I know it seems like I've been ignoring my blog and that's true, but I haven't been really well lately.
At the beginning of December, my doctor discovered a problem, and I've been taking tests for it ever since. She seems to think that it's got something to do with my kidneys, so she's sent me to a urologist. My first visit to him was just to have him outline a list of tests that he says need to be done so he can find out what's wrong.
Oh, and he requested that I leave a urine sample.
Before I could even get home, they had left a message on voice mail telling me that they were going to do a lot of tests, and the sample I gave them wasn't big enough to do all the tests. They wanted me to go back and leave another sample.
Unfortunately, although the trip would have taken me 15 minutes each way if I had a car (and that's if every light turned red just in time to catch me and there was really bad traffic), the trip on the bus meant that the whole thing was a six hour round trip. And the trip was arduous enough that although my appointment was on Wednesday the 18th, it made me feel very sick, and it wasn't until Monday that I started to feel better.
So, I talked them into the idea that I should go to the lab (which I'm being told is nearby, and close enough for even me to walk to) instead of all the way back there. I also have to make an appointment for a CT scan, and then an appointment to go back to see them for the final test.
I'm waffling back and forth between hoping that they can find out what's wrong and fix it, and that there's nothing wrong in the first place. There's clearly something wrong with me, but I can't figure it out, and clearly the doctors I've been seeing don't care enough to bother.
The GP, who is new, is the one who found out that I have the problem I'm currently getting tests for, and she wants me to go to two other doctors for problems that doctors have been notable for not doing anything helpful, and, in fact, wanting to do only stuff that makes things even worse, so I'm not enthused about going to either one of them.
On to more pleasant topics!
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In the past, I've read some really good books that really seem to be reasonably modern fairy tales rather than anything else. Some of my favorites have been written by Diana Wynne Jones.
I think my all-time favorite of her books is Fire and Hemlock
. My local library has it, so yours might, too. Look for it in the young adult section (along with the Harry Potter books). Don't be fooled by the designation, you'll love it even if you're an adult.Another one of her books that I love is Howl's Moving Castle
, which is even more fairytale-like than the other one. I won't go into a lot about what it's about except to recommend it.The reason I'm mentioning it is that Howl's Moving Castle
was made into a movie, and has been released a while ago on DVD, but will be on one of the Encore channels this coming Saturday. It'll be on three times times on Saturday starting early in the morning. Check your local listings.Ok, it's Anime, and that's nice, but I don't usually like that. This one, however, would be difficult to do any other way. So, if you like fairy tales, check it out!
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I bought a lot of sock yarn over the internet to make some socks for Christmas presents. The color wasn't bad, but not anywhere as wonderful as the sample looked on my computer screen. This may have been partially my screen that was to blame, but I don't think so. I was disappointed, but I made the socks.
I felt bad about it, though, and saw a great sale on sock yarn and thought I'd buy some really great yarn and make some socks in addition to the ones I already made.
All right, I know that that would make them late, but I haven't gotten to see anyone I made Christmas presents for yet, so at this point, it doesn't make a difference.
So, I sent to Mary Maxim to buy some of their Aloe sock yarn in Sahara (for the presents) and blue (for some socks for me). Well, it all arrived, and I love the sock yarn for me, but the replacement yarn I got is horrible!
The sample of Sahara yarn in their catalog and on the internet looks interesting:
It looks pretty, doesn't it. But the real yarn has the parts that look lavender in the photo looking more like pink. The lime green that you can barely see in the photo is very prominent in the yarn. The stuff in the photo that looks like a sand color seems to be totally missing in the yarn I got. There is some navy blue, which I would think would help, but it hasn't got a hope of mitigating the ugliness of the other colors. I'm going to have to talk to them tomorrow about returning it. I just plonked it down in front of my keyboard and took a photo. Here's what it looks like:
They just don't look alike to me.
The blue yarn for my socks is beautiful! Here's what it looks like:
That photo looks just a little washed out.
More news as it develops.
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I've recently found a website called Knitting Paradise. The main part of it seems to be a forum, and it's really addictive. You have to sign up and be a member to post anything, but it's free. They send you an email every day with a link to the main forums and the top subjects. If you comment on a subject, you'll get emails every time someone else has something to say on the topic. If you comment a lot, you can be snowed under with emails. Just so you know what you're signing up for.
A lot of the people who are members are new knitters or don't have a lot of experience. Some of the questions recur at least three times a week. Some of them recur three times per hour.
So, I've decided to make this blog more worthwhile for knitters by answering some of the more popular questions in-depth in individual posts.
So, you're going to start to see my usual posts interspersed with posts on individual knitting topics. For instance, I plan to make my next post about circular needles. They always made perfect sense to me, but from reading the forum, I've realized that it's not as straightforward as I thought for a lot of people.
In the meantime, I hope things are going better for you than they have been for me. Have a great week!
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