but barely.

Actually, it’s better. I am on a medical leave of absence from my job, and that REALLY has helped. After four months in which I had five rounds of steroids, enough albuteral to power a small city from the shaking reaction that it gives me, enough antibiotics to kill every hapless bacteria between here and the Mississippi River, plus enough Vicodin that I could have made a small fortune on the resale if I didn’t actually NEED the damn stuff — I decided it was time to change something. So I took a 12-week leave of absence. The idea is that if I am not dealing with 130 different kids, all with different ailments that they drag to school with them (because I teach the accelerated kids who never stay home), then I will not catch their junk and therefore will get out of this never ending loop of illness leading to bronchitis and pneumonia — again and again and again. In addition, I will have much less stress (since my job was sending me home in tears from stress most days) which will help bolster my immune system, which will keep me in better health.

So far it seems to be working pretty well. And I may or may not go back after the 12 weeks is over; I am taking a very “wait and see” approach to see how my health is and whether I think it’s a good idea.

So, you’d think this would mean I have lots more time for knitting! Since my kiddo is staying home with me, not as much as I would have expected, but still — a lot more knitting time than I did have. Unfortunately, my camera died and is now back with Nikon getting surgery, so I don’t have evidence of all the knitting that I have been doing.

First, Kiri. I have finished 10 repeats of Kiri. This is the one place in this entry where not having a camera doesn’t bother me, because Kiri looks pretty much like she did in the last entry - a gray/silver blob. She’s been up on a shelf for quite some time, though, because I got the yarn in for my next project . . .

Rogue! I am sooo thrilled with this I can’t even begin to describe. This has been my dream for my first sweater for me since I started knitting. I find myself pinching and poking myself as I’m working on it. I am using Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran in Beach color, and I am looooooooooving it. I have finished the sleeves (I did them both at the same time, and did them first.) I am going to be doing the sweater as a cardigan, thanks to Claudia’s modifications. I am VERY EXCITED about this, and wish I had a camera so I could show you my sleeves, which are currently happily blocking.

I had read a lot of people talking about the “weird” increase used at the beginning of the cables in this sweater. I followed the directions I found exactly, and had no trouble with it — but for one thing. The directions said “pick up the strand lying between . . .” (can you tell I don’t remember exactly what they said?) but they never said that the strand would in fact be one of the legs of one of the stitches — so, since it was obviously the leg of a stitch, I kept feeling like I was doing something wrong. While reading savannahchik, I came across Jody’s excellent tutorial on this increase, and she confirmed for me that it was in fact a leg of one of the stitches. This made me happy for a very long time because it confirmed for me that I wasn’t, in fact, going out of my mind or doing something so wrong that it doesn’t bear thinking about.

I’m THRILLED with Rogue so far. Pattern is so well written and the yarn is a joy; I’m having a blast knitting it.

Alas, I had to pause in my Rogue knitting to do some deadline knitting — an online buddy is having a baby and I wanted to knit him a sweater. (The cool part is they live in Canada so the sweater might actually get some wear!) I picked Trellis and I’m doing it in Cashsoft Baby DK. LOVING this one, too. I’m getting such a kick out of seeing all those lovely cables appear in my hands. I was trying cabling without a cable needle (which I’ve successfully done before with no problems) but I kept getting the cables crossed wrong when I was doing it. I know HOW to cross them correctly without a a needle, but my brain just won’t stay engaged well enough for me to get it done properly, so I’ve gone back to relying on the cable needle for now (since this is on a deadline). It’s still moving along quite quickly, and I’m really enjoying the knit. Still and all, though, I’ll be happy when it’s done so I can get back to Rogue.

The final bit of “news” is that I got a new knitting bag for Christmas. It’s a namaste bag, and it’s red, and it’s gorgeous and it’s perfect and holds and organizes everything I want it to. And it’s so easy to get everything in and out of, and easy to carry, and makes me feel pretty when I carry it. What more could you ask for in a knitting bag?

I’m hoping for more regular updates — and a repaired camera for pictures — in the New Year. We’ll see.