With the cold, comes the lazy...

My whole house has been sleeping the weekend away. Here's a picture of Molly asleep with her tongue hanging out.

I have no new knitting to show. I have been knitting only a few rows of straight stockinette a night.... I am already daydreaming of other knitting projects to start. I also started to piece together my Brea bag because the handle came in, but that ended up thrown back into the knitting bag with a few select naughty words. I hate finishing.

Well, back to lazy land.

Look! Yarn cakes!

Somebody got their ball winder and swift in the mail today!!!

And in case you are curious - this is Lorna's Laces - Grays Corner. It was the beautiful yarn my secret pal sent me.

My toilet works!

I have two working toilets. The plumber came yesterday! Still no shower, as we need to order it special. I have been cleaning this upstairs bathroom today and my hands are dry and icky. Lots of bleach. (I hate the idea of germs.)  So, I can actually flush our toilet upstairs without showering the butler's pantry downstairs.

Today is my 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Louisville yesterday to the Speed Art Museum and attended a forum on The Kentucky Sugar Chest. After that, we went to Ramsi's Cafe on the World for lunch. Then to a knitting shop where I bought some double pointed needles for my Tangled Yoke sleeves. Then, on to the bookstore and some ice cream. It was a nice day.

Well, I'll get back to cleaning the bathroom now. It's going to take several scrubbing attempts.

Shopping Sin

I committed a shopping sin. I bought stuff at Walmart. I usually don't shop there - I have some political and moral issues with Walmart. (I don't hold it against people for shopping there, I just choose not to.) However, my husband insisted we go there last night to pick up a certain brand of cat food for Max. At first, I was going to sit in the car, but I decided to try my luck and go in to see if they had the Interweave Knits Holiday issue.

Sure enough - they did!! So, I bought that, and then I also bought Crazy Aunt Purl's new book! I also bought Nacho Libre because it was on sale for $3.98, and well I couldn't pass that up - I thought it was hilarious.

Also, my ball winder and swift are in route to my house. I can't wait. I have a feeling I'll be yarn winding crazy.

Sorry I am picture-less lately. I haven't had much to show - I'm slowly working on the Tangled Yoke and in the stockinette stretch.

And one last word on the house front - the plumber is coming on Saturday so that my upstairs bathroom will be in working order with brand new pipes and a working toilet!

I want my head back.

I've had a headache for 6 days now. It's been just enough for me to know my head hurts and to feel down, except Friday. I woke up with it as a full blown migraine. You know, fetal position kind. So, I took my prescription medicine and it started to kick in, so I went to work. The headlights of other cars made me sick sick sick. I did make it to work, and after a nice cry and curling up in a recovery room where no one could see me with the lights off for about 15 minutes, I was able to get up and do some work. Since I can team up with people in pre-op to get people ready, I had assistance and didn't have to completely rely on my own thinking ability. Finally, the headache went away, and I was all happy thinking my prescription meds did the trick. And they did, but it came back last night, and it's still there as a fuzzy irritating headache. If it becomes a full blown migraine again, I'm screwed cause I have no meds left. I want my head back!

I have had migraines since I was 5 years old. I've had so many MRIs and CTs, I probably glow in the dark. A few years ago, they started becoming so bad that my face goes numb and sometimes I look like I've had a stroke. My face droops. No one can tell me why - nothing shows up on the scans. I tried Topamax, but it makes my arms go numb up to my shoulders. I was on Inderal LA for a long time, and it seemed to help, but I went off it because I can't be on it if I decide to get pregnant so I wanted to see if I could control my migraines myself. I do know one of my biggest triggers: second-hand smoke. So, restaurants becoming smoke free recently has been a huge blessing to me, and no one in my family smokes. Now, if I could figure out the other triggers.....

The last time I had one of the biggie migraines that make my face droop, I went to my new dr (mine moved to Texas) to get some more meds and he kind of freaked. My smile was all droopy, even though my migraine was gone, and he wanted to do another MRI. I refused it - no need to do another one.... they are always fine. And this isn't something new.

Enough about the gloom and doom of migraines...

I went to the knitting group I was invited to on Thursday night. And yes, I was the youngest person in this group by far. But, I had a blast! These women are amazing. One lady there was crocheting things with this thread that was thinner than my dental floss - little pumpkins and poinsettias. She was just making up the patterns as she went along. Unbelievable! They were gorgeous! I think she is making the poinsettias into a pin and the pumpkins into earrings. There was a lady there who spins and dyes her own yarn. There were several ladies making some very beautiful felted bags. A woman knitting this most beautiful alpaca poncho/shrug kind of thing for her daughter. The talent of these women..... They made me feel so good, too, because they oohed and aahed over my stuff - and want me to teach a class at one of their meetings on short rows. I could not believe these talented women were asking ME to teach them anything! I definitely will be going back.

Well, I'm on call this weekend, so I think I'll go knit while I sit by the phone.  I ordered a ball winder and swift this morning, so I'll daydream about that!

My Secret Knitty Pal

I got my final package today from my Knitty SP9, who turned out to be maddogknitting!

The pink folder in the back contains the coolest idea - a knitting journal that she started with my Short Row hat! It's divided into different sections - current projects, in the queue, a place for sketches, a place for yarns.

I also got some green tea that comes in a cool tin. Some olive oil bar soap, which smells delicious. A red point protector. Rosemary from her garden (this woman can seriously garden, she sent me a cd with some garden pics on it and they are beautiful). And some wash for delicates and woolens. A sheep tape measure (love it!). A sweet guardian angel to hang in my car. And yarny goodness - Lorna's Laces in the most beautiful colorway!

This was my first secret pal exchange, and it was so much fun. I had the *best* pal!

Guess what I got?!

I received my copy of Itty-Bitty Nursery today!!!!

I love love love the mice mobile, the cupcake tea set, the cupcake hat, the elephant pacifier clip.... I just want to knit, knit, knit from this.

I think I am going to make our friend's daughter the cupcake tea set.  She's 3, and this will be perfect for her.

Getting better....

This is how my wrist looks every single night. I mentioned my wrist was hurting, and that I could possibly be getting carpal tunnel. I was told to keep a brace on my wrist at night, and to rest my wrist as much as possible. Well, resting my wrist is hard (and I cheat and knit anyway) - but the brace is really helping. It feels much better - no more middle of the night throbbing and tingling.

I've been moving right along with my Tangled Yoke cardigan. (The picture is kind of bright from the flash- that yarn isn't supposed to look shiny..)

Tangled Yoke - The Beginning

Well, here's my Tangled Yoke beginnings. I've decided to lengthen it by adding an extra two rows before every decrease in the garter ridge. I am keeping track of it so I can adjust the button band for my extra length.... I'm hoping that it works out.

I do love this knit.

Just Amused With Life

Ever had a day that is just so odd, but amusing? That's how my whole day was. People were talking to me that usually don't talk to me at work, and were saying some of the funniest stuff to me. And I did pre-admission phone calls all day, and the last call I made was to a man who somehow knew my grandfather who lives 3 hours away!! Yeah, they've traded cows or something - it was so odd.

But - here was my highlight. I came home and husband told me I had a message on the phone that I just had to listen to. It's a lady saying "I hope you are the young lady I saw in Shakertown back in the spring. I was the one knitting the bags. Anyway, if you are that young lady, I'd love to have you over to our knitting group as my guest."

So, I remember her! She knitted the most fabulous bags. I called her back. She told me that she had NO IDEA my name, but she was describing me and my house (we had talked about my house restoration when I met her) to some ladies from the Christian Church. One of the ladies realized who I was, and told her my name and my husband's name. It ends up this lady was a best friend to my husband's mom when she was alive. So, she called me up and hoped I'd join her at the knitting group.

So, next Thursday I am going to a knitting group with her. Isn't that just such a strange chance of meeting? Wonderful, but strange!

OH - and have you seen the new Holiday Gifts preview from Interweave?  Looks fantastic!