Spring Cleaning

Surprisingly (to me anyhow), I’m coming up to my Fifth Blogiversary in May. Wow! I’m thinking it might finally be time to update the look of my blog. It’s a bit grimy, dusty and old-looking and I’m getting tired of working with the HTML in the template. Just a warning that one day very soon (maybe even tomorrow) you may come to visit Damselfly’s Pond and not recognise the place. Shocking, I know. But it’ll still be me under the new paint.

Hopefully I won’t kill the thing completely in the process! I always say I have just enough computer savvy to be dangerous. I’ve saved my template and can always patch it back in if something goes awry. It’s supposed to be pretty foolproof to move to the new Blogger layouts so I’m hoping to have better navigation and a more streamlined look. Along with some new items I couldn’t have before. It might take a bit of tweaking to get where I want to be. We’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

In other news, I went to see Dr. Serious-Dermatologist again yesterday. It took an hour to get in to see him this time and T-Man just had to walk down with me, so he got stuck waiting too. Plus I forgot my knitting. Ack!

I think our relationship is improving – I actually got the doc to laugh a little with my tale of how my husband complains he feels like he’s tying up to a wharf every night when I apply the tar ointment! Smells like old treated logs, get it? OK, you might have to be a sailor.

He finally clarified a few things for me, now that I understand what questions to ask, and changed the Goo Schedule somewhat. And I got the prescription for the systemic anti-fungal pills. The final lab report says there’s a fungus there but that it shouldn’t be a problem. I figure if it can survive over a month’s worth of the strongest anti-fungal cream then it needs a kick in the pants to get lost! Hopefully this will finally break the cycle, which I realise is not causing the psoriasis directly but I think it’s interfering with my immune system. We’ll find out, won’t we? At least now I know my liver is in good-enough shape to withstand the medication.

However I was really optimistic in my post yesterday about when I could get in to see my family doctor. He can’t see me for a physical until the end of July! Yikes! Four months to wait. Can you feel how the lowly GP is overworked and underappreciated? I certainly appreciate mine. Bigtime. I need to remember to book the next appointment right after the last one the way I do with the dentist.

Back to some crafty stuff. (Got whiplash yet?) So have you seen the new Spring/Summer 2010 issue of Vogue Knitting? There are quite a number of very lovely and wearable garments in this issue which has a lace theme. Only a couple of them are Out There…oh, sorry…”fashion forward”. I see this as a definite improvement in the last couple of issues. Maybe a trend towards patterns that are more knit-worthy rather than just flying in off the runway? See what you think.

The article on grafting seams in stitches other than plain stockinet could be really helpful, if a bit complex to understand. I like the chart system since it eliminates so many words, but I think it will take some brain work on my part to make sense of them. (The author looks at the stitches on the back needle from the top/front as if the pieces are laying on a table, rather than the way I see them, from the back as I’m holding the needles parallel.) And it very likely won’t be utilised by anyone else writing patterns. You’d have to make your own chart to follow if the seam to be grafted isn’t one of those discussed in this article. But it does illustrate the “half-stitch” problem very clearly for me. I plan to scan and print out a copy for my tech notes.

I am also intrigued by the scarf knitted in blocks using dropped stitches. How ingenious! I don’t recall ever seeing a stitch pattern resembling this one before. If I didn’t already have so many projects ongoing, I’d be swatching it for sure. Just to see how it works if nothing else. And speaking of knitterly experimentation, I’ll have another book review for you soon.

Must get some work done around here now that I’m feeling a bit more human again. (Tummy grumbles hopefully finally subsided. The good news: 4 pounds lost since Friday.) Later this afternoon we’re off to see the Silk Weaving Studio’s opening of a mini-show featuring the work of dear friend Chisako, who is visiting from Japan where she now lives. Her weaving is always amazing! Such fine threads and beautiful natural dyes. Love-love. I missed seeing her at Saturday’s luncheon. Hopefully I’ll have some photos for you tomorrow. If I can avoid my usual camnesia!

And speaking of cameras, here’s another photo of this city’s gorgeous cherry blossoms:

They’re so spectacular and so short-lived that you have to admire them while they’re here. They’re already starting to make pink and white snow on the ground.