My final hat in Hat Attack 2?

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

Well this is my 4th hat for Hat Attack 2. This one went so fast compared to the other three. I finally don't have to sweat every row and know what the round is once I start the row. That only took about 24 hours of knitting to sink into my brain! There is an almost complete hat for me that will be coming from California. This has been fun, I have tried not to read all of the posts on Ravelry as some folks can get downright nasty during competition. I have met some really nice people along the way. For that I am thankful. Now that this hat has been mailed I am moving onto more Christmas knitting. I finished this hat Saturday so I started Nutkins for my Mom for Christmas. She was so appreciative of the pair last Christmas that I had to do it again. It is very nice when people love handknit items and let you know. I am knitting the socks out of some Spunky Eclectic that I have had in the colorway Lichen. It is a nice muted green with some occasional purple in there. A fun pattern and easy to memorize right from the get go.

Baptism

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

Well we finally got Holden and Easton baptised on Sunday. It was supposed to happen over the summer and then that was cancelled by the church. I think we were trumped by a wedding. :-) It is over, the 25 people at the house after--we survived. It of course took quite a while as there were also six babies and two of them had older siblings. So it was quite a production. We feel very blessed, Holden and Easton did a great job!

So Much For Rob's Christmas Present

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

Here is Wilson in the stolen Christmas present. I asked him to try it on and he started asking when would his hat be done. I told him more than once it was his father's hat. This morning he woke and asked if I had finished the hat. Well this is him walking out the door for school in his daddy's Christmas Koolhaas. He looked so happy I didn't have the heart to take it off of him. Now I have to find something to knit for Rob for Christmas. :-)

Koolhaas Complete!

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

Well the hat is done. I definitely had to pay attention to this one. Wilson has been asking for a hat for a while. I told him this was his Dad's Christmas present but I let him try it on. He asked today if his hat was finished and then off he went with it on his head. I rolled up the ribbing as it is too long for him! I have to figure out something to make for Rob now!

Holiday Themed Swap

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

Here is Easton after he (we) opened my package from my friend Judy in California. He had a blast as everything was wrapped in Christmas paper. I received some new sock yarn, a holiday mug, some See's suckers (yum), skittles that the kids devoured, red vines, a Knitting magazine, some Kona coffee, stitch markers, chocolate bar, a ceramic candle holder & candle, burt's bees lip balm, and a new needle to do magic loop. It was a great swap and the best part was meeting Judy.

Me and Jared Flood at the Koolhaas Class

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

I attended a Koolhaas class with Jared Flood last Friday. He was a really good teacher. There are some who are great knitters but cannot explain how to do it. He is not one of those, for the knitters who were attending and needed some extra instructions he was there w/good direction in easy to understand terms. He was aware of everyone's needs and made sure he met and talked to everyone. A very likable young man. Hi Mom should be proud. Someone asked him where he buys his yarn in New York and his answer was he did not have to buy yarn anymore. It was at that moment I wanted to be Jared Flood! Nice job Jared, keep up the gorgeous blog you have and you may never have to buy yarn again. :-)

Falling For Ewe Swap Question #6

“What seasonal knitting projects are you looking forward to”

Okay so here is my final question for my Swap on Ravelry. I am looking forward to knitting my mom a pair of socks. She liked them soooo much last year it will be fun to knit for her again. I had a blast knitting the fingerless mitts for the kids on Halloween. I am knitting socks for Cooper right now I will probably give them to him for Christmas. I will then have to knit 4 other items for the other kids so everyone can have a knitted item to open. I am taking a Koolhaas Hat with Jared Flood Friday and will be knitting Rob a hat for Christmas. I hope he likes it and it isn't too feminine. Here's hoping.... anyway those are my projects and I am looking forward to them all.

Great Googlie Mooglie

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

The yarn is called just that.....great googlie mooglie. It is from knitterly things and it is Vesper sock yarn. I am not sure I love the 3 ply yarn it seems to not have enough twist in it? Anyway I am starting another pair of these tonight for the three year old. He saw them and said where are mine? I had already knitted him Halloween socks! These are very cute and a free Ravelry pattern. Holden came home from school today wearing them. It is in the high 40's here, great day for fingerless mitts!

My Swap Knitting

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

My swap partner in the Color Swap on Ravelry likes purple. I do not... I have tried to find some purple love it is not there. So I searched and ordered on line some Malabrigo kettle dyed worsted weight in velvet grapes. The yarn was a bit more maroonish than I had anticipated, but I am assuming a purple lover--loves shades of purple as well. The pattern is Dashing and I have knit it before twice, it is easy and a good beginner cable pattern. I think if someone had not knitted cables this would be a great pattern for the cable intro.

Hat Attack 2

I am dead woman waiting for a WIP from Hat Attack 2. It is very frustrating, I want to play the game but cannot w/o a hat to knit. The first kill I had was in September then it took 19 days to get a hat to work on. Now I made another kill and the WIP is nowhere to be had. Apparently the person who is supposed to mail it to me has had a number of things happen in her personal life. Which is understandable but just email someone and say yes I am playing or I drop out. The game can continue without you, instead we email and wait. I just don't want to pay another $20 in yarn to continue. It was supposed to be $2 fee and you make & get a hat. The participants are not supposed to buy more yarn to continue. It looks like that is what is happening.

Well I am off to work on my Dashing fingerless mitts for a swap on Ravelry. I am on mitt #2 so hopefully they will be done tomorrow!

Falling For Ewe Swap Question #5

Here is the next question:

Do you like football? Who is your favorite team?

We do like football in this home. We have had the misfortune of being Detroit Lions Fans for many years. But what do ya do.....My husband always has the Michigan State Spartan football game on as well. I have 5 boys in this house you can pretty much count on sports being on the t.v. on any given day.

We are huge hockey fans, Go Red Wings!

Lake Superior Sunset

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

I had to share this with everyone, I think it is gorgeous. There are so many beautiful sunsets this is just one we captured! Our little slice of heaven.

My New Socks

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

Here are my new socks I knitted last week. They are from my club Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club. The colorway is Tide Pool. I love them, I just knitted a plain vanilla sock to show off the skein's spectacular colors!

Cloudy Day In Michigan's Upper Peninsula

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Originally uploaded by kelly.pratt42

I was looking thru some pics tonight to change my Ravelry Avatar, and came across this picture from Lake Superior last summer. I love it and we truly are blessed. We all love it up there and enjoy our two weeks at the cottage every summer.

Falling For Ewe Swap Question #4

Here is our next question:

What do you plan on dressing up as for Halloween? If you are not dressing up, what will your kids be?

I do hand out the candy but do not dress up. My kids are going to be Indiana Jones, Wolverine, hippie chick, I am not sure what the other 2 boys will be? It is hard when there are five trick or treating. I usually stay home and pass out candy. My husband takes the kids around. My Sister usually joins us w/her two that are still of that age. My daughter has a feast planned including a punch bowl w/floating hands ice. Take a plastic glove and fill w/water, tie it off and put in freezer. Cut the glove off and there you have hand shaped ice for your punchbowl.

Last year was rainy and cold hopefully it will be better. In Michigan you can never tell. Today is 70 and sunny. It is supposed to be 75 by the weekend, but some of the nights have been in the 40's. Go figure. Well I am off to get lunch for the kids before afternoon young 5's. I told them we could get Wendy's! They are living large now! :-)

It is COLD!

This week has been down right chilly. I finally turned on the furnace yesterday. It was in the high 30's last night, I scraped frost off the windshield this morning. The 5 year old had the lovely apple orchard field trip today. He was not happy that he had his winter coat and mittens on. I told him other kids would be dressed the same way, he was certain he would be the only one! Much to my delight I walked in and his friend from down the road had winter coat, mittens, and a hat!

I am knitting socks from my September Socks That Rock sock club kit. I was using the pattern that it came with and then I ripppped it out. I personally could not see the pattern, according to others who stuck with it....when it is on the foot is when the pattern pops. Well it was not exactly fun every 4th round cabling the entire round on an 8 row repeat. So now they are gorgeous Plain Vanilla Socks. I have to knit something for my Color Swap on Ravelry. This is a swap where everything is related to whatever color your swap person likes. I get to pick the color. She likes purple which is fine w/me because I do not enjoy purple. I have purple in my stash and would love to knit her something out of purple~! It said in the swap requirements something homemade. I don't know what else to do and meatloaf probably doesn't travel that well--so knitting it is!

Well I have to pick up my 5 year old in 40 minutes so I am going to knit in the peace and quiet.

Question #3

What meals or foods mean ‘Fall’ to you?

This is for my Falling For Ewe Swap. The answer is Chili. I love to have chili cooking on the stove when it is cool outside. There are also other foodie things that mean fall to me: Apple cider warmed w/a cinnamon stick. I like carmel apples, crock pot meals, apple pie, and pumpkin pie!

I love fall, my birthday is in October so that is always fun. I love the apple orchard, carving pumpkins, crisp walks, and hayrides. The colors are so warm the fall equinox, indian summer what is not to love.

Knitting news! I have nothing on the needles right now besides my afghans. They don't count as they are always a work in progress. I am going to cast on my Socks That Rock Anemone Socks.
I just got it in the mail today, I have never knitted a kit around the same time I receive it. It feels kinda strange, I usually hold the yarn, admire it for a long time this will be new. I am off to cast on.....

Is There Such A Thing As Too Many Swaps?

I have several swaps in the works, I was out tonight and went to a local bookstore and was trying to remember what I had already ordered and for whom. It got a little overwhelming: hmmm now who likes citrus, who likes McCain, who is a wine lover? There were some funny paper dolls that were Obama and McCain. They each had their own set w/their wives...The dolls had each presidential hopeful in an undershirt and boxers. There were some very nice punch out clothing. Very Funny Gift! I am in a lot of swaps, but they should be over by the end of October. I probably will take a break over the holidays as this is cutting into my knitting time. I finally got out my spinning wheel and put it together. I was busy/scared. I have a Majacraft Little Gem. I spun up some lumpy thick (wish I was yarn ) stuff! It was stressful and intriguing. I watched some "spinning on the wheel" youtube videos today w/the kids. I know my problem is the drafting so I need to get a lot better at that. At least it is out and put together, if there was a quiz on what everything on the wheel is called, I am not sure I would pass. I got my first kill in Hat Attack 2. I found out via my intended target's blog! She liked her hat too! I am glad, you always hope people will like what you knit but who knows?? Different tastes, different color palatte. For those of you who don't know.....Hat Attack is a knit and kill game. There is a pattern, yarn, gauge & a target. The pattern is released on a certain day and you have to knit your target the hat according to pattern as fast as you can. When it is complete you mail it to your target and when they receive it in the mail....they are dead. They mail you their unfinished knitting for you to complete. Then you are on to your next kill, until there is one person left. Oh the knitting joy! I am off to bed as I work tomorrow. I took today off to see my children play soccer. It was a beautiful day for soccer, cool in the a.m. and warmer by mid-morning. I went to the store and purchased Speed Racer for the kids, they loved it!

Question #1

I thought I had already answered this one....hmmmmm

I believe the question is what is my favorite thing about autumn. I love the changing colors of the leaves. I also love the cooler weather, it makes knitting warmer items so much more enjoyable. I like working on the afghan while I am actually using it to keep warm :-). I like coffee, cider, hayrides, and halloween. My fav would be the color change!

Question #2

The Falling for Ewe question #2 was: What cold weather project am I looking forward to? I will
say w/o thinking about it The Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits. It is for me and I have had the yarn and have never made a sweater for ME! I can't wait. After Hat Attack I will start.

Off to bed as we have been up w/sick kids for two nights in a row. There are now 3 of the youngest sick. It is the same illness which is kinda unheard of. I am always saying they never get sick at once. It seems it is always a few days apart, something different or not at all. Not this time. Yuck.

G'night

Let The Sickness Begin.....

At the end of last week there were a few stomach aches in the house. This usually happens when school starts. The little ones that are not in school get ill. My husband teaches at a different school district than we live in, so he brings home a different set of germs. Everybody was weathering along w/the stomach thingy except one, Wilson (7). He kept saying my throat hurts when I swallow. I let it go for two days, then he was hot, then there were spots. The spots were not white so I was hopeful it wasn't strep. I took him to the Dr. today Tonsillitis. I think this means virus and you have the red spots on your tonsils! Yuck so we are hanging out drinking Sprite and watching way tooo much t.v.

On the knitting forefront....I finished Easton's (3) special socks. That is Easton that is 3 not that he needs 3 socks. He is not a three legged boy let me just put that out there. That is his name for them Special Socks. They are Halloween socks knitted out of Vesper's Trick or Treat I had from last year. They are very cute. The problem is now that Holden (5) saw them and he wants a pair. I have a skein of Great Googlie Mooglie but I was going to use that in the Halloween Swap. Hmmm not sure what I will do now. I am swatching for Hat Attack 2 which begins on 9/16. That should be fun, another knit or be killed thing I joined. :-) I have to knit a bag for another swap I am in. I will not name the bag just in case my swap partner reads blogs. I have to start that this weekend. It is a felted bag so I am going to check my stash for some Lamb's Pride. I work the next three days which I do every weekend. I am assuming it will be very busy at the restaurant due to the forecasted rain. I will not have much knitting time.

I am off to finish swatching before the non sick kids get home. I still have to finish my Monkeys, which are 3/4 of the way done on the second sock. The Monkeys have been at work since the holiday weekend. I brought them to work on in case it was slow. That was not the case and they are still there locked up in the cabinet just waiting to be finished. Then after Hat Attack I can begin my Gathered Pullover which I have been wanting to begin! Oh my this seems like a lot! Okay I am swatching.

Sssh They Are Asleep!

Since school has started on Tuesday I have had the luxury of the little ones sleeping in til 8 a.m. or so. Long enough for me to enjoy an uninterrupted cup of coffee. What a difference that has made to the start of my day. Yesterday I even managed to knit a few rows on my two at a time socks. They have been laying around all summer while I finished those squares, Delaney's sweater, and now the Sweet Lime (Yarn Pirate) Monkeys. I started the 2 @ a x socks when the book first came out.....maybe 4 or 5 months ago, I am using Lorna's Laces (pistachio) and a coordinating green for the toes in Panda Silk. I am on the toe decreases, so they will be done today. It will be nice to have zilch on the needles. I usually don't have more than one project going at a time. I bought my Therapi for Hat Attack 2 a couple of days ago. The LYS only had 4 choices 2 were a total clash so I went with red and blue. We will see what the pattern holds for me. I'm a bit nervous about the lack of color choice. I have to do a swatch...I never swatch but I am going to this time. Well lunch is in the oven and then the afternoon kindergartner is off to school. I will then have 4 hours of just me and the three year old. BLISS!!

My Time Here Is Over

Today is my last day in the lovely cottage in Brimley. It is a sad day. My family is staying for three more days w/o me. I am heading back to Grandville to go to Def Leppard/Billy Idol and working the weekend. I do not mind the drive back it is kinda fun to listen/blare the radio with the windows down. I knitted my squares for the block exchange on Ravelry and mailed them off. I have since started a sweater for Delaney. I am on my second sleeve after completing the front and back. So I just have to sew the sleeves on and pick up stitches around the neck and knit six inches of ribbing for the neck. I was a fast/easy knit. I belong to the club of I don't like the finishing work on a sweater. Anyway I am off to knit and get dressed! It is only 2 p.m. :-) The joys of vacation!!!

Vacation here I am!

I jumped in my car after work yesterday and drove 299.3 miles north to the Upper Pennisula. It was a beautiful evening for a drive and I drove super fast and made it before dark. I also stopped to gas up and get an iced carmel marvel at the Biggby in Gaylord, Mi. So I stayed up way late due to having that drink too late. I woke today at 10:15 a.m. and so far I have knitted, played word twist, drank 3 cups of coffee, picked blueberries and made lunch for the kids. This is vacation. It is sooo nice. It is only 72 here and at home it is storming, humid, and almost 90! I am going out to watch the kids swim and pick more blueberries so we can make a blueberry crisp. I of course brought major knitting with me. I have two more blocks to knit for my exchange on Ravelry. I am never doing that again. The blocks were boring and they seemed like work. I should have done two at a time, maybe it would have gone faster. I brought yarn for two sweaters, one for myself--the gathered pullover from Interweave Knits and one for Delaney from Creative Knitting. I brought my yarn pirate yarn to knit the companion Monkey sock. That is all. I figured for two weeks that should be plenty. Oh I also brought a skein of Manos to work on my Four Seasons Throw. There are not any yarn stores that I am aware of up here. I did see there was a store called Gloria's Happy Hooker in Sault Ste Marie. I have never gone searching for it though. The name scares me....Anyway off to work on my squares so I can mail them soon!

Has it really been 25 years?

I had my high school class reunion on Friday night. It was quite the adventure. The adventure was trying to figure out who the guys were. The girls were pretty easy to identify, the guys another story. There was major hair loss or they wanted that hidden so there were a lot of shaved heads. It is so nice after all of this time everyone was so friendly to all. There were not any I am better than you, you are in "that" group and I can't be seen talking to you. It was just fun.

I received my second installment from my summer of love yarn swap. It was pure fun! I had let my mysterious swap pal know I had gotten a wheel. She told me she was attending a fiber festival and got me fiber!!! Yeah, and I loved the colors. She also got me a funny notebook to track my spinning progress. A nice Lavender Sachet in cute fabric, and a Mary Engelbreit soap. Which is too funny as I bought the same thing for another swap! Well I am off to knit my square for the NYOBE on Ravelry I have 6 more to get done in friggin' 10 days. YIKES!!! I am also mailing my packages for my two swaps tomorrow! I have had the stuff for a while I just haven't packaged it. It will be mailed tomorrow. That will be fun. ;-).

I am waiting to take out my spinning wheel until I finish my block swap. So I will probably use my spindle to practice my drafting skills. More later.

Favorite Summertime Memory

This post is a response to my Summer of Yarn Love Swap. My favorite summertime memory is from 1975. My parents told us we were going somewhere in the morning but said we would find out in the morning. As a parent myself I would never do this ever--I do not reccommend it! I did not sleep and neither did my siblings. My father was self employed, he had a commericial roofing company. He worked long hours all summer long, we rarely went away. When we woke that next morning we loaded up in our car and my parents gave us a brochure for Cedar Point. Which unless you are from the midwest probably don't know what it is. It is a huge amusement park in Sandusky Ohio. I live in Michigan and it is a 5 hour drive to the park. The ride in the car w/my siblings and the stay in the hotel there were a blast. We made this a family tradition for a lot of years. We loved the fries w/vinegar, taffy, and handmade lemonade (the kind that is shaken). I always got sunburned...but to this day I love rollercoasters!

Where have my three days off gone?

Well I am trying to knit my blocks for my NYOBE on Ravelry. I am just plugging along. It is funny how when you have to knit something for a deadline there is a million other things you'd rather be working on. I bought a Majacraft Little Gem a week ago, I have not even
taken it out of the case. I promised myself I wouldn't until I finished my blocks. WHATEVER!!! I don't know how to spin on a wheel yet, but just the thought of it---YIPEE! I did check out a book at the library and have read quite a few books on spinning. Of course I want to spin sock yarn immediately, so it will be hard for me to like any results I get in the beginning.

I have to get my next package out for my Summer of Yarn Love Swap. I have most of the contents and I am waiting for a package in the mail to finish it off. My dear little swap partner
is a bit snoopy :-). It is supposed to be a secret swap but she went through all of the members and figured out it was me! Sneaky, sneaky!! I am curious too! But I am way tooo busy to try
and figure out who is shipping me my packages! ;-)

I have four days off this week and three are gone already. I napped, knit, played wordtwist on facebook and just plain lazed. I did ride my bike, go to the library, and drink large amounts of caffeine! My favorite pastime. I have tried to read up on my fav blogs. I am so far behind. I caught up on the Yarn Harlot. That is about it. Well I am off to knit blocks in cream no less!

Ciao!

June Is Almost Over

Where Has A Month Gone? School for the kids was done the first week in June, which means my husband (teacher) is on summer break as well. Normally I would be ecstatic but.....WORK. The restaurant I manage has another manager who had shoulder surgery and will be out for months. It is a long recoup process. I am working more than usual, as much as I love work it does cut into knitting time. I already knit at all of the t-ball, baseball, and softball games. We are now into tournaments with softball, so every win means you play again the next day. I have been knitting a lot. I was in the Loopy Ewe swap on Ravelry. I had my knitted item for that a while back, I made Tidal Wave Socks. The theme was Spring so I used the yarn Sheepaints in the colorway First Blossoms. They turned out great and I loved the yarn it was Wool, Bamboo, and Silk--very nice. I also had this great idea to knit the teachers floral shaped washcloths for end of the year gifts. Well there are the two preschool teachers, then the Kindergarten teacher, a 2nd grade teacher, and the 4th grade teacher, oh and don't forget the busdriver for the preschooler! It was a fun pattern but I waited way too long to start and then I was running around buying bath scrubs and lucious handmade soaps to go with them. I also decided to make one for my Loopy Ewe swapper. During that time I was also participating in Sock Wars III. That was fun I got 2 kills before I was killed. That was the first time I knit with Tofutsies. I also started my first pair of Monkeys. I used yarn I received from the Yarn Pirate Sock Club. The colorway is Sweet Lime very summery with pink and lime green. I love green. I have one monkey complete but have not started the second as I had to mail out all of my swap stuff and my gambling yarn. I joined a fewish pools on Ravelry: Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol. I think that does it and so far I have lost them all. I did place second on AI. Do you know what second gets?? NOTHING. Anyway the whole idea around it is that you all receive one participant and if they are the final person standing all the others who joined mail you $15 work of knitting goodness. A great idea if I ever win! I keep hoping. I am mailing off my Top Chef winner something today, and my Summer of Yarn Swap package. Then I have to start my 11 blocks that are due for my block exchange swap by July 31. I can pop those out fairly quickly during games. My problem is I'd rather knit something else. I did go to Manos Four Season Throw class on Monday and the block is garter ridge--Yeah a no-brainer. That will be done today and I am off to Michaels as the yarn for the block exchange is Lion brand Wool-Ease and I have coupons. Everyone is gone so I have the house to myself for probably an hour, I am going to enjoy my coffee and watch the vh1 countdown and knit for a while. I will try to upload pictures of my finished object very soon! We also got a laptop last week, more about that later.

Just Another Day In Paradise

I broke down and joined the blogging world! I worked all day yesterday, came home very briefly to check in with the family. I then headed back to work where we hold our weekly "Knit Night". I am the designated knitter who stays late to lock up. I enjoy being there and I know this is the only night out for a few of the ladies in the group. I do not mind staying and I am usually way too jacked up on coffee to go home and sleep anyway. Monday was no exception--I got home read blogs and headed up to bed @ 12:30 a.m. The first child (Easton 3) was awake by 1:30 a.m. got him settled down and then another one was awake @ 5:30 (Cooper 8). Easton got up for the day @ 7 a.m. which is fine normally just not on Tuesdays. I am usually tired from knitting and would like that extra 30 minutes of peace! That was not in the plan....I received my first installment of the Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The packaging was nice and everything was explained, so the newbies would have less questions and the old timers were engaged in the other notes and whatnots in the box. I just laid Easton down for a nap and I am going to do the same. I have been fighting the long lasting virus for a long time. I am in my third week I might have gotten a handle on it. I know this took years off my life, or maybe it is that every recovery takes longer the older you get. I can't explain it I just know I spent 17 hours in bed 17 days ago at the beginning of all of this! Yuck. I would like to be knitting on my sock, but I am way too tired. There is always tonight. I think American Idol is on!! YEAH--a show we can all watch!