Small Head Plans, and Knitting News

I've been out of work for three weeks now, and I've certainly had more headaches (major and minor) in that period than I would over your randomly selected three other weeks of my life. There are, of course, and this is the maddening thing about headaches in general and migraines in particular, many possible reasons this could be happening, and by many reasons I include both singular and combinations of reasons.

Whew.

So what I want to say is, much as I dislike this, the answer is that it depends. Over the several years that I saw a neurologist to try to figure out The Answer, I learned that well and good. I do, however, have some theories for most likely reason(s).

1. Keeping an irregular schedule. It's much the same way that I love chocolate unreservedly and without limits, but my stomach thinks there is such a thing as Enough Already, or in the way that I love the sun and would happily be in it all day long but my skin occasionally draws the line. I find being able to stay up as late as I want, sleeping in, and eating when I'm hungry instead of by the clock to be satisfying and refreshing, but it's possible that my system does not appreciate this. "They" do say that you should keep to a consistent schedule to minimize headaches*, so I should try to limit the late nights and see if it helps.
*Though "they" also claim you shouldn't get too much sleep, but I'm not trying to cut that back, thanks.

2. Stress. While I am not consciously feeling super-alert stress levels, it's possible that my subconscious is more worried about how long it will take to find the next perfect job. I don't know how to reassure my subconscious that we are fine for now, and have a safety net for the immediate future. Hypnosis?

3. Regular caffeine. Over the last five years or so, I've gone from someone who had a cup of coffee every year or so to someone who had one just about every morning at work. I was thinking about this yesterday, and about how possibly the fact that even when I was working, I got headaches on Sundays more than Saturdays might be related to that. And perhaps predictable levels of caffeine helped my head regulate, or at least my system got used to it. There is, after all, caffeine in Excedrin; it's known to have an effect. So, meet the new toy:


With a 20% off coupon for Bed & Bath, naturally. I'll see if some regular caffeine helps regulate anything.

You can see how interested Carlos is in the topic.

No, really, it's fascinating. Let me close my eyes to concentrate.

Perhaps he'd prefer to talk about knitting? A week and a half ago, I showed you the little shawl I was making, and that I was up to ten points. After I made 12, I decided that was enough, given the amount of yarn left. I started the next part, had sudden misgivings about whether it would be long enough, and if I would run out of yarn, and I put it aside to simmer. Sometimes the back burner is the place for something in doubt. Instead, I started the bunny baby blanket, which is now to here:


First bunnies, second bunnies, second bunnies reversed, and working in garter toward the first bunnies reversed. Fast knitting! And I like how the buns are coming out. Can't wait to adorn them with tails.


Today, though, I was finally ready to pick up the sunset shawl and look it over. My first question was will it be long enough, and I decided the answer was yes. But as I knit on toward the end, I determined that the answer to the second question, will I have enough yarn, was no.


As shown over the beginning end, with the remaining yarn. Does not compute. Rip!

I tried decreasing, doing ribbing without a pass-through, and making the end look somewhat like the beginning does. First try I didn't like too much:


Rip! The next one, I did the ribbing and then increased a little, to make it a bit more like the beginning.

Beginning:

End:

Overall (not washed/blocked, just laid out):
And on:

Cautious optimism! I think I like it. We'll let it simmer and see. Meanwhile, back to the bunnies.