plans

Ok, so I'm on this new medicine. I'm transitioning from my old meds, to Cymbalta, for fibromyalgia. In theory, I should start to have some relief in a few weeks.

In the mean time, switching off of the old med, onto this new one, is wreaking havoc with my thinker. Thanks fsm for spell check, because concentrating is like navigating through a fog.

But soon, hopefully, I'll be seeing some of that relief.

Right now, the medicine combination I'm on gets me enough focus and energy to work. Either from home or - ideally - in the office. But there isn't much left of me once the work day is over. I come home and collapse. Joe's weekly game night was at our house two weeks ago, and I was in so much pain and so tired that I couldn't even muster the energy to go downstairs to say hello, much less join in. Weekends are catching up time. Sleep 12 to 14 hours. Get a few things done if I'm lucky. Sleep another 12 to 14 hours. Hello, Monday. Rinse, repeat.

My time when I'm not working is all recovering from having worked. If I have to run up and down the halls retrieving lots of pages from the printer all day, or to meetings, or if I have to park in the furthest reaches of the parking lot, the impact on my system is even heavier.

Today, the med transition clobbered me. Too foggy to think in a straight line most of the day. It's evening, and my Mister has brought me dinner. I'm scooping up some of the thoughts I've had today and dropping them here.

So, what do I most hope for from success with the new medication?

I'd really love to have a little bit of energy left at the end of each work day to do something fun. I miss knitting. I miss reading for pleasure, which the worst brain fog of exhaustion often robs me of. I miss quilting. Spring is here... I'd like to fly a kite again this year. I'd love to finish unpacking the boxes from our move- we moved in December, after all, and it's now almost April.

I'm not expecting to ever be able to go on hikes again. I don't expect I'll be flying my parafoil stunt kite in anything but light winds again. Standing all day at Disneyland is probably right out of the "ever going to happen again" set of options.

But I'd love to have the energy to walk around my yard and pick up the sticks that fell out of the trees over the winter. I'd like to be able to help my Mister to mow the lawn. And I desperately want to have the energy to crafts again.

I've got a bunch of craft projects in my "queue".

• The friend of a dear friend needs a knitted womb. Should be a one to two evening project if I can focus enough to knit in the round.
• Another dear friend sent me yarn he spun himself for a knitted Cthulhu. Another one to two day project if I can only get the energy to start.
• I've got a baby quilt stewing in my brain that needs bringing to fruition.
• I already have the yarn for a special baby hat for a friend's little bitty.
• I have frogged and restarted a project for my Grandmother several times, but my foggy brain keeps throwing wrenches into the pattern.
  
• There are several projects I'd love to knit for myself. I have the yarn already for most of them.
  
• There are several mixed media projects stewing in the back of my brain, waiting for a chance to escape.
• Did I mention all that unpacking that needs doing? It'll be lovely when it's done.

All projects aside, a few nights' sleep without waking up because of this pain or that would be bliss.

So I'm taking this new med. Wading through the fog and funk of the transition from old pharmaceutical to new. And have my fingers crossed that some of the things I've lost will be found again at the other end.

Zero G fan post

IRON MAN: A WALK IN THE STARK
- "THERE ISN'T MUSHROOM IN THE
SUPERHERO BIZ FOR A FUNGI !!"
Originally uploaded by zero g

I'm crashed on the couch with my lymph nodes in my neck swollen up to obnoxious proportions, watching a dog show and wandering around flickr.

Ya'll probably already know I'm a fan of Zero G's photography, sculpture, radio show (when I can catch it - dude, podcast already! *wink*) and amazingly creative brains.

I couldn't roll a saving throw against being amazed by his work with Sculpey if I had a feat that guaranteed it.

Dalek Mission Complete

Don't look behind you...
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

I knitted a dalek for my sister for her birthday. It was a few weeks late getting to her since it took me longer than I had expected. I had to learn a couple of new knitting techniques I hadn't practiced before, which always involves some frogging and re-knitting.

I based my design on EXTERMIKNIT! by "Penwiper", with some modifications of my own.

Bunches more photos of it on flickr. Or see it on ravelry.com if you're a member there.

An invitation to our nieces and nephews

My Mister and I are house hunting, and we're hoping to be in a new home by the end of the year.

What I'd like to do is get an original artwork from each of the nieces and nephews who are old enough to participate. The ideal would be something that could be either framed in an 8x10 mat, or in a similar sized shadow box. We'd like to hang their art around the house, a visual daily reminder of our family members who live so far away.

This could be anything from a favorite photo they've taken themselves, a multimedia collage or crafty thing, a sketch, a painting, a fiber art piece (knitted or crocheted, hand sewn, woven potholder, whatever), a small puzzle they've finished prepared with glue to keep it from falling apart, or whatever else they enjoy working with. Even a story they've written would be fine, as long as it's all on one side of one page.

Ideally I'd like the pieces to be signed by the artists.

The top end of their ages is in the tween range, and some are quite young, so the range of possibilities are pretty broad. I'll leave it up to their parents to decide who is old enough to participate. And of course, if any of the kids would rather not make us something, that's fine, too.

We'll get the frames or shadow boxes once the artwork arrives. And there isn't a deadline for this. Just whenever the spirit moves them.

We're still waiting to hear back on the short sale home we've put in an offer on. Could be days or more weeks yet before the lenders on the current owners' end are done with the extra stuff that happens in a sale like this. No guarantees, but it sounds like it's moving along in a promising - if slow - manner.

Space Invaders Beer Cozy

Space Invaders Beer Cozy

The space invaders beer cozy is finally finished. I conquered my fear of stranded two color knitting and, while its not perfect, even I think it came out pretty spiffy looking. The bottom is crocheted and the rest is knitted.

My Mister is home and on the mend, minus a gallbladder that had passed its warranty. He won't be allowed to actually put the beer cozy to work for a while longer yet, though. So it's up on the shelf, holding a practice beer.

Time for me to get some chores done, errands run, and generally get caught up on things that got left undone while my guy was in the hospital.

Spring Weekend

Khan's Mongolian Barbecue

We had lunch at Khan's Mongolian Barbecue in Richfield today, and then I spent some time out on the deck reading in the hammock. There are leaves on some of the trees, the birds are singing, and at 57° F it was wonderful in the sunshine.

Now we're watching some DVDs of the old TV show, Robotech: The Macross Saga. I'd forgotten how much I can't stand Minmay. I find myself rooting for the Zentradi, hoping Commander Breetai will put her out of my misery. Forgive me, fellow micronians.

I've also managed to complete my first successful swatch of single crochet. I experimented until I found a way to hold the yarn and crochet hook that gave me enough control of both to make it work. I wasn't having any luck with the hand positions I saw in the book I'm using or on the web. I don't know if it's because my left hand is just that dumb, or if I'm so used to knitting English style (throwing) that crochet feels backwards, but I just wasn't getting the hang of the proper hand positions. What I came up with is probably slower than normal, just as English knitting is slower than the continental style, but it seems to be working. Maybe once I get the basics of the stitches themselves down I'll focus on trying to hold the needles hook more correctly.

I'd Cozy That

Stethoscope Cozy
Originally uploaded by keribeth

We knitters will cozy anything that sits still long enough to measure it. Don't believe me?

Go to flickr and do the following search: knitting cozy

I got 4,500+ results including:

• a Volkswagen car cozy (I kid you not)
• beer cozies
• stethoscope cozy (seen here in keribeth's photo)
• bicycle cozies
• cell phone cozies
• coffee cup cozies by the dozens
• pendrive cozy in a south park theme
• sunglasses cozies
• sign pole cozies
• telephone pole cozy
• toilet paper cozies
• ipod cozies aplenty
• camera cozies
• Nike plus transmitter/sensor cozies
• egg cozies
• someone working on a missile cozy
• soap cozy
• water bottle cozies
• of course, tea cozies
• fruit cozies
• cozies for crutches
• tree cozies
• pint sized ice cream cozies
• wine bottle cozies
• a pink tank cozy (seriously as in a full sized WWI military tank)
• knitting needle cozies
• fork cozy
• cozy for a toy dinosaur (stops being a sweater when nearly the whole toy is covered, I think)
• cozies for adult toys
• motorcycle cozy

And I didn't even surf through all of them, so I'm sure I missed some highlights. This list also doesn't take into account people who don't tag or caption their work, so their photos don't show up in searches. Or people who call them sweaters or covers (i.e. tree sweaters, steering wheel cover, etc.) or who tag them in a language other than English.

I also did a quick search for "crochet" and "cozy", and came up with roughly a quarter as many results. Some are duplicates from the knitting search, and a higher percentage of them than the knitting search were for people using "cozy" as an adjective (as in "crocheting by a cozy fire") instead of a noun or verb. But there are still a lot of crochet cozied items.

The crocheted chandelier cozy certainly needs to be mentioned.

So I say to my Mister, "See. It isn't just me. Knitters are just like that."

Sock Wars III

Just learned about Sock Wars from a coworker. Maybe next year my sock knitting skillz will be l33t enough to participate. Right now, not so much. For the meantime, I can't help but appreciate the brave competitors who are taking on the challenge of...

... the original and bloodiest death-by-knitting tournament.

Knitter's Geek Code

My Knitter's Geek Code:

v1.0
KER+ Exp+>++ SPM-(SPM)>+ Steel++@ Bam+ Syn+ Nov++ Cot+ Wool+ Lux++ Hemp>+ Stash+(++) Scale Fin>+ FI?>+ Tex+ Lace-@ Felt++ Flat Circ++ DPN+(++) ML? Swatch+ KIP++ Blog+ SNB>+ *Rav+ FO+ WIP GaugeW++(B) ALTCr->+Q++Em

Note: I added Rav for ravelry.com.

Level 1 Troll Priest

Level 1 Troll Priest

Over the weekend I had a fair amount of time spent on the couch trying to get my foot to depuff. Light exercise helps with the lymphedema, but light exercise and then a bunch of elevation seems to help more. I've got some PT appointments coming up, too.

I used some of that down time to get the World of Warcraft troll plushie assembled. The knitting is done, the hair needs a bit of a trim, and his level 1 priest robes will be sewn instead of knitted.

I pondered a couple of methods of attaching his hair, and went with cutting lots of strands to the same lengths, bunching them together in little bunches like you might for tassels on a scarf, and tying knots in the middle of each bunch. Then, I stitched those bunches to his head by sewing through the knots. I created the braid out of three much longer bunches.

His tusks are felted to give them a bit more substance, and his ears are made from long, thin tapering cones, lightly stuffed to keep them lifted up. The nose was done the same way, but with a much smaller cone.

All in all, not a bad approximation of my Mister's main WoW character, Zwierdo. I may have to make him a wee plushie mace to wield, as a finishing touch. But clothing comes first.

Ok, break's over. Time for some PT, and then back to work.

Zwierdo plushie: rear view

April Snow

Snow on the fence
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

It's snowed all morning today. A light snow. Not enough to snarl up traffic or completely cover the new growth of grasses and shoots on the ground. It's windy enough that the snow is sticking to the side of our fence. I think the snow has finally stopped falling for the time being (it's mid-afternoon), and it's warmed up to 37°F (3°C), but the wind still has an un-springlike bite to it, with a windchill in the high 20°s F.

I put some food out for the squirrels again today. The buds on the trees are being really slow to pop because of the weather, and the squirrels count on those buds for their spring salad bar. They were wandering around the empty food dish, looking annoyed by its emptiness.

I've been out running around today, doing errands and going to the Craftstravaganza at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds. I've been warm enough all day, despite the wind and snow. Now I'm inside on the couch, typing, and I'm freeeeezing. Go figure.

I took a couple of photos of the crafts I saw today. You can see them on my flickr page here.

Only in Minnesota do you get 76 degrees, an inch of rain, severe thunderstorm warnings, and a possible foot of snow in 24 hours. ~ Paul Huttner, April 25, 2008, Updraft

Knitting in Biology 101

Knitting in Biology 101
Originally uploaded by estonia76

Ok, ok you caught me. I didn't start working again immediately after dinner.

I found this froggy biology knitting project thanks to Turtleknitta (spotted on her ravelry.com project queue) and HAD to blog about it. (After I picked myself up off the floor.)

A knitted, cruelty free, formaldehyde free frog dissection model. It is really worth clicking on the photo to see the rest of the photos in the flickr set this comes from.

The pattern for this project is available for purchase in the artist's Etsy store, The Crafty Hedgehog. She's currently selling it (the pattern) for only $4. I'm so there.

Kinda soft for an orc

IMG_0574
Originally uploaded by Sara Denise

Oh yes! An orc straight out of World of Warcraft!

I MUST knit one of these!
Where are my knitting needles?
Why am I at work when there's knitting to be done?

I think I even have the yarn I need in my stash. Hmmm... should I make mine a level 1 orc warlock? I do love their robes.

Click on the photo to see him full sized on his creator's page. If you're a member over at ravelry.com you can find more info about him in Saradenise's finished objects.

Lunch break is over... back to work.


edit: The project details have been decided. It's going to be a level 1 troll priest in the colors of my Mister's character, Zwierdo.

Busy week

Zathras (and Talia's tail)
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

Zathras has moved into the B5 Girlies' home now. The lady rats have been busy sniffing him and making sure he knows he's at the bottom of the pecking order. Lots of squeaks, sniffing and jumping around happening. Pretty normal getting to know each other stuff. Even with the girlies asserting themselves, he's obviously much more comfortable in the new cage than he was on his own. In the smaller wire cage on his own he was pretty timid about exploring. Now, in the big rattie habitat, he's actively checking out his surroundings and roaming around, as well as coming out to meet us when we open the doors.

On the sleep front, I've gotten pretty tired (no pun intended) of the constant nightmares and disturbing dreams. It makes the sleep I get a whole lot less restful.

I've started taking Qigong classes again. I'm happy to say I hadn't forgotten all of what I learned before. And this time something started to click. I could finally feel myself understanding on a physical level. I still say I had no idea how hard it could be to do so little. But my legs shook a little less this time, and I didn't feel so much like I was fighting to relax in the right spots without falling over. I'm really looking forward to practicing, now that I'm kind of "getting it."

My Honey was "downsized" at the end of December. He lost no time getting his resume out, and has been taking calls from potential employers and interviewing left and right over the last two weeks. He got his first job offer today. It's for a short contract, which isn't really what he had in mind. But it was a boost for the morale to get an offer before he'd even received his severance check. More interviews tomorrow.

In other news, I've decided to spend my birthday at a sci-fi convention this year; Jumpcon. It's not until July, so I have time to test my very rusty costuming skills to see if I'm still up to coming up with something fun to wear. I've got some ideas, and a brilliant friend with l33t costuming skillz way beyond mine has been helping me brainstorm. The plan is to...

ok... have to pause here for a minute... Jebeker is laying stretched out on the floor in front of me, pink tummy as cute as can be, fast asleep... have to pause to appreciate the adorable flopped kitty.

[pause]

Ok. I'm back. The plan is to keep things simple. Not so much a full out costume as a sci-fi-esque outfit. The wheels are turning.

Did I mention that Peter Woodward will be at this convention? Does this have anything with my excitement about the con this many months out? Just a little bit excited?

Yup.

Ok, it's getting late, but this post wouldn't be complete without a nod to the weather. According to NOAA we're going to have a high tomorrow (Friday) of 1°F (-17°C). Expected wind chills of -17° F or even -25° F. Here in the Twin Cities. And according to the local weather experts it's going to get quite a bit colder on Saturday. It's going to be one of those weekends that really reminds me that I'm not in California any more. Brrrr!

Yeah, yeah. I know. There are lots of colder places. But even the locals are talking about the cold with excitement in their voices. Comparing notes about which cities in the state are already much colder than the others, with obvious pride. I may have to make a forray out into public during the coldest part of the weekend just too see what Minnesotans dress like when they willingly admit that it's actually gotten cold.

Holiday in Virginia

Holiday in Virginia
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

Catching up.

A lot has happened since my last post. The Mister and I flew out to Virginia to visit my family out there over Christmas. We had a lovely time, and among others we got to visit with Niece C, Nephew P and my 90 year old grandmother.

Grandma is amazing. She may be more frail, and move more slowly than she did years ago, but she's still sharp and beautiful, and still has her sense of humor.

The fingerless gloves I knitted for her fit, wonder of wonders. My hands are so very much bigger than hers, and I didn't have anyone around who wears her size to try them on. They are wool, cashmere and silk, so they should breathe well and be warm and comfy against her skin. If I could wear wool I'd make myself a pair of them from the same yarn in a heartbeat. I'm just glad I can knit with it, even if I can't wear it.

My step-brother-in-law is Italian, and his family joined us for a sumptuous multi-course Christmas dinner, complete with a cheese plate, oysters Rockefeller casserole (which I forgot to take photos of... Doh!), ham, home fried potatoes, lasagna, and almost too many kinds of desserts to count. My step-sister made an amazing orange and cranberry sauce to go with the ham. I think I ate more of the cranberry sauce than the ham.

My step-brother was there for the weekend, too. I haven't seen him in ages. We've never been close, but it was good to see him, and he seemed to be doing well.

My Honey and I bought each other new Crocs. The kind with the fuzzy lining in them. That came in immensely helpful, because my foot started to swell up the day we were to fly out. It had been doing a little swelling for maybe two months before, but not like this. My foot was swelling too much to wear regular shoes, but Crocs are so loose and comfy I could still wear them even with warm, thick socks. So we opened the crocs as soon as we arrived so we could enjoy our comfy feet during the visit.

We flew out just in time, I'm told, because there were white out conditions the following day that would have made flying out much more difficult. They had chilly days at home, and snow, while we enjoyed temperatures as high as the 50's and 60's F, and a little rain. The locals in Virginia were quick to mention that it was getting cold at night (down in the 20's to 30's F) but it was still warmer than what we've been seeing the last few weeks in Minnesota.

While we were visiting we discovered a lovely local pear port, made by the Horton winery. It was tasty enough to buy some to bring home, which now-a-days means finding a way to keep it from being smashed in your checked-through luggage. Wasn't such a big deal back when you could still carry a bottle of wine in your carry-on luggage. But it made it home without incident.

My Mister and I don't celebrate Christmas left to our own devices (though we do observe the winter solstice and Pastafarian season of Holiday). But Christmas is a very big deal for the rest of the family, and we enjoy being able to share it with them. Our extended family is so spread out that we don't get to see more than a few of them at a time each year. But we try to at least make sure we call on the phone to touch bases. And this year a number of my family members have added Pastafarian Holiday to their winter celebrations, so there was an added level of cheer all around.

Ack, which reminds me that I still haven't mailed out my holiday cards. Good thing they are "season's greetings" cards (to cover the variety of holidays celebrated by my friends this time of year). Note to self: get that taken care of this weekend.

Any way, be brought games for all the adults in the house. We played several games of Settlers of Catan, and a card game called Fluxx. Dad hooked the laptop up to his TV and I showed the kids what the winter holiday in Azeroth (World of Warcraft) looks like. Niece C especially liked watching that, and perched next to me as I made the run through some of the seasonal quests. My Honey also demonstrated the PC game Portal for me and Dad. I couldn't enjoy trying to play a game with so many mind bending changes of perspective, but watching the Mister play it was a whole lot of fun.

Dad and Grandma took me to a wonderful little yarn store near (in?) Middleburg, VA, and let me pick out some yummy yarns. I picked all things I can actually wear. Recycled sari silk, bamboo, and soy silk. Grandma really liked a Möbius cowl that was on display, knitted of very fine mohair and sprinkled with delicate beads. After looking it over for a bit I offered to make one for her, so I got the yarn for that as well. I've never knitted with anything so delicate before, but I am really looking forward to this project. Just need to go out and get some beads and a beading needle to get started.

It was a plush toy Christmas for me. I fell in love with a stuffed toy manatee (I named him Hugh) while shopping for the niece and neffling, and my Honey bought it for me. And I was also given a plush turkey vulture, along with other lovely presents. Niece C and Nephew P drew us some very detailed pictures, too, which was delightful.

Most of the adults went out after Christmas dinner to see the Tim Burton movie Sweeny Todd (based on the Stephen Sondheim stage musical). Not a jolly, happy holiday film, but then we're not a "normal" family. I'd watch a recital of the phone directory if it was directed by Tim Burton. And I particularly enjoy Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman and my Mister especially likes nearly anything with Helena Bonham Carter in it. So we were all for my step-sister's plan to make that our post-dinner outing. The film was dark and disturbing, funny and touching, and the sets, costumes and visual effects were lavishly macabre. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Knitting and cake by candle light

Knitting and cake by candle light
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

My Honey was on the party committee at his company this year, and the final big event was the holiday party. It was quite a nice event, good food, lots of people having lots of fun. They had a casino night theme, so there were lots of games for everyone to play.

Walking around the Eden Prairie Center shopping mall earlier in the day sent several of my muscles into an unhappy spasm, so I spent most of the evening at our dining table.

I generally try to avoid all shopping malls during December. I'm not an enthusiastic shopper at the best of times. But I've been doing so much better lately, and the shopping needed doing. So I made the trip, bought the necessary items, and paid for all the hiking through crowds a short time later.

At any rate, I finished the cuff on one of my grandmother's mittens while people danced and my Mister mixed and mingled, did his party committee duties, and won tons of raffle tickets at the Texas Holdem table. Even so, he came back to check on me frequently. I was in good company at the table, and was glad he didn't feel tied down because of my limitations.

Not surprisingly, someone knitting in the middle of a party with 600 attendees did draw some odd stares. Go figure.

Now I'm on the couch with the laptop, and the kitties are taking turns sitting with me and providing me with cat gravity.

I've got a bunch of work I brought home from the office that needs doing, so I'm going to grab a snack and make some progress on that.

The project, a label design, has been a poster child for scope creep for the last two weeks. We told the department in question before we started this project that the deadlines were contingent on my having what I need in the way of data, and not being showered with change requests during design and implementation. That being said, inflexible plans involving travel were made for testing based on those deadlines.

Of course, we're up to our eyeballs in change requests and data revisions. It's all things that can be handled except there has been no adjustment to deadlines in response to the changes, and now questions are dropping out of the adminisphere about why the project is behind. I'm too low on the totem pole to dictate deadline changes, so I need to adapt in response. Joy.

I'll be glad when I put this project behind me.

Catrina helps with the mitten knittin'

Catrina helps with the mitten knittin'
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

The first mitten is nearly done. I've made more progress since taking this shot of Catrina, modeling the cables.

Warmed up into the mid teens F today, which was welcome as we went running around today. We had dim sum with some friends at Yangtze in St Louis Park.

My cold still persists, which at this point I think is worth getting looked at by a doctor. Two weeks, with my throat getting worse instead of better. I'll see how things are going tomorrow, and decide then.

sniff

NOAA says it's 6°F (-14°C) outside right now. The evening sky is an even pale gray, the light on the snow is gray. I'm getting tired of my cold, which still shows no signs of giving up and going away. But I'm inside and it's warm and comfy, and I'm knitting with kitties all around me.

The yarn is a soft tweedy gray, a blend of wool, cashmere and silk. I'm working on a pair of mittens for my grandmother. But I'm a bit distracted, so it's been knit 4 rows, frog one. It's what I get for trying to knit and talk on the phone at the same time. Mom is sick. Fortunately it's nothing that some hydration, antibiotics and a hefty dose of rest won't fix. Mom just called to say she's home and the kitties are making sure she's getting that doctor mandated rest by sitting on her and being too cute to disturb them.

Now that I've received that good news, maybe I'll be able to focus on the mitten at hand. I'm going to rustle up some herbal tea and work on making friends with this mitten. No point in fighting with yarn. The yarn always wins if I approach it like that.