I have been busy knitting lately.  I have been working on my old favorite, the five hour baby sweater. I just love the pattern.  I love the way it comes off my needles and builds into a sweater. I love that it is knit contiguously, no breaks in the yarn at all.  I love the garter yoke.  I love it all!

The first one I made is in a lovely robin's egg blue.

This also was a nice yarn...A new acrylic I hadn't tried yet called Red Heart Soft.  It is silky and soft, a pleasure to knit with.

Sweater #2 is done in Wool-Ease. Another nice yarn to knit with.  Though both are worsted weight, the Wool-Ease is a bit finer and the second sweater knit up a bit smaller. (I was using the same needles.)

And now I have #3 on the needles.  It is with a colorful variegated Caron yarn.  It looks pretty, but after the nice feel of these former two sweaters, it feels very yucky.  It is that more crunchy kind of acrylic yarn....Not my favorite.

Five hour baby sweater #4 is already planned as well.  For that one, I got some bulkier yarn and I am going to size up my needles in hopes of making a toddler sweater for that sweet baby in the pom pom hat in the blog below.  I loved the color of this Jiffy yarn.  And I have knit with Jiffy before, it has a nice, soft, hairy texture.  I am looking forward to knitting with it.

I will have to go button shopping soon.  As a matter of fact, I have a finished 5hbs in pink that has been set aside for like a year now (ahem) just because I didn't have buttons for it.....I guess I should remedy that!

The hat my friend knit for her daughter.....She didn't really need knitting lessons, more like a knitting nudge.

BTW...I have to show this one last picture....See what they had at their house last week? Snow!!!

Goodness...Sometimes my weekends feel busier than my weekdays!

It frosted here last night.  I mean a good and hard frost.  I had to dig an ice scraper out of the back closet and take it out to my car and give it a good scrape down.  Mind you, I had started my car ahead of time...I have been feeling cold this fall and this new car seems to take a bit more time to get the hot air blowing through it in the mornings...I am thinking of how wonderful it would be to have a remote car starter.....Especially now that I have a job and will have to get up and going in the mornings.  It would be nice to be able to come out to a warmed up car and softened ice/snow for easier clean off.

My landlady has a huge dahlia.  It is bush sized and has been putting out beautiful red flowers for a few weeks now.  The frost hit the plant hard and it is now drooped and dark (frozen leaves turn dark green after they thaw) and done for the season.  I will miss the bright cheerful flowers.

I guess we need to get ourselves organized in terms of weather.  We need to get the storm windows on the chicken coop, get the deck cleaned off...Other miscellaneous seasonal related chores too....

If only there was more time in the day!

If you ever wondered what happens to lemon wedges abandoned in a lunch bag for a week.......

Here's you answer:

They get very, very fuzzy....really, almost artfully so!

Sunday I spent a lot of time knitting. I finally finished the trim work on the yellow sweater. I faced the fact that I may never make it to a store to find some contrasting ribbon and acknowledged that I had the perfect color yarn on hand.  I made a crochet chain with a size I needle and wove the chain in and out of the eyelet on the sweater. Then I used the contrast yarn to make ties and even a little embellishment for the front.

I think it came out nicely.

I have ordered a board book from Amazon (because all babies need books!) and once it arrives, I will be able to pack the gift up and give it to my coworker.

I have to say, I am quite pleased with how it came out. The trim really livens the sweater up a lot. I had never done a sewn on embellishment before and it wasn't too tricky, so I might be apt to try it again in the future.

BTW, did I mention I have another pregnant coworker?  I see more baby knitting in my future!

Hot air balloons! I was surprised to go outside and find there were two!!!

Musta been an interesting trip for the folks in the basket, the fog cleared, the sun came out and then....The fog came back fiercely.  The balloons had little wind and an hour after taking off landed only a few buildings over in another field, they sort of did a big foggy circle!!!

My day yesterday was pretty low key. It was a nice change from the work week!

My friend, Berry, came over first thing. I was going to teach her how to knit...She had learned to knit a few years ago, but then had let it go. However, she really remembered a lot and I didn't have to do very much knitting support at all. Right now she is making a basic two needle hat for her daughter. 

As you can see, it is already coming along nicely.

And since it was girl bonding time...Berry was even kind enough to French braid my hair for me.  Mind you, I have the worst hair for French braiding as it is very, very fine and silky soft and as she was braiding it, my hair was already falling out of the braid.....But she got braids in on the sides and I was very happy with how it looked.

Usually, when I want to style my hair, I start with wet hair, use lots of gel (which I refer to as Hair Glue) and then follow it up with some hair spray.  Though it sometimes is crispy to touch, it will hold my hair up for most of the day.  Berry was at a total disadvantage as my hair was dry and had no products in it.  I am impressed she got my hair to cooperate at all! Now, if only I could French braid my hair so nicely, it would be a nice style to wear to work! I ought to practice at it!

A while after Berry left, another friend called me on the phone and I chatted with her for a bit.  It was a good and friendful morning!

In the afternoon, I was super, super sleepy.  I laid down just before one and slept until three!  I guess I was tired!!! I still felt a bit drowsy all afternoon, even after the nap, but the nap was just decadent and warm and snuggy and relaxing.

Let's see...what else......In the late afternoon dh and I ran a quick couple of errands.  We went to the health food store to get some shampoo and some Kombucha.  Then we went to Sears and I got a new bra. Believe it or not, the second bra I tried on fit me perfectly! What are the odds of that?! Mind you, they only had one of that style in stock, but I am quite pleased with it and will check back for another or maybe pop into JC Penney's for another.  It is a Playtex bra, so shouldn't be too hard to find.

Then we went to the grocery store.  It only took me a week, but I finally remembered my toothpaste!  And then we came home and had quiet time in the evening watching some Big Bang Theory, knitting, reading.....Just quiet time with the family.

Today will be another quiet day.  There is no Religious Education at UU today so we are skipping UU and staying home.  We have been running ourselves so ragged the past few weeks, we really need a good bit of down time to recharge. (Plus, dh is sick and was a good sport to go on errands with me yesterday, but he really could use the recuperative time today.)

Edit: Oh squee! A bunch of cars just pulled into the road next to the field by my house.  They are going to launch a hot air balloon! I love watching them fill up and float away.  It'll be an interesting morning for it too as it is a bit chilly and very foggy.....

Yay for the weekend!

I've had a hard couple of weeks and I have been looking forward to this weekend since about Tuesday.

On the agenda:

A friend is coming over this morning for some girl time and I am going to teach her how to knit!

Then lots of quiet home time!

Okay...and maybe a quick errand as I am out of toothpaste and conditioner.

A day in the life......

Of a brand spanking new Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant just one month into the job.

7:00 Arrive at work.  Get PDA.

 Sign on to timecard.  Sync for new patient data. Then add/remove patients from the client list and upload to Services directory.

7:10  Be in first patient's room for morning ADLs (activities of daily living, i.e. washing, dressing).  Support and teach patient ways to wash and clean up independently.  This means spending about 50 minutes in a 7 foot square bathroom while the patient uses the toilet, disrobes night clothes, washes whole body, performs oral hygiene and then dresses for the day. This is all done while teaching the patient safe techniques and pacing/energy conservation so they can complete the tasks safely.

8:10 Second patient's room for ADLs.

9:00 Bring two patients to the gym for overlapping time slot. Do different activities with each person.  Work with one on upper body strengthening so she/he can be stronger for using her walker and pushing herself out of chair and off bed for functional transfers.  Work with the second on standing tolerance teaching pacing and awareness of fatigue.

10:00 Go to another patient's room to discuss his prior level of home management before coming to the nursing home.  Engage patient in home management activities (take all of laundry out of drawers and closet and have patient fold items or put them on hangers and then carry to drawers or closet to put away) in room paying attention to post-surgical precautions, helping patient with precaution compliance, and teaching patient safe techniques for performing tasks.

11:00 Lead therapy group for four patients. (Once a week.)  Focus group on common goal that all patients are working on. (Upper body strengthening, Standing tolerance, etc)

11:30 Go to another patient's room to work on upper extremity range of motion, ADLs, training with adaptive equipment (how to use a dressing stick to don underwear and pants, a sock aid to don socks)

12:00 Lunch.  Sync morning data from PDA. Try to eat lunch, touch base with other therapists, catch up on notes.

12:30 Tues/Thurs Rounds and Staff Meeting. MWF more patient care.

1:15 Get a last few minutes in with a patient and/or make schedule for next day and mark on schedule board on rehab wing.

1:30 (or 1:40 or on a bad day closer to 2) Check out on PDA time card, sync data, log off, plug PDA into dongle and place on charging rack. Go home.

Now...in the in between times, I also have to write weekly progress notes for each patient, do discharge paperwork if patient is leaving, do paperwork and manage patient goals for patient in "Transition Room", review evaluations, attend care conferences, check for notes in chart, and touch base with nurses, LNAs, dietician, Activities Director (not all the same day, but depending on patient needs of the day).

Of course, I don't even have a full caseload yet.....So, my schedule is actually "light" as compared to my colleagues!