It's Official. I'm Old

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything for a few days (well, more like a week), and it's because of being sick. I was diagnosed with sinusitis at the emergency room which had affected my inner ears, thus rendering me officially dizzy. Actually, beyond dizzy and into my own, private amusement park ride that I couldn't turn off.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who would respond to that by tilling me I've been dizzy for years, but that's a whole other thing.

I'm still taking the antibiotics, and will be for a while, so the bathroom has become my friend, but I'm starting to get away from some of the awful symptoms I was having. I'm off the meds for dizziness and nausea, and if I sit still and close my eyes, I still feel like the room has been moved to a decent size boat, and is gently moving just a little bit, but it's not rendering me in imminent danger of falling, as it was earlier.

The thing that makes me feel old is that I went out and bought a cane so that when I walked, if I got dizzy, I could stop and have something stable to hold onto. It's got four little feet on the bottom, and can stand on it's own, which is more than could be said for me during most of the last week.

When I saw the doctor on Thursday to check on my progress, there was a woman there with a walker that had a nice, padded seat, so she could sit down and relax if she was dizzy, and it had a compartment (bag) under the seat with space between the seat and bag that allowed her to put her yarn in it and have it feed out through the space while she crocheted. I know this dizziness will be gone soon, and I don't need a walker, but I really envied her that day.

One of the next worst things has been that my mind is just not working. I'm thankful to TiVo because I could record Stargate Universe. I watched the first half of the episode from earlier in the week at least four times so far and each time realized that I still didn't have a clue what was happening. That's probably linked to the fact that within 10 minutes of waking up, I've felt like I was ready for a nap all last week.

I'm guessing it will be about another week before I'm really up to speed as far as blogging goes, so bear with me. I have a lot of stuff that I wanted to do this past week that I need to catch up on.

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I have been working on the cabled mobius hat and stuff to go with it.

I got the yarn for it a while back (last week?) and a copy of Power Cables by Lily Chin, which I thought would help. It's a fabulous book for anyone who wants to knit cables, and especially design cables, but did not really have the information in it that I wanted. I'm still glad I bought it because it has a lot of really neat stuff, and some of it isn't things that I had thought of as cables, but it's wonderful!

After some preliminary trials, I determined that I needed a larger size needle than I originally thought, and sent for a size 9 Addi lace needle from Jimmy Beans Wool, and they got it to me very quickly, and I started swatching in earnest. A needle (or needles) with a good, sharp point is really a necessity for this project.

I did more trials than I usually do, but I haven't done something quite like this before, and considering the brain fog engendered by the combination of sinus infection and meds, I think I did quite well.

Every time I knitted a swatch, I looked at it and saw something I could improve. Then I ripped it out and did it again, but different.

Here's the next-to-the-last trial:

That's a cable needle stuck in the swatch, and my penciled chart under it. The other side looks the same except that you can't see that part of the cable needle.

But that's already been ripped out, and I've eliminated some of the space on either side of the cable, between it and the applied I-cord on the side. It looks better and is more the width I actually wanted it to be. I'll be continuing the new swatch, and it'll be the cuff of the hat.

So, being sick slowed me down, but most of the delays on both versions of the mobius hat and it's accessories has been with getting the supplies and tools to work with.

So, at this point, the hat and cowl are started, and I still have to design a scarf that carries forward the mobius theme. I have ideas going around in my head for that, but so far, I don't think that any of them are actually practical in the real knitting world that involves yarn and needles. I'm also thinking about designing mitts to go with all this, but haven't decided if I will do it. The mitts that are in my head look awfully good, though, so maybe I'll do it.

As far as the plainer mobius hat and cowl are concerned, I've finished knitting them, and have the instructions for the hat mostly written. I haven't gotten back to editing and proofing the directions, and haven't done most of the instructions for the cowl yet. I need more yarn before I can do the scarf (I think--I'll have to check what's left over, but I don't think I haven enough). I'm also trying to decide if I want to write a separate pattern for mitts to go with this, or if I'll recommend that you use the mitts pattern that I've already written and will be converting to PDF.

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In more knitting news, or, more accurately, spinning news, Spin Off Magazine has a free trial offer for their magazine. If you've let your subscription lapse, you can get a free issue. I just got my personal copy in the mail, and it really brightened up being sick. I haven't read the article about spinning paper yet, but it looks interesting.

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Firefly is on The Science Channel again tonight. You can catch The Train Job if you missed it last week, and it's followed by Bushwhacked, which is not a fun episode because it's about the reivers. My brain is still not working, and I can't figure out how to spell that.

I hope you enjoyed the two hour return of The Event last Monday, and it'll be back tomorrow night right after the return of Chuck.

I'm about to fall over asleep at this point, and Firefly is coming on, so that's it for today.

I hope you had a great weekend, and will have a wonderful week coming up!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Once again, it's that day dedicated to lovers! I wish you all many, many valentines this day!

If you're a history nut and want to know more about Valentine's Day, Wikipedia has lots to say about it, and you'll feel absolutely stuffed with facts if you read the entry!

You can find out about the stages and chemistry of love here!

Or, if you want to look at it another way, FX put Mr. and Mrs. Smith on for Valentine's Day earlier today. They're not replaying it, but you might want to watch it on DVD for a weird take on the season.

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If you're a knitter and would like to celebrate Valentine's Day with a sweepstakes, check out the one on the Knitty blog. They're giving away two sets (large and small sizes) of Hiya Hiya stainless steel interchangeable knitting needles to one lucky winner!

Also for knitters: find out how one school is using knitting to teach a lot of different subjects.

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In more knitting news, I've ordered the yarn to make another mobius hat so I can take more photos and make some accessories to go with it while I write up the instructions.

Here's a photo of the hat (which was also in yesterdays blog post). I think it's relevant because it has a heart on it, although I'm also going to make a version with a star. I'll include directions for both.

I guess the star version would be especially good for Christmas.

I ordered the yarn from Mary Maxim yesterday. It's their Starlette Tweed yarn in the Mariner color. It's the featured color at the top of the page, a soft blue.

Yeah, I'd like to make it in wool, but I couldn't find a nice tweed (which I wanted) in a pretty blue (which I also wanted) at anything near a reasonable price. So, there we are. I haven't tried the Starlette Tweed yet, so I'm a little worried about the quality, but I've gotten nice stuff from Mary Maxim before, so I have my fingers crossed.

Since I don't have a lot of money begging to be spent on yarn at the moment, I'm opting for speed in getting it knitted and getting pictures taken and the instructions written.

In the meantime, I'm going to use some yarn I have on hand to start knitting and writing the Screaming KnitFit version of this hat. I have nearly four skeins of Wool Ease in Violet, which is a cool, dark purple, plus part of a skein of some furry yarn (not Fun Fur, but that could be used). I'm using a different brand of furry yarn because it nearly matches the purple yarn.

Since it's in my stash, I can jump in and start knitting tonight, and go get some more furry yarn later in the week.

New topic here, but still about knitting: I ordered an Addi lace circular needle from Jimmy Beans Wool last Wednesday evening, very late (probably around or after midnight), and it was in my mailbox waiting for me to pick it up on Friday morning! That's slightly more than one day! I think they deserve a silver star and a mention for that fabulous service!

I'm thinking about getting another pair of Addis to make the mobius hat, scart, etc on. I'm really in love with these needles. If you ever tried the Bryspun circular needles and loved the points, you'll love these, too.

The points are a bit concave, which lets them have a point that's not too pointy, but still lets you do K2tog and other increases and decreases plus lace knitting without having to fight with the needles to do it. They have a clear resin coating which seems to let your knitting slide as well as the nickel-coated ones or the grey resin coated ones when you want your knitting to slide, but has enough grip that the last few stitches of a row don't try to escape the way they do on the slicker needles.

 They're just a dream to knit with! I love tools that work well!

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Tonight, there's a brand new Chuck, and I'd be surprised if they didn't put in something about Valentines Day!

There's also a brand new Castle!

The network is saying that they're still showing new episodes of Hawaii Five-O on Mondays, but they've been showing reruns on Mondays for a while. So, I'm not sure.

So, it's a hard choice between that and Warehouse 13, which is a hilarious rerun tonight.

My sister also recommended Harry's Law, which is in the same time slot, but I'm finding that they usually rerun it on Saturday night, so, as usual, there's a way to have three shows that are shown at the same time, but watch them at different times. I just have to wait until Saturday.

But, unfortunately, not all four.

Have a great evening!

New Knitting Product!

Yesterday, while I was out, I picked up my mail. Tuesday, the mailbox was full of trash. I sorted through it and it all went in the trash can. But yesterday, I got a pile of catalogs, including a special sale yarn catalog from Herrshners!

Now, I used to get some catalogs from them in the mail, and they had a lot of stuff for cross stitchers, paint-by-numbers, and a few, junky acrylic yarns. Well, asking for their catalog is a good deal because from time to time, they have big yarn sales and those catalogs have some really nice yarn, and some of it at amazing prices!

Well, I paged through it quickly last night, but then looked at it again today, which is when I noticed that they had a new product for sale. As it turns out, they've sold out of most of it, but Jimmy Beans Wool has the same thing at the same price.

The new product is Regia ABS Latex, which is intended to go on the soles of slipper socks or the palms of knitted mittens, gloves and mitts! It's available in black, blue and red, and there is a stencil to create interesting and decorative designs with it. The drop down menu has the other colors and the stencil, which also has some flower designs that you can't see in the photo.

The hearts and the star are great, and the cat paws are just too cute. The flowers are very pretty, but I have no idea why someone would want to put a car on the bottom of their sock or palm of a mitten. I suspect that if this works, I'll want to make a whole stencil that has several shapes with overall dimensions that are perfect for a mitten/glove/mitt palm. A group of stars for me, hearts for Holly, Kyle and Malaia, and maybe rows of dots or wavy lines for other traction situations.

There is a pamphlet available that comes with it on other sites, but that wasn't mentioned at Jimmy Beans. I ordered it anyway, because that was the only place that had it. I desperately wanted to order one each of the colors, but since it's approximately $12 each, that would have been $36 plus shipping. Also, the frugal part of me wants to try it out before ordering two more colors. So, since I'm about to make some red mitts for a friend, and am almost finished the stigmata mittens for Robin (which have a red mark on the palm) I opted for the red latex, even though I may not have anything else to use it on. By the way, the stigmata mittens have a matching crown of thorns hat, both of which are threatening to turn into WIPs in the bad sense.

So, anyway, the order is in, and I can't wait for it to arrive! I'll let you know how it goes.

I tried the puff paint that was suggested to the Yarn Harlot for the bottoms of her felted shoes, but it didn't seem to provide much traction. It's chief feature was the texture that it provided, but I can't imagine it actually would prevent you from sliding on a slippery floor or help you grip a steering wheel.

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More knitting news about an episode of NCIS. The person who wrote the article is (obviously) a knitter and has gone ballistic (I would, too) about an episode which has someone killed using a knitting needle on a plane!

First of all, as any knitter who has flown would know, they won't let you take those kinds of knitting needles on a plane! And (I didn't see the episode) the killer is apparently not a knitter. So where did he get the needle? How did he know a knitter would be on board?

I can understand that the show might not want to keep a knitter on as a consultant, but you would think that they might ask a knitter before considering putting on a show like this.

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January is Thyroid Awareness Month. You may be getting tired about hearing about this, unless you have read the list of symptoms. It's estimated that over 40% of Americans have hypothyroidism. If you've been having strange, nebulous symptoms or have been told by a doctor that there's nothing wrong with you, you should read the symptoms. Then go to your doctor with a list of the symptoms you have and demand a (T3 and T4) test (if you have many of the symptoms).

Apparently, there was something on TV today about it. They didn't cover the subject fairly, but they did a better job than most, from what I heard. I missed the actual broadcast.

But you can read about it here!

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While we're on the subject of health, check out this post about drugs you might not need! OK, I can understand that a pre-disease might not be a disease, but it does seem to be common sense to try to prevent it from becoming worse and developing into a disease. However, taking Fosamax is very counterproductive!

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Now that I've gotten completely off my usual track, I'm going skipping off into the sunset, while wishing you a wonderful evening! Have fun!