My shoulder still hurts. I did eventually go to the Prompt Care place and got some extra strength pain killers. They don’t actually kill the pain, but they do bring it down from an 8 or 9 to a 5 or 6. I can sleep at night now and I’m not attempting to gnaw my arm off after a day at work. These are all things in the Win column (and how sad is it that a pain rating of 6 is a good thing?).

My doctor appointment is a week from today. I’ve already told Mim that if they try to push me off or tell me they want to do tests and x-rays before giving me a cortisone injection that she should get bail money ready for me. I might not have been kidding. I still have one good arm, after all.

Anyhow, back to the suffering for arts and crafts. I have made zero progress on the quilt I’m working on (I have 11 out of 1600 hexagons knit). I have most of the foot of the first of a pair of socks for Mim knit. I have barely made a dent in the Clapotis that would have been Mim’s birthday present (Mim is really getting shortchanged here, isn’t she? Go buy her something to help fill the void). It just hurt too much to knit for more than a few minutes at a time and that was frustrating so I just wasn’t doing it at all. So tonight I broke out the knitting tonight for the first time in weeks.

It still hurts. This is going to take a while. But dammit, I missed working on things.

I am not yet ready to try the violin again, though. That will absolutely have to wait until after the doctor appointment.

So I’m going to make the Wave Blanket, which I think is actually the first non-scarf I ever knit. I’m going to use Shine Worsted yarn (all the green shades) because I like this yarn. It’s soft, it’s easy to work with, it’s machine-washable, and it’s not likely to cause any sort of allergic reaction. I’m going with green because it’s a “safe” color. Good for a boy or a girl, and won’t look babyish if it’s kept around after the kid grows up.

I have other things I’m knitting, but they’re not for anything or anyone. I like having something with a deadline.

And this is totally not about distracting myself from writing The Story That Will Lead To My Tattoo.

I got the instructions (Silver’s Sock Class), got the needle I was going to use, and the yarn.

Aaaaaand then I realised the two balls of yarn were different weights.

RIGHT! On to the next thing, then!

Accomplished the knitting of a heel in a toe-up sock. Apparently the 37th time is the charm. Actually, it’s still not perfect. The picking-up of stitches didn’t go so well, so there are gaps. Also, maybe using size 1 needles wasn’t the best idea. The foot of the sock is fine, but it stretches pretty thin across the heel (and I didn’t do a narrow heel at all). But the important thing is that it worked, and I made it a few rounds into the start of the leg of the sock. I think I’ll get it eventually.

Killed my TomTom again. I think this time it’s because I have this habit of leaving it in the car and it’s been so insanely hot that the poor thing got overheated. I thought it was the adapter at first, because the light didn’t seem to be on (and the light for my cellphone adapter came on, proving that it wasn’t the plug that was faulty). It’s been replaced once before because it got fried (apparently if you plug the adapter into the car before you attach the adapter to the TomTom, it can short out the device). So I just bought a new one. Exact same kind (Amazon even told me so). It’s been exactly what I’ve needed, so I didn’t see a reason to consider anything else. I just have to remember to not leave it in the car all the time.

NOT having the TomTom made getting to Downs Park fun. We’ve only been there once before and I only had recall of about half the route. I got the directions from Google Maps and handed the iTouch to Kitti and let him navigate. Unfortunately the Google Maps directions didn’t give things like exit numbers, so we got lost. But I got things sorted out pretty quick and we had plenty of time to let Cardiff go mental. There are a lot of pictures over on Flickr.

We left almost in time to avoid the rain. I had to pull over at one point and wait out the worst of it because on 695, with traffic and pouring rain, the windshield wipers were essentially useless.

Cardiff got a bath at Dogma before we went home. Then Kitti and I got cleaned up and went to see Interpol. Really great show. I’m looking forward to the next CD. The new stuff they played really got my attention.

And now it’s Monday and back to work and all that jazz.

I’m not even dreading the second sock. I suppose after I’ve made a few socks I’ll develop”Secondsockitis” but right now the urge to get the heel right kind of precedes that.

I’m a perfectionist, but not so much of one that I’d start over again just because the heel didn’t go well.

Okay, I did start over because I screwed the heel up the first time, but that was really screwed up. We’re talking “point of no return” levels of screwed up, and there really was no choice but to start again. This second time the errors were funny-looking, but not life threatening. Sock threatening. Whatever.

Long story short: Me. Not paying attention.

Perhaps tonight I’ll do the heel. Certainly this weekend.

Cross your fingers for me?

This time I went for the toe-up on two circular needles. I started last night and after spending about 20-30 minutes trying to get the cast-on just right, it finally worked. So far I’ve only finished the toe and barely started the foot, but it’s going incredibly fast and easy. It looks a little weird at this point — more like a trapezoid than a sock toe — but looking at the photos, it’s entirely normal.

Kitti is pleased I’m finally learning to make socks. I’m not entirely sure why, but hey. Whatever.

Time Traveler

Wear these brightly striped socks whether you are going to the office or traveling through time and space. Time Traveler is a colorful mix of purple, tan, red, gold, ivory, and gray stripes. While you can knit some really really long socks, this colorway will not create socks that are larger on the inside than they appear on the outside.

Um. Yeah. Maybe it’s time I made myself a pair of socks.

Little Fishes — the current knitting project. I don’t have pictures yet, but here’s a link to someone else’s Flickr page: fishes!