Knitting!

I'm still dealing with the swollen jaw issue. The facial swelling is much better, I can open my mouth again, but there is still a lot of swelling inside. I had an ultrasound done this morning, on my salviary glands, but after looking at pictures on the internet last week, I don't think that's the problem. Unless I'm a freak and my submandibular salviary gland is not where it should be. The ultrasound was interesting; I wish the tech was more chatty. I hadn't thought about getting the goop on my face! He didn't actually do much right over the sore spot, but did have to press down on my windpipe! I'm seeing my dentist this afternoon.

Meg started junior kindergarten on Monday afternoon, and I'm not getting as much done around the house as I should, LOL, but I feel I earned a bit of a break! I'm having a terrible pain in my shoulder and can barely turn my neck. So even though I stopped taking the Naproxen for my jaw, I'm taking it for my shoulder. I seem to be immune to ibuprophen. Is that possible.

I am doing some knitting though, on the Moonlight Sonata shawl.

It was a toss up between this one, the Gold Nugget Shawl, and the Forget Me Not shawl. Even after the first repeat, I still wasn't quite sure about this one. I ripped back to the garter stitch band and tried smaller needles, and I like it much better. It's moving along nicely, and while I do not find the pattern intuitive, it's not hard to memorize. It is hard, however, to remember if I'm doing row 7 or row 9 because they are very similiar. The return rows are not plain purl, and a few return rows even have some action on them. So, it's not a mindless knit, and I have to keep the chart handy, but it's not too terribly bad either. I am, however, itching to start something else! I have quite a few things hibernating or just on pause....you know, I have to try one thing on, I have to block that thing....

So, there probably won't be any finished objects for a while! LOL!

One Thing After Another

Just when I thought I was going to get into a routine, get the rest of the unpacking done, etc, I woke up with this: I had a lot of dental issues for the first 5 months this year, with no definitive cause...TMJ caused by clenching, caused a tooth to change position, exacerbating jaw pain and numbness....a big circle of pain and possibilities. Then, I discovered a lump inside, where the lower jaw meets the cheek--couldn't tell if it was on the jaw, or on the cheek. An x-ray showed some imflammation, but the pain went away before I scheduled an appointment with an endodentist...with Rob changing jobs, it was too much hassle and possible expense. I took my chances that it would be fine for awhile, but I guess not. I went to a walk-in clinic and got amoxicillin and naproxen with hopes that I can get some pain relief--Tylenol #3 did nothing but upset my stomach.

Anyway, I said I'd write today, so I am!
This is what Meg's blankie looked like when we moved in. It looks even worse now, the holes are so big, adults can put their heads through. And due to the structure of it, it's just not simple to fix.

The yarn is very thin in many places, and breaks easily. Not to mention it is a hideous grey colour now, instead of snow white.
I was able to get the KnitSmart machine unpacked quickly, and set up on the bar in the basement rec room. I could get the same yarn at Zellers, and got going on it. Keyplate 30, I used a pattern posted by an incredible member of the Yahoo IncredibleSweaterMachine group. The blankie is so thick, and white, and clean! Meg calls the old one "The rotten blankie" but still loves it. It's about the same size as the old one too.

That's all folks, I need to go lay down and 'enjoy' the quiet as I try to figure out what I can eat!

Nice To See You Again

Today, my 'baby' started Junior Kindergarten. She goes this afternoon, and Thursday afternoon, and then starting next week, she will go every afternoon! I first created a blog shortly after she was born (end of 2005) but couldn't remember the password, so I created a new one just before middle girl, Lucy, started JK, August 2006. So, it's been just over three years of sporadic posting, especially once I split the blog into two separate blogs, and also when Megan stopped napping. But I'm back!!

So...This is the SweetSheep superwash BFL I bought at the K-W Knitter's Fair, 2008 (didn't get to go this year, only the 2nd time I've missed in all the years I've been going, and I started going their 3rd or 4th year!). If you scroll back to last September, you can see what it looked like before I wound it. Totally different!!
It looked so bright and contrasty in the skein. The above picture is with flash, the below picture is without flash. There was a very obvious knot 1/2 way through the 800 yds, so I have two balls. I knew I needed a pattern that either had a very simple repeating design, to blend the colours, or large patches of no design, to show the colours. I was intrigued by the "Sweet Lily" shawl in Interweave Knits awhile ago. It's a half circle, made with short row wedges. Something that's very popular with machine knitting. I knew the short row section would be fine for this yarn as it would blend the colours nicely.

However, the two edgings at the outer bottom....Not so great. The lace design was quite hidden. I also found that the lace didn't need much stretching open, and doing so tended to make the solid bits open up too much. I was using 5mm or maybe 5.5mm.

So I ripped! Then I lost one of the balls. Got sidetracked with moving. Blah, blah, blah. Then I found the second ball and started a different shawl. Moonlight Sonata from www.elann.com. That's going pretty good....now. Rough start. But let's save that for another day, because I can blog on a regular basis now!!!!