Slight digression into knitting (and about time, too)

It isn't really a digression, though, because as soon as I found out that I was going to be spending about four hours every other week in the infusion room my first thought was, "Now maybe I'll finish the damned socks."

I love making socks -- until I get to the cuffs, at which point I get either frustrated because the counts won't come out right for a pattern, or bored because I gave up on the pattern and I'm doing endless rounds of ribbing. I always do toe-up socks because I can't stand the idea of having to get through the cuffs before I can do the fun part. (My grandma always ate everything on her plate before she'd allow herself the fun of eating dessert. I do not take after her.) But with that much time hooked up to the IV stand I can bite the bullet, haul myself up by my bootstraps, put my shoulder to the wheel, and finish the damned socks.

The shawl is another matter. It's from gorgeous hand-dyed boucle, and it's wonderfully soft and easy to work with. The only problem with it is that I'm going point up, so each row is longer than the one before. On the other hand, I'm doing it completely in garter stitch so as not to get in the way of the subtleties of the colors, so I just chug along on it mindlessly.

What next? It will partly depend on the side effects of the new chemo (chemo brain leads to some interesting pattern variations). But the possibilities are endless. For the next two days, while I wear the portable pump and delivery system I gather I'm likely to spend most of my time asleep. Then I'll feel better and, hopefully, more energetic.

For those of you who remember the pop music of the 40's (is anyone left who does?) I woke up this morning singing "So you put the fanny pack here, and the chemo goes round and round, round and round, oh-ho-oh, and it comes out here."