Back Again

I haven't felt much like doing anything these past couple of weeks because of MY STUPID SCIATICA. However, I did dump my physical therapy person since my leg was getting progressively worse and am now doing the chiropractic thing which I swore I'd never do. And it actually seems to be making a difference. Color me corrected.

In the course of one very long week we learned that a) my pelvis is severely rotated to the right, b) in addition to sciatica I also have scoliosis, c) I also have something called spondylolisthesis which means one of my vertabrae is slipping off the one below it, d) the disk between those two vertebrae has completely disappeared and e) that I need to start putting money away towards unexpected medical costs. I have also had many, many x-rays taken and I'm wearing a lift in my right shoe because not only is my pelvis rotated, my left hip is about two inches higher than the right hip. It's amazing I can even walk, isn't it? No wonder my diet has been a combination of peanut butter cookies and Vicodin. Both make me feel better and both don't require you to stand up to prepare them.

On the positive side, I have finished two more scarves, have a third nearly done and a fourth almost done. Pictures might be a good idea. I also got all the dishes done that were in the sink although I had to do them in five minute intervals. All the rats are still alive and enjoying the aforementioned peanut butter cookies. I have also become hooked on Guild Wars so when I'm not playing with the ratties I'm running around an imaginary world and blowing things up. It's kinda cool to have fire come shooting out of your hands. As opposed to say, down your leg. And that's all there is to report from a very hot Campbell, California.

For Petey Sake

September is turning out to be a crappy month for ratties. On Monday I took the boyfriend's rat, Atlas, to the vet because Atlas looked like he'd been in a fight with little wounds all over his body. Turns out Atlas hasn't been scrapping, he just has mites. Here's some rat trivia for you. All rats have mites. However, it's only when a rat's immune system is compromised that the mites become a problem. Why is Atlas' immune system compromised? He has a tumor. A tumor that will cost $300 to remove.

Other than the tumor, Atlas is in great shape and he's only a year old. Which means the tumor needs to come out. If he was an old man, we might not go that route. But only a year old? Not to mention the sweetest rat in the world. Hell yeah that tumor needs to be gone. I just need to figure out some financial logistics.

SophieToes and Peeper

In happier news, I am now on scarf ummm 9? Plus I found another crochet pattern that looks way cool, it's the Catherine's Wheel Scarf (Rav link). Since the Knitting Room was having it's big sale on Saturday I scored some Cascade 220 to make it with. Hopefully I'll have enough yarn to make 2 scarves, one for the Rez and one for me! I got fall colors, you know, browns, oranges, dark greens. It'll either look really great or disgustingly hideous. It's all part of the excitement of crochet!

Good-Bye Bob

Rest in peace, Bob Rat. You were a very special boy.

Not Much

I don't have much today because frankly it's time for me to STFU about my stupid sciatica and just suck it up. However, I do have one piece of good news. If you live in the Bay Area, The Knitting Room is having a 25% off everything in the store sale all weekend. EVERYTHING. Yarn, books, etc.. This makes me extremely happy because that means I can buy more Encore Worsted for scarves. They have lots of other nice yarn there, including a fantastic selection of sock yarn, but their Encore selection is AMAZING. And there's lots of chairs for when your forkin' sciatica kicks in.

This Needs To Stop Now

I am an old person.

I thought I was fine. Granted my commute was an hour and 15 minutes going home tonight. And yes, I sat on a hard chair for two hours at knitting. But cripes on a cracker, is it too much to ask that I be able to walk around Bed Bath & Beyond for 10 minutes so I can buy a Contour Memory Foam Leg Pillow? Must I lurch around the store like Quasimodo?

Thank you to everyone in the store who pretended not to notice as I did something that probably looked like the "I gotta pee" dance while waiting for those two eejits to FINISH THEIR RETURNS so I could check out. And to the nice cashier who hardly batted an eye when I literally fell across her counter because I couldn't stand up anymore - thank you for pretending not to notice and instead simply asking, "Just a purchase this evening?" And then whispering hopefully, "Gosh, I hope this pillow helps."

You know you're an old person when you start to blog about your medical ailments. *Sigh* And with that I'm gonna go ice my ass.

Consider Me Stretched

So I went to physical therapy today. And I guess the biggest question I have about the entire event is - "When did physical therapy involve having an "emergency button?" Also, I'd like to know why someone would think that breathing deeply would negate the absolute searing pain racing up the back of my thigh when accupressure is performed on my ankle? And of course it would be interesting to know what "the most irritated sciatic nerve I've seen in a long time" actually looked like.

Maybe something like this?

Did you know that they're resurrected The Rack in P.T.? Of course they don't call it The Rack. No, it's called being in traction. I got to lay on my back for 20 minutes while they streeeeeetched me. The whole time I laid there I was thinking, "I wonder if I could knit in this position?" Then I got to lay on an ice pack for another 20 minutes. When the therapist came in at the 10 minute mark to see how I was doing I told him, "I'm bored out of my mind. Next time I'm bringing a book." So he turned on the music for me. Peter Frampton. Baby I Love Your Way. The Rack was definitely less painful.

Lenço Número Sete

Do you think they wear scarves in Portugal? Because that's what today's title says in Portugese - scarf number seven. I wonder if it ever gets cold enough in the winter to wear a scarf there? I suppose I could look it up on the Interwebs if I was so inclined.

So, as the title says, here's number seven. This is "Wavy" from an old issue of Knitty. I think I started this at the beginning of the year, got bored with it, and stuffed it in the WIP basket. Or perhaps I was tired of being blinded by the color. Rather pink, isn't it? Knit from that ol' workhorse, Cascade 220, which I originally bought to make a kitty bed from.

Now I only have 18 more scarves to make to reach my goal.

We are still very sad about the not unexpected passing of Phil yesterday. To inject a little levity into the day Minerva decided to take the plate I'd given her some baby food on, drag it over to the top ramp of her cage and ride the plate all the way to the next level. I always wondered how the plates managed to make it from the top ramp to the bottom of the cage. Little did I know the ratties were using them as sleds.

Farewell Phil

Rest in peace, old man. You were loved from the first day I met you.

Delusional

I'm still trying to convince myself that I can easily crochet a baby blanket AND still have time to make 25 scarves by December. It doesn't help that there is now a box of 43 skeins of yarn sitting on my dining room table. They are calling to me. "Make me into a baby blanket" they whisper. Also, at Knit Night on Wednesday, Emily was making a baby blanket. Do you think that's a sign? You know how big I am on signs when it comes to knitting and crochet.

Then when I was in Barnes and Noble last night to pick up the latest copy of "US" magazine (10 pages of Emmy Award dresses!) I came across this magazine. I think that may be another sign. I'm pretty sure it's a sign. There are a lot of REALLY nice afghans in here. As well as a lot of "What the hell were they thinking?" patterns. It was a pretty good deal though, $9.99 for 44 patterns. I liked at least half the patterns and loved 5 or 6. Including a beautiful circular afghan for a baby girl. And you see, the Lakota people are very fond of circular items. Another sign? I think so. Don't you? Well DON'T YOU?

Forty-Three

Today I will be discussing the number forty-three and the relevance it has in my life. When I was 43, my husband and I decided to go our separate ways. For $43.00 I could take myself and three friends to Five Guys for some awesome food. If I have 43 cans of Fancy Feast I can feed Andy and DeeDee for three weeks (supplemented by crunchies of course).

Forty-three dollars will buy enough bedding to clean about eight rat cages. Forty-three pennies won't buy much of anything. If I ever end up with 43 rats, I hope someone has me committed. Forty-three stitches in worsted weight wool will give you about a 6" scarf. And today, my friends, 43 is a very magical number. Because today I received 43 balls of FREE yarn from Brown Sheep Yarn. Behold.

Two weeks ago, I posted that an American yarn maker would send you yarn if it was to be used for charity projects. I declined to give out the name of that particular yarn maker for fear of them being bombarded with requests for free yarn. However, this gift that I received today is so far and away from anything that I was expecting that I had to say something. This is, in a word, amazing.

I received 8 skeins of Handpainted Originals, 9 balls of Cotton Fleece, 12 balls of Superwash Worsted and 14 balls of Superwash Sport. If you were to estimate an average price of $8.00 per ball (and that's on the low side) we're talking $350 worth of yarn. Are you as stunned as I am? Where else in the world would you find generosity such as this? We're looking at a lot of scarves, hats and baby sweaters for the Pine Ridge Reservation here. It's stuff like this that restores my faith in humanity. And on that note, I need to get knittin'.