Papa just got his 2009-2010 hat! (New here? It's a tradition! Check it out - 2008, 2007, 2006).
I wanted to make something different for Steve this year - nine years into this annual hat knitting gig and I've kind of covered a lot of terrain - ribs, stripes, simple cables. Not to mention the kind of fall that he's been having - the man deserves a crazy-cool hat!, I kept saying as I searched for the right one. And so, we scoured the internets together (poor man - when you're on crutches and your wife appears with the laptop queued to Ravelry, you really have no choice but to participate, now do you?).
In our search, I found Cairn, which totally and completely stole my heart. It really did. Thankfully, he agreed. (He's an agreeable middle child, you know...)
I started it when we were in the emergency room a week or so ago now. But something was funky with the sizing and so I ripped that out.
I started it again the next day when we were waiting for him to go into surgery. We were laughing too much (because that man can wear a scrub hat like nobody's business) and I got distracted. So I ripped that out too as soon as I sent him off.
I didn't knit while I waited. But as soon as I saw the nurse in the recovery room laughing at him as he was coming out of anesthesia, I knew that all was well. That he was well. I laughed and started knitting again as we sat together waiting to go home to our babes. And I got this hat right finally. Ah...
Steve and I both want to thank you so much for the sweet words and kindness you've showered our way in recent weeks (months now - my goodness!). We still feel as though we're in the thick of it, but thankfully, and hopefully, past the scary parts. His surgery went well, and he's now started six weeks of treatment and rehab for the infection and it's effects on his body. Thankfully he's able to do it all as an outpatient now - it's worth a few extra hours in the car each day to have him home with us! It's possible (and we're very much hoping) that at the end of this next step, he'll be free and clear. Time will tell, of course. Until then, we're beginning to catch our breath a bit; and focusing all of our energy on healing our Papa in the ways we know how.
Because - as he reminds us all quite optimistically - ski season is right around the corner. And he's got some kids to chase down a mountain.
