An Amigurumi Pumpkin

The past couple of weeks have been kind of hectic.  I finished up hanging new blinds on all of the windows -- followed by some tedious work with a small brush with touch up paint in some spots.  The my mom had surgery for a torn rotator cuff.  It's her right shoulder and she's right-handed so this has not been fun.  The surgeon was able to repair it via arthroscopic surgery along with a tear on her bicep that he didn't realize she had.  She'd been in a lot of pain and had begun driving with her left hand, etc.  After three days in the hospital, she was sent home and has had an occupational therapist and nursing care in her home.  My sisters and I have taken turns staying with her.  We stayed overnight for the first full week she was home.  Now she's OK as far as having health care people and us going to her house to work with/check on her and see if she needs anything.  Recovery is a hard road for this type of surgery, especially for a diabetic in her 70's but considering the pain she had already been experiencing, she knows that this will get better. 

I also finished up a book for LibriVox and just began auditioning again for paying jobs late last week.  While I was at my mother's house, I began working on making something for Halloween for my three nieces.  They're now 4, 6 and almost 7 years old.  Last year I crocheted pieces of candy corn.  For this year I decided to make Amigurumi pumpkins.  The first pattern I started I ended up ripping out because it just wasn't working out.  So I switched to a simple pattern by Lion Brand called the Amigurumi Happy Pumpkin.  The pattern can be found here and it's free.  The first one whipped up pretty quickly.  I shouldn't have any problem making the other two.  I'll send these to the girls with the obligatory Halloween M&Ms.  Now I have to get back to working on items for The Humble Stitch Project.  I have a small pile of items finished for them that Linda and Duane and I had made but I started a scarf and another pair of fingerless gloves.  Between items for them and friends and family, my hands aren't idle for long.    Here's a pic of the pumpkin I finished.