Distraction Techniques

Some people are great at distracting themselves, making themselves think about something other than what is bothering them; making themselves calmer, more focused.
Not me.
I'm a worrier, pure & simple. I always imagine the worst possible outcome to any situation, & get myself tied up in knots about it. Sleep is always the first thing to go. I lie awake imagining all the possibilities, and all I end up with are bags under my eyes and a new set of worries.
Dad went in to hospital today & is having his operation tomorrow.
My brother was meant to bring him in today & stay with Mam while he's in, so I can take time off when he comes out to mind them.
I was literally outside my office door this morning (an hours drive from home) when I got a text message from dickface asking me to bring Dad in coz he "slept it out" & was still in Limerick (approx 2 hr drive away). What else could I do, but turn the car around & drive back home again. Poor Dad was all apologies, telling me to leave him at the hospital door & go in to work. As if it was his fault!
I'm so mad with my brother. Guess what time he finally arrived up at? 4pm. Yep. 4pm. That's some lie in! And an apology? You must be joking. I should have known that a leopard never changes his spots, once a selfish prick always a selfish prick.

Anyway, it's not about him, it's about Mam & Dad. Please God he'll get through the operation tomorrow. If you're of the praying sort, a few prayers tomorrow would be greatly appreciated.

I may be absent from the blog for the next while, depending on how things go, but I'll try my best to post. It actually helps me to think about something more cheerful. Knitting always cheers me up. :)

Speaking of knitting, let's get to it, shall we?

I finally managed to get some work done on my Myrtle Leaf Shawl. A shawl that has been so long on the needles now that it's almost antique! This was actually a Ravelympics project! *shame*

I did 30 repeats of the body instead of 40 as I didn't think Iwas going to have enough yarn for the border too. This is how much I currently have left:

It's not a whole heap, but I think I might just manage the border.
The body looks like this (unblocked):

I know it will grow much more when blocked, so I'm happy enough with the length.

Here's a close up of the border:

It doesn't look like much, does it? Lace is a demon to photograph when in progress. The only thing I'm worried about is how will I know when to start the corner segment of the shawl, because it's 10 repeats less. The pattern says to work 57 repeats of the border chart before working the first corner. So, should I work 47 as my body is 10 repeats less? The thing is, the border chart is an 8 row repeat & the body chart is a 13 row repeat, so the rows don't match up. I'm worried I'm going to make a mess of this border which would be really upsetting after all the work I've put into this shawl so far.

Dad's Sailor socks are flying along:

The beauty of sitting in hospitals for hours waiting on doctors. I should definitely have these finished by the time Dad is discharged hopefully in 1-2 weeks.

So that's all my news for now. Just say a prayer or cross your fingers, or think good thoughts for me tomorrow (Thurs May 6) that Dad will get through the surgery ok.

Good knitting!