There are NOT Enough Profanities....

...to describe what I'm feeling. Remember that Double Ear infection/sinus infection thing I had just before Christmas? Yeah....the fucking thing is back. Antibiotic resistant infection. FUCK!!! The good thing is that I made it to the Doctor before it got really bad. (thank goodness for my best friend who was willing to drive me to urgent care at 8am on a Sunday morning when she was out until 5am the previous night) Right now it's just my sinuses and a middle ear infection. I'm on even stronger antibiotics now.

My knitting mojo is back!

First, let's talk about how Christmas went....

We had a good one here. On Christmas Eve, FIL gave his presents to the kids, and his gift to DD was a little doll house that she LOVES. On Christmas morning, when she came out of her room, she ran past her stocking, past the big pile of presents, while yelling "MY DOLL HOUSE!!!!!" and she ran to the doll house and happily played until meanie Mommy and Daddy told her to open her presents...lol. The boys both have been playing with their new toys non stop as well. I don't think any of them received anything that they didn't absolutely love :)

My Hand knit gifts were well received this year. My Mom absolutely LOVES the afghan I knit for her. So much so that a few hours after we arrived back here at home from visiting her house, she called me just to tell me again thank you for the blanket and she just kept going on about how pretty it is and she asked me a million questions about how long it took and the construction details. I love that my mom loves the afghan. My sister, Jammie, loved the Baboons Ass socks. My other sister, Dawn, loved the Montego bay scarf. She put it on after opening it and wore it around for a few hours. She absolutely LOVES how soft it is (merino/silk blend). Baby Talia is only 4 months old, and as soon as her Mommy helped her get the sweater out of the box, Talia saw it and started crying....lol. And as for Laney and Morgan's sweaters, Look below:

Here is my (sleepy) Miss Morgan trying on her sweater.

and, here is my Laney Belle trying on her sweater. (and my dad fresh in from doing yard work in the background chomping on a cookie)

I hope everyone also had a good Christmas.
~

As soon as my Christmas knitting was finished with, and the last button sewn on, I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my chest. I was free to knit whatever I wanted again! Such a liberating feeling!! So, either on the 23rd or 24th (I'm not sure), I started a pair of Anastasia socks for my best friend's Birthday gift. Her birthday is coming up on January 2nd. I am using some discontinued Regia Strato Color that has been sitting in my stash for a LOOONNNNGGGG time. I think it's been there for at least a year and a half. The ball band says the color # is 5747. I have sock #1 completely finished, and on sock #2 I'm done with the toe and I'm either 4 or 6 rows (I can't remember) into the first pattern repeat. Not shabby for only a few days work.

I have also rescued my Icarus shawl from my UFO pile. I haven't really done much with it, so it still looks the same as the last pic I posted of it. Icarus became a UFO so I could concentrate on Christmas knitting, so its been waiting patiently since October for me to return to it. Also, I have 3 skeins of STR lightweight in Korppi waiting to become an Adamas Shawl.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who emailed or left comments wishing me better. It really meant a lot to me. I am doing A LOT better now. I still can't hear out of my left ear, and I still get a little dizzy occasionally, but that's it. I can actually function now! YAY!.....lol I had a few days where I could function just fine as long as I could sit still, and on those days, I managed to knit (and finish) a Halley's Comet Hat for my niece, Morgan; and I finished the Baboon's Ass socks for my sister, Jammie.

Here, you can see DD modeling Morgan's hat, it's a better pic of DD than it is of the hat :) Instead of a rolled brim like the pattern specifies, I did some 2X2 ribbing. To make the hat more of a toddler size instead of adult , I went down a needle size. The yarn I used is Lion Brand's Cotton Ease in the Berry color. This hat took less than half of the skein, and was a really easy, really quick knit. DD saw that there's a flower on the top of the hat, and she asked for me to knit one for her, so I let her into my stash and she picked out a skein of Violet Cotton Ease for her hat.

This second pic, is the finished Baboon's Ass socks. It's a crappy pic (pun NOT intended), but I didn't feel like being persistent in getting a better one...lol. The pattern is Monkey socks by Cookie A, and I used Knitpicks Essential sock yarn in Burgundy.

So, as far as Christmas knitting goes, all I have to finish is both sleeves on Laney's cabled Sweater, 1/2 a sleeve on Morgan's hooded sweater and the buttons on both sweaters. Since these sweaters are for a 2 year old and a 3 year old, the sleeves are pretty short and wont be a problem to finish. And, buttons in this house are never a problem...lol

I doubt that I'll be posting again before Christmas. So, everyone, have a happy holiday! Have a great time celebrating with your families, loved ones, and SO's!

weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ok, so it turns out that what was thought of as a run of the mill ear infection, is really both an inner and an outer ear infection. The pain got so bad that my best friend (who is the BEST BEST BEST best friend in the whole wide world) took me to the ER at 3am on Sunday morning. Apparently that cold I had last month that I thought was just a bad cold, was really a sinus infection. And that never getting properly treated, is what caused my ear infections. So, now I'm on strong antibiotics, ear drops and pain meds. The pain meds caused the title of this post. They make me a little stoned. I may feel good now, but this really sucks. I can't drive (even if I weren't on the pain meds I couldn't drive. the fluid in my ear makes me really dizzy at unpredictable times). I need to go grocery shopping. DH is going to take me tonight, But I really hate feeling like I can't get things done.

Big Road Bump....

I was making really fantastic progress on the sweater for Morgan, I finished the 1st sleeve and the hood, only one more sleeve and buttons to go. On Laney's I still have both sleeves to finish, and buttons to sew on, and I still have about an inch and a half to do on the Baboon's Ass socks. It kills me that I was making such great progress, and I have to take a few days off from knitting. I have an ear infection in my left ear. I'm managing the pain pretty well, but if I spend a lot of time upright, I get dizzy(even while sitting). Plus the drainage is grossing me out. No knitting yesterday. I was in too much pain. No knitting today. I'm too dizzy. I hope I can knit some tomorrow. Christmas is in 10 days. I can do this. Really, some sleeves, some buttons and a sock toe. I can totally do that in 10 days. Hopefully I'm not out of commission for too long.

Would you like to know something interesting? This is the very first ear infection I have EVER had in my life. None of my 3 kids have had ear infections either. I've always known I was REALLY lucky (especially with the sinus issues I have). I know that babies Eustachian Tubes are smaller than adults are, and that alone makes babies more likely to get ear infections and I just keep thinking how awful it is for a teeny lil baby to have to go through this. Poor babies.

And, here are the pics....

the ones I mentioned in the post below. I forgot to get a pic of the Baboons Ass socks, but if you've seen one ass, you've seen them all.....LMAO! (cheap joke, but worth it) Below you'll see the pics of the cardigans I'm making for 2 of my nieces for their Christmas Presents.



I'm using WOTA Bulky for both of them, Grape and Sky for Laney's, and Mauve for Morgans. I bought 3 skeins of each Grape and Mauve for the sweaters (the Sky is leftovers from another project), and for Laney's, I'm 3/4 through ball #2 and working on a sleeve; and for Morgans, I am almost ready to join ball #3 and I'm still on the body. I'm thinking I *may* have to end up using some of the grape for sleeve cuffs on Morgans sweater (the pink one).

A Pic-less update

I just realized it's been a while since my last blog post, so I figured I would do a quick update now, and I'll probably be able to post some pics tomorrow. I've been working a lot on trying to finish up Christmas gifts, and REALLY REALLY REALLY craving the sensation of casting on a new project. However, I have promised myself that I wont cast on anything new until I finish the Christmas gifts. This promise is EXTREMELY difficult to keep because I have my new STR Ravens (Korppi and Tlingit) sitting in my knitting bag begging to be knit. Anyway..... I'm getting close on the Christmas gifts. I just finished the body and started the sleeves for the Cabled Raglan Cardigan for my Niece, Laney; I am past the sleeve separation and working the body of the Hooded Raglan Cardigan for my Niece, Morgan; and I am about 90% done with the Baboons Ass (Monkey socks made with Red yarn) socks for my Sister, Jammie.

DH is out of town right now, visiting his Mom (Hi Nancy!). So, for me that means a lot more knitting time in the evenings, IF I can stay awake. Last night I started dozing off in the middle of purl row on Morgan's sweater and, miraculously, was still knitting(purling) when I jerked back awake...LMAO.