Twin Peaks is Finished!

I'd call this a productive use of my time at the dealership and the tire store yesterday morning. Here is a midline shot of the unblocked shawl. Soft as a baby's butt, and better-smelling.



And here is what's left of the Sabbath Socks. I got bored, and I wasn't entirely satisfied with my creative heel treatment, so I frogged both of them back to nothing. One is wound around the unused yarn, and I'll knit up that portion first until the unused yarn is free again. Then I'll wind that smaller ball onto the unused yarn so I can retrieve the end.

OK, that *was* the plan. I cast on for Wendy's toe-ups w/heel flaps and got all the way to the end of the toe decreases and decided that the yarn really just needed to be re-skeined and allowed to lie fallow for awhile. Love the yarn; it's my favorite [so far] for knitting socks, and some of the new stitches were way too wabi-sabi for my comfort, so I frogged again and made the world's shortest skeinwinder from my thumb and my elbow. Twice. I'm going to give it two or three weeks and see if the yarn relaxes on its own or if I need to give it a quick dip in the sink.



Not sure what to do at this point. I've printed off the pattern for the Monkey socks, after seeing what my Sisters of the Wool have done with theirs ~ every bit as impressive as their Baudelaire bonanza of a few weeks ago. I may wait and knit up Monkey on larger needles using a slightly fatter yarn, in the hope that the specified number of stitches will fit my tender tootsies without bagging into shapelessness. Or I may try Monkey with a five-repeat pattern and try to figure out how to taper down from midcalf to cankle.

I just wound a cake of Lotus Blossom's Harbor and have done the first half of my cast-on for the toe-up heel flap sock in a large and will see how that does. I may eventually pick up another hank of Jitterbug and attempt the entrelac socks in the Spring IK. To which I've just subscribed though frankly there's not a lot in this issue that appeals to me, nowhere near as much as in last fall's issue.

Whatever I decide on needs to be simple enough that I can sit and knit in church and participate in the meetings. I suppose I can always do a variation on the Sock of Doom.

Oh frabjous day! The electricians were outside yesterday morning, installing the new security lights for our building. This project has been in the works for weeks and weeks; the snag has been all this lovely drought-busting rain we've been getting. For some reason, they've been reluctant to stand on metal ladders and mess with electricity in the rain. They got it done before the most recent shower blew through, and last night I came home to a whole lof of let-there-be-light.

I might be one of the last folks to see Pirates III. It was definitely worth the wait. Of the three movies, I think this one is my favorite. I saw it last night with Brother Sushi at the newest movie-tavern-type establishment here [which I much prefer to stadium seating: a captain’s chair to sit in, a more personal viewing experience, fewer people in the theatre, and minimal steps to navigate; I can’t speak to the quality of the food, as we’d eaten elsewhere]. And it’s *loud*; lots of cannons and thunder and yelling, and the soundtrack music cranked up to match. And I just loved it. I remarked to Brother Sushi as we were getting into the car, that it was like an old John Wayne movie but with seawater.

One of my favorite moments was when the skinny one-eyed pirate, who has chiefly served as comic fodder throughout the series, had a moment of quiet dignity. Beautifully done. And Tia Dalma? I can’t really comment much on her without spoiling plot points for those who have yet to see the movie. I’ll just say “right on, sister!” and add that the single brethren at church should be thankful that we single sisters are not obeah women.

I've been experiencing some annoying physical symptoms that I suspected were side effects of my anti-inflammatory medication. So I spent part of yesterday afternoon at the doctor's office, and they did several mug shots of my lungs and an EKG, and everything matches the stellar results of my well-woman in January. I do not have liver disease, kidney disease, or congestive heart failure. [Woohoos all around!] She set my mind at rest on the whole subject of side effects. I do have increasingly swelling ankles and some additional pains that I sure hope are not the new normal.

There's no obvious reason why I should have gained 10 pounds in the past month. I like food, but not *that* much. We're waiting to get the results back on my electrolytes, and I've joined the banana-a-day club and resumed all my vitamins that I'd just sort of forgotten to take for the past couple of months. Mr. Lasix, meet Mr. Mobic. Mr. Mobic, meet Mr. Lasix. You fellows go sit in that quiet corner and play nicely together, understand? If you need me, you know how to find me ~ just listen for the sound of falling water.

And since Sleep Clinic A never got back to me to set up an appointment [that LittleBit or I are aware of] in spite of at least two calls from me, my doctor is getting me a referral to Sleep Clinic B, because sleep apnea would explain a lot.

I'm off to tend to my knitting.