What it is.

Gord's been diagnosed with ALL - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It came as a total shock - but I guess you're never prepared to get cancer. We went to the er 2 Sundays ago for severe back pain - and that's when they spotted it - the drop in Platelets & Red Blood cells.

He's home for a couple of days & then he'll be admitted into Princess Margaret Hospital for about a month. He's ready for the fight & I'm ready to stand by my man every single step of the way. I've never loved anyone the way I love him - we don't really have a choice except to beat the shit out of this.

So yeah...that's what's been going on over here.
I'll probably write about it quite a bit. So far we've both been absolutely amazed by the outpouring of support from friends and family - I suspect this support will go a long way to give Gord the strength he needs to get through this.

real life.

Thanks to those of you who have expressed concern & have wished me well.

I guess I'll just come right out & say it since I'm going to have to learn how I'm going to deal with - Gord went into the hospital last Sunday & will probably be there until early next week. They are running some more tests so that they can tell us for sure what is going on. It has been a pretty surreal week for the both of us, and for our friends & family, but my mind is put to ease by how Gord is handling it. He's vowed to 'fight the shit' out of this & I've promised to be there every single step of the way - so I figure whatever this is, it doesn't really have much of a choice except to get the hell out & stay out.

I'll probably be using this blog as a way to get what I'm feeling out - these are all new emotions for me, and I think I'll have a lot of knitting time ahead. Not to mention that I did go to the drop spindle workshop & I am hopeful, despite my first, sad looking attempts.

So there you have it. I'll try to update as often as possible, until then, just keep us in your thoughts.

xo,
nicole

gimmie a break.

Thank you, istockphoto for providing *just* the right visual image...

Real Life has suddenly become a little more complicated than normal. This blog will resume regular activity once the stars realign & I can think clearly.

MSPaint Monday

It is my very last week at this job. I drew this a while ago & think it's appropriate to how I'm feeling right now.

(oh, and p.s. - my fall down the stairs hasn't hindered my knitting!)

wickede

So last night I finally read some of the thousands of e-mails being sent to me on a daily basis from the sockwars yahoo group seeing as the war was to begin today. Turns out, I've accidentally gone AWOL. There have been so many e-mails from the group & I've just been deleting them - which means I deleted the one about having to submit your mailing address. I am not on the final list.

To console myself, I went out & bought a drop spindle & some roving, hoping I could teach myself how to spin if I wasn't going to be knitting socks.

I didn't pay attention to the label of the roving & bought some Merino - I'm under the impression that a coarser wool would be easier to begin with, am I right?

It says 'wickede' on the label!

I tried spinning for about 3 seconds last night & when I didn't catch on immediately, I threw it down & went to sleep. I think I might sign up for a drop spindle workshop at knit cafe, or do some more reading online.

Hey - here's some simple math for you:

these: (scary steep slippery narrow wooden stairs)


plus these: (very cute but very slippery crocheted Noro slippers)

equals one heck of a fall & a body that's achy all over. My left wrist is wickede painful right now --I'm going to go find out if I can knit.

TGIF.

Why is it that 4 day work weeks tend to drag on & on & on?

At least my beloved Friday is here & I can finally start looking forward to what my weekend has in store. Saturday is a work day, unfortunately, so that means a lot of standing. But after that, it's all about Thanksgiving 2.0 & getting my apartment in order. For two people who yearn for a simple lifestyle, we sure have a lot of stuff.

And speaking of stuff, I've been shelling out a whooooole lotta dough on etsy.com & have decided it's no fair to keep all my great finds to myself.

Today I am sporting this necklace I bought from Jewelry by Tara a couple of weeks ago. It translates as "I love you more than yesterday, less than tomorrow" I've also bought a couple of christmas presents on etsy, but everyone will just have to sit tight until after they are received.

I knit the tiniest hat ever last week:

This little hat is for Sophie, Gord's tiny new niece. She was born very prematurely last week. Of course when I found out she had been born, I went out on my lunch break & bought some needles & some Debbie Bliss 'Rialto'. When in doubt, KNIT. She's got a whole troupe of people routing for her, but judging by how fiesty she was in her incubator when we visited on Monday, I think she's going to be a little fighter.

Weapons of Mass Knitstraction.

Thanks for all the congrats! I can't wait for the job to actually begin!

In the meantime, I've got Sock Wars to keep me busy. My chosen weapon: this DK Superwash Merino from elann.com. It's so soft! And the colour is really nice, I think it'll work well. I just hope I can knit them in record time.


I mentioned the Hemlock Ring blanket in my last post - but howsabout a nice picture:

I'm out into the feather & fan section & it's a pretty fun knit. I'm using some Elann Super Cable Aran. I'm going to knit 2 of these for christmas gifts, but I might have to add one for me since I like it so much.

Happy Tanksgivin'!

Gord says Canada has Pioneers, not Pilgrims, and apparently Pioneers didn't have golden buckles, but whatever. Golden Buckles are hilarious!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! (Well, everyone who lives in Canada....)

pinch me!

Exciting news! After a year and a half of working at a job that never really fit me, I had an awesome interview on Tuesday morning & a job offer Tuesday afternoon. I now work for a yarn company.

I know, right?

I'm officially closing the book on the book industry!(harhar!) I won't go into too much detail of my new job because A) I haven't actually started yet and B) I'd like to keep my blog separate from my 'real-life'. But know this - I am CRAZYEXCITED! GAah!

I've been such a bad blogger - I've received so much great stuff in the mail over the past 2 weeks & haven't blogged about any of it! I also have little-to-no progress to show you on my current projects. My second thermal sleeve is almost to my elbow, the body of the Tangled Yoke Cardigan is about 8" long, my second 'I heart Gansey' sock is almost to the heel flap, I finished the first sock of a pair for my father's christmas present & I cast on for the beeeeeee-oooo-tiful Hemlock Ring blanket (also for christmas presents). And not a picture to show.

This weekend marks the first (hopefully) annual Winer Thanksgiving Wasaga Weekend - most of my aunts & uncles & cousins have all rented cottages at a resort & we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving up there. I am so excited to be spending this time with my family, and even more excited to just get away from the city for a little bit. I've been working so much lately - this will be a welcomed break from it all.

And *hopefully* I'll come home with a finished Thermal sleeve!

MSPaint Monday

For Pam & Wilma, inspired by this photo