, and then she had to put a brace on her other hand and said it hurt to walk. The Mother of Cats was completely broken at that point! She was such a baby about getting up to give the CoalBear and me our tuna and cookies. I had to just insist that the late-night tuna snacks arrived on time. I had to actually MEOW to get her up and moving. Lazy, lazy, broken Mother of Cats.

Slowly the Mother of Cats got better, and yesterday she managed to function without her brace all day. Today she finally wove in all the ends on her new sweater and tried it on. I tried to sleep on the sweater while she was doing that and chased the ends (hello… I’m a cat!), and it was like she was finally returning to normal. Oh. Look at that sweater. It is kind of cute. She doesn’t look all that broken today; maybe I’ll start getting better care again! Maybe she will let me out onto the catio later tonight so I can look for bunnies and even that scary raccoon.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll catch a nap.

This is Hannah, signing off.

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

I have had severe flares of tendonitis before, but this one took the prize! Once it got going the inflammation affected all my other joints and even my breathing. Whew. Glad it is over: it’s been 10 days without knitting!!!
Do you know how hard it is to open a package of tuna or a bottle of Tylenol with only your left hand?
I binge watched Dopesick during the worst couple of days and ended up tearing the house apart hunting for some oxycontin that I thought I might have left over from my lung biopsy adventure. No oxy, only Tylenol. Sad me.
A friend told me that there is an insurance code for “knitting injury”. I kind of laughed every time I thought wistfully of knitting and was prevented by… bad wrist, bad!!! I had to laugh every time I considered heading into urgent care with my pretty sad knitting injured wrist…
The sweater is La Prairie by Joji Locatelli. After blocking and finishing it is everything that I hoped for.
I’m slowly easing back into knitting by using the little knitting machine to make hand warmers…
While I was cut off from knitting, I read several new books of the science fiction persuasion. My reading challenge for the year is almost completed!

Hannah and the CoalBear: Signs of Fall

Hi. I’m Hannah.

There was a huge flock of blackbirds that hung out in the backyard this week; there were so many that the CoalBear was a little worried about going outside. The days are getting colder and there are dead leaves in the catio for Mateo (AKA the CoalBear) to chase. The grasshoppers are all gone, and the squirrels are stealing food from the birdfeeder and storing it in the planters on the deck. Those squirrels are really getting out of control: one of them now barks at us from the garage roof, hanging off the rain gutter, and when that happens, we’re too scared to go outside. Bad squirrel, bad!!

Look at what’s happened to our tree!!! It is a kind of funny colored…

It was sort of a busy week. The Mother of Cats had two appointments and left us alone for hours. Then she was busy most of the rest of the week finishing up knitting the sweater that she has been working on. I love this sweater! It is fun to sleep on, and chasing the yarn is great. The Mother of Cats, however, was not very good about sharing the sweater, and then she took it off the needles, tried it on, and then packed it away on a shelf where I can’t reach it. Why does she do these things?

Today she blocked the sweater, and it is covered up with towels so I can’t lick the wool which is one of my very favorite things to do. As soon as it comes out from under the towels, however, I will have my way with it!!!!

In the meantime, the Mother of Cats is back to working on her blanket that was packed away for months and months and months. Look at how cool this blanket will be!

The Mother of Cats says that this is the next big project that is getting done.

So, that was kind of the whole week: abandoned for hours, knitting, and crazy animals that make going outside kind of scary. I’m going to go pester the Mother of Cats for some extra tuna and then I’m going to go take a nap.

Mateo: I’ll hang out with the Mother of Cats in the indoor garden while Hannah’s asleep.

This is Hannah, signing off.

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The sweater is La Prairie by Joji Locatelli. This was a challenging knit with lots of elements to juggle at the same time: a charted pattern, color changes of yarn, and lots and lots of bobbles!! I had to make modifications to the sleeves as I worked to conserve some of the yarn colors, and I still may need to rip back the cuffs and knit some more to make the sleeves longer; I’ll know the sleeve length better after blocking is done. This is absolutely an individualized knit.
All my sweaters are safely put away in plastic lock-top bins. Sorry, Hannah.
The blanket is the Nectar Blanket by Ysolda Teague. It keeps growing on me, and I’m now thinking about hunting around in lace books to look at different options for the edging. The original pattern calls for a garter stitch edging, and I keep thinking that I need some more lace… I may need more yarn, too…
The appointments were to get my pulmonary function test done, and then a follow-up appointment with the pulmonologist. I have gained back more lung volume, and he is really happy with my progress.
I took my little purse-sized emotional support chicken with me to the testing appointment. Then we went to the grocery store and Starbucks.

The Scleroderma Chronicles: True North

It has been quite a week. Something happened that put me into a snit that made me think about priorities all week long. Actually, several things are happening all at once and it has taken me days to sort things out. Let’s start with the snit, okay?

These are the chicken sisters, and even though they are really cute, they are the focal point of the snit that has made me rethink my priorities.

I started making emotional support chickens to give to people who needed… well… emotional support. People who are dealing with grief, or anxiety, or an uncertain future, or struggling with medical challenges. I want to send something to people like me who are dealing with something significant and life-altering that is also mostly invisible to other people. The chicken says (Ba-BOK!!!) I see you… I am here for you… give me a hug. That is the mission. It falls under the overarching mission of Knit Out the Yarn Stash Before I Die. Hey, I have a lot of yarn, so there is a sense of urgency there for me.

Well, the day I took a chicken to my knitting group seeking to enroll others to knit chickens things kind of backfired. As in, people begged me to make them chickens. Ugh. I couldn’t say no, because all of these ladies are making/giving things for others in the same circumstances as the people I gift the chickens to. I signed on to knit 5 chickens with the understanding that each chicken would require a cash donation to Frayed Knots. I knit some chickens, posted the pictures, and it was a chicken free-for-all as people reserved the chicken that they wanted.

Here they are, the first chickens looking for a new home.

Four chickens were grabbed right away. Then the problem arrived. One of the members of the board wanted the little raspberry and grey chickens, even though they were already adopted out. The words “those chickens are gone” did not work. She absolutely had to have those chickens. It was a close thing, but I did have enough yarn left over to make the two new chickens.

When I sent her the pictures of the finished chickens and told her they were done she was greatly disappointed that I hadn’t also made a black chicken that we had mentioned while she was debating her options. (Listen, she decided on the two chickens instead of that black hen, so this was a shock!) I told her that I didn’t have the yarn to make that chicken in the stash. She told me that she would buy the yarn. I was like… NO!!! Please do not buy me any yarn!

Overarching mission: Knit Out the Yarn Stash Before I Die

Which has kind of been on my mind since my heart is kind of acting up right now. I am having sudden attacks of extreme breathlessness with chest pressure and dizziness. My oxygen levels seem to be okay, but my Fitbit has been sending me alarms when it happens. My fatigue has gotten much worse and it kind of hurts to breath sometimes.

The really crazy Fitbit shot with lots of peaks happened when I tried to knit a chemo hat on my little knitting machine. I mean, making hats while trying to control the cats is stressful enough, but the constant Fitbit alerts are just piling on at this point!

See the quality help that I’m getting while making the hats?

I seem to do much better if I wear oxygen while working with the machines, and I get fewer alerts while working on the smaller knitting machine making fingerless mitts.

So, it was a week of internal conflict. The lady who wants a black chicken is still not happy. My heart is not happy. My yarn stash is not shrinking, and somehow the joy of knitting chickens is gone when I have to make them in the exact colors that other people want. It is a chore when I don’t get to be creative, especially when I know that the chicken is going to someone who just wants a chicken, as opposed to someone who needs a chicken.

Hannah: On Friday the Mother of Cats pulled herself together, reset her priorities, and took some action!

Friday morning, I woke up, made my latte, sat outside with the cats, and decided to push the tiller over and return to a course of true north. I will remember my overarching mission statement, and I will do the things that help other people like me: people with chronic conditions that are isolating and mostly invisible to others. I will spend my time doing the things that feed my own creative spirit and my need for a sense of purpose.

I emailed my rheumatologist to ask if she would like fingerless mitts to give to other rheumatology patients. The answer came back in less than an hour: Yes, please!!!! I have my purpose again, and knitting out the yarn stash is back in business.
I emailed my cardiologist to let him know what was happening and attached the Fitbit pictures.
I took down a sweater (La Prairie) that has been languishing for months and started in on finishing the first sleeve. Gosh, it is going to be cute. Time to knit for me again!
I packed up the chickens to deliver to Frayed Knots. Those chickens are the last ones that I will knit for people who want chickens.
Saturday, I handed the chickens over to the head of Frayed Knots and asked her to please explain to the lady who desperately needs a black chicken that I’m done knitting them. The words I used were, “I’m not in the chicken knitting business, I’m in the emotional support business.”
I then sat with another member of the group and helped her knit her way through her first chicken. Suddenly, two other people wanted to learn. Yay! I am there for them!! Eventually, I am going to get some chickens into infusion centers for the patients!!

I have two little bracelets on my wrist with the Fitbit.

What was it that helped me pull things together Friday morning while drinking my morning latte? Those two little bracelets on my wrist in scleroderma teal. The little silver spoon was given to me by another patient, and it symbolizes the balancing act scleroderma people go through to manage our fatigue. We are “spoonies”. I need to remember to be ruthless about managing my own energy and resources. The teal beaded bracelet has a silver strip that says, “Remember Who the Fuck You Are“. Yes. I need to remember to not let other people run me over with their needs, because… limited resources. I need to set my own priorities with my limitations and needs in mind. I also need to remember to be brave, to face down the monsters, and to let my doctors know when new symptoms appear.

Just like that, I found my way again.

True North.

Hannah and the CoalBear: Baby Bunny, Robins, and Chickens!! Oh, My!!

Hi. I’m Mateo the CoalBear.

Do you see that I’m being a good helper?

This has been kind of a busy week in Mother of Cats Land. We’ve been outside most mornings checking on how things are going in the yard. The plants in the pots on the catio all look good. The bugs have been hopping around and they are SO MUCH FUN to chase. There were a couple of huge developments in the yard that I want to report to you:

The adult bunnies that used to live in our backyard are now gone. We were little worried about them, and wondered if there would be any baby bunnies this year when a single tiny bunny suddenly appeared in the garden by the deck. So cute. Hannah and I spend as much time as we can watching this little guy, and we are happy to report that he is growing like a weed and cavorting around the yard like a big boy. He isn’t even a little afraid of me and I get to get right up within inches of him,,, if it wasn’t for the chicken wire we would be having a great time.

Hannah: knock it off, CoalBear. We all know that you want to eat the bunny…

Shut up, Hannah. I’m telling the story today! The other thing that happened this week is all the leaves popped out on the trees. The Mother of Cats says it is called budburst, and it means that it really is spring now. I think that the robins know this too, because they have been singing like crazy all day and night. Literally, all night. They go crazy at 3am for some reason. I try to get the Mother of Cats up to let me out, but for some reason she won’t get out of bed. Lazy, lazy, Mother of Cats! Be like a robin! Get up and let me outside to see my baby bunny!!! This is what the robins sound like!

Hannah: CoalBear! Get on with talking about all the knitting and the chickens!!!

All right, Hannah. Why are you being so mean to me? You should go convince the Mother of Cats to give you some tuna and then maybe you can take a nice little nap. Outside where you won’t bother me!!

Now that I’ve put Hannah in her place, let me get back to telling you about the week. The Mother of Cats totally snapped, put her La Prairie sweater into time out on Sleeve Island, parked her dragon book back on the bookshelf, started a different book, and cast on a new Emotional Support Chicken. She has been completely out of control!!!! While she has been knitting the new chicken, she has dreaming about more chickens made in different colors; she keeps dragging yarn out of the stash and winding it up into little kits for MORE CHICKENS!!!! This is so out of control. What should I do? I’m just a little cat and it looks like we are having a huge outbreak of Chickenitis. Help! Who should I report this to? Hannah is no help at all. The only phone number she knows is 1-800-SND-TUNA.

Mateo: I have to admit that I have been helping with the knitting. Maybe that will help her get through this crisis… actually, I just like to chase yarn.

This is the chicken that she is working on now, but there is a dusty rose chicken on the way right after this one… and a sparkly blue chicken, and a rainbow striped chicken, and a chicken in fall colors…

It’s another handspun, handknit chicken to go on the couch downstairs.

The new chicken is kind of cute, right? Anyway, that was the week.

This is Mateo the CoalBear, signing off.

>^..^<

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

So, I spun out of control with the reading and knitting this week in response to sudden challenges. I had borrowed an e-book from the library that had to be returned in a couple of days. Oops. Emergency reading time! I have a couple of friends who are struggling with medical nightmares at the moment: obviously, they need chickens!! My cousin contacted me asking to buy a chicken to give a friend whose husband was just diagnosed with a serious illness. My phone blew up Thursday with the news that a member of my family was back in the hospital. The sweater was immediately parked (I was struggling with all the purling on the sleeves anyway…) and I launched the beginning of a flock of new chickens.

What was the book I was on fire to read before it was snatched off my Kindle device by the library?

This is a book that I kind of feel should be required reading for everyone, but on the other hand, it is so brutal and reality-altering I feel that it will be banned in as many school districts as the distraught (and completely misguided) ~~Karens on Steroids~~ Moms for Liberty can get to. If Charlotte’s Web, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games are too much for these people, this book will make their heads explode. I hope that they read it anyway.

So, this is the book: Chain-Gang All-Stars really made an impact on me. Imagine a system where convicted felons facing life in prison, or who received the death penalty can “volunteer” to join a system that is a reality show where the felons are on teams that compete against other teams and engage in gladiator to-the-death matches in arenas full of viewers. The teams, and individual players, are wildly popular; lots of merch is sold. Any player who survives three years will be freed, but it goes without saying that almost everyone will die. It probably shouldn’t surprise anyone that the members of these teams are more likely to be minority citizens or people who lived in poverty: that is the current prison population.

Everything about this book is crushing in its believability. I am crushed by the possibility. I can see that this could happen in a world where incarcerated people are seen as less than full citizens and without rights. Think of the wildly popular Survivor reality shows. Think of American football, where evidence of concussive brain injury in players was covered up for years. Think of the laws that strip felons of some of their citizenship rights like voting. Think of the wildly misbehaving attendees at some of our political rallies. Think of the horrendous deaths of minority population members (sometimes in public with citizens begging the police to stop) at the hands of law enforcement. Think of for-profit prisons that work their inmates as almost-slaves. Think.

I highly recommend this book.

I’ve returned to A Day of Fallen Night again and I’m quickly finishing it. It has dragons, after all.

Hannah and the CoalBear: Last Caturday Report for 2023

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Do you see me in my Christmas tissue paper pile? The best part of Christmas is playing with the boxes and wrapping paper!

The Mother of Cats had a nice Christmas Eve when her son came down to help make the traditional lasagna, watch the traditional Christmas movie (Die Hard) and exchange gifts. Mateo (the CoalBear) loves the Mother of Cats’ son!!! Okay, I think it is because Mateo just loves lots of commotion, but he had a great Christmas running in and out of the house and onto the catio. Basically, he specialized in being underfoot and getting in the way most of the time while they were cooking. I stayed in the closet for most of this, but I did come out once they sat down for dinner.

Mateo: Hey, I need lots of stimulation because I’m a Maine coon cat. We have needs!! The CoalBear variety of Maine coons really, really need a lot of attention. By the way, do you like my winter fur? It is coming really well now.

Anyway, let me show you our Christmas presents!!! We got chirping toys; a little squirrel for me, and little birds for Mateo.

The Mother of Cats is handling all the chirping okay, but she does get a little cranky when Mateo plays with his bird under the bed at 4am… Did I mention that Mateo chirps too? There is a lot of chirping going on right now and I for one am wearing out a little…

So… what else has been going on around this place…there has been some cooking, some sewing, some cleaning, and a whole lot of knitting. Let me show you the knitting that has been going on!

The Mother of Cats finished her Alpine Bloom hat that was done in fingering yarn. She used size 2 and 4 needles for this one and added some I-cord to the bottom to balance the colors a little more.

The Mother of Cats also made some progress on a few other projects, but nothing is done. These projects are (left to right) the La Prairie cardigan, the Pressed Flowers socks (in purple!!) and a pair of lined cuffs called Fluffy. Hey, Fluffy is a good name for the CoalBear. I think that’s what I’ll call him all next year.

So, here we are at the end of the year. Have a nice New Year everyone. I’ll be hiding in the closet because of the firecrackers, but I hope you have fun on New Year’s Eve.

Hannah: why does there have to be firecrackers?

This is Hannah, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

The Fluffy pattern is free if you would like to make one. I’m filled with ideas about how to modify the pattern to produce an outer layer of knitted lace that shows a colored lining below. I have a lot of lace yarns in the stash…
The Alpine Bloom hat is still too tall and slouchy. There have been lots of comments about this online and ideas about how to modify the pattern. If I make another hat, I’m going to modify the knitted chart to omit the knitted leaves at the bottom, but I may also try out corrugated ribbing or knit the I-cord trim again to keep the color going in the ribbing.
Mateo is a really unique little guy. If you pull his tail, he flips over and bunny kicks. He is terrified of Netflix and cowers next to me every time I launch it; it is the big zooming red “N” that scares him, I think. What makes this especially hysterical is the fact that he runs into the room and jumps right up next to me every time he hears me turn on the television just in case I might be starting Netflix. Then there is the chirping… he only meows in emergencies but makes lots of chirping sounds. He likes to sleep under the covers, and there aren’t enough toys in the universe to keep him busy. It’s like owning a very furry monkey with claws…

Hannah and the CoalBear: Another Busy Caturday

Hi. I’m Mateo.

We have been doing so much stuff this week. The Mother of Cats has been winterizing the house and we have been helping her out with every single task! She put insulation on all of the windows (it’s some type of funky plastic film that Hannah and I think is just amazing to play with…) and foam stripping around the doors. She fixed the toilet. She took the car to get its oil changed (and she didn’t take us!) and took all of the presents that have been coming in boxes to the house out to be mailed off for Christmas presents. Whew! Just exhausting, right?

The Mother of Cats also cleaned up the sewing room… Hannah helped with that too!

When the Mother of Cats has been sitting down these days she mostly is knitting. Some of the stuff that we made with her got mailed away this week and it is a secret, but here is what we can show you.

Now there are two Alpine Bloom hats. One of the Alpine Blooms got mailed away to a cousin, and the Mother of Cats knitted a new hat that will be for her to wear. They can be twins!! The hat that the Mother of Cats made for herself is a little smaller, and it fits her head better. Hannah still likes to use it as a pillow, but the Mother of Cats said NO and put it away. No fun, that Mother of Cats. She also has been busy knitting on her new sweater, and we have both been sleeping on her legs while she works; I’m hoping to chase some yarn while she isn’t looking, and Hannah is secretly hoping to get in a chomp or two, but so far, we haven’t had that many chances to have close encounters with wool fun.

The sweater is called La Prairie which the Mother of Cats thinks is funny since we live on the edge of the prairie. That’s why we have bunnies, and coyotes, and there is an owl that hoots out back almost every night. We don’t like the owl much… we never get to go out on the catio when the Mother of Cats hears the owl.

There are three more colors of yarn to be used in this La Prairie, but so far, the Mother of Cats hasn’t taken them out of the bin because of … chomps. Seriously, I just want to roll the balls of yarn around, but she won’t let me do that either.

Hey, the laser light toy just turned on. I have to go chase it… Laters!!

This is the CoalBear, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

I knitted the new Alpine Bloom hat with the same yarn but went down a needle size to get a slightly smaller hat. The finished product is about 1-2 inches less in circumference and fits better. The new, more tightly knit fabric didn’t block out quite as nicely, but I’m happy with the hat. I’m planning on trying another one with fingering yarn (because, why not, right?) just to see how it comes out since the stitch count and needle sizes for the hat is the same as another hat that fits me well (Barley Light) and maybe it will work great, right?

Won’t this look nice as an Alpine Bloom hat?

Hannah and the ColeBear: Caturday Soup Saga

Hi. I’m Mateo.

I also go by the name CoalBear. Hannah calls me some other names that I guess I shouldn’t share here. Mostly that happens when I slash her heels…

So, what do you want to hear about first. The Mother of Cat’s knitting, the soup that she made this weekend, or… my fabulous new toy?

The Chewy box came this morning, and that little bird was in it! I knew that something was up because the box was chirping before the Mother of Cats got it cut open. Then she took the toy out… wow… I had to spend some time figuring out if it was going to jump at me, and then I started carrying it all around the house. Seriously, this was so exciting that I wasn’t even able to eat breakfast!!!! Everyone should have a chirpy bird!!!!

Hannah is like… whatever. She is so weird sometimes.

Hannah: Excuse me? I was busy with the TUNA!!!

So, I guess that I should mention the knitting that has been happening this week before we get to the main course, the soup! The Mother of Cats finished her Alpine Bloom hat this week, blocked it, and then tried it on.

Hannah: This is a nice Hannah warmer, don’t you think?

Yeah. The hat is too big for the Mother of Cat’s head. She sent a picture to everyone in her family and this hat will be heading off to New York to keep one of her cousins warm this winter. She has some ideas about how to adjust the pattern to get the hat smaller, but she just parked them at the back of the bus for now and started knitting away on her La Prairie sweater instead.

Mateo: don’t you like how I’ve decorated the knitting with some of my cat hairs? This knitting is kind of stressful, so I’ve been hanging out a lot with her.

Alright, let talk about the soup. This has been a source of commotion for days. It all started when the Mother of Cats brought home this goofy squash and told us that she was going to make soup out of it. Hannah was like… can I have some tuna? I mean, the squash was parked right next to our cat food, but somehow the Mother of Cats didn’t pick up on Hannah’s hints that she needed some more tuna! Or Cookies!!

This squash caused lots of trouble this week. First the Mother of Cats had to buy a new peeler to use with the squash. She ordered it from Amazon, and the package got lost. So, she had to go to the store to get another peeler. She also bought a crock pot while she was there. Then she bought an immersion blender on Amazon. Hannah and I were going crazy playing in the boxes and chasing each other today while the Mother of Cats peeled, chopped, cooked, blended, and made the soup.

Perhaps this is the most expensive Autumn Squash Soup ever made. The Mother of Cats likes it, so I guess that’s good, even if it smells pretty nasty to me. She’s eaten two bowls, and she still has two quarts in the fridge.

Well, that’s all for now. I need to go find my chirpy bird toy.

This is the CoalBear, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

I have enough yarn left over to make another Alpine Bloom hat and I plan to go down a needle size to make it a little smaller. I also have in mind trying out knitting the hat in fingering yarn using the smaller sized needles.
The La Prairie pattern is full of new skills to master. The pattern includes instructions on how to knit the tiny cables without a cable needle (Yay!), and how to knit the bobbles in a new way to me. This is not a sweater that you can take to the movies while knitting as it requires focused attention!
Now, the soup. My latest blood tests came in showing that I have developed a type of anemia. A less common type, of course. Never mind, my doctor wants me to try to get more iron into my diet, so I’m trying to add more iron rich food to my diet (like squash), but I also need to try to maximize my ability to digest the food and absorb the nutrients. Hence the new, medium sized crock pot and the much safer for me to handle immersion blender.
Here’s the recipe for the soup that I made today. Copycat Panera Autumn Squash Soup by A Simple Palate. This was really yummy; I added Thai green curry paste to mine.
That squash is a butternut squash in case you didn’t instantly recognize it.
What is this less common type of anemia, you ask? It’s an anemia of chronic disease with red blood cells that don’t have enough hemoglobin in them. As in, I have enough red blood cells, but they are not packing enough hemoglobin to do the job even though I have iron levels that are within normal limits. Squash, as it turns out, is a good source of iron.
The little African violet that my sister sent me for my birthday is still blooming!

Hannah and the CoalBear: Knitting Time!

Hi. I’m Hannah.

The Mother of Cats gas been busy organizing all of her knitting for the rest of the year.

First of all, let’s show off the knitting that she just got done: 16 PICC line covers and 9 hats for Frayed Knots.

She even turned in the unbelievably cute hat on the bear.

Now that the Mother of Cats has made her donation for the month she has shifted her focus to organizing her projects for the rest of the year. Oh, boy. She has a lot of projects in mind. Like, a crazy amount of knitting is in the future. Yay. I like to help with the knitting.

First, she wants to get going on her new Weekender Crew, so we wound all of that yarn, and then she cast on. Then she ripped it out and cast on again. Another rip. Another cast on… Finally, she managed to get a few rows done, but she dropped a stitch, so she had to rip it all out and cast on AGAIN. Luckily, we had lots of cookies in the house while this was going on because she made three different trips to the kitchen to get them, and I talked her out of more tuna and even some kitty treats while she was down there. Finally, finally, she managed to get the sweater off to a good start.

The problem was the type of cast on. This is called a tubular cast on, and the Mother of Cats now loves it, but the learning curve was worse than learning to catch a fly in midair.

We also winded up all of the yarn for the new La Prairie sweater last week. I helped with that, too.

Did the Mother of Cats stop with these two projects? No, she did not. She also got out the yarns and organized for several other projects.

Here are all of the yarns that she has organized for her projects. The purple yarns at the top left are for another pair of Pressed Flowers Socks. The pink yarn on top of the magazine is to make a fancy lace capelet. Then there are the yarns laid out next to a striped arm warmer on the top right: those yarns are to knit a new pair of arm warmers exactly like the one laying right next to the yarn. The important detail here is… only one arm warmer! Those arm warmers are the Mother of Cats lucky pair and she has worn them to every hospital stay, ambulance ride, and scary trip into the cath lab. One of them GOT LOST and she absolutely, absolutely needs to make herself another pair right away. Or, at least, before the next serious cold snap. She is thinking of doing a tubular cast on for these mitts and will have to learn how to do the cast off too so the ends match. Learning curve: get the cookies ready!!!

Okay, now let’s talk about the bottom row of pictures. Those two yarns on the left are going to become an Alpine Bloom hat, and there on the bottom right is a reminder that the Mother of Cats needs to FINISH MY BLANKET!!! You know this blanket. We were making really good progress on it when the Mother of Cats stopped knitting because she was concerned about me getting sores all over my tummy. I’m doing much better, and the fur is growing back on my tummy, so the Mother of Cats thinks that maybe we can restart the blanket and we’ll see how I do. Yay! I like that blanket!

I need this blanket for the cold nights to come!

So, that is all the knitting news for now. Let’s go back out on the deck where the Mother of Cats has been waging a war on wasps after Mateo got stung by one of these ugly suckers.

Mateo: Hey! No one told me that those wasps were dangerous! I was just practicing my fly catching skills. You know, catching flies in midair…

Hannah: Whatever, Mateo. Because you are such a dimwit the Mother of Cats had to hang up that goofy wasp trap on our catio. Good thing it appears to be working!

We’re planning on knitting as much as possible out on the catio this fall because it is really, really nice out there. Yay, fall! Did I mention that there are a lot of bugs lately? The crickets are the best!!

That’s all for now.

This is Hannah, signing off.

Notes from the Mother of Cats:

Poor Hannah’s tummy sores have been a problem for some time, but I think that we have turned the corner at last. I’m pretty sure that she was allergic to her kitty treats, so I switched to all natural treats, but I also did every practical thing that I could think of. I put towels down on the carpet in the closet where she likes to sleep in case there was something in the carpet; I wash the towels every couple of weeks to keep them clean. I installed a calming diffuser which seems to be just helping the two cats in general as they play and chase each other more than before and some of Hannah’s kitten behaviors have come back. I switched to sensitive skin food. Hannah has gotten a couple of baths. Her fur is growing back, and the rash seems to be gone.

Yes, I did notice that almost everything is pink or purple.

Heading into a Pink Autumn

Autumn is right around the corner now. I love this time of year! The light has softened, the plants are recovering from the heat of summer, and wildlife is on the move again. A flight of geese flew over me last night, barely clearing the treetops, and this morning a hawk supervised my watering out front. Butterflies are everywhere, and I am suddenly seeing a fresh rush of life in my garden. The squirrels are standouts in this: they are going crazy digging up my planters and the flower beds as they create caches of peanuts and other goodies for the coming winter.

Mateo caught that leafbug (katydid) as soon as I let him out onto the catio after returning home from a weekend away. Poor thing! He definitely did the bug some damage (part of a leg is now missing…) but I put it into a nearby bush hoping that it would survive. The next morning, he caught another one. I’ve never seen a leafbug at my house before, but it is part of the resurgence of life that I’m seeing after our very wet spring this year. Look at what is happening in the garden:

Okay, Hannah isn’t exactly in the garden, but she kind of fits into the theme of the day, don’t you think? Everything is in shades of pink at the moment. The standout star is the stonecrop (upper left photo) that has been blooming like a champ for a couple of weeks now to the delight of every dang bee in the vicinity.

It was my birthday this weekend and I spent it up at my son’s place. He drove me up to The Loopy Ewe so I could find some yarn for a new sweater, and the drive took us up north through the countryside past fields of corn and sugar beets. Hawks sat on light poles, and the ditches were filled with flowering plants and some pretty interesting weeds that I wanted to get some cutting of (I know, I know… this sounds strange but… biogeek!) I had my portable oxygen machine with me and it served me well as I searched for the yarn to knit a Weekender Crew this fall.

I had to get that dellaQ bag to go with the yarn. Perfect, right? The color of the yarn isn’t quite as bright as it appears in the picture, but it is a nice happy color called Wilted Roses. Just what I need for fall, don’t you think?

I’m kind of stuggling with getting started on the new sweater. I have been knitting PICC line covers and (pink) hats like crazy the last couple of weeks, and I’m finishing out the week with a set of large sized PICC line covers that I plan to turn over to Frayed Knots on Saturday. Then I can knit sweaters!! I am going to wind the yarn for my La Prairie cardigan and the Weekender at the same time, and I’ll be knitting away on them both I think. If it snows, the Weekender. If it is warm, La Prairie. If I feel like purple, La Prairie. If I feel like pink… well, you get the idea. Knitting options. They are really important. There are also some socks, hats, and scarfs calling my name. So many projects, so much (pink) yarn, so little time. It’s like I’m making caches of knitting projects for the coming winter. Did I mention that several of the projects involve pink?

I feel a little bit like those hyperactive squirrels in my yard.

The Autumnal Equinox is this Saturday. Happy Autumn everyone!

Embrace the pink this fall.

I’m having a little trouble letting this hat go because it is so darn cute! I’m struggling with an urge to get more yarn to knit booties for the bear too.

The Scleroderma Chronicles: Thoughts on the Night of the Blue Supermoon…

Did you look at the moon tonight? It is just huge, shining in the night like it knows that it is something special. Well, it is. This is the Blue Supermoon of 2023, my friends. Not to be seen again for 14 years. Just the sight of it makes me feel happy.

This is also the anniversary of the day that I was told that I had systemic sclerosis and Sjogren’s Disease. Actually, it is 9 years and one day since I drove to my first rheumatologist appointment; I was a little emotional that morning as I passed fields of beautiful sunflowers, their faces glowing in the light of the morning sun rising behind me. You’d think that the date would be kind of a bummer, but nope. As it turns out, there are lots of things that are making me feel happy at the moment.

Do you see that black bag with my purse and cane? That is my portable oxygen concentrator!

That’s right, after languishing for 18 months on the waiting list, my name came up for the portable oxygen concentrator that I have been desperately needing. Look at that baby!!! It only weighs 5 pounds, it works great, I can adjust the level of flow on the fly, it can charge in the car, and it is exactly what I need. Yay!!! I got it yesterday on the exact 9-year anniversary of my diagnosis.

So happy, feeling absolutely empowered, I headed to the yarn store after picking up the concentrator. Time to take this baby for a spin, right? I have been struggling for months to make a decision about the yarn for the La Prairie cardigan that I want to knit next. I bought a kit of yarn to make the cardigan, but I’m not happy with it. I needed a new skein to go into the mix…

The yarn picture on the left is the original kit. The one on the right is the new variation that I’m not completely happy with. Feeling hopeful and more than a little determined, I sat on the floor in front of the most likely candidate yarns and, rocking my new O2 concentrator, holding up my phone with the yarns on the screen, I kept looking at different ideas for the fade…

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! I suddenly realized that the Stitch Together yarn (second from the top) was exactly what I was looking for. There it is. I asked others in the store what they thought, and the consensus was that I had nailed down my fade. Yay!!! Finding that yarn made me happy.

So, I also bought the special edition Babe set from Spun Right Round.

I’m going to make that Barbie pink yarn into hats for the community knitting group that I knit for because… wait for it… the color makes me happy!! I had one of the original Barbie dolls, and just the thought of Barbie makes me… happy!

On the way home from the yarn store, still sucking down oxygen in the car and feeling pretty good, I stopped at the grocery store to buy some tiramisu because I was absolutely having a tiramisu kind of day, and there at the front of the store were sunflowers. You know, it is the end of August, and it is sunflower time. Shine like a sunflower!!

Pretty good looking, huh. Sunflowers are used as a symbol of scleroderma hope in some parts of the world (Hello, Australia! Talking to you!), and you know I bought these too.

By the time I got home I was tallying up all of the things that made me happy. The leaves are starting to change on the trees in town, and the ornamental grasses are covered with rich golden plumes atop bright green stems. That makes me happy. Pumpkin spice is back at Starbucks. The kittens loved the new toys that I bought them. I ordered new clothes this week that fit great even though they are a smaller size than usual. I found new shoes to wear that are really helping a lot. Happy. I am happy.

The shoes are shaped like walking boots on the bottom, but inside there is great arch support and a cushy insole. I am walking now with much less pain. Did you notice the purple detailing and the silver loops for the laces? Happy. These are happy shoes.

Once home, I headed outside to the catio with my yarn, the tiramisu, and a cup of coffee from my new Keurig machine (yep… happy), and as I set the plate and coffee cup on the table, a pair of adult cottontail rabbits raced around the corner of the deck and zoomed under my side gate. Looks like I will be having baby bunnies again. I am happy.

Nine years ago, I asked that first rheumatologist what my life would be like in five years time. He refused to answer, and it was my first clue that I might be in some trouble here. 18 months ago, my pulmonologist told me it was okay to cry when the first lung scans showed serious interstitial lung disease. One year ago, my pulmonologist told me that they were very worried about me after my lung biopsy… nothing was working, and he wasn’t sure I’d make it. Last month, the technician who did my latest pulmonary function test told me that I was too bad to walk any longer without portable oxygen. I came home, looked at the bottles that are too heavy for me to carry, and cried.

Tonight, under the blue supermoon, with sunflowers on my table, I am happy. One month later, I have my portable oxygen. 18 months later, my lung disease appears to be stable. 9 years later, I’m still here, rolling with the punches of new complications, facing down the monster, and finding ways to shine.

I am happy.

Shine on supermoon, shine on.