Happy Holidays!

My last pair of customs for the year and most likely for a few months. These are Mosiac Moon Treasure Map on Aran BFL. I really love knitting this colorway up and I am impressed that it knit up so nicely. These are being mailed out today to their new owner. I have also been working feverishly to finish up my christmas knitting one item left and I will be done!

We also had a kind of last minute appointment with V's Neurologist down state. Her seizures just were not getting any better and we felt that with each increase of the new medication we would decrease her seizure frequency but the seizures themselves would get much worse, not the best trade off. So we discussed our options and we decided to add a third medicine until her surgery. Like all of the other meds this one can have some funky side effects but I am really hoping we won't see any of those. So here is to hoping that a third drug gets some of what we are seeing under control.

I also had a chance to discuss a few other issues we've been seeing. For example after particularly bad seizure days V's pupils are two dramatically different sizes and will stay that way for upwards of 24 hours before they return to the same size. I figured it was "normal" for that to happen sometimes and he assured me it is. We also discussed the keotogenic diet again. He feels (and we agree) that because there is little hope that V will outgrow her seizures the keotogenic diet is not a great option for us. The only way it would provide any therapeutic value is if she stayed on it for life, and that is not a reasonable way to eat for your entire life. He did say he was a firm believer in it but that he preferred to use it in children who have seizures that are resistant to medicine (like V) AND who he feels are likely to outgrow their seizures so the diet would only be used for a relatively short period of time (like less then 10 years versus an entire lifetime). The surgery is her best option to be seizure free, we fully agree but it was good to hear someone confirming that yet again for us.

So really the sum of all of that is that we are kind of in a holding pattern right now until her surgery, just working to do what we can to try and keep her seizures under control with the least amount of side effects until the big day.

How I hate going out in the cold...

So I stayed in all day yesterday and knit. I just finished these, they need to go out ASAP to hopefully make it to Canada in time for a little boys birthday at the end of the month so these are unblocked and I will simply use some spray lanolin in the wet zone to make them ready to wear. The flash really picked up the white and makes it look like these have some kind of stripey pooling going on but in real life you don't notice it at all (it actually surprised me how the picture makes these look like they pooled). I love this colorway, Mosaic Moon Gaia II on Aran BFL, and these worked up really nicely. I hope the new owner loves them.

Nothing new to report for V, she is still having daily seizures and the med increase we did last week has made it so she no longer gets blue lips during a seizure but each seizure lasts longer and she is back to having 4+ a day. We plan to give it a few more days to see if it evens out at all as this med tends to take a full week before we see the true affect of a dose increase, but if it keeps up like this I think we are going to ask to be taken off of it and try something new. It has made her seizures go from relatively short (less then a minute), quite with mostly lip smacking and picking to longer seizures (always more then 2 minutes) with moaning, slapping, scratching, wandering and falling down while wandering. I hate taking her off a med and starting a new one though, the seizure meds have such bizarre side affects that it feels that with every med switch we trade one not so fun one for another. One med made her super hyper and overly aggresive, so we took her off that and put her on a new one that made her anorexic and caused her to throw up during seizures, so we took her off of that and put her on this one which seems to make her seizures worse rather then better and causes her to feel like she has to use the bathroom constantly (that makes car trips loads of fun).

P.S.  If you see my Mom wish her a Happy Birthday!

In the spirit

I finished this cute little sweater as a gift for one of DH's coworkers and his wife their first was born earlier this week. I adore these buttons on this sweater, so cute and sweet. My husband is giving it to them when he stops by to see them today. I am working on two projects right now. A pair of longies with MM Gwoin II for a customer, they are almost finished the second leg should be done tonight and I should have ends weaved and the drawstring done by Saturday so they will be ready to ship Monday. These knit up wonderfully and I love the detail of the stripes at the bottom. The other project I am working on is a Faraway So Close shawl for a customer done with some MM Unexpected Rainbow I have had in my stash for a bit. I truly love and adore this pattern, this is now the third one I have knit and they just go so fast for me. I have plans to make one more for myself in February.

We met with the neurosurgeon for V on Tuesday. We both really liked him, he answered all of our questions honestly and addressed every concern we had. I feel like we have a real true picture now of what we face and what things will be like after the surgery. We were also shocked when we left his office and he took us straight to his assistant and we scheduled her surgery. She goes in February 16th, faster then we ever imagined. There are risks but he feels (and we agree) that those risks are minimal compared with how this will change her life. The main risks are infection of the incision site, menengitis and bleeding which can lead to strokes. They are minimal risks though and not something that they generally see after the surgery. The more real risks are that she will lose a small pie shaped piece of her eyesight in one eye, it will not interfere with her ability to drive though and most likely she will never even notice it is missing, and that she will have problems with verbal memory later on in life. They have to remove the entire hippocampus of her left temporal lobe and that area controls memory and more specifically verbal memory. So when she gets older in school she may have a really hard time taking notes in classes, and learning material when it is just presented verbally -- all things we can work with though and far better then a life of worsening seizures. This surgery means she may have a chance to drive when she turns 16, she will be able to learn how to swim, she will be able to learn how to ride a bike, she can take baths without one of us in the room, she will be able to play any sport she wants and she will be able to live a life that is far more independent then the future she was facing with seizures. The surgeon believes that for her the surgery has a 70-80% chance of working, and those are odds I am hoping swing in her favor. It took me a bit to post this as we have been processing all of this and adjusting to the idea that this is going to happen in 2 months (when we began this journey we were told it could take upwards of a year and a half to get to the surgery). We are very hopeful this will work for her but if it does not my husband and I are prepared, and we have plans in place for moving forward with making her life as normal as possible.

With the surgery now in our very near future I will be taking a short break from customs. I have one pair of custom longies left to start and finish and after that there will most likely be one more slot that I offer with a quick turnaround time for January. PKat Pants will then take a break for a few months from Their Own Knitted World and from customs. I hope to return to custom knitting soon but for now I need to focus on my family, I have loved all of the knitting I have done over the years for my customers and I hope to return to knitting for all of you sometime next year.

Another Christmas gift finished and another close-up picture. I also began working on a cardigan my husband asked me to knit as a gift for a coworker and his wife expecting their first in a few weeks. I should finish this tonight and then on to the next project.

Knitting Machine

Well I'm not really a knitting machine but I have finished a few projects since Thanksgiving and that always makes me feel good! I finished the Euclid Cardigan for the Harrison set. The buttons are 3 different Peter Rabbit buttons that match perfectly. I am so happy with the way this set came out and this colorway is simply amazing -- no pooling at any point and the depth of color is amazing. I also finished up a super secret Secret Auntie project the close-up of the project is below no final shots yet for this one. One more Christmas gift has been crossed of my list as well, with another super duper close-up for now, when the gift has been given I will post the full shot and details on the pattern.

We are currently battling with insurance about V's meds, they feel that she is taking too many of one particular pill (a very expensive medicine even in generic form) so everytime we go to get the prescription filled they fight us about it and delay filling it to call the doctor, then only give us two weeks worth at a time so I have to repeat this whole insane dance every two weeks. It is all very frustrating. We also discovered the next year our out of pocket will be raised to $5,000, up from $3,000 this year and our prescrition coverage will be once again covering less of a percentage. In the last three years the small raise my husband gets yearly has not even covered our increasing heathcare costs. I am thankful to have insurance but for the amount we pay monthly on top of our out of pocket costs and our prescriptions costs healthcare takes up over 35% of our monthly budget!

Let the holiday madness begin!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thankgsgiving, I of course managed to finish up some knitting. I figured I was in for a long wait for an item my oldest daughter really wanted for Christmas, so I packed my knitting bag, the book I am reading now - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (thanks mom) a bottle of water and went to grab my spot in line. I forgot the chair though, next year the chair would be an important thing to remember. While I was waiting I started and finished this set of fingerless gloves using Laines Magnifiques Strawberry Princess colorway. I've put them up for sale at Their Own Knitted World for now but if they don't sell in the next week I think I may give them to my maillady, she seems to appreciate fingerless gloves during the winter. While you are there be sure to check out the auction going on for the 0-3 month Christmas set.

The Harrison Euclid cardigan is getting buttons tonight and I hope to have final shots of the set tomorrow, stay tuned!

Healthy kids and the Holidays

A very busy week last week with two very sick kiddos and one worn out mama. Just in time though everyone has fully recovered for Thanksgiving. Not to worries, while sick kids kept me from posting a blog update they did not keep me from knitting!

I worked on this cute little sweater to go with the 0-3 month Harrison set pictured earlier. This pattern is actually one I am testing and I love it already, so easy to work with and fully customizable. This little sweater is actually finished now just waiting to be blocked tomorrow and then buttons sewn on when it is finished. As soon as the set is done I promise some final project pictures.

Christmas is just around the corner and this year I plan to give as many handmade items as I can. I knocked two items off my list last week as well. These pictures are close-ups so to hopefully keep the items mostly a surprise for the recipients. I'm not sure if any family reads the blog but in case they do I don't want to fully ruin the surprise. As soon as the gifts are given I will post the full pictures and details about yarn and patterns. I also finished my part of a super secret project no pictures of that though until the gift has been given.

We just got back from a trip to CHB tonight. I had to take V down for her neurpopsych test, the test went really well and turned up a few things I need to address with her IEP team. Her speech is still delayed (no real surprise there) but the doctor also uncovered a fine motor skills delay and we need to get an OT eval to start working on that ASAP. She did amazing during the testing and was such a good girl, I was so proud of her. We celebrated with some alphabet cookies from Trader Joe's and little stuffed pony from Lakeshore Learning Store next door (where we also got some fat pencils and a fat pencil sharpener to help with writing). The doctors upped her
 second med again and I think (knock on wood) that we are seeing fewer seizures a day and even more seizure free days -- however the seizures have changed a bit and she now vocalizes during them and tries to clutch at something in the air or behind her back with her right hand. We still have a few more weeks to go before we are fully dosage strength so we'll see what happens, but I am feeling more positive about this medicine this week. Next up is the surgical consult next month with the surgeon, we should have a lot more answers after that.

Same same, but different

My sister used to live in Singapore and many times when you asked a street vendor if they had another of an item they would go back into their shop area and come out with something the same color but a totally different size, or the same size but a totally different item and insist it was "same same, but different". I think that perfectly describes not only the hats I just knit but how our week has gone. Each day same, same but different. We haven't had a seizure free day yet this week and the seizures haven't been following any kind of pattern like they normally do. Some days they began at 3am other days they didn't start until noon, some days they happened every hour or so other days she got longer breaks. Not entirely sure what that means medicine wise, it is so hard to tell if that means the medicine is starting to work or if this medicine can be added to our ever growing list of ineffective anti-seizure medicines.



I finished the two hats for sisters. They are both knit with Mosiac Moon Morwenstow on Aran BFL and I love how they match but still look different. I did a little loop at the top to make them easy to take on and off and easy to hang up and keep with mittens. These will be shipping out on Monday!

I've also had more time to work on the Meadow Lilley, it still doesn't look like much but I should have the waist done this evening and after that you will see how it takes shape. I need to get working on this, it is my item to stock at Their Own Knitted world this Thursday!

The first hat is done and the second is mostly done and should be finished tomorrow.  No picture as it looks much like the first hat (same colorway).

Another long day for poor V, at least the seizures didn't start until 4am so she got more sleep, but she averaged about one an hour again today.  We are still waiting on a call for her Neuropsych test, I plan to give them another call tomorrow and see when we can get this scheduled.  We can't do anything else until that test is done.  My biggest worry now is leaving her alone, she has recently started trying to find me during her seizures and since she isn't totally aware of what she is doing and she doesn't have full control of her limbs she falls down a lot.  I have nightmares about her trying to go down the basement stairs to find me while having a seizure.

Round and round

Just a few work in progress shots for today. The first is the first in a set of hats from the same colorway for a friend. These are both the Ky Baby Ear Flap hat done with MM Morwenstow on Aran BFL. The hat pictured is actually finished now and I just began the ear flaps for the second hat.

I am also working on a Meadow Lily top by Lynne of Cabbages and Kings size 12 months knit with Olivia on Licorice Twist this will be for instock next Thursday at Their Own Knitted World. No pictures of that yet, I'm not that far into the pattern so it doesn't look like much more then some colors on a knitting needle right now.

November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month and in honor of that I've turned the blog Lavender for the month.  We had a rough day here today with Vivian, she started with seizures at 2 am and had one about every hour or so.  We have a new medicine they gave us to stop this cycle when it begins (this is called a cluster) and usually one dose stops them.  Today it took 3 before they finally stopped at 1ish today.  Long day and I am hoping this doesn't start a new trend when it comes to her seizures.

Photo shoot

I managed to snap a few pictures while the two littles napped. Here are the XL longies for the auction winner. These are done on Ewe Need Color's Dark Chopsticks without pink colorway on Cestari.

I also have a shot of the progress on the 0-3 month set, they are still unblocked. I am waiting to finish the sweater to make the drawstrings for the longies and the booties so I know I have enough of colorway and solid to finish that the way I want. This set should be done in the next two weeks depending on when I get the pattern.

TGIF!

]No pictures for now, perhaps later if I can get the two littles to take their afternoon nap together.  I finished the longies, booties and hat for the 0-3 month set.  I am going to be testing a sweater pattern for the cardigan so I am just waiting for the pattern and I will start the sweater.  This set is going to be adorable and I can't wait until it is finished.  TFK Harrison makes a stunning set like this and because it is kettle dyed I have had no issues with pooling at all.

I also wound yarn last night for two hats that I am hoping I can knock out this weekend, just waiting to hear back on the style the customer would like.

On the V front we are finally at the therapeutic dose for Lamictal, so far this week we've only had two days of seizures.  Which is far better then the prior weeks with only one or two days seizure free, so I am hopeful the Lamictal will calm things down a lot for her seizure wise until she can have the surgery.    She still uses the bathroom a lot but I can deal with that side effect if it means that we have better seizure control, and maybe it is a temporary side effect that will go away in a month or so -- we'll see.

Working away!

A quick preview shot of the XL Ewe Need Color Dark Chopsticks no Pink longies. They are still a tad wet so I have not put the drawstring through yet -- hopefully tomorrow they will be ready to go and I can put the drawstring in and do the final photos of them.

I am working now on a 0-3 month set with Tree Frog Knits Harrison colorway on 3 ply purewool. This colorway is amazing and the pictures do it no real justice, there is a subtle depth of color my camera just does not capture. This is going to be a stunning set when it is finished. Halfway done with the second leg and planning on finishing these up tonight and moving on to the booties.

Not much going on at the family front. We are still waiting for calls to schedule V's neuropsych evaluation and our consult with the neurosurgeon, hopefully we will get a call this week!

Another one bites the dust!

I just weaved in the ends and wove the drawstring for the XL pair of longies I was working on this week. They came out stunning and I will load pictures as soon as they are done blocking.

We also discovered this week that Lamictil (one of the medications we are giving V to control seizures) has an interesting side effect. It makes her feel like she needs to use the bathroom constantly, we were worried it was a UTI but after taking her to the family doctor and having everything checked it seems it is definitely a side effect to the medicine. She has another increase in Lamictil coming this week so we will see how it goes. Lamictil has a great track record of seizure control (we have yet to see that but she isn't on a full dose yet) but does carry with it risks for a very serious allergic reaction, so when children are started on it they are titrated very slowly. She began it nearly a month ago and won't be on a full dose until next week, at which point we will see if the urge to use the bathroom constantly gets any better before we decide what to do next.

I win!

Here is my latest project. A pair of XL longies done for a charity auction winner. Progress has been a bit slow on the first leg because I was fighting some color stacking going on, but last night I finally figured out the magic combination the fixed that. I should be able to finish up these legs quickly now that I know how to keep them from pooling (knock on wood sometimes new magic must be found for the second leg).

On the family front I've spent a large portion of the day on the phone with various doctors, therapists and with the group the oversees my daughters IEP gathering everything I need for the neuropsych evaluation. When we first began this journey I always mentally scratched my head at the parents in the Neurologist waiting room with binder just filled to bursting with information. Now I get it. We started our notebook about 2 months ago and it is definitely full (but not bursting). It has a been a huge help, I can quickly look up information about speech therapy, assesments done and the results, medicines used for sedation and any reactions noted, procedures done and their dates and I keep monthly printouts from seizuretracker.com right in the front. For any families dealing with epilepsy I can't recomend seizuretracker.com enough I am able to organize medication information, keep a seizure log and keep track of apointments and procedure dates. Whenever we are going to an apointment I print off the log for the last month and show it to the doctor, from those reports we've been able to make changes in doses and when we give her those meds that have helped us gain a bit more control over the seizures. (Please note I am not affiliated with that site at all this is just a true and legitimate review of a great site)

An adorable top and some fantastic news!

I put the finishing touches and blocked a top I've been testing for Lynne of Cabbages of Kings. This is the Meadow Lily and is such a cute top for little girls, it looks adorable with a top underneath for winter and just as cute without the top.

We also had a call today from one her doctors and our daughter has been approved to go forward with the surgery. She will be having the ECoG surgery done, not sure on dates yet I imagine that will be at least 6 months from now, but I am excited (and nervous, scared and worried) that she gets this chance. I could mean that a few years from now Epilepsy is just a distant memory for our family. Next step we have to do a neuropsych test and meet with the surgeon to discuss the procedure, risks and projected outcomes.

A rainy day here, the perfect time to let the littles watch a few movies while I update the blog, get household chores done and knit.

Right now I am working on longies for an auction winner, finishing the sleeve on a Meadow Lily top I am testing for Lynne of Cabbages and Kings, and the yarn just came for my next custom a newborn set using Tree Frog Knits Harrison so as soon as the auction winner longies are done I will cast that on.

We've had a long week here seizure wise. Vivian is getting a cold and whenever she gets sick her seizure activity picks up. Yesterday was a long rough day for her and so far today it is heading down that same road. We are anxiously waiting for a call from her team in Boston about the outcome of the epilepsy conference -- hopefully next week we will hear.

Making it personal

In the past this blog has been strictly business (for the most part). I am going to start taking things in a slightly different direction from here on out and begin to blog a bit more about the journey my family is on, as well as my knitting. My family and friends know the roller coaster our life has been since September 2008 but I think it is time I share a bit of that with my customers. During this time my knitting has often been a form of therapy for me, it gives me time to be quiet with my thoughts and still feel productive.

My middle daughter was diagnosed with Epilepsy in late 2008 when she was about 18 months old. Specifically she has Temporal Lobe Epilepsy caused by Mesial temporal sclerosis. Since the diagnosis her seizures have become progressively worse. In 2008 she was having 1-2 a month, in 2009 she was having 1-2 a week, and this year her average is closer to 1-2 a day (on a good day, bad days can be upwards of 6). Seizure free days are not common at all, seizure free weeks are rare and we have never had a seizure free month. Medicine has not been successful at controlling her seizures. In June of this year after much thought and debate we decided to begin the process to determine if she would be a candidate for epilepsy surgery. In mid-September of this year we completed the Phase I testing, within the next few weeks we should be hearing how we need to proceed.

Through all of this our daughter has been an amazing. She is a trooper and nothing seems to phase her. She is a happy, friendly and tough little girl. She brings light and love to our family and to the doctors and nurses we work with. I hope and pray that she will be a candidate for surgery and it will provide her with a better future.

We have been dealing with this for awhile and it is just recently that I felt comfortable sharing our journey. I hope that by blogging a bit more about what our family is dealing with I can provide support for any other families going through something similar.

Pricing

Sizing (general guideline for sizing -- customs are made to the measurements you send me)

Size	Rise	Hip	Longie Inseam	Shorties Inseam	Capri inseam
Newborn	14"	14-16"	6"	2"	3"
Small	14-16"	16-18"	8"	2"	4"
Medium	16"-18"	18-22"	10"	3"	5"
Large	18"-20"	20-23"	12"	3"	6"
Extra Large	20"+	23"+	14"	4"	7"

Pricing

Size	Longies/Skirties	Shorties	Capri length	Soakers
Newborn	$35	$20	$25	$15
Small	$40	$25	$30	$20
Medium	$45	$30	$35	$25
Large	$50	$35	$40	$30
Extra Large	$55	$40	$45	$35

If your little one needs a longer inseam please add $2 per inch

Twisty Trouser Sizes and Pricing (Longie pricing only, shortie pricing available upon request)

Size (Hip measurement - Rise knit to your measurement)	Inseam	Price
Newborn/Small (10-15")	6-7"	$45
Medium (13-18")	7-8"	$55
Large (16-21")	9-10"	$65
XL/Toddler (19-24")	11-12"	$75

If your little one needs a longer inseam please add $2 per inch

Elizabeth Tunic sizing and pricing

Size	Chest Measurement	Tunic Length (Dress Length)	YYMN Price
Newborn	14"	9" (12")	$30
3 months	17"	10" (13")	$37
6-12 months	18"	12" (14")	$45
12-18 months	19"	13" (16")	$52
18-24 months	20"	14" (17")	$60
2T/3T	21"	15" (18")	$67

Embellishments and Extras

Item	Price
Ruffles	$5
Double Ruffles	$10
Cargo pocket	$5
Stripes, embellished designs, or cables (pricing depends on complexity)	$10-$20
Newborn booties or stay on socks	$15
Scrappies (price depends on size and the number of color changes)	$10-$20
Hat (several styles to choose from)	$25-$40

Custom knitting on your pattern $0.15-0.17 a yard depending on complexity

*NEW* 10% Discount for two or more handknit items.

*NEW* Free return shipping for all YYMN customs.

Shipping within the US includes delivery confirmation. I cannot be held responsible for packages once they leave my hands, if you have any shipping concerns I strongly recommend purchasing insurance.

All knit items are washed and lanolized in ENI Oatmeal, Milk and Honey wool wash prior to shipping. ENI Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is a very mild and GN scent but if you are sensitive to any scents please let me know and I can wash in unscented wool wash for you.

Due to the nature of custom knit items I cannot accept any returns or exchanges. Please measure carefully before purchasing. If there are any issues with your knit item please contact me within 7 business days.

Lots of updates here :)

S.A. - body done working on first leg
Serengti longies from congo - shipping today
Starburst capris from congo - shipping today
Lindsey - working on last hat this weekend will ship next week (with your Treasure Map yarn as well)
Kim - yarn arrived will start longies next week

I'm still here -- just finding less time to post with the knitting I have been working on. Plenty of finished items to show as well. For now I will start with what I am stocking this Thursday at Their Own Knitted World.

These are a pair of large capris knit with Bear & Pants (our featured dyer for the month) in her Starburst colorway on Cestari.

S.A. - working on body will be finished this week
Lindsey - hat to match small set is done, working on the cabled hat
Amanda - waiting on measurements but no rush at all, I totally understand any delays!