Pink Purls | Esther’s Blog

It’s hot in Miami. It’s humid. It’s not watcha call scarf season in July…BUT…sparkle is never a “seasonal” thing with me - sparkles make me happy. A little happy was called for. SOOOO, I found two balls of a funky handspun yarn (one ball is called “Cupcake” and the other “Lollipop”) I bought on etsy from a vendor called Venus Art. I alternated yarns from each ball every two rows to mix them together and basically just knit garter stitch until I got close to the end of my yarn. It’s fun, it’s sparkly, the pictures don’t do it justics - the yarns have so many colors, textures, sequins, just so pretty - I loved watching the colorways work up.

I took way too many pictures, but I was trying to get the colors to show up nicely - didn’t work, but hey…CLICK ON THE PICS TO ENLARGE THEM

My daughter begrudgingly agreed to model (in the sweltering heat):

The yarn was a bit tricky to work with because the portions with sequins made it a bit difficult to knit with without getting the fabric too tight, but overall it was great fun, very quick and instant sparkle gratification

HAPPY FOURTH EVERYONE!!

Finally, I’m back and with an actual finished project! Lord it seems like forever (and it practically has been) but I feel good jumping back into the knitting saddle…it’s been too long and it feels like I’m back with an old friend.

A simple triangle shawl with beads on the picot edge - pattern from Victorian Lace Today.

Here is a picture of the pattern from the actual book:

Here are some pics of it blocking and hanging off my kitchen nook bench:

Simple project, very fun, and finished just in time to gift to a co-worker for her bday….so nice to finally have something off the needles!!

Hope everyone is doing well!

I’m still around…still here….just have been taking a break from blogging - lot’s of “life” got in the way for awhile and I wasn’t even knitting really…

Things are still a bit off, but I’m getting back in the groove and I’m hoping to get back in the knitting saddle soon and have some pictures to post.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Thank you so much to everyone for your kind comments and cards, emails and outpouring of love and support - it’s been overwhelming and unbelievably comforting for me an for my family and I have been touched by each and every person…thank you.

8 months ago my 82 year old grandmother - and dearest friend and confidant - was rope sliding in Costa Rica (she was tied to a rope and was sliding from tree to tree) while taking what was to be her last vacation with my brother (1 month after finding out she had liver cancer) - that should give you an idea of the kind of person she was. Full of life, always wanting to learn new things, do more, try new things, travel to new places - you couldn’t hold her back.

At 82 she was fit as a fiddle - she “fast-walked” an hour a day - watched her diet, had normal blood presure - normal cholesterol and sugar levels and absolutely nothing wrong with her EXCEPT as we later came to find out - she had some rogue cancer cells from her prior bout with breast cancer 13 yrs ago had lain dormant all these years in her liver until 8 months ago - when the dr discovered she had a tumor in her liver. The news was devastating - a woman who was otherwise so healthy and vibrant and energetic with so much to offer was being told she had something pretty insurmountable. She started chemo - 22 sessions of it and fought like a trooper for all of us.

Her last chemo treament was 2/19. She was so happy but the chemo had affected her lungs and she was now forced to used an oxygen tank. So, Monday, 2/25, my mom was taking her to her dr who works out of the hospital and who was simply going to admit her for some tests to see if perhaps the chemo had caused fluid around her lungs - nothing serious or life-threatening. I had intended to take the next day off of work to be at the hospital for those tests “just in case” - I tend to be superstitous when it comes to hospitals. So the last thing any of us expected was that by Tuesday she’d be gone. My father called me at noon Monday (when she was supposed to be at the dr’s office getting her admission papers) to tell me she suffered a heart attack and that the drs were “working on her”. I ran out of my office which is exactly two miles from the hospital and I swear my car must have driven itself because I don’t remember driving it - all I remember is crying so hard and so much that I could barely see through my tears and begging and pleading to God out loud to please PLEASE allow me to get there in time to tell her I loved her one more time - at least that God - just once more…but when I arrived my father was waiting outside the emergency room for me with tears in his eyes and he told me I was too late - Titi was gone - I remember screaming “no” and then vomiting in the bushes. When I looked over I saw my poor mother slumped over the bench outside the side doors just staring over at us - I ran over and she just let herself go limp in my arms and she cried and cried - she spent every second of every day with Titi - and those last seconds of her life she wasn’t able to be with her either - the drs made her leave the room - all she kept saying to me was that she (my mom) wasn’t ready for titi to be gone…

As I type this my eyes well over with tears again - I know, logically, this is life, she lived a full one - she turned 83 on 2/20 - but I’m not “ok” with not having her in our lives anymore - my god I don’t know if I will ever be - I miss her - we are such a close family and the running joke is my mom and grandmother were like a pair of earrings - always together - a “set” - to see my mom suffer so much now is heartwrenching - just gutteral - and painful to the core and I worry about the days to come when the dust settles and the enormity of Titi’s absence truly sinks in.

Titi was an amazing woman - everyone that knew her was the better for it and I will miss her always and forever.
Esther

This is just a quick post on Esther’s behalf to let you know that she will be AWOL for awhile. Her grandmother, Titi, passed away this week, losing the battle with cancer.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

My husband and I don’t do much other than exchange cards on this day because money tends to be “tight” - but the little things mean so much sometimes….when I got home last night (after two grueling hours in traffic, and beyond tired) I found this waiting for me:

Nothing out of this world to most, but to me, especially when you’ve actually forgotten about the holiday with everything else going on - this made my day…

It’s been WAY too long since I’ve picked up a lace project…Hiawatha scarred me a bit - lol…so, I finally decided to take the plunge and start on the Frost, Flowers and Leaves Shawl from A Gathering of Lace Book. I’ve loved this shawl since I purchased the book 3 years ago but never had the “gumption” to actually give it a go. Becky and I decided to go for it - we haven’t knit a shawl together since the STS which was quite a while ago.

The cast-on was HORRENDOUS - it was a circular cast-on (that part was ok) but then you had to transfer 8 lonely stitches onto four dpns and I’m using Zephyr Wool/Silk blend lace yarn which is beautiful but VERY slippery - I thought I was about to lose my mind trying to manipulate those 2 sts per dpn - it was insane. So, Becky suggested I knit flat for the first 16 rows then seam up - that was the ticket for me! Thank GOD.

This is the progress so far, hard to really see anything since it’s all bunched up now on size 20″ circulars:

It’s a fun knit now that I’m past the eye-twitching start…but I anticipate this will be a “long” knit…will need something smaller to finish inbetween for sure.