Snap!

Tonight I went to put my needlemaster needles together. I finally found some more yarn to increase the collar of the shrug I made back in October. So I attached two lengths of the cable together and started to attach the needles. They screw on.

You are suppose to get out this little tightening tool and the rubber round thing and then tighten everything down real good. However, I haven’t been able to find the tightening tool or the round thing for awhile. So, I started to tighten the needle just by hand.

Snap!

Now, I know that I am strong for a woman. I have always had this weird, crazy strength and in college would challenge and beat men in arm wrestling. That was college, though.  This is now. It is obvious that my needles had a defect. It is hard to tell in the picture, but the cable end is suppose to have a screw part sticking out. Apparantly, the screw part just snapped off and is inside of my size 8 needle.

Not only do I have to replace the cable, but I need to replace the needle as well.

Honestly, this is the last straw for the Boye Needlemaster and me. Seriously! When I first bought the Needlemaster a few years ago I didn’t notice that some of the cables had gaps were they attached to the screw part. Sometimes my yarn would get caught in there. It took me awhile to realize this was a defect. I contacted the company who really could not tell me much, except that if I mailed them the needles they would look at it to determine what to do.

At the time, the needlemaster was practically all that I used and I couldn’t afford to send them back to Boye. So I put it off….and well, now this.

Long story short, a little fairy sent me one pair of the Knitpicks Options and so I will be ordering those.

I finished one sock and the second sock is going remarkbly fast. I love them. They are a perfect fit for me, no sag in the arch and the toe is perfect. Tony even complimented me and told me I was getting better at them every time.

I still have kidney aches. I don’t know if it is just the beginning of something to come or if my kidney is just recovering from its torturous past. As the old saying goes, only time will tell.

Oh, one last thing, I completed these the other day. They match my crocheted hat.

Crocheted Cable Hat Pattern

My friend Deneen keeps coming up with new hat patterns. It encouraged me to try my hand at a hat pattern. I did this from the eyebrows up, ha ha. instead of working from the crown down. This was inspired by the Brea Bag using the Dcfp stitch. When it came time to do the decreasing, I sort of made it up and winged it as uniformly as I could.

That hat fits me perfect.

However, the hat looks pretty good on both of my kids, too. It is more of a roll brimmed type hat on them.

Pattern: Crocheted Cable Hat Pattern

Hook: J

Yarn: Cascade 220

It passed!

Last night I was just feeling so awful. I knew it was my kidney from the recent signs. At 1am Tony called me and told me he was on his way home from work. By 2am, I was in excruciating pain, nothing the pain meds I had would help me with. So Tony called my sister-in-law and she came by and sat in the house while Tony took me to the ER.

It took the ER awhile before they gave me their drugs. However, right after they gave me the shot, I had pretty much the worse pain ever that even their drugs couldn’t control and then I didn’t have any pain at all.

Yes, I passed the stone. It was from my left kidney (the one with the two ureters.) It is triangular shaped. What a relief. I feel so much better, in absolutely no pain at all.

I feel like it is such a happy ending to my sick story. Hopefully that is the last of these things. (Prettty interesting that the doctor told me there wasn’t a stone in the left kidney and that is where this came from…)

eta:

Oh…and for those who are grossly curious…

Here is the #*%&#$ that passed.

Love the jagged large end and then the pointy triangular end…not really a big stone as it is only between 2 and 3mm, but I think it is the shape that was this ones problem.

Oh, and when I got to the ER, I was lucky.  There was no one in the ER.  It is a brand new ER, the waiting room was huge.  I was taken to a bed almost immediately and was given meds within 30 minutes from when I got there.  My blood pressure was 200 something over 100 something…really, really high, but I was assured that was normal for someone in that much pain.  The total ER time only took 3 hours, which was really, really good.  I have never been in and out of an ER that fast.

Oh, and to tell you how much pain it was, I asked Tony to google Exploding Kidney, as I was pretty darn sure my kidney was going to explode.

Closing the chapter on this book. 

WordPress Perk

I just noticed that when you are reading a post in wordpress and put your mouse over a link in the post (don’t click on it) it will show you a picture of the website in a little mini window.  So cool!  Here are some examples…

Deneen’s Blog

 My weightloss blog

Oprah’s Website

Blog’versary

Somehow I missed my blog’s 2 year Anniversary again.   It seems pretty crazy that it has been two years.  I have been getting a lot of good news lately.   Lets just say it has something to do with a pattern getting published, and I am pretty sure this is just the beginning of that sort of stuff for me.    I will post more details when I am sure I can.

I put down the sweater I was knitting for myself, to start the sweater for my dad.  He has been wanting a sweater for the longest time.  I decided since he is turning 60 this year, it will be a good time to knit him a sweater.

Here is the back of it.  Is it Patons Classic Merino and is the Patch Man pattern from the Knitscene Spring 07 issue.

Again…

Hematuria…

Last night before I went to bed I noticed it and this morning it was bad. So, unfortunately, I think I will be passing another stone.

I am dropping my class, yet again. This time I am doing it before I commit myself to the class. I don’t know about this. There have been so many signs road blocking me from passing this class.

I am just so dissappointed.

eta:  Thanks everyone for the nice comments.  I just wanted to say that at this time, I am feeling fine.  I am a little achy periodically but I am not hurting and I don’t feel sick.  The doctor told me it could be a kidney infection, but I highly doubt it.  I don’t have any symptoms really.

Hopefully this will pass quickly and maybe I overreacted by dropping the classes, I don’t know.  I just keep feeling this path keeps getting blocked for me and am unsure if I need to go a different direction.

Maybe I will have more time to do some more designing.

Growing a sock

Here is some more progress on my garter ribbed sock.  I think I should have done regular 2×2 ribbing for the first inch to pull/gather the sock at the top.  This garter rib sort of spreads the ribs and while that is a nice design, I have a feeling the socks will be a bit slouchy.  Oh well, I have committed to this, so we will see what I get.  I also feel a cast on of 64 stitches is a bit much and in retrospect, think I could have done fine with maybe 10 less stitches.

Tomorrow I start spring semester.   There is no way I am withdrawing from it.  I am taking two classes and am just going to get through it.  The good news is it is only Wednesday from noonish to almost 3 and then Friday is 8ish to almost 4.  So I will have a long day on Friday, hopefully with some breaks, but it is the only day I have to commit to getting up “early” and I can deal with that, really I can. 

I started to take this class, Anatomy last summer from the same instructor, so I know what to expect.  He teaches directly from the book.  His quizes are worded from the book, but he is very easy to understand and explains things well.  He is a chiropractor and has an interesting perspective on the human body.

I am also taking an online political science class.  Tony is also going to school this semester.  He is taking two business classes, both online.  Yes, we are busy, busy, busy…but it is good for both of us.

One final thing is I am back on trying to become healthy again.  It will be a never ending life process for me.  I am still working on eating healthy but now putting more of my focus on getting on the treadmill every day.  I don’t care if I go mediocre or actually work up a hard sweat.  I am really just trying to be consistent and getting on the darn thing.

I have done pretty well, though as this is the second week of me committing myself to it.    I know it is going to be easy for me to find an excuse not to get on it, but there isn’t going to be anymore excuses.

Should have done this in 2006

Seriously…

First, I received two really nice fiber related presents for Christmas that I never posted about.

Deneen sent me some gorgeous batts of roving. Two were natural and two were in this colorway.

Bron sent me some yummy munchies. I was such a glutton and I ate most all of it, though Tony and I did split the last piece of fudge. She also sent me 6 skeins of my most favorite yarn, the beloved, NEW Cotton-ease. I absolutely love this color. It is a mix between blue and purple.

Finally, I finished Baroque from the Happy Hooker. I should have finished it in 2006, but it got sort of hectic around the holidays and so I put it down. What was going to be a Christmas present, will more than likely be my mother’s birthday present. I will post a picture of her wearing it when I give it to her in a month or so.

I blocked it, and there were some sections that were really off kilter. The yarn I used is Noro Lily. It is a soft and yet springy yarn. Against Deneen’s advice, I hit it with the iron as I needed steam to shrink up some areas that were a bit stretched. Well…one small section got a bit too much and I burned the silk.

Tony and I looked at it and it really looks just a little “dirty” in a small section on the outer edge and isn’t noticeable unless you really look at it, though it is “rougher” in that area. I decided if it bugs my mom I will pull out the trim and redo that part.

Okay…and what really belongs in 2007? How about a sock…

I started this garter ribbed sock. This is the Socks that Rocks (remember the one that had all of those knots?) I love this colorway. It was one of the last colorways that they had last year at Stitches West. I think it is gorgeous and really does suit me well. These socks are for me.

Not a baby…

Madeleine has verbally made it clear to me that she is no longer a baby.  She has been telling me this for the past few months, our conversation will go like this:

Me:  Come here, baby and let me snuggle you.

Maddie:  I am not a baby.

Me:  What are you?

Maddie:  I am a kid.

She knows she isn’t quite a big girl and instead of me accepting her being a toddler or a preschooler, I keep holding on that she is still my baby.  After all, she has that baby/angelic face with those curls.

Today, however, I went to teach my class and when I came home I noticed that Madeleine seemed taller to me.  It is weird that leaving the house and kids gives me this new, fresh viewpoint.  After examining her I noticed that her baby belly is gone, her legs are longer, and really she is a little girl and isn’t really my “baby” anymore.

A tear came to my eyes when I thought…hmmmm…I need a baby.

Well, since then, I have come to my senses, ha ha and no I will not be having a baby any time soon, knock on wood.

I almost finished the Baroque jacket from the Happy Hooker.  I am just working on the border, so should have it done later tonight, though I probably won’t take a picture until tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

We toasted to good health for 2007!