Erica’s Blog

The pictures are mediocre, but hey — I’m sick, OK?  The detail shots were even worse; I’ll spare you those.  I really enjoyed making these.  There will definitely be more in my future.  What a perfect special but inexpensive gift, and what a great way to try out new lace patterns w/o committing to some big project!

EDITED TO ANSWER STARCH QUESTION(S):  Sprayed them with profuse amounts of “heavy duty” spray starch, let them dry.  Sprayed ‘em some more and let ‘em dry.  Sprayed ‘em some more and let ‘em dry.  Ironed them.  Sprayed ‘em some more and let ‘em dry.  All this after washing, blocking & weaving in ends.

 #10 crochet cotton on US size 1’s.  Left = dayflowers; Right = crystal pattern, both courtesy of Barbara Walker.

 KnitPicks Shimmer on US size 2’s.  VanDyke lace panel from 365 Stitches a Year perpetual calendar.

I just heard from our friend Erica, and Joe’s mom, Ramona, isn’t doing well at all.  She has continued to have numerous strokes and seizures and isn’t responding to any treatment.  An MRI showed that her brain has sustained significant damage.  After getting together and hashing things out yesterday, the family has decided to discontinue life support tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for Joe and his family.  We all expect to lose our parents at some point, but it’s never, ever easy.

Hubby came home with a fever last night.  Didn’t take anything, just rode it out.  Felt weak but OK this morning and, like a typical guy, went to work today.  The fact that he has his six-hour interview for the supervisor position today (in 16 minutes!) probably had something to do with it.  No stomach issues, though.

I spent ALL day in bed yesterday except for taking Thing One to school.  Didn’t knit a stitch.  Didn’t even get within 10 feet of my knitting.  Thought I was better, but my stomach’s been hurting this morning.  May not be able to take Thing Two to her cooking class later, depending on how I’m feeling.  Ugh.

EDITED LATER TO ADD:  As of 3:30, Hubby said he was feeling “about 80, 85%”, so no need to cancel babysitting co-op tomorrow night (our turn to host).  I asked him how the interview went, and he said, “Just like I expected.  I knew everyone I was interviewing with and knew which questions they would ask — or no questions.”  So, now we wait.  Even if he doesn’t get the job/doesn’t take the job, it’s a no-lose situation b/c he’ll still have his current position as a Lead Instrumentation Technician, and the guy who was his original supervisor there is one of the candidates for the position, so it’s not likely that he’d end up with some awful, incompetent person or anything.