Shawls

I think I'm stuck in a groove. The last few items I've knit have all been shawls. I'm completely ok with this, because I've discovered how much I love using them in the fall and winter to accessorize. I'm feeling the need to branch out, though. I'm not sure what I want to make, but I have a sweater's worth of both worsted and fingering weight, so I could do a sweater. Or fix my bernhardt so I don't hate the sleeves. Or suck it up and knit some socks since the floor is so cold downstairs. Hmph. Too many options.

I would have thought that after last year's endless garter stitch blanket for my brother, I'd have taken a good long break from garter. This is not so. I did a log cabin blanket and another garter blanket by jared flood for a friend's new baby, and I'm working on my own wool blanket out of all my worsted superwash scraps. It's just too hot right now to even contemplate having that much weight on my lap, even in the AC. Which is probably why I'm looking at so many shawls. They don't overheat me when I knit them.

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So my life recently has been in a bit of upheaval. A couple of weeks ago I went to the ER with shortness of breath that didn't feel like an asthma attack. I was right. I had multiple pulmonary emboli. Scary crap. So I ended up in the hospital for a few days on anticoagulants, and I'll be taking more anticoagulants for at least the next 6 months, possibly longer. But I'm ok and things are slowly returning to normal.

A couple of days after I got out of the hospital, I noticed water coming out of the ground in my garden. It turns out that the incoming city water pipe had cracked or broken, so the water was coming up through the ground. So much fun. Luckily my neighbor had found an awesome plumber when he had the same problem a few years ago and gave me their contact info. They ended up being the least expensive and they didn't have to dig up my yard to replace the pipe. Awesome.

I finally had a low-stress weekend over the last couple of days. I spent most of the time watching movies or reading on my kindle. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get back to working out on my recumbent bike. I've really missed it in the last couple of weeks, but my lungs haven't gotten completely back to normal, so I'll have to wait a little bit longer to start riding again. I'm surprised at how much I like riding, even though I end up sweaty and breathing heavy. It's a little easier to tolerate that bike inside than being outside in the heat and humidity. I'm so ready for fall.