Most patients I see here are my own. We have regular therapy sessions where issues are discussed and plans are made. Often there are tears. That's how it is with rehab.Rehab is not always successful for all patients but here we have a success rate that is quite reasonable.

For the first time we accepted a patient from out of state.I am happy to report that this patient wasn't the diva we had expected. The arrival was quiet and understated though she did travel with an entourage. Working through her issues was easier than expected and progress was made. In the photo you see a fairly typical play therapy session . Due to doctor patient confidentiality there are no photos of the issues or the actual therapy. Our methods are secret but worked well for this patient. Her therapy has been completely successful and we have sent her home where we hope she will continue to make progress and be the complete knit we know she was meant to be. Her entourage on the other hand stayed behind where they will be studied and receive individual therapy. I think in time they too can be helped. 

*We are not actual doctors. We just play them on the blog. 

I have been so lazy lately. I have nearly finished the Regia Silk socks. Just the toe needs to be kitchenered. Can you imagine getting that far and just dropping the socks in the UFO pile? Well, I did just that. It's not that I don't love them. It's just laziness. Maybe if the weather was such that I could wear them right away I'd be feeling the pressing need to get them done. Anyway, the Regia Silk yarn is excellent. Knitting it was heavenly. I imagine wearing them will be wonderful. As a matter of fact I am plotting to buy some more.

My father is still in the hospital. He is recovering well from his gall bladder surgery and should have the wound vac removed from his leg next week. Hopefully then he'll be able to work harder on his rehab. 

 As soon as I finished knitting the Regia Silk socks I ripped out the needles and cast on the Cascade Sassy Stripes yarn. It's basically the same pattern but I decided that the stripey yarn would be best with an after thought heel. The Sassy Stripes yarn is so smooth and very soft. I am pleased with the way the stripes look and how the sock is knitting up. 

Clematis question for the gardeners out there. I noticed yesterday that the bottom 3 or 4 pair of leaves have turned brown and died. I know it's had plenty of water since we've had rain nearly every day. This morning it was looking a bit worse so I pulled it out of the ground and moved it to a different part of the yard. It will have less sun in this location and be a bit more protected from dogs. Has anyone seen this problem? 

Imagine in your mind that the sock in this photo is, um, upright or just tip your head. Whatever works. I have no idea why the photo is in this direction since when I uploaded it I turned it and when I downloaded it to photobucket I turned it. I guess it's just one of life's mysteries 

Oops. I published and now everything is fine. Odd.

Anyway, this is the first Regia Silk sock in color  186 completed. The pattern is more or less the recipe from  Stephanie Pearl McPhee's Knitting Rules book. I did do a twisted rib at the cuff though. The second sock has been started and is proceeding nicely. Stockinette socks rarely complain.

The Ubuntu/Firefox 3 has been fairly easy to get used to. I have Linux Mint on the laptop so it was an easy transition for me. The husband has had a few issues like he keeps nearly turning the computer off every time he goes to close a window. I'm sure he'll get used to it though. One thing that has amazed me is just how easy everything is. Take the printer for example. When we installed it on Windows we had to download a cd to get it to work. Not so with Ubuntu. I just turned the printer on and it was ready to go. The same has happened with the camera and my ipod. Now I wish we had switched years ago.

I do have one question for you all. How does my blog look? Is the print large enough or maybe too large? It looks different to me and I just wondered what you thought.

When last we spoke I was working on the Nutkin socks. The first one had turned out lovely and had been a pleasure to knit. One would have expected the second one to go a lot better. There it sits getting it's last photo before ending up in the UFO pile. I was knitting at night. The colors were dark. I was having trouble seeing the stitches. I slid the whole thing onto stitch holders and set it aside while I just did something else, something lighter in color for the evening. That was some time last week.

Enter something brighter and more daring. This is a Bellatrix sock knit with Lancaster County superwash sock yarn (exact name is on ravelry). Purposely dropping stitches is tons of fun. The yarn is soft, pretty (in person the colors are shades of pink, a bit of purple and a small section of gray to black-very unusual) and a pleasure to knit with. One would expect this to be a win win in the sock knitting world but alas it was not. Much like the Bellatrix of the Harry Potter world this one is being a cruel bitch. I knit along happily loving both the look and the fit until the most recent try on. The foot is loose, really loose though it didn't seem that way when I had just completed the gusset decreases. I must rip back to the last decrease and do a few more. Or maybe rip back to the beginning and start over. Or just cast on the second sock and make the adjustments there and then redo what needs to be done on sock number 1. I don't know what I'll do but I did stick the sock on stitch holders and stuff it in the UFO pile.

What do you do when your knits are giving you a hard time? Cast on something mindless of course. Here we have a plain stockinette sock in Regia Silk color number 186. A little twisted rib at the top for excitement and then lots of simple knitting in the round to help forget what's in the UFO pile. Lately I've been all about the hand dyed yarn with the unique colors and skeins and matching them to a fun exciting pattern. Sometimes what's needed is just plain knitting, nothing fancy, just soothing stockinette.

The other day I went looking for the dogs. Two of them seemed to be missing. Imagine my surprise when I found them all cuddled up together in the bed they usually fight over. Riley didn't even wake up when I took the photo. I think Picasso was hoping I'd take Riley out so he could have more room but I didn't. I turned around and walked away. I know better than to disturb anyone when they're quiet.

Everyone has been posting photos of their flower and vegetable gardens and I decided I had to plant something. For years I have wanted a clematis. Well, I finally bought one. It is a Viticella Venosa Violacea. (I fixed the blog so I can link now!) We have planted more things than I can count by this pole and nothing has lasted. We have carefully amended the soil and planted this according to the directions we received from the guy at the garden center. Hopefully it will survive.

This wasn't the only planting that went on. After a few years of neglecting our garden we decided it was time to plant something so we put in 6 tomato plants, Sweet 100 variety and 1 pumpkin plant. Photos of those if they actually last.

My father is still in the hospital though things have changed a bit. Off and on he'd complained of stomach pain and finally on Monday they ran some tests and discovered his gall bladder was badly infected. It was removed that night and he spent the next few days in ICU. Just last night he was moved back to rehab. His original wound is heeling well.

In other medical drama, N fell in the livingroom (when running in the house-after being told more times than I can count-Don't run in the house), hitting his head on the corner of the wall at the baseboard and splitting his eyebrow open about an inch. Thankfully the doctor at the ER was able to close it with glue.

Since I'm sure I won't post again tomorrow: Happy Father's Day!!