Wednesday 5 May 2010

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!

6 comments:

Bionic Laura said...

All my good thoughts will be with your Dad tomorrow. I hope everything goes really well for him. I'll be thinking of you and your Mum too.
I think knitting is an excellent distraction from hospitals and illness. It certainly helped me anyway. When your Dad is recovering and wearing those socks they'll have all your worry and love in them so that will have to help. All the best.

Nic said...

Will be thinking of you and your family tomorrow. Knitting is a great distractor for those of us who worry from the inside out.

(And as for that fella from Limerick? Words fail me.)

craft-chick said...

I have never knit more than while my Father was sick. Concentrating on the patterns kept me sane. Sleep and I have not been friends since, if it gets bad, you may want to talk to your doctor, mine gave me one 30-day supply of Ambien that I only used when I was REALLY struggling...I could go a week without sleeping, but once a week, Ambien helps me out.

Oh, and you also aren't alone having a sibling who can't rise to the occasion and do what needs done, last year I was the only one who could be bothered to help with my mother when she had her hip replaced.

Best of luck to you and your family tomorrow as your Father has his procedure!!

Alrischa said...

Hope everything went well. Prayed for your Dad, and then decided to say a quick one for the undeserving brother, because I'm sensing his imminent murder! :P

Anonymous said...

Prayers said and sent up. {{{hugs}}}

Lace is hard to photograph well but I'm sure it'll be lovely once you block it. I've never done a shawl with a border (too chicken!) so I can't help. I hope yours comes out well.

Tara said...

Hope everything went well with your Dad. As for your brother, well.... yeah, dunno what to say about that. As for the border, sounds to me like you're going to need to whip out your maths!