A Really Nice Weekend. Honestly. Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop.

What a nice weekend. The weather's been good, I've both had some fun and done some of those round-the-house things that never go away, cuddled the kitty ... it's all good, particularly because the head has cooperated. Hooray for no migraine!

So much to say that I don't know where to start. I think I'll fall back on the photos to direct me.

First, just because it's pretty, I finished another washcloth.

As you can see (from the bottom up), I started out doing very regular intervals of K1 P1 and then P1 K1, whereas I finished (mostly done Monday night, when I was coming down off that headache) doing three rows, five rows, and screwed up rows. Classic bipolar nature of my head, illustrated in cotton.

Next, Carlos on Friday, looking as though an extra leg got into the picture somehow. How is that comfortable?

On Saturday, I had a little day trip with a friend. We met kind of in the middle so we could drive up to the north shore together. We were meeting at a Starbucks, and I got there early, and sat in the sun with a silly drink and my knitting and anticipation, and was pretty much perfectly content. It was a good feeling.

First stop, of course, Woodman's! In honor of my dad's birthday, which it was, we drove the way he used to, along route 22 (which is not the most direct, but it sure is pretty.) Although that's not strictly true: it was our first intended stop, but on the way we were passing the yarn store in Essex, Hooked Knitting, that I went to on the yarn crawl, and went in, just because (Mount Everest, you know). They were new at the time of the crawl, and have really expanded the selection since then, with some lovely stuff that I fondled but was able to put down. I did buy some stitch markers, since I had just read that triangular markers can be easier to use, and wanted to try it. Plus, you know, you like to buy at least a little something. Support the fun little yarn stores everywhere.

Lunch was delicious, if that doesn't go without saying, and it was nice enough weather to eat outside. I didn't take any pretty scenery pictures, but I did have to get this shot inside.

I was much struck by this sign, as I have a shirt at home with some can-I-get-them-out butter stains. Sigh.

Then it was on to our main destination: the new location of Coveted Yarn, which moved recently (still in Gloucester). The new place is nice! It's a bit bigger, and a lot more open. Light, bright, easy to see just how overwhelmingly much yummy yarn they have. Two thumbs up.

I did not buy this yarn:

Though it amuses me to think about what one would make with it. I mean, look at it!

Anyway, what I did buy was this: Frog Tree Periboo, a yarn I have bought before though not yet knit with. And, I know, white.

 I'm making a shawl for my aunt, and from her suggestion of black or white, I chose white.

This is nice yarn! It's got a good squish to it. Which I know, because I started last night. See? Look, it's non-secret knitting! Hooray!

Instead of swatching, I'm starting the pattern to see how it feels. At first I wasn't sure but that I'd want a larger needle size. I kept going, though, to see, and I like it, so we're off!

See how big it got? A few few hours of knitting and coffee with a friend this afternoon, and it's like a miracle. This is the set-up part: soon, pattern fun will start. (I mean, I am using a pattern, this one, but it gets more ... well, more something. I don't want to say fiddly, that sounds bad, and intricate isn't quite right either. Getting tired. Words fail me.)

The yarn was also on sale, which was a pleasant thing, though it wasn't marked down as much as the other yarn I got: three skeins of Ella Rae Amity in yellow, for $3 a skein instead of $6. No planned purpose yet, but it's nice yarn (I used it for the twins' sweaters, remember?) and will come in handy for something. And it's machine wash! I wouldn't be surprised if this became a baby blanket, one day.

Next up are these little cuties, which I did not knit. My friend made us some cat toys! Wasn't that nice of her?

Carlos dutifully sniffed them...

And then proved that he is as contrary as any cat, and ignored them. (Don't worry, they're been played with since!)

The weather was beautiful yesterday, so much so that after I dropped my friend back at her car, and was driving home past a park by a lake, I stopped and sat in the sun, knitting, for half an hour. So beautiful! I am so grateful for every day of it ... I am not sick of summer yet, and it's waning, it's waning.

Today, as well as many other more standard accomplishments, I did something I've been thinking of doing for a while, and laid out all my socks at once.

This isn't all I've ever knit, but it's most of them, and in chronological order (from top left across, then center across, then bottom across). Soon there will be two more pair joining them! And it's clear that my next purse socks should not be with blue, right?

Don't they look pretty in the drawer, too?

I have a couple of pair that have popped a heel, meaning if you stop by my place unexpectedly, you might find me wearing one each of very different socks, while I plan to re-purpose their mates:

See, the heel?

Not so strong. Not enough, anyway!

Carlos, meanwhile, was not amused so much when I came to kiss him, and brought the camera back to photograph Her.

Seriously, though, how often do I see her so relaxed?

And lacking the bug-eyed look of fear?

Be that as it may.

I don't believe I care for your attitude.

Don't let it happen again...

Mostly Yarn Thoughts

As I had my nice, normal evening last night*, I was a little sad at how happy I was about it, if you follow the twisted thought process. It should have been nothing to notice, just an average evening. But too many of my evenings aren't average--on Wednesday night I managed to accomplish One Thing (boxing up my brother's birthday present to mail), and I was so proud of myself, fighting through the headache to get it done. Compare that with a night where I made chicken salad and wound some yarn and blogged and knit and biked--whoa, look at all that!
*And I feel almost normal today, though it teased me a while this afternoon: mostly, though, just some residual soreness/tenderness at the back of the skull, to remind me of what could happen. Charming.

And yes, I biked. The sock is into toe decreases! And this is the second sock, meaning that the pair is close to being done. I'm very excited to finish my first pair of knit-entirely-on-the-bike socks; it's funny how that motivation is working for me, whereas when I tried the same thing a couple of years ago, it didn't work for long. This time, I want to be able to say, "These were knit only while I rode the exercise bike! They are the embodiment of 20 hours of exercise!"

One of the yarns I wound last night is for the next pair of bike socks: it's the dark grey skein of Sock Dreams I got at Rhinebeck last year (when my color choices were that or grape kool-aid--this year, Periwinkle Sheep will be my second stop, so I get more color options), which will be perfect for bike knitting right under the good lamp. I also wound a skein of BFL I got at Rhinebeck, for which I am planning a shawl of my own. I want to incorporate some autumn leaves (since the colors are so right for that) into this shawl pattern, the Garden View Shawlette. We'll see if I can make it be like I'm imagining it. I want it deeper, for one thing, and I think three leaves worked into the body. We'll see.

Link, link, link tonight! I will leave you with this picture I took of Carlos last night. He wanted me to come to bed earlier than I was ready, so he gave up and came to me instead--and draped himself over my arm, so I couldn't really do anything. He's not stupid, this guy.

I Fought the Headache...

And we all know who won, right?

​This month I've gone off the pill to see if that will lower the raised blood pressure that has my PCP all hot and bothered. At this point, as I start to suspect that being off the pill may be the reason for the increased number of headaches I've been having lately*, I feel like telling the PCP to take a flying leap ... but I'm trying to be patient.
*It can't be to blame for all of them, as it's only been a couple of weeks, but, you know...

It's hard. Very hard. How do I weigh the problems the high BP may bring down the road against the definite, absolute pain of the headaches right now?

So, yeah, that's where I was last night: whining and rocking and generally being miserable. Today was better in the morning, a bit worryingly worse again in the afternoon, mostly better now, though not all clear. I'm so tired of it: the number of headaches had been improving, but for each of the four weeks before this one, I've had two headache-impacted days; this week I'm on three days and it's only Thursday, and it suuuuuuucccckkkkkkssss. Other head thoughts:

• ​Arguing with my head during a migraine makes about as much sense as arguing with a toddler who Is Not Tired! It takes energy and gets me nowhere.
• ​One of my coworkers is on the phone All The Damn Time, and while I understand it's part of his job, there are times (generally headache-correlated times) when I just want to say to him, "Could you shut the fuck up? Just for one day?"

In happier thoughts, I realized today that it's six weeks to the start of the regular season! Camp opens in less than three weeks, rookie camp sooner than that. Hockey again!

Not Much, but hopefully amusing

Today was not a particularly crazy day, but this makes me laugh, so up it goes.

I also like this. So random tonight!

In the meantime, if you love comics (print or web) and have two minutes, watch this trailer for what looks like a very interesting documentary about them:

I'd watch it; wouldn't you? (There's a whole website, if you want to sign up for more.)

Get Ready for Pictures!

​I had a headache this morning (mild through moderate and into aura, which was pretty weird, and finally into storm-blew-through tired and wobbly), and looking back at all the recent Monday* headaches I've been having is making me wonder if I'm subconsciously more stressed by this job than I consciously think I am. It's actually six of the last eight Mondays that I've had at least a mild headache, and that's not good.
*I'm already looking forward to having Monday off in two weeks. Come on, long weekend!

A possible contributing factor for the last few weeks (though not months) is that I've been waiting for official word on something, something that the editor-boss mentioned as a change we would be making, a change that I very much do not agree with (either the change itself or the reason for it). If it actually happens, I think it will be the last straw, the point at which I start job searching again (ugh). No job is perfect, no company is perfect, but when enough of the table legs wobble, the situation becomes untenable, and we're approaching that point. Now, maybe the division head will say no, in which case good, but if not, well. Ugh. Fingers crossed.

Speaking of wobbly table legs, I called the insurance this morning about the lab work snafu, and 22 minutes* later, she is resubmitting the claim since as it turns out, yes, the lab should be a participating provider, yes it should. OK then; now we wait (again), since the claim? takes 20-25 business days. Nice scam, insurance, isn't it? I could feel my blood pressure going up when she told me that the lab, the one I found on their website, was not a participating provider.
*Mostly on hold while she "researched it further".

Happier thoughts! I had such a nice afternoon with friends yesterday, down on the Mass/Rhode Island border (lunch in Westport, which is MA, then shopping and beach walking in Little Compton, which is RI). It wasn't a traditionally beautiful day, but nice enough that we could eat lunch outside, and though it sprinkled on us while we beach-walked, the weather wasn't really all that bad. I even found a few pretty shells, which is not always the case on our northeast beaches.

Large and small! And really crappy pictures, since I just realized I didn't take one of them yesterday. Oh well!

Even in the rain, I love the beach. The sky, the water, the birds, the patterns in the sand.

 

Surprise! Yarn store!

It was really nice. I narrowly escaped without an armload.

Fun art gallery:

 

 This is a lamp!

Door knocker!

Flowers

Trees, being artistically strangled by vines

 

 

Architectural detail on the house that would be ours if the world worked as it ought.

​And its view, too.

Just a beautiful day, in spite of the lack of sun.

Please, sir, may I have another?

Picture Time!

Let's see what's been caught on "film" as I've been around and about lately.

Not the best picture, but look at this man's sneakers.
Forget glow in the dark, those glow in the sunlight!

Not the usual car type to see in the rear view mirror! The driver was kind of a jerk, but hey, plenty of those in regular cars, too.

Noosa yogurt, or "yoghurt" (from Australia, apparently: Noosa, Australia). This was actually pretty good, but the packaging is fun, too.

Some knitting has been happening, too. I mentioned briefly that I wanted to try knitting washcloths to see what they're like. I made a simple one first:

Cotton yarn (Sugar'n Creme), US 4 needles, 30 stitches. Alternating 3 rows of K1P1 across with 3 rows of P1K1. Turned out fine, but shrank a bit, so not as big as I like to use.

Second one, in yellow Sugar'n Creme, same needles, 31 stitches, using the Bee Stitch pattern that the Yarn Harlot had shown with 2 stitches of garter as a border.

For comparison:

Isn't it interesting that they're only one stitch different, but look about three? Anyway, better size, but also shrank a bit. I used them for the first time, like them fine, enough to start making a third one, anyway (at 42 stitches, thank you). Still in process, and not photographed yet.

Technically, I started one before these, that didn't get that far before it was ripped out. I was using different yarn, and it being thinner, I didn't like how it was turning out. Sometimes, it isn't meant to be.

The one I started today, in fact, I started a different pattern, and it turned out to have a cable effect that was not a happy thing to do with cotton yarn, which notoriously has no give to it. Lots of frogging around here lately! Hopefully it's just a phase.

Cards On The Table Time

​I've been having kind of busy evenings this week, and it's nice to be have come straight home and be quietly doing laundry tonight. Not that I've been doing anything bad, or hard, this week; just, you know, I'm a homebody.

Monday I went to the chiropractor and to stitch and bitch, and then went pretty much straight to bed, still feeling wobbly from Sunday's headache.

Tuesday I returned a library book on the way to get my hair cut, then bought cat food (a Carlos-approved errand for sure!) and filled the car with gas.

Wednesday I went to CVS (Coke on sale!) and then Whole Foods: the chiropractor suggested I could try magnesium and gave me the name of a brand to try: it's powdered, and you add it to water. I spent the extra dollar on raspberry-lemon flavor, hope it's good. I also splurged on a fancy water drink, in a pretty bottle:

And you know, it was rather tasty. It's always a toss-up, trying these things, but I liked this one. I won't go back tomorrow for another, but I would buy it again. After that, I met up with my secondary knitting group, which I haven't actually been to in a long time, and used the big table to see what I was doing as I worked in the ends on the blanket. Got home close to 9, meaning I was up late, which I am not doing tonight, just saying.

Anyway, I know this isn't that much, but it was nice to just come straight home tonight. That's not to say that the evening has been without its annoyances, though.

First, I got a statement in the mail from the insurance about my recent blood-work, Remember that? Well, guess what? "Not covered." Apparently, routine blood-work is not something my plan covers? Riiiiight. So, another phone call, another round of arguing ... I couldn't face it tonight, but I'll have to soon, since I'm certainly not paying $363 out of my pocket.

Which, just as the icing on the cake, includes $40 coded as TRAVL 1 WAY NEC LAB SPEC; TRIP. Given that I went to them (twice), I hardly think that can be right.

In smaller but also annoying news, I was surprised to see, when looking at my bank account online, that my paycheck was a few dollars less than usual. I mean, five dollars and change isn't breaking the bank, but why? However, the statement hasn't come in the mail yet, and I don't seem to have written down the password I chose for accessing it online, so I'll have to wait and see. Annoying, when I was already annoyed..

There is humor to be seen as well, though. I got an e-mail suggesting blog sponsorship, since my blog "is not only refreshing, but it also inspires me to put together a beautiful home no matter how much your budget is." (You agree, right?) They then get straight to the point:

Here's what we had in mind:
We give you something or we pay you money.

Well then! Sign me up! (Not.)

Laundry out of the dryer time!

Fine, and In Brief

​Today the head was much better, thankfully, though I did notice an increase in the number of times I banged my hands on things as I moved around. For some reason, I always get less coordinated* when I have a headache, lurching into door frames and the like, and on the headache hangover day this is generally also noticeable, though to a lesser extent; but I found it kind of funny that just the fingers still seemed to have it today. The weirdest things are connected.
​*Yes! it is possible for me to be even less coordinated than usual! I know it seems impossible, but it is in fact so.

I want to get to bed at a decent hour tonight (last night I had the light off before 9! man, I was tired), so I'll leave you with this to ponder. Today's New of the Stupid, via Boing Boing: According to the Wall Street Journal (the Wall Street Journal!), the recent Oprah-in-Switzerland kerfuffle could be explained by language issues. Namely, "The clerk's English isn't great, and Winfrey probably doesn't speak Swiss." Oh, ow. Thoughts?

Did Anyone Get the Number of That Truck?

​I woke up today feeling rather like I had been hit by a truck: bruised and dazed. Yes, another headache day on Sunday. Man, did that suck. The pain is bad enough (believe me), and then there's the fear: how long will it last this time? (Oh, you were having dinner with a group of friends? Not today!) And what will it spoil next? (Other fun day plans? Apple Festival? Rhinebeck?)

Another thing I resent about the headaches is how they make me shrink from the sun. You know how I love the sun, how happy I am for a sunny day. Look how happy I was about Saturday! Turning into a vampire the very next day makes me extra crabby. And losing three days in less than a week, well, that's crabby beyond words, except maybe these: effing hormones.

I was at least able to go to work today, something that would not have been possible with Sunday's pain level. I would have loved to stay home, in fact, since I still wasn't feeling great, or even normal, but let's face it, I can't assess the need to stay home in a vacuum. If I don't absolutely have to stay home (which I didn't), and I missed a day and a half of work just last week (as I did), the answer is: go to work. I wasn't really in pain, just wobbly and generally feeling "off". And sorry for myself, if that doesn't go without saying. But, hey, I got through the whole day, got some work done, went to the chiropractor, went to stitch and bitch, showed off the blanket ... and now I'm home, and exhausted, and planning to get ready for bed. So it's only 8, so what? This kind of tired should have its own time zone.

Here's hoping for better tomorrow. Better for everyone!