Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

It’s closeout for spending funds at work, so everyone is going nuts trying to get money set up. Add to that the chaos of 47’s various policy changes and all of the resultant lawsuits, plus a good chunk of the attorneys being out, and you have me running around like a mad man.

I did get four more rows done this evening. It’s taking about 50ish minutes for 2 rows, so 12 or so more hours on this thing? I’m definitely in the home stretch and I’m motivated to finish. No letting it sit for months more at this point.

Spent a good chunk of the day working on the shawl. 28 more rows to go, which will add 140 more stitches to what’s there (10 added every two rows). 80% done – the final section of the pattern (10 rows) and then the border (18 rows). Took a couple pictures this morning before I got going, and found one of the yarn I’m using. I have more yarn that I picked up at Maryland Sheep & Wool festival in 2023 to do another shawl when this one is done, but I may have to let myself forget how long this is taking first.

Saw Fantastic Four with the husband again. He did a double feature with Superman in the morning while I was knitting, and then F4 in the afternoon with me. Good timing, too, as I was able to rescue him from the torrential downpours that hit between him going to lunch and the movie.

After playing it low key this morning, I dragged the husband out to lunch, then indulged him by taking him to a comic shop to dig through back issues. He found several, so he had a good time.

Worked some on the shawl, and started a crochet scarf with some yarn a co-worker got me right after I had the surgery. Shawl was fine. Starting the scarf was wobbly, but okay once I got into a groove. I suspect that’ll last until it changes up the stitches in about three more rows.

Knee was sore this morning, probably from the seats at the movie theater. We normally get ones that have some leg room, but there was a snafu with our tickets so we ended up elsewhere. Still did PT, and actually felt better for having worked the knee, but it definitely threw me off today.

My other two team members are both on leave the rest of this week, so I was doing treble duty fielding questions today. I’m proud that only once did I say that something had to wait or go elsewhere.

No knitting tonight because we went to see Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel really nailed this one. They got the characters right (e.g., Johnny was quietly smart, but still a doofus; Sue was a leader, but not a ‘girl boss’), just enough comic fan nostalgia while still being accessible to new viewers. Fun. Five stars. And the mid-twentieth century architecture and clothing were spot on. Highly recommend.

Both in terms of PT and the knitting.

At PT they’re upping the weights in hand, and changing up the exercises, as they should be doing. I’m mostly fine on steps now, still some numbness when I kneel on the knee, and I can walk and bike pretty much normally. Zero cardio capacity at the moment, though, so I need to get on the bike more to help build that back.

Four more rows on the shawl. I’m 70% there, but with a lot more to go. I’m determined to get through this, though I may break and do a dishcloth or two when I need a small piece.

My nieces are all crocheting these days, and it’s fun to watch them finish things.

Post work decided to dig back into the shawl I’m working on (as opposed to starting something new, which was highly tempting). I’m a little over 2/3 of the way through it and every two rows is taking about 45 minutes to knit. And I’m currently adding 10 more stitches over each of those two rows as the thing spreads out. I don’t see how people do these on the regular, unless they’re a lot faster than I am. It’s pretty, but damn does it take forever.

Started the wee emotional support chicken yesterday and finished it this evening.

What I intended to do while the husband was out was to look at my yarn, see if I had any that would make a good chicken, see what else I needed to knit one, print the pattern, walk to the local yarn/sewing shop for said supplies, and dig in.

What actually happened was I dug out the yarn to finish a Santa hat I started last fall but ran out of yarn for, then waited months to get the same yarn from the local place I got the first batch from, and then never got around to finishing. So I finished that, had some lunch, then walked over to the local yarn store. Got the extra bits, even managing to find it all without help, but then I also spotted two cross stitch kits that were to fun to pass up. Bought it all, brought it home, and immediately dug into one of the two cross stitch kits, because it was very simple and I wanted to surprise the husband with it. Almost had it done by the time he got home – just some extra backstitching I added to make the stars pop. Got it set in the hoop and zipped upstairs to show him the finished pattern, which was five gold stars on the top, with the words “Great place for a shit” underneath.

(here’s where I should explain that we have a half bath on the 2nd floor where we hang all of my cross stitch; I think this new one is going to go right above the cat’s litter box)

Never did start the chicken. Did frog the yarn I’m going to use, which was partially done up in a scarf that I wasn’t loving. The pattern I love, but not necessarily with that yarn.

The other motive for walking over to the yarn shop was just that – walking. Wanted to see how I did on a short (quarter mile/400 meter) walk with no crutch, and it went well, though I think I was paying way more attention than normal to how I was walking. Survived it, so now I need to do more of that.

This morning was the latest check-in with the orthopedist. He’s quite pleased with the progress. The numbness I still have around the bottom of the kneecap, though it’s been receding, is normal. Twelve weeks is this guy’s mantra for recovery, so we power on through PT. Physical therapy is more like a workout now than earlier on, progressively heavier weights as we strengthen the quads. Whee!

But it’s nice to have some external validation that the recovery work is humming right along on schedule.

Past that I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that my small gubm’nt agency keeps humming along. The latest draft budget out of the House wasn’t nearly as much of a cut as 47 proposed, just $2B less than the current budget, as opposed to $5.1B less. We expect the Senate to be even less enthused with his request, but none of this is final until it’s final, so I’m just keeping going as long as they’ll let me.

We did some random out of the house shopping this past weekend. Tried a new (to us) used bookstore, where I found some fun stuff. Tried to go to a thrift store, but the parking lot was full, with more cars in the aisle. Luckily we were able to turn around and get out without getting trapped. Ikea for some shelves for Legos, lunch at some point in there, and home to nap. Did walk a bit too much without the one crutch that I’m using out of the house, but that’s another thing I’m trying to stretch.