Alex's Monster-Mitts

Happy little boy and his hand-warmers :)

Today's mini-project: Composit Mitts for Alex.  The mornings and evenings have been getting pretty crisp, and Alex gets cold fingers.  I went looking for his hand-warmers from last year only to discover that I'd lost one.  That called for a new pair.  I tried a few different styles with some gray Queensland Rustic Tweed that i had left over from Jana's gloves, but the tonal-tweed deal just interfered with the patterns and it wasn't working out.  So, after searching my stash a little bit, I found a stray ball of green Cashmerino DK (I think...might be aran weight), and cast on.  I went to my favorite fall-back pattern: Natalya by Jody Pirrello (Ravelry link).  I love this pattern.  It's one of only two patterns I've ever knit more than time.  I've actually knit some altered version of this pattern five different times!  That's some kind of record in my house.  I followed the pattern using the cast-on numbers for the mittens in the 4-6 year old size from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns.  The fold-over seed stitch flap and thumbs are inspired by Arachnid by Karen Fournier.  I loved her fold-over ribbed cuffs and thought that would be great for mornings when it's nippy but not cold enough for full on mittens yet.  These knit up in a flash, and they were received with the biggest smile I've seen in a while, lol.  His exact words were "are they finished!  Can I wear them?!  Who's more satisfying to knit for than him?lol.  And he hasn't taken them off yet.  As a matter of fact, he has plans in the works for a matching hat.

Apple green Cashmerino DK

Today we go back to the sleep clinic for our second follow up since the over-night sleep study.  I'm hoping that they'll have some suggestions for us but the last time I was there they mentioned that we're running out of options.  The woman who comes to see us from The Providence Center called (actually her supervisor called) to check on Alex today.  I'd had to cancel his appointment on Friday because his eye swelled up like a balloon about 20 minutes after he went to bed the night before.  It was red, swollen, and he was a mess.  He was having a nasty allergy attack and I dosed him with Benedryl several times through out the night and the following day, and took him to the pediatrician.  He's got hay-fever.  They prescribed some children's claratin for him and he's been doing much better since.  He slept all night last night and had a pretty good day at church the day before.  They suggested asking for a referral to an allergist, and to see if they would consider putting down in their report that he should be tried in a school setting for a few weeks to see if the routine of it could help reset his little body to a normal routine and tire him out enough to sleep through the night.  If they recommend it, the people at The Providence Center could try again with the insurance company to see if they would cover the cost of the day program for a few weeks.  I think it's worth a shot so we'll see what happens.

Ladies and gentleman, your future hand-model

Now, off to see what I can do for a mini-project for today.  Eventually, I'll actually have to crochet this afghan for my husband, lol.  Oh! and before I forget, my final grades are in and I passed Statistics and Research Methods with A's in both!  Somehow, I got a perfect 100% in research methods :)  Not bad for a class that I didn't like and felt unqualified for, lol.  My GPA survived statistics and research methods...I think I might be in the clear now.

And one last thing... the answer to the question about the quotes under the photos on my last post.  Kelly got it right.   The movie is The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with Don Knotts, a favorite in my house particularly with Alex.  What can I say?  The kid has good taste.  Kelly, if I don't get to see you on Thursday night, I'll have your stitch markers on Sunday.