I’ve only been diagnosed asthmatic for about three years now, so I don’t always realise when I’m having an attack. My attacks are pretty mild most of the time, though when I was first diagnosed it was due to such serious bouts of coughing that I couldn’t breath for stretches, and would have tears rolling down my face. Understandably this freaked my fiancé out, he hated seeing me in such pain and distress. He told me we were going to the doctor so off we went.

I had had a cold or the flu about six times in a row, at this point. I’d had blood tests done to see why I kept getting sick, and my immune system seemed okay. When we told the doctor what had been going on, she asked a few questions, and then stated that I had asthma. It was a shock. I’d never thought that it was anything so ongoing as that, but it made sense. My mother has asthma and had smoked in the house around me for my entire childhood.

Asthma is really annoying for me, and I’m glad that it’s just annoying and not more serious. Of course I say that whilst coughing away in spite of taking my Ventolin and having cough mixture for the cold I’ve caught. Next stop is a bowl of boiling water with mint in it, but of course the Summer heat has killed my mint plant… This blogger here about sums it up with what she says. I’m not going to repeat it but yeah, I feel the same way.

So I frogged all the mohair, and have been swatching for gauge for my circular shrug. I think if the pattern turns out nice, I’ll give the shrug to the lady who gave me the yarn as a gift, as I probably shouldn’t be wearing it, and buy yarn for my own one in a fibre that isn’t trying to kill me. I don’t want to do that, you see, but I’m thinking that’s the smartest thing to do. Of course, maybe I shouldn’t be knitting with it at all… perhaps I’ll see about a yarn swap with someone… *ponders* At this point I kind of just want it away from me, because I’m sick of coughing.

Anyway, today’s pattern is asthma related… it’s an inhaler sock! Now, I don’t like knitting socks, never tried and never will… I’ve just never seen the point in knitted socks! Anyway, this is a little cozy for your inhaler, which could easily be attached to a keyring or what not, which is a good thing for those of us who don’t keep track of them. I had four inhalers spread strategically around my home, but now I’m down to two. One on my desk, one on my bedside table, which works for me, as the one on the desk goes into my pocket or backpack when I go anywhere.

Now, mohair is notorious for being difficult to frog, to pull undone from a knitted piece and back to a single long strand of yarn, because of the fuzzy nature of mohair fibres, which are tiny corkscrew curls that want to go everywhere. They lock in with each other and hold, and that can be very, very, difficult to get undone. I’ve knit something in mohair before – leg warmers… what was I thinking!? – and upon seeing them on myself, promptly set out to frog them. But the yarn wasn’t in favour of that, and I still have a half frogged leg warmer in my knitting odds and ends drawer.

So, with this frogging, I’ve a weapon. I have a plan! Apparently, when you need to frog mohair, you should put it in the freezer for a while before you do so, because it makes the yarn a little less clingy, it seems to settle the yarn a bit, and then you can rip back with much greater ease! So, for the last two days I’ve had a bag of knitting in the freezer. It doesn’t need to be in there that long, but I got side-tracked by lots of things and haven’t gotten back to it.

Today’s knitting pattern is going to be a cute Lace Rib Shrug, that I really like. I’ve really been liking these circular shaped patterns, of late, not sure why. I love seeing what people do with their patterns on Ravelry, like this pattern for instance, you might wonder, is it really a good pattern? Well then you look at the ‘Projects’ page and you can see that this pattern knits up quite nicely for a variety of figures. I think being able to see what people have done with something before you knit it is an amazing advantage!

My poor fiancé will ask me a question, and I take about thirty seconds to reply because that is how long it took my brain to understand the man is speaking English to me… What the heck is with that? It’s kind of entertaining, in a way, because things that are just a tiny bit funny, suddenly become very funny! How good is that? Alright, it isn’t that good, but I am trying to find an up side. I am craving chocolate too, but I am not going anywhere to get it. I just had one of those protein bar things because it is covered in chocolate… It wasn’t very good.

Whilst I am home and sick, it gives me an opportunity to get some knitting done. All ensconced on the couch with my yarn. But I have been wondering what exactly to knit, lately. I am in the midst of a rather lovely felt purse, that I am knitting up some extra felting fabric to put a sparrow motif on the front, but apart from that. Oh and the acorns, but my fingers are too sensitive whilst I am sick for toy knitting, as it is really tight.

I have about 400 grams of rather bright purple mohair, and I have no idea what to do with it. Because, quite frankly, I’m not huge on the colour, and not overly partial to the fluff nature of the stuff. Now, I know I couldn’t knit it up and felt it, but I would feel bad for those who actually like this stuff, it’s pretty good yarn, you see. The lady who gave it to me is sick at the moment, and as she was originally going to make herself something out of it, I have considered making her something with it and giving it to her.

I actually found this shawl today, and I am thinking of making that up. I might even be able to make two with the yarn I have, one each! Anyway, I think I am off to sit back on the couch… I just have to print out that pattern…