Okay, I'm back!

It's been more than 6 months, but I'm still here, still knitting. I have an embarrassment of yarns stashed, and I intend to do some stash busting this summer.

I had a serious health scare last week. Ended up in the hospital for 3 days, nearly died the first day. I got whacked by a particularly vicious pneumonia and a few other opportunistic infections, and didn't pay attention soon enough. I coughed and hacked my way through a week and a half before getting help. About 4 days in, I sort of lost my mind. The doctors tell me that's not that unusual, but it sure felt that way to me. And with all the meds they gave me in hospital, I had a wonderful hallucinatory life for about a week.

When I got home, I just felt stunned. I just sat there on my bed, unfocused. I'd get up and wash, brush my teeth, obsess about my skin (they pumped 2 1/2 liters of water into me, since I was so dehydrated, and man, does that do wonders for your skin!) And deal with going cold turkey on quitting smoking. That hasn't been as successful as I wanted it to be, but I'm going to see my regular doctor tomorrow and see what help he can give me with that. I was weaker than a new kitten, too. I'm still working on getting some strength back. Just going up and down the stairs at my apartment wiped me out the first day, and it's truly not much better now, not quite a week later. So, while I work on slowly getting stronger, I'm beginning to knit again.

I started a sweater about a year ago, my own design, and I dragged that out, fixed the error that had put it in timeout, and have knit about 6 inches on it. Now I have to decide exactly what kind of sweater it's going to be. I'm using a stitch pattern I really like, Gulls and Garters, which is a strongly vertical pattern. I'm thinking I'll make this into a short vest, ribbed at bottom, seed stitch button bands, and a little curved, seed st. collar. I'll have to bind off for armholes soon, so I'll need to figure out when to start the seed st. border for the armholes. I much prefer to knit it as I go rather than pick up stitches and knit it after.

While I'm working on that, I've been going through some of the yarns I have stashed, in no particular order. Rowan Wool Tweed. Arful Yarns Portrait and Lustro. Elann's Boccaccio Boucle. Rock Cotton. United (cotton/bamboo). Inca Tops Pima Cotton Silk Worsted, in a lustrous cream. Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Plymouth Royal Llama Silk Splash. Queensland Collection Pima Fresca, in a lilac-y grey. And so much more. I hardly know where to start. So, I'm trying to stay focused on the sweater I'm already knitting, but I'm itching to start on new ones, too. It's a little distracting, so I'm not getting as much done on the sweater, but I'm having fun cuddling with the new yarns (well, new again, since I haven't seen them in a while.)

And I've been spending a lot of time on Ravelry, looking for pattern ideas for the yarns. I seem to be focusing primarily on cardigans, which are useful things. Buttoned up, they're a sweater. Unbuttoned, they add a layer to an outfit.

I'm also looking ahead to fall/winter. Pullovers with texture, cables, colorwork. I'm just hoping to get a few done before the horrible heat of summer sucks the life out of me. (There's a heat advisory for this weekend, through Monday ~ 105 - 109, low humidity. Furnace heat, in other words.) Maybe I'll see how my local library feels about me sitting in there knitting. (That will also help me with the smoking struggle, since libraries are strictly no-smoking.) And I've got enough Starbucks gift cards to feed myself for a month, or drink coffee for two months, so maybe I'll see how they feel about me knitting there, too. Anywhere with air conditioning! It's too dark in theaters, or I'd try that, too. But I need to see what I'm doing with the sweater I'm working on now, so dark is out.

Anyway, my knitting mojo is back, and I'm making progress on stash busting. Yay, me!