Oh Heck!

Why is it that we finally get a nice sunny spring day and I feel like crap? I have a migraine, the-usual-Advils-aren’t-even-touching-it kind of migraine. And the sun is too bright for my eyes. So I’m hiding up here in my study (so what else is new, you say?) and trying to get some work done. I haven’t had a migraine in quite awhile. I was hoping that my slightly odd version of menopause was going to take care of most of them. Don’t have a clue what caused this one, unless it was a lack of my usual glass of wine with dinner last night? Nah, can’t be that. Sushi? Doesn’t give me headaches. Not enough tea in my system? Nope, I’m sloshing. No idea but it sucks anyway. Hopefully it’ll go away if I pay it no further attention. But I’m still using it for an excuse to avoid vacuuming the house.

So what is odd about menopause for me? Hey, I’m missing out on all the “fun” my contemporaries describe! No hot flashes, no mental mush, no crabbiness, no real difference except no periods since last November. And less migraines. Unfortunately not NO migraines. Could be worse, yes? I actually feel better than I have in probably decades. Told you it was an odd menopause. But then my periods were also odd: highly unpredictable, crampy, spotting, headaches, PMS. And forget Me and The Pill. Yikes! It almost caused a divorce. Luckily I only needed it between kids because after number two I got my tubes tied. Nice to have all the reproducing over with by age 24! And my weird periods didn’t stop me from getting pregnant when I wanted to. Yeah, I’m kinda strange. I live with it.

Now what was I going to say before I interrupted myself? Migraine-fuzzed brain. Oh yeah. I did a silly thing and joined a KAL. I don’t do knit-alongs normally but I decided that sometimes I need deadlines. And there’s always exceptions to every rule, right? This one is a nice long deadline too: fall. I’m knitting Cookie’s Pomatomus socks along with a bunch of other nice people and Candace (Twisted Thistle) has a lovely little button to go with this KAL. I’ll put it in my sidebar so it’s clickable in case anybody wants to join in. I need more socks right? No??

Meanwhile I’m behind on my mermaid beaded doll. I have to hurry because her deadline is May 1st and I’ve said I would go right into the next Beaded Art Doll challenge: Celestial. I have ideas. Must make a body and a face. Also I’m cruising up, I mean down the front on my wacko Vogue Knitting vest/top thingy. It’s faster now that it’s back in one piece rather than working on the two shoulder straps alternately. I’ve turned the heels on the current Mindless Socks and I…er…started another knitted project. I shouldn’t have, but I did. I got 2 balls of this soft variegated novelty fur yarn called Kickx by Moda Dea (Coats) at Dressew. (They never had much in the way of yarns before. This is new.) It’s the colourway called Lucky which is pretty much a slightly muted rainbow. I’ve teamed it with an unknown wool yarn hand-dyed by my friend Angela in oranges and I’m loving the look. I’m knitting Melody Johnson’s simple tie-on fuzzy shawl. Her website Fibermania is great but I can't find the URL for the shawl. If you have to hunt for it you’ll get to see all her wonderful art quilts on her fabu (as Mel would say) blog. You might just forget what you were there for. So I’m cold. I want this shawl now.

Wait! There’s more! I also took Nancy, my knitting spool, and started what will become (I hope) a necklace/scarf thingy with attached tendrils and flowers and leaves. I’m using a ball of yarn that was one of my demo skeins in my dye class. It’s a bit heavy for Nancy to handle (she’s rather a slender girl) which means that I have to go back and loosen up the stitches every now and then so I can keep working. Which is making for some uneven tension. I do plan to felt it somewhat though so that should help. More info on Nancies here. When I started this I had a real flashback to when I was 8 years old, sitting on a quiet bench at school at recess or lunch break or something working away on my knitting spool which looked pretty similar to this one. I made a couple of things with the resulting “ropes” aka “horse reins” such as a hot pad for mom and a weird hat that I never wore. Probably also tying up my younger sisters...but I digress. Truthfully I just liked the action of going around and around and didn’t really need to make anything specific. It was the process that counted. BTW, some people go around clockwise and some widdershins. I’m a widdershins corker myself. (Corking, french knitting, and spool knitting are alternative names for this technique.) Yes, I could knit I-Cord with knitting needles but this is more fun! No I don’t have ADD, though the number of current projects may whisper otherwise. I’m just easily bored with projects and I need a lot of variety. It's to keep my wrists, neck, and shoulders from getting too sore. Right.

Last but not least, here’s my pieris in full bloom which includes the gorgeous red new leaves. These shrubs are about 10 feet tall and have been pruned so they aren’t even taller! They’re one of the plants that doesn’t mind growing underneath my walnut tree. We have another baby one with red flowers but they don’t seem as hardy as the white variety. Pieris japonica are in the heather family and love our acid soil, along with rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, and blueberries. Your horticultural lesson for the day. Back to my knitting.

Wait! Check out SpunMag — they’ve finally overcome all difficulties and have an issue out today. Yay! Get on their mailing list if you don’t want to keep checking back for new stuff. Just a hint.