I may have finally entered adulthood.

Shudder at the thought! I found out today that I have to have surgery. Not only is my gallbladder trying to kill me, my appendix seems determined to get in on the action. So next Monday, they are both getting nipped and tucked. How I wish that would mean that I would end up skinny....

However, the surgery itself is not the grown-up part, scary though it may be. No, I had to go get my belly-button ring taken out after having it for seven or eight years. I couldn't get a hold on the little balls to unscrew them, so I went to the place that put it in. Now it is gone. I don't think you can ever be too old for a nose ring, can you??

My gallbladder is trying to kill me.

Sorry for the silence. I think the pressure was too much for me and I choked. I am back to report that my parts are in rebellion, however: This is an image from the Mayo Clinic of what is a close approximation of what I got to see last week in my very own ultrasound. The ultrasound, as an aside, was one of the coolest things I have ever gotten to do! Elizabeth, the best ultrasound tech ever, narrated the whole thing and was the one to tell me that my very small ovaries and uterus look great, but my gallbladder is filled with little stones. There seemed to be more in mine than in the image above.... Looked like about a dozen or more, all lined up like peas in a tiny pod. Strange how my relationship with my insides has changed now that I have seen them....

The original complaint that sent me to the doctor's office was pain in the extreme lower right hand side of my abdomen and awful nausea. I can tolerate many, many things better than nausea, so that is what really sent me running to the copay factory! The pain has mostly been at a four out of ten kind of level, coming up a little higher and going down to nothing off and on, for about the last week, now. Today, after the pig out that was Thanksgiving, it is hurting like crazy, though. I meet with a surgeon on Tuesday, Dec 1, and the nurse at the world's best doctor's office believes that gallbladder removal is in my future. Sigh.

And by the way, ultrasounds are fun, but I highly recommend against recreational or educational CT scans. Wait for medical necessity. Two words: barium milkshake.

There has been knitting news, but since it is almost all Christmas knitting and everyone who is getting a present from me could conceivably read this, the less said the better. I shall share after the gifts are all given. Let me say, though, that I am having a blast knitting the few presents that I have undertaken, and I am optimistic about their completion....

I DID try to finish the lovely olive green Cosima.... (Pardon the blurry picture. You would never guess that I had a degree in the art of photography would you???) There is a reason that one should not put a sweater aside for nine months and then pick it up and start knitting again.... I seriously believed that I was following directions correctly. I had the back and one front piece already finished, so I started with the other side and happily zipped through that and the sleeves. It is a raglan construction, so I sewed both sleeves to the back with visions of showing off at Thanksgiving dancing in my head. THEN.... I got out the front pieces to determine which went on which side.... And they were both the same side. No kidding. I knitted two right front sides. I have no idea how I managed that, especially when it is the dreaded "reverse all shaping for left side" kind of pattern. I have put it aside to let it think about what it has done. WOW, that was silly!!

Ok, back to work. Yes, it is true, I am at work the day after Thanksgiving. There are only four of us in the entire building, and the people I know and love are at the movies right now. I am so loyal....

Apparently I suck at this.

Either that or I am exhibiting a strange rebellion against authority.... Even though I am the one who decided to post every day! Day two and I forgot. I toyed briefly with ideas for travelling back in time or possibly setting the date back on my computer.... I decided, however to just go ahead and 'fess up instead. Indeed, I am crap at blogging consistency!

Sadly, I still have no photos. So I shall knit instead! I may be able to start the stripes on Daybreak tonight!

November: National Blog Post Month

Well, I didn't make it all the way through Blogtoberfest.... It was pretty exciting to post so much, though! And I apparently have a chance to redeem myself in November during National Blog Post Month. I didn't make that up, either.... Found it on the internets....

And I am aware that I owe another SAFF post, but I am going to TRY to finagle a way to get the yarn purchases uploaded so there will be pictures.... Give me a couple of days!

I stopped posting this past week because, honest to goodness, I have been too busy knitting. I can't believe it, but its true! I finished the Christmas present socks. Thank goodness, because they were starting to get on my last nerve. They just went on too long....

Then I started another present, the Bird in Hand Mittens. May I say, worsted weight yarn on size one needles is nothing to trifle with! My poor fingers, so sore.... They are so, so, so beautiful, though! Kate Gilbert is another genius!! I got through one with only grafting and the thumb left, so even with frequent breaks for finger resting they are going quickly!

As a reward to myself for working so hard on Christmas presents, I started some easy, mindless knitting, the Daybreak Shawl. I saw it on another blog and fell in love. The yarn for that one is one of my SAFF purchases, so there SHOULD be pictures sometime this week... :-)

Other than knitting there has been passive entertainment. I read the cutest book: Soulless by Gail Carriger. She has the best voice I have encountered in a very long time in a formerly-unknown-to-me author, and you gotta love laughing out loud in a book about a victorian miss totally missing her soul.... Loved it!! Also saw The Brothers Bloom and enjoyed it thoroughly. Matt thinks that Rachel Weiss' eyes are too far apart, but it didn't hurt my enjoyment one little bit!

Ok, gotta go! Time for Amazing Race!

Beginning of the SAFF madness....

So, on Friday The Mom and I got up at 5AM to get ready to get to SAFF as early as possible. Which turned out to be absolutely ridiculous, since we were ready to leave at 6 and had to wait anxiously until I could get into the building at work to leave... at 8! I had left my beloved Kingscot, done but for the ends, under my desk at work when I left on Thursday. Scared the crap out of me. I was ok with it, frustrated that I would have to wait to do the last little bit of finishing, but HOLY COW, not after what my mom suggested. She looked me straight in the face and said, "They won't throw it away, will they?" WHAT??? THROW IT AWAY???? NOOOOOOO!

Fortunately, it was where I had left it and I safely retrieved it. Even if it did get us a late start.

The drive took less time than expected (by me, anyway. How did I have no real memory of how long it takes to drive to Asheville), the perception of which was aided by the fact that I slept for a good solid hour of the trip. Time flies when you are sound asleep!

Ok, most importantly, what did we wear!? I sported my happy rainbow Ishbel. It truly is happy! I wore it as a shawl, pinned with one of The Mom's lovely jewelry pieces. People asked about it all day. They even reached out and touched it. (People who know me know how I LOVE to be touched unexpectedly by strangers.... Where is your sense of personal space, people??) The Mom looked FAB in her Clapotis. I blocked it Wednesday, and it came out SO beautifully... She picked the perfect yarn for it, which I now know is Brooks Farm Four Play. Because people in our class made me go ask. And took pictures of it! She was a complete hit. We were both very proud of ourselves, and of each other....

Once we arrived, we hardly had any time before our class. We made a brief raid on Miss Babs' booth, where my most major purchasing was done lickity-split. More on purchases later.

Took the lace knitting class with Elizabeth Ravenwood. She was very charming. We all received a skein of Knitpicks Gloss Lace, and were left to fight over them, picking from a pile on the floor in a most dog-eat-dog manner.... Luckily I snagged green for me and red for The Mom. Perfecto. I am sure the class was great, but honestly both of us were more advanced than what she was teaching. We immediately cast on and went to town. No new stitches, no techniques that were previously secret. Apparently there is no great secret to lace knitting, we just lacked the confidence to start on our own.... Live and learn. I wonder if we will take any classes next year? Maybe we are better knitters than we ever suspected!!

The best part was that she soaked and blocked the lace scarf we are working on in the class. I had never learned anything about blocking with wires, and I am really pleased to have seen it done. She also shared the source of the wires: welding supply stores. That is pretty exciting, cause stainless steel rod is much cheaper than blocking wires! They sell the stuff by the pound!

After the class and after we had walked around to restore feeling to our cold, numb butts, we did some recon work on the remainder of the shopping situation. I love the yarn at SAFF... The colors are luscious. I end up touching one of EVERYTHING. Ohhh, soft. Ohhh, pretty. (I am newly in love with undyed, fingering weight alpaca. It comes in the most gorgeous caramel color.... Sigh.)

Ohhh, expensive. I know that these are artists. I seriously, absolutely value the work, skill and passion that go into producing such scrumptious fibers. No doubt. But my budget doesn't stretch very far among the land of art yarn. It became IMMEDIATELY clear that my carefully prepared shopping list is out the window. I couldn't afford even one sweater's worth of the lovelies....

Not to worry. The Mom and I held a re-strategizing session over fast food. I will share that with the report on Saturday at SAFF.... :-)

Again, sorry that there are no pictures. I sadly miss my laptop and all my ability to upload pictures. I wish my posts could be as filled with color and beauty as SAFF was!

Recovering from SAFF.

I tried, I really did. I even recruited my mom to bring her work laptop with us so I could blog from Asheville.... Unfortunately, WiFi wasn't free at our cheap motel and I never did quite pull it off.... I am not going to consider that another Blogtober failure for two reasons: 1. I was out of town doing fun knitterly things. 2. I refuse to feel bad about failing at something that NOBODY but me cares that I was trying to do. Seriously, I have enough to worry about. So, in the interest of self-esteem and blog love, I am giving myself a pass! Now I am very happy to be back.... I love my blog!

We had a very good time at SAFF. I took absolutely no pictures, way too busy shopping and learning.... It didn't seem as crowded to me this year, and there definitely seemed to be fewer animals. The only thing that I was really disappointed about was not seeing a single bunny. Quite a few grown rabbits, no babies. Wonder if there is some kind of bunny production issue? Weird, huh? Anyway, I didn't get to hold any bunnies and I was sad.

Other than that, we took it easy and had a very enjoyable vacation. Tomorrow, when I have recovered more (MAN, am I getting old!), I will detail the days, the classes and the purchases. Remind me to discuss the new strategy The Mom and I came up with for the coming year!

All stitched up!

I have sewn the Kingscot together! It is beautiful and fits very well. I wish it was slightly longer and the sleeves were slightly shorter.... But I will be wearing it soon and often! Now I have to sew the buttons on and tie in the ends. Who invented ends, anyway? I think they should be shot.... And tortured.... And then made to tie in ends!!