Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Now THAT'S sexy!

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Remember about 4 months ago, when I *thought* my foot problems were really just tendinitis-related? Well I've got news: It was just plain fractured the whole time! That's right...I've been walking, pushing heavy objects, kneeling and bending down every day on that fractured foot. Yeah, that's why the pain has been getting even worse, to the point that all of my joints & leg muscles hurt on the good side of my body...because I've been reduced to putting 3/4 of my weight on it recently.

Let's just say that getting new insurance isn't a picnic. That estimate of taking up to 14 days to get it really turns out to be 1 month. Or more. Long story short (cutting out all of the insurance bull-crap) I finally was able to go back to the foot doctor and the X-Ray showed that the fracture was significantly greater than in November. It was time to take serious, yet "conservative," measures.

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So it looks like it's the "AirCast" for me, as well as this high-tech piece of equipment on my foot for over 3 hours sesssions a day. Learning how much this "Bone-Growth Stimulator" actually costs for insurance companies makes me wanna cry. If you add up almost everything I own in my room (including yarn, clothing, TV, computer, etc), it probably would be roughly in the same ball-park. Yeah.

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10 things I have learned this week while on the boot & crutches:
1. Your workplace will put you on "medical leave" because you are now a "liability" to them. That means that you are out of $$ for 4-6 weeks, and you can be all the more grateful for your second job as a piano teacher.
2. People stare.
3. After the starers are done starring, they will automatically ask you what you did to yourself.
4. Some people will make stupid jokes, like "so, who did you kick?"
5. Don't expect humanity in people (like them helping you open the door, or carry your items...or moving out of the way), even if you're having trouble working your crutches, and when you obviously don't have that "I can do it myself" attitude because it clearly looks like you only use them for your broken bone. A Long run-on sentence, I know.
6. Don't expect store-employees to help you either. They'll only stare until they notice you looking at them. They usually look away like nothing happened.
7. The only good thing that comes from crutches is sympathy and getting buff upper arms. Say goodbye to "bat-wings."
8. Working crutches is hard! And you look STUPID doing it.
9. If your foot isn't completely broken, the temptation to "cheat" (walking without crutches) is great.
10. Because I cheat so much, and the rubber on the crutches reek so much...I'll eventually have to knit me up some boot-socks & crutch-handle cozies!

My time off from work is odd, but slightly liberating. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe I'm not meant to be stuck shelving AV this long...and this is a nudge to do other things. Or, maybe this time is meant to be used planning the wedding (since I'm clearly a procrastinator).
While sipping my coffee this morning, and flipping through a Wedding Flowers magazine, I was inspired to change my theme colors up a bit to be more Fallish. Really original, I know. However, I think that an acidy pumpkin color would look great as bridesmaids dresses. I'm thinking that the colors are now brown, acid orange, green (and maybe hot pink?). Definitely colors that are easy to find now in the stores!

Yarn Update:
Joe and I went to the Art Museum of Chicago last Friday while he was in for Spring Break. We took the train down there and visited Loopy Yarns first before we spent the greater part of the day cooped upside in the museum. I was really impressed by the size of the shop, and how much they had in stock! Here are some of the better yarns I have recently added to my stash:

From Loopy Yarns:

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4 Lamb's Pride skeins for hats & mitts

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1 skein of Lamb's Pride yarn in varigated green colorway. This will become another ribbed hat for Joe.

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1 skein of novelty yarn. Brand under price sticker (unknown). Will be made into a lacy neckwarmer.

From the Home Ec (in Iowa City):

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2 skeins of Cascade's Lana D'oro in a worsted weight. The skeins are darker blue in real life.

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2 skeins of Malabrigo yarn that Joe bought me a few weeks ago in a light mint.

Upcoming posts: washcloths (sorry about that again!!), spinning & a wedding shawl!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Footwear

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Well, I officially managed to not blow the birthday surprise. Really, I don't know how I did it. I'm one of the world's worst secret-keepers. My mother was completely blown away that she got her own pair of clogs. And in the color that she wanted, as she hinted months ago. (Yes, mother, I do listen to people's favorite colors, and what each and every one of the knuggles [non knitterly folk]wants from me.) She had a good birthday (lots of cake and awesome presents), so I was satisfied. The clogs were literally off the shoe-drier before I wrapped them up. I was very happy they dried in time. Each clog had two hoses emitting warm air for 200 minutes last night, and an additional 60 minutes or so yesterday afternoon.

They are so much smaller & narrower than mine. (Hey,...is THAT what happens when you use size 13's instead of 15's? [in my defense, I got that idea from some other clogger who suggested it]) I really like them. Too bad we had to part. *sigh.* I'm just glad that my mom liked them so much that she felt comfortable bringing them to choir practice tonight. Oh crap. That means everyone else knows I can make them. Double *sigh.*

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This post was supposed to be about the charity washcloths, but I decided that since I was slacking a little bit-since I had to make the clogs in under 3 days-I should wait until the next post to display them.

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But until then, St. Patricks day is coming up, and I've gotta make some socks to go along with my awesome tee-shirt for the occasion. I've faced the fact that if I don't do socks 2-at-a-time, the second one doesn't get done. I'm a little in a time-crunch to get them done, so here's the full pair of socks so I don't end up wearing only one sock because I started slacking due to "Second Sock Syndrome." (Would the drunks really notice though, I wonder?)
I'm definitely digging the striping. They are on size 3US needles with a 60st CO, and will reduce to 58sts for the main leg part. 64st socks are just too big for me when they're in stockinette.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

What? Like YOU don't knit for giants??

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Mommy Dearest's birthday is just a couple of days away, so I'm in high-gear for knitting up her present. (You'll have to realize that Mommy Dearest isn't a big fan of wearing the knittables[scandalous, I know], so when I found out that she loved the pair of Fiber Trends' felted clogs I made a while back for myself, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make her a pair of her own.) She likes the naturals, beige & brown, so that's exactly what she'll get.

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WIP info:
Started: March 7th 2009
Pattern: Fiber Trends' Felted Clogs (AC-33)
Yarn: Patton's Classic Wool: 2 skeins in beige, 2 skeins in brown
Needles: Size 13 US circs, plus extra circs for later instructions
Clog Size: Average 8 women's

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Here is a picture of another project that I started a couple of weeks ago, but have put it on hold since I have a bunch of little knits to take care of first. I'll give more info on it later. All I'll tell you is that it will be fabulous and is a modification of an awesome pattern. ;) I'm sure someone already recognizes what it is. Those people probably has made one themselves too.

Other than that, I've been aweful quiet lately because not only am I charity knitting, but I've been working getting my health insurance finalized, I've recently added a few more piano students (now 13-14 students!) and I've also been working on all sorts of wedding stuff: the guest list, the wedding party, figuring out the catering food choices, honeymoon shopping (It will probably be Oahu) through Travelocity, and searching Truilia.com & Realtor.com for places to live in 5-6 months. Selling has slowed down so much, so I'm hoping that not only will the prices stay low (or lower even more...sorry sellers), but that the places that I really loved are still there. There are a couple of cute townhouse/condos out there that I've fallen in love with for various reasons. Joe comes home this weekend, and our familys plan do the money talk (yikes) over dinner, and Joe and I should start talking about the minute things that need to be taken care of next week: the official wedding party list, the more official wedding list, guest list, vendors & such. Michaels finally has brown invitation choices this season. I might just go with that & spruce it up since I'm having a hard time finding the right scrapbook paper for my theme. I'll be hanging out with the girls this Thursday. Maybe I'll ask them if they wanna go veil-shopping next week. Almost 6.75 months left. :) I can't wait!

Next post: charity knits I've been slowly working on.