Here and There, Somethings and Nothing

     I finally finished my first Guernsey vest.  It's a size 6 and knit in Red Heart's Soft Navy, a very nice wash/dryable acrylic.  I couldn't get the pattern I wanted to use...it was offered on Revelry.com but had been withdrawn...so I decided to patch a pattern together using what was offered.  The smallest sweater that I liked was available in a size 10 and that was way too big but I copied those directions
anyway.  I then combined them with the co/inches/bo numbers for the size 6 pullover pattern I usually use and came up with my own pattern.  It wasn't a difficult pattern to follow but I learned I couldn't count (p3k4p3) across a row, and often ended up backwards (k3p4k3) about half-way around!  I ripped out that row again and again!

I really had to watch what I was doing...and that proved difficult because I couldn't see the stitches that well.  The soft Navy got darker as the nights went on!  But, I persevered and got the vest finished.  I changed the number of repeats here and there and kept measuring my work, trying to keep the vest close to the measurement for a size 6.  I think the vest would
look better on a mannequin or over a white turtleneck shirt.  The designs might show up more that way so I think I may have to come up with something.  But, the next vest will definitely be knit in Gray.
  I was reading the newspaper this morning and saw that the mother of a girl I went to school with had recently died.  I had noticed that my  classmate had not been in any of the photos taken at the 50th reunion held this past summer and posted online, so I read the mother's obit to see what had become of my classmate.  I was surprised, no make that shocked to see that she had died of the same cancer, Hodgkin's Lymphoma, that I had survived.
   I had discussed the possible causes of my Hodgkin's
with my oncologist during my treatment and I had told him about the high rate/wide variety of cancer in our neighborhood.  I told him about the block-long vacant lot that use to be a grocery store/restaurant and the fire that destroyed it.  He agreed that it sounded like a 'viable topic' for a research paper for a graduate degree.  I still think so.  Hodgkin's Lymphoma isn't a rare cancer but it also isn't a partially common one, either.  It seems strange to me that there would be 2 cases 2 blocks apart. Oh, well. That's life, isn't it?  RIP, PLG.
  It's a bright sunny day and I think I'll try to finish one of my Black Sheep sweaters.  I've started to plan my next projects, too.  After the gray Guernsey...or maybe before it, I want to do a baseball hoodie and a Lace and Flowers...maybe in gray with pink flowers and pink buttons. And I think that will be it for my size 6 opening inventory.  I am looking forward to doing some of the smaller sizes...because they work up so fast!!  And there are a couple of other things I'd like to do.  I found a pattern for bath mitts for kids done in cotton and I bought a couple of animal patterns.  And I still have Christmas presents to finish!  Luckily, both of those will go to folks with March birthdays!!