Never give up, never surrender

This was enclosed in a card by my dear friend, Karen, to cheer me up. It worked! I got a good start on this piece, too, a couple of weeks ago when Stanford was in the hospital and we watched movies during his treatment. I'll enjoy putting it out with the Halloween decorations, which are currently sitting in a couple of Rubbermaid bins in the living room. I may put the things out tomorrow while waiting for the visiting nurse to unhook Stanford from his infusion he is getting now (5 FU, for those who know about chemo drugs), and de-accessing his port. Then I'll take a stitching break, and finish this cute little guy!



Here is how much I've stitched so far on "My Garden Wild", also done at the hospital. If it weren't for the fact that it's a hospital, with sick people, and all of our lives in upheavel right now, I could freely enjoy all the stitching time I've been getting. As it is, I do enjoy it (the stitching time, that is), and try not to feel guilty at starting new projects all the time and taking huge bags with me of stitching/knitting, with a smaller bag of clothes. But my enjoyment is always tinged with worry and concern, and I make sure to also work on the projects at home and at sit and stitch nights so they aren't all "hospital" projects, in my mind.

We spent yesterday at Dartmouth, while Stanford got more chemotherapy. He went in feeling quite well and energetic, and came out looking sickly and tired and drawn. But we were able to come home last night, thanks to the home infusion company. He has thrown up twice, but eaten fairly well this evening, and is trying to do his part by drinking enough water and eating what he can so he can be at home and not in the hospital.




My final pictures for today show what I have named my "17-year-sweater". It is what prompted the title of today's post, because this is a project I began about 17 years ago, when Stanford was a baby who could climb out of his crib at 16 months of age, and did climb out about 27 times a night. So I finally sat in his room to guard the side of the crib and keep him from getting out. This took about an hour a night, but it had taken that amount of time before, anyway, of chasing him back to bed. I got to the point of being able to sit beside the crib and knit by the light of the nightlight. If I got through three rows before he fell asleep, I knew he was restless that night. The sweater is a very easy pattern, done on #5 needles. But it took me 17 years because I must have stitchers' ADD or something, starting a project and then putting it aside to begin another one, and yet more. I finally took this sweater out and FINISHED IT!

The title of today's post (which is a line from the movie, Galaxy Quest) could also refer to life in general, right now . . . keep going and don't quit. Do what it takes to get my boy healthy again. Keep stitching and keep smiling!