You were my sunshine

RIP

 Burt, Burtoni, Burton, BB, Beebs

2014 - 2026

Trigger warning I am going to talk about end of life decisions, grief, and sadness.

We had almost ten years this wonderful ball of sunshine. 

We had a rough weekend with many calm, warm moments in between. 

He looks so tired here because he was. Last week he stopped eating, and you know how Burt loved his food. By Friday morning he would sniff food but not eat anything. We went to the vet and he did not have a blockage but she could not see his left kidney. He had a big mass that was probably pushing on his stomach and causing vomiting. She thought she could remove the kidney and help him. I thought about it and we put him on the schedule for Thursday and hospitalized him for the day. He got some good pain meds and supportive care but he would not eat. 

I picked him up Friday night and he was definitely high and happy to be home but it was a very difficult weekend. We had some calm quiet moments of hope, but he was not able to eat all weekend. I was unable to get meds to stay in and vomiting increased. 

By Sunday, I questioned if surgery was the right decision and my sister offered to look up the how successful surgery is. The outcome was not reported to be what I had hoped and his condition just kept sliding, especially since he could not keep meds down. It seemed as if surgery would only give us 90 to 200 days. Less than a year.  

Could I really put him through surgery for less than a year of bonus time. How much of that time would be bonus, recovering from a major surgery. Especially when he was not eating, which creates its own problems.

How selfish would it be to hurt him because I can't accept loss?

We were lucky enough to have him for almost ten years.

 I made sure I had one last project picture with him

He had the biggest personality and purr.

He was my shadow and knitting companion.

My warmest lap sitter with the biggest rumble.

 Goodbye my friend.

2025 Knits and Gathering of Things

So I never really wrapped up my knitting last year. Burt and did enough knitting to amuse ourselves. We started a shawl and carried on with it through many months. I just had to look it up January to April I knit on that shawl.

Burt especially likes it when the shawl gets big enough to drape over him and still let me knit.

I just love how colorful this is. I am thinking I will make another one out of left over yarns, but I think instead of triangular I would make it rectangular shaped. It is a bit awkward to wear.

I made myself a pair of rainbow socks since I enjoyed knitting D's pair so much. These make me feel better every time I put them on. So cheerful.

I really needed some color in my sock drawer so I knit up some bold orange socks too.

I tried out a bit of color work. Not terribly good colorwork but still fun. They are cat paws if you cannot see. I have a problem with my ribbing always flipping over so maybe next time I will make the cuff longer, who knows?

I did a bit of yarn and tool purchasing too. What can I say, I love Malabrigo and having good tools.

I also like trying out new stores and yarn types. And sometimes I even buy the same color twice because it was so much fun the first time. Teal Torch on the end I am looking at you. 

I started and finished another Color Affection shawl but have been enjoying my other shawls instead. It is really quite pretty but I am horrible at washing and blocking. Now would be a perfect time to do that since the air needs water so we can all stop zapping Burt with our static electricity. 

You will notice how much color I need in my life now. I discovered Gusto Wool and knit up even more pretty socks for myself. I love the color changes on these. 

I knit up some "Let me tell you about my uterus" socks from yarn I ordered after our Dollywood trip the fall before. Not my normal colors and I love them more for being special. Plus it is fun to giggle over the yarn name when you're waiting for a Doctor to come in.

D and I went to a very small local festival and I could not turn down a buy four get one free deal at a booth. Then the local yarn shop was there and I wanted more Z Yarns.

You got to love good color transition yarn like this.

Helpful Burt as always modeled some special yarn I ordered from NY because my friend went to a festival and found some interesting local yarn. Non-superwash Corridale Cormo blend grown and processed in NY. I should have taken a day off work and toured that mill.

I continued in my quest to gain learn more about knitting  and tracked down some books I missed out on when I first started knitting. And I just let whimsy run amuck too. I realized I don't have to want to knit everything in a book, sometimes inspiration is enough. 

I rounded out the year with D's Christmas socks made out of more Gusto Wool. With color changes like this why be plain and boring?