Friday, March 6, 2015

Toxins, Progress, and Healing

Mom spent Monday through Thursday in the hospital due to the pneumonia. She was beginning to go stir-crazy, so the timing was a relief. We thank all of the wonderful people who kept her in their prayers. She's still not running at her 100%; the doctor demanded she keep it slow for another week. Unfortunately, mum is not one for slow. She's a creative multi-tasker with a racing mind like my own. The huge difference between she and I is that she actually does most of the things that go through her head. She gets things done.

I also want to thank all of those who are keeping our entire family in their prayers for other ordeals. I honestly believe that stress and anxiety are what put mom in the hospital. The non-stop stress from certain sources had simply ground down her immune system to the point that she had nothing left to fight the infections. 

When she came home this afternoon, she and I both agreed that some significant changes needed to be made in our lives. Each of us (me, her, and everyone in general) have unique stressors and toxins in our lives. We all deal with them differently. Sometimes "coping skills" are useful. But sometimes "coping" simply delays the inevitable, which is the need to remove the actual toxin from your life. It is not always easy to identify the correct toxins either. Sometimes its not clear how to get rid of it. For a long time, I've been a proponent of the slash and burn technique, but it turns out that that isn't always the wisest move. I've lost friends that way. I'm not great at cultivating friendships. (I like to blame this on my aversion to talking on the phone, social anxiety, and panic attacks, which are all true and valid reasons. But I could do more to hold onto friends. Frankly, fear is much to blame. And, perhaps, my growing perfectionism of being a full-time troglodyte as a serious vocation.)

Well, that's enough on toxic influences. Just take care of yourself and try to identify and keep yourself safe from potential major damage from toxic sources in your own life. The stress can land you in the hospital, or worse. 

In other news, I've been knitting. I finished the Low-Tide Cardigan from Tin Can Knits for my niece. Speaking of Tin Can Knits, they are celebrating their 5 year anniversary with a BOGO sale on their digital pattern books! I picked up two today myself. The sale is only on digital products and ends this Sunday, March 8th. I love their patterns.



The next finished object is my Exit 0 shawl by Laura Aylor, which was part of a KAL with members of my knitting guild. Unfortunately, I didn't get to knit much with the others due to illness or bad weather. 


I've begun the back panel of Stephen West's Caldwell vest in Bergere du Nord Inspiration (natural colors, 100% wool). 


I'm making the medium size and plan for it to be a warm layering piece for myself. The original has a reverse stockinette back with contrasting stripes, but I'm modifying the pattern to have a simple stockinette solid back. The front has a wonderful chunky cable and roomy pockets, but I plan on skipping the pockets, at least at first. I decide I want them, I'll add them with an afterthought technique. I'm already almost done with the back. I can't wait to begin the front! I haven't worked on an all-over cable project in ages.

I also received a box from KnitPicks yesterday! It contained the yarn for Dad's sweater (15 skeins of Wool of the Andes in Bramble Heather) and 2 skeins of chunky, superwash merino for a custom dye request. I'm going to try to capture a pink camo palette. If I succeed (of course I will, right?), then it will be dubbed "Cosmo Camo" and just may become my first repeatable colorway.  

I'm still reading Middlemarch and probably will be for a good while. I'm enjoying dipping into it and reading several chapters at a time. In the meantime, I'm also reading other books. I have a stack from the library, plus a queue checked out on my Kindle (North Carolina's library systems offer a great electronic book and audio book collection). I happened upon a creepy treasure that reminded me of the Scary Stories series of books by Alvin Schwartz, which are fantastically illustrated by Stephen Gammell, which I had loved when I was in public school. The first book I was able to check out for the Kindle was the second in this new series, but I've now got the first one. It was another series by a joint story teller - illustrator duo: Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley and David Roberts. I read Tales of Terror from the Black Ship first and absolutely loved it. I'm now reading the first, Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. They are aimed at younger readers and I went through them pretty quickly. David Roberts' art is reminiscent of Edward Gorey's sketches and perfectly off-kilter to capture the stories' moods.

I've also begun Something Red by Douglas Nicholas and I'm loving it so far. This is for adult readers and labeled as a delicious mix of historical, fantasy, horror, and adventure fiction.  I'm not too far into it, but already I'm enjoying the author's writing and becoming invested in the story. It is also part of a series, which is wonderful if I end up liking it. The next installment will be out by the end of March. 

1 comment:

  1. The installment that came out in March 2015 was the third book; the second, The Wicked, was already published in 2014. Hope you enjoy them! There will be four books in all--the fourth is in production now. Check out my website at http://scribe5.wix.com/something-red

    Regards,

    Douglas

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading my blog and providing feedback! I love to read your comments and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!