PDXYarnHo Knits

Thanks to some crazy accident on 205, I pretty much missed my chiropractor’s appointment today. But we had 10 minutes, and she looked at my MRI with me, and showed me some things I wouldn’t have seen myself.

all that craziness about the C1 slipping out and rotating and cutting off nerve supply? The swelling in the back of my neck due to extreme muscle tension? severely pitched ear canals? It was all right there. Once she showed me, it was plain as day, and kind of shocking. There was also a spot, right in my first or second thoracic, that appears to be a slight tension deformation of the vertebra, enough to pinch off yet more nerves. I have straight-neck syndrome so severely that my vertebra are almost touching in the front – two of them appear nearly fused (but they’re not).

And no sign whatsoever of an inner ear problem

I can deal with structural issues. I can re-shape my spine (it’ll take a while, granted), reduce the swelling and get those muscles to just relax their darn selves. But inner ear issues… that wouldn’t be so easy. I’m relieved. And it was amazing for me to see, now with better trained eyes, just what I’ve done to my poor neck.

My treatment, until my rescheduled appointment, is to try to hang my head upside-down off the edge of the bed to open up the front of my neck. We’ll see if I can; it’ll likely get me spinning but I finally see an end in sight for that as well. There just wasn’t any syndrome whose symptoms aligned with mine – this appears to be all purely mechanical. I’m pretty stoked. I hope that’s the case.

I’ve got the follow-up with the ENT in two weeks, and we’ll see what she says, too. I think if I can recognize the twist in my spine, the squished nerves, the overall mess that is the right side of my neck, then she will too. I wish I could show you too, but my docs have my MRI disks!

Oh – and it appears that the scar tissue in my brain is in the mid-brain, not the frontal lobe – so if it is actually scar tissue, it would have been caused by mental/emotional trauma, not physical. That I’ll ask my other doctor as well. It’s really hard for me to understand just exactly where it is in the grand scheme of the brain.

Who knew seeing inside yourself was so fun?

I keep getting phone messages from the first doc I went to (in September) wanting me to get blood work – how do I tell her I never want to go to her office again because she just wants to shove drugs in me? She wanted to treat this problem with painkillers. Can you imagine? Ugh. That’s why I’ve been to so many docs at this point… her approach is contrary to everything I want out of this treatment.

Well, off to tend my plants, and maybe hang upside down a little

Tags: Not Knitting by Kerin
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I have a slight social phobia. By slight I mean I have an enormously hard time being around people. Especially people I know. That doesn’t make any sense, does it? I know. Strangers I can deal with because mostly I don’t have to make eye contact or talk to them. People I know.. well, that’s anyone reading this, I guess, I have a harder time with because I always feel that I’m somehow letting y’all down when I’m around, like I’m a big drag.

Not that my upbringing conditioned me at all! Geez.

Tonight, I’m too fat to leave the house. I saw myself in the mirror as I changed to leave for knit night, and got too depressed, so now I’m sitting on the floor typing. That’ll solve it. I think I got spoiled in my apartment having mirrors that only showed from the waist up, at least I couldn’t dwell on what I couldn’t see, right?

so that’s my general predicament. If I’m not actually feeling physically drained (which has been the case quite often recently), usually I still can’t bring myself to leave the house. It’s just so much fun, let me tell you. Tried a shrink, that didn’t help much. But I did stop having the gory accident visions.

So, I guess what I’m saying is I’m sorry I’m not at knit night tonight. Part of me really wants to be there, but a much larger part of me won’t let me go. It’s something I live with every damn day. I’ve got to tell you I would love to know what it’s like to be able to talk to people and relate in a normal healthy way. It was easier when I was closer to average size and working out all the time. Now… not so much. So here I sit. Thanks mom.

In other news, in case you were wondering, there is in fact a brain in my head, and eyeballs too. What there isn’t, though, is any abnormal swelling or deposits that would indicate that my vertigo symptoms are actually related to my inner ear (this is very good news). I haven’t gotten the ‘official’ report, because my ENT’s office scheduled me with the wrong doctor (seriously!) so I haven’t seen mine for the follow up. But I have looked at the MRI results, read the technician’s notes, and asked my chiropractor to ‘decode’ some of the things I didn’t understand. The worst of it looks to be (possibly, won’t know till I talk to the ENT) some scar tissue in my frontal lobe and some sinus buildup. All-in-all, not bad. MRIs are really odd. The machine sounds like mid-ship on a cruise vessel.

So far, of the three docs I’ve now seen about this, the idea that this is a mechanically triggered vertigo seems to be the closest to my symptoms. (the ENT suggested that I had Meniere’s, but there’s no way I could dance on one leg with my eyes closed if that were the case. The GP just wanted to give me drugs, no diagnosis needed.) The vertigo hasn’t totally gone away, naturally, but after my last few neck adjustments I can sleep flat for the first time in years. I look forward to the day when I can once again look up at the stars I know I can dance now, because I went dancing a couple of weekends ago. It was great!

I do miss my muscles. Since being on the weight restriction, my body has turned to a pile of goo. It’s terrible. I tried to pick up a 50lb sack of compost and I couldn’t lift it I had to have V-man pick it up. That does not help the ego. It does help my shoulder muscle, though, which is slowly knitting itself back together. See? i can talk about knitting on my blog! Ha! I also haven’t dislocated either of my shoulders now in several weeks – I really am making progress. You have to lose to gain sometimes, I guess. Maybe when I get back in the gym and stop eating so much I’ll lose the newly-converted-to-fat-muscle before I gain new muscle, and get to be a normal size. Yeah right.

I have been doing some fibery things, though I’ve been largely feeling uninspired by everything. I got a bag of scrap roving that a co-worker had bought from Sheep Shed: it’s a Brown Sheep roving, so it’s mohair and wool, but it’s unblended.

It spun up ok, but the yarn is not plied too well (thanks mostly to distraction) and the singles aren’t even. Because the fiber wasn’t blended, there were several areas where the mohair content was higher than the wool and vice versa; that changed the ease of spinning and other fun things. The brown fibers are all wool and the white is mohair. Weird. The mohair actually came off in clumps at some points, even after drafting!

So I’m going to go over to my co-worker’s house and try out her drum carder on the rest of it to see if I have better luck. It’s very soft, and I love the color, so I’m not entirely displeased with it I might just make a hat out of it.

Well, it’s shower time, and V-man just got home with a headache, so I guess I need to go play nurse!

Tags: Not Knitting, Spinning, social knitting by Kerin
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Literally!

V-man, being a Miami boy, hasn’t gotten this whole ‘seasons’ thing down yet. So for some odd reason, the sun rising at 4:30 am bothers him. Imagine that!

So, while at JoAnn on a quest for a $1.50 piece of plain white cotton, I discovered that all of the red-tag home dec fabrics were 50% off. I hadn’t done anything about the light situation prior because a) it doesn’t bother me, and b) curtains and home dec fabric are expensive. So, when I saw that sale, I rummaged my heart out.

I ended up with two fabrics  – 4.5 yds of a polyester faux chamois material in a suede brown (this stuff is so soft – I have no idea how they do that. Fabric is cool) and 3 yds of a pintuck/embroidered poly satin. Ordinarily the suede would have gone for about $24/yd and the satin about $20. I got the lot for $19!

And later that evening, I had this.

They block about 90% of the light coming in (they need a valance I think… later), and the suede stuff goes all the way down to the bed, as you can see. That’s so light doesn’t peek out the bottom.

Needless to say, V-man got a better night’s sleep last night than he has at my house in easily 6 months. He’s quite happy with his new curtains.

Well, now to bed for me… I was dealing with a little inner turmoil (note to self: don’t eat that many honey roasted peanuts in one day), and now I think I can finally go off to dreamland.

Here’s to another week…

Tags: Not Knitting, sewing by Kerin
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So I did pick up that wee package that arrived for me while I was sick:

Yes, the photo sucks. I was sick, gimme a break!

I’ve busted out the sewing machine and have tested some seams on a remnant of the same fabric. Now, if you can correctly identify what all that fabric is going to be, I’ve got some fresh cookies for you!

Me and the V-man started the long and arduous process of sizing my Uniquely You dress form this weekend. It’s a fabulous thing, this form, but oh is it ever a pain to size it. But, once you’re done, you’ve got a dress form that is a darn-near-exact replica of your body. For me, with all my stupid shapes, there was no other real option for me when searching for a dress form. There are plenty of knobbed models out there, and standard-sloper soft forms, but I’m not standard sized. No way.

Besides the time investment, the only other drawback of the Uniquely You form is that it doesn’t have individual legs. I’d love to do pants on it…

Pants just don’t fit right. Pretty much ever. So, I’d like to make some. But even more than that, I want to hem the pants I do have. But, no luck – she only wears skirts. Oh well.

At any rate, I didn’t get too far with the sizing – but V-man is having so much fun playing tailor. It’s cute.

In other sewing related topics of interest, with the coming of summer and longer days comes the bedtime-before-sundown issue. So, I informed the V-man that I will be buying some heavy velvet or canvas and making some blackout shades. He was pretty happy about that. Where he’s from, there’s no noticeable chance in seasons, so he’s always had a problem with the changing light. I like it myself. But it does feel weird to go to bed when it’s still light out.

At least the weather was nice this weekend.

*****

Beating 1000.

So, I’ve passed 1,000 on two things recently. One being over 1,000 photos on my Flickr account! woooo.. many many more to come, you can be sure of that.

The other is that at the end of last week (maybe Thursday?) I passed 1,000 miles in my car. Not bad for only having her for a few weeks! She’s about due for yet another bath… the highway really takes a toll on her.

Tags: Not Knitting by Kerin
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Man, i think I’m finally kicking this stupid sickness. I’m de-cruddifying my poor head.

But, this being spring, it’s time for the annual de-cruddification ritual known as spring cleaning. For me that means (dunh dunh DUUUUUUNNNHHHH) wash day!

Wash day for me is more than just laundry. It’s a giant orchestrated event that involves the hand-washing of every woolen and handwash only wearable I own all at once. It’s usually more than one day, since I only have so much drying space in my apartment. One day it’ll be summer viscose and rayon dresses, one day outerwear, one day sweaters, one day accessories. I always do this before packing things away for the summer; that and fresh mothballs make it all less likely to get attacked by carpet beetles.

Maybe this doesn’t sound like a lot, but I assure you – it is. I have probably 20 sweaters alone that are hand-wash only.

So, to facilitate this massive odorous exodus, One thing in particular needs to be ready – the tub. It’s where I do a lot of my laundry, and most of the time scrubbing the bottom is enough. But I decided, no, this year, I’m going to scrub the whole thing. It’s a molded shower-tub thing; standard apartment issue. I got down on my hands and knees (of all things, the night before I got sick), busted out the new scrubbies, and got to work.

Now, I’m not a dirty person. I don’t like dirty. Messy, well, that happens. But I don’t like dirty. So it might be surprising to note that in three and a half years in this apartment this is the first time I’ve scrubbed the whole shower/tub thing. So imagine my surprise when, after all was said and done, I discovered that my lowly shower had some features I wasn’t aware of. Mainly, it’s white. Here all these years I’d been convinced it was beige. Goes to show what a good case of denial can do for you.

Now that my shower is clean, I have to wash my blocking towels and get my living room cleared out. Once that’s done, I’m ready to dive in! I’m looking forward to it. Partially because I got some new Goodwill threads that are going to need a good washing.

Besides the shower, I managed to get most of my bedroom clean, and get a load of dishes done today. I took out four bags of garbage and three recycling (another is ready to go out). I cleaned out the fridge. It was a very productive day, though I didn’t actually get to about 50% of what I wanted to do.

I did, finally, get one thing set though. I’ve been using a Brita-on-tap for the past 5 years; the tap piece belonged to my old psycho roommate; she left it behind. But it’s been squirting and leaking for almost the last year, and I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I bought a new one.

I’m amazed, they come in black now! Anyway, when I took the old one off, it was disgusting. The plastic had wrinkled and contorted in the strangest ways, and there was muck and algae all over it. ::shiver:: All better now! And now with my kitchen clean, it was the perfect time to make cookies.

I can tell you it’s wonderfully liberating to have a clean house. It’s not done yet (is it ever?) but I’m getting there. It reminds me of why I like this place so much. It’s amazing just how big my apartment is when everything’s put away.

Well, that’s it for now. I will have all sorts of other fun stuff to chat about later. But I can’t think in a dirty house!

Tags: Not Knitting by Kerin
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In between bouts of concentration-loss, I’ve been working on work. But just to see if my brain was functioning at all, I did this:

In 2m 52s

Click here to Play

Now, that time would be better if I was a decent typist. Does it help that I named them in left-to-right order?

Anyway, i’m fighting through a wicked sinus headache right now. I’m able to walk, though, and I might just be teased out of my apartment to pick up a package that arrived at a store for me. We’ll see if I feel well enough, though – goodness does my head hurt. It is no fun to create a hundred radio buttons when your head hurts like this. Luckily, since I’m home, I can just lie down when it gets to be too much.

I really want to knit. My hands aren’t up to it though. Not to mention the only thing I’ve got active on the needles involves a mile of applied i-cord… I have to think for that. I’m still to out of it to think.

Well, maybe I’ll try to get the rest of these dang radio buttons done (creating a form), and then nap a little. And maybe if the weather clears up, go pick up my package. That is certainly blog-worthy.

Tags: Not Knitting by Kerin
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I can hardly type right now. I had to go home early from work. I probably won’t make it in tomorrow either. i feel like hell and i have no voice.

Luckily a sympathetic V-man drove all the way up here to bring me soup and hugs. It helps

Too sick to knit. Bed now.

Tags: Not Knitting by Kerin
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there have been so many folks posting views from their windows, I had to join in. I happen to think I have a darn good view from either end of my apartment – so you’ve got some from both ends!

but first, my window to the world:

I could keep going, hehe. I take a LOT of photos out my bedroom window – I love my view, and I get a great shot of the sunset every night. Like right now… my room is golden-glowy. Sigh. It’s going to be very bittersweet to leave here. I really feel blessed to live in such a pretty place.

And I HAVE been knitting – I swear! i’ve used up most of my knitting mojo on work stuff – lots of knitting. Holy cow.

One project is sooper seekrit, so I can’t show that. I can show my progress on my easy-peasy hat though:

Because my head’s so darn big, I won’t have enough yarn for a long hat, so I’m just going to short row it to make it long enough for my ears. Good enough for me. Heck, the whole thing is just a diversion anyway. Don’t really care how it looks!

I’m painfully close to the end of my Autumn Wheat Sox:

Why is is painful? Because I have too much to knit for work and I can’t get to the remaining 11 rows. Argh!

Hopefully seeing the Yarn Harlot tuesday will be a perfect opportunity – not only can I not work on work stuff there, but using BMFA at a BMFA sponsored event – good idea.

And I couldn’t resist – I got even more Stitchjones yarn at last week’s PDXKB get-together!

That’s ‘Tea Rose’ and ‘Solid Gold’ BFL. LOVE! they’ll be so pretty together!

Well, speaking of pretty, the last light of day is beckoning me outside. I must oblige.

Tags: General Knitting, Not Knitting, yarn by Kerin
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April is so weird here.

Tags: Not Knitting by Kerin
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