Beginning to edge forward

Life has returned somewhat to a new equilibrium.  Little Bonnie Cat is stable on two meds, which she will probably need permanently. She has a tiny bit of a wheeze still, but is more herself and not withdrawn anymore. We are grateful, and don't take her for granted, enjoying when she seeks us out for some attention.

I have made progress on several fronts.

Writing project well underway. Small compensation but it's a bit of process design, which was one part of my job that I enjoyed, and it's on a long deadline and totally done at home. Perfect.

Now for the progress report.

Quilting:

Finished another comfort quilt top. They requested more masculine colors and prints for the VA nursing home. I call these murky tans burgundy and greens. All stuff I need to get out of my stash now goes for a good cause.

And yes, I got some handstitching done. Well, actually I stitched these big pentagons into a ring by machine and hand sewed them to the center. Need to pick up the pace on this project, so it's hybrid piecing now. Star band for this one is about 20% done, too.

Knitting:

Finished a baby set for donation to Bella's Babies.  

Enjoyed starting in on the new episodes of Anne with an E on netflix.  Lots of nice knitwear in that show. 

On the machine knitting side, it's been a mechanical nightmare weekend. Ordered a new sponge bar, and ended up getting it stuck in the machine so I had to take the whole bed apart and remove the missing sponge pieces. I used self adhesive weatherstripping after I mangled the first sponge bar, and that seemed to actually fit better.  Back in business, but only finished one hat.

I don't like to just do a row of K2Tog and draw the yarn through for the crown, so I did some 2 by 1 mock ribbing at a tighter tension, a row of decreases, and them moved the stitches to a circular needle and finished a few fast rows of crown decreases. 

I had a few messed up starts on other items, and just had to walk away,  I am not proficient at this yet.

Other than that, I have my usual July ailment: Poison ivy rash. I thought I was so careful when I pulled up a few stray vines in the front flower beds. Disposable gloves, arm in a plastic bag, inside immediately to wash my arms down in cool water and Dawn and tecnu, then a cool shower. Dried my arm with a separate hand towel and threw all clothing and towels right in the wash. But my right arm is still oozing.  I am just taking the benadryl this time, and catching up on my rest.