And the Winner is……

Me! I won one of the weekly draws from Phat Fiber.  If you haven’t gone to check out their site yet, what are you waiting for GO GO GO. I am really excited and it is my first time winning and internet contest, so yay me. I managed to snag the 4 skiens of handspun egyptian cotton donated by the lovely Sheeps of Egypitan Cotton.  You should totally check her stuff out, amazing colors and dudes it is HANDSPUN. I wish I could spin that consistent. I haven’t tried cotton yet, but from I gather it takes some mad skills so this yarn should be awesome. You can see a picture of the color way I won  here .  I think Phat Fiber is now my favoritist blog site ever. They always seem to have give aways and great reviews of fiber goodies so make sure to add them to your blog feed.

In other news some progress has made on my mystery illness. I saw a new doctor on Monday who has scheduled me for a larcoscophy  for the 10th and is trying to get me in for an MRI and a Bone Scan, so hopefully we will find out what is wrong with me in the near future. Or at least by the end of March.

Hope everyone has a happy Friday the 13th.

Links you might all enjoy

So I am still feeling sick and down so I have been doing some blog searching lately and I came across a great site that I just wanted to share. It is the Phat Fiber Sample Box-  from what I have been reading it looks like a great opportunity to get some amazing samples of all things fibery from some new and exciting small indie fiber shops. From what I have seen of the January box, the February should be a great treat. I am really excited to find this site and am counting down the days until I can put in an order for February one. I hope I get one.

There is also a Phat Fiber Blog -  where you can find info on what will be in the boxes, see some amazing fibery goodies, find out about amazing etsy fiber shops that will empty your wallet but keep you happily spinning for the months ahead.  They also have great contests available, with give aways from some of the great fiber stores that are offering samples for the Phat fiber box. You can find links to the contests here:

http://phatfiber.blogspot.com/2009/02/sheeps-of-egyptian-cotton-and-giveaway.html

http://phatfiber.blogspot.com/2009/02/kitty-grrlz.html

http://phatfiber.blogspot.com/2009/02/unique-sheep-and-giveaway.html

I also found a link to this great seller. Extreme Spinner, who has some great looking fiber goodies up in her etsy store. I especially like her new valentine blend batt, it looks so yummy you could eat it.

http://extremespinner.blogspot.com/

I will be posting more exciting links when I find them. Since I have been sick I have been surfing the blog-a-verse more and wow are there some great sites out there.   Cheers everyone, and happy spinning.

Won’t somebody buy me a mercedes benz…

Well I don’t really need a Mercedes Benz, what I need is a swift. And not a swift kick, if that was what you were thinking. Nope I need a swift. Doesn’t need to be fancy, I just need a swift. Anyone selling one, anyone have one lying around that they want to part with….. Well it was worth a shot. I think I am going to make one of the basic table top ones like this one. It seems pretty easy to make and will much better then my method of choice now, which is the chair method. That or I have to wait until I am at the Purple Purl and  use theirs. Which while they are conveniently located to my house, makes feel a little ashamed about winding wool that I didn’t buy from them. So I need a swift.

The reason for a swift is for the hand spun I have been making and also for the new stash enhancement I got yesterday. Here are some picks of the new lovelies.

There is some lovely hand painted thick and thin goodies, a small 2.6 oz skein of silk that I have already painted up and is cooling downstairs. A large skein of what I think is a silk blend, 5 silk crepe scarves that I am not sure what to do with yet; either dyeing or maybe some felting, as well as two mystery skeins of a shiny lace weight in red and gold and one in the dark blue/green color that I wound up. Oh and my sit and spin DVD which I haven’t watched yet but am really looking forward to.

Did you notice the spoon sticking out of the green stuff. That is right I painstakingly wound my ball onto a spoon handle, using the ol chair swift method and the damn spoon handle is stuck. It will not come out. I checked before I starting winding to make sure there were no splinters or anything for the stuff to get caught on and it happened anyway. Oh well.  There is SO MUCH yardage in those skeins. WOW. I think I wound for about 3 hours or more in total to get that ball.  Hmmm maybe I need a ball winder too. I got all those goodies (except for the dvd) at the Nanopod destash  event yesterday. Apparently not as much stuff as the last one, but I missed the last one so I was happy with what I got yesterday. Who can turn up yarn at $2.00 and $5.00 a ball/skein. NO ONE!

Pain update and girl stuff possibly TMI

So I am still in pain. Today I am in a lot of pain in fact. So much so that all I want to do is curl into a ball and cry. I was pretty excited the other day. I went to the urologist and he told me that they had missed something on CT scan. That there was a calcification and that maybe that might be what was causing the pain. He did tell me that if it was inside the kidney then it was normal and that wouldn’t be it, but if it were outside then that might be causing the pain. Apparently they had just looked at the scan front on and said it was fine. He showed me that when you rotate it and do something else on the computer you can clearly see there is a spot that is a calcification. I guess in emergency they are so busy that they don’t spend enough time examining the scans. We scheduled a retrograde scan which involves putting a tube with a camera into a very tiny hole. I did get to see what my bladder and kidney look like from inside. Very thrilling. Of course the results are that the thing is inside the kidney and NOT causing my pain. He mentioned that I should talk to my doctor about getting some gynecological work done.

Back in the beginning of all this pain my doctor mentioned Endometriosis but he also said he didn’t think that was what I had. When I was last in emergency they mentioned it again and asked if I had had tests done. I said I had pelvic ultrasounds done and they showed nothing. Now that I know the hospital missed something on the CT scan I am wondering if maybe they didn’t notice any scar tissue or cysts or whatever the endometriosis things look like. Especially since they were looking for kidney things. I also remember that they asked if I had unusual periods and I said no. This is one of the major symptoms of the disease. After reading about it all morning though it turns out that it can first be seen in young adolescents that have heavy unusual periods and they are often prescribed birth control to control the pain and the periods. Now I remember when I was younger I had the worse periods every. I would miss school, I would have to stay in bed, I would have ones that lasted for two weeks or more. I finally realized that this seemed wrong and told my doctor who put me on birth control. I have been on the pill for the last 17 years or so. Now I am reading that since the pill can control the pain the disease often goes ignored until the late 20s or 30s when the women may suddenly experience sever pelvic pain. I have been on support groups and medical sites all morning and most of what these women are describing are what I am feeling. Extreme pain that can come and go in waves, a sharp stabbing pain in the pelvic area like some is twisting a knife into your groin, and pain in the lower back kidney area. So today I am heading back to my doctor for the 5th visit in two weeks to ask about getting tested for this.

One of the other know symptoms is pain during sex. Well we haven’t been very active in that department as of late, but now that I think about, yes I have had pain in the past. I just figured it was from lack of lube or just not that excited and it usually passed in a few minutes. Sometimes I would hurt the next day, but again I just figured that was normal. So now all these things are coming together in my head and I think this is the most likely thing that I have. Apparently most doctors will wait and rule everything else out first before testing for this because if you don’t have all the symptoms they usually have to do a surgical procedure where they go in with a scope to see if there is any abnormal tissue. We have ruled out Crohns, IBS, IBD, Colon Obstructions and now after having the retrograde thingy we know there is nothing wrong with my bladder or kidneys. So hopefully we can get to work testing for a pelvic issue.

In other news the strike is now over, as we have been legislated back to work. While I am excited to be going back I am a little nervous too. I was hoping to have this pain thing figured out before going back, as sometimes the pain is so sever that I double over in pain crying before I realize it. So hopefully we can it sorted out quickly. My two professors already know about the pain since I was suffering from it in September. Well I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens. Here is hoping that maybe this is it. I keep getting excited that there maybe something wrong with me only because it would make me feel better to have a reason for the pain. Have extreme pain, with no real cause is scary and has clouded my brain for the last few weeks. It is all I think about and the pain sometimes causes me to just lie around and do nothing. I am depressed and tired all the time. Luckily fatigue is a symptom of Endometriosis and often women who suffer from it have depression before it is diagnosed because of the pain and tiredness. Lets keep our fingers crossed that there is something wrong with me.

PS. I promise a craft post next, with pictures even. I have the lovely poppy scarf that needs to be shown and some other goodies.
Cheers.

I finally feel like a home owner

I have lived in many houses and apartments over the last 14 years of living with Simon, and never have we painted or done any actual ‘work’ to a place. We always talked about painting and then Simon would say well we are only here for a little bit and so we leave the walls the boring way they came. Three years we bought a house and finally I thought we could paint or do something to it. Well Simon needed to start work right away and so we just moved into the house with the understanding that we would paint and renovate later. This weekend we finally did some renovating. We tore up the upstairs second floor carpet. Yay. The carpet the previous owners put down was this stupid expensive ‘natural’ fiber crap carpet that you can’t clean. Water would stain the damn floor. I have hated it from the moment we moved in. After we got the second dog, Henry decided that peeing on it in the middle of the night was a great idea, so the carpet as of late was ugly and pee stained.

Simon’s parents happened to be in Toronto this past week and a half and so for the last three days we have been removing carpet and tightening up the floor boards and now we have nice hardwood. It is a nice oak floor and in great condition. We will have to replace the hallway in the next year or two but it will take a week and we need to go to Strathford to get the wood. They are one of the few places left that sells the vintage looking wood flooring, so it will be a bit of a job. I am just happy that there is no more ugly pee stained carpet in my house. Well we still have the carpet on the third floor that is our bedroom area so it is much nice condition. Simon hasn’t dropped an entire cup of tea up there either.

The next project will be painting. We are planning on doing the second floor tv room and also the kitchen and possibly the bathroom on the second floor. I picked up a ton of paint chips the other day and after talking to a guy about my cupboards it sounds like we might be able to paint them. They are white and made out of that fake wood stuff, so painting them would be great. Maybe I’ll post some of the colors and see what the public thinks. I could use some help in deciding colors.

Ok pictures of the new floor to come soon. Cheers

Another trip to the Doctor

So no pictures yet.  I did treat  myself yesterday at the Purl to some new roving and the Interweave Crochet magazine. I also finished my arm warmers and during the awful strike general meeting, started a grid scarf out of some other discontinued shinny noro silk blend I had around. I know I should be posting links and when I feel better I will.

So after another trip to the doctor today, we are setting me up with a uralologist who hopefully will be able to find something wrong with me. I keep having tests and being told that everything is normal infact one hospital doctor told me that my organs were “unremarkable”.  Right now it feels like someone is stabing me in the side, kicking me in the lower back and then punching me in the groin. Oh the crazy fun. Of course it hurts more when standing and walking so doing anything fun is out of the question. Oh well that means more crocheting time for me. Luckily spinning doesn’t seem to add too much pain, so maybe I’ll spin later if some of the pain eases off.

Now to make supper PHO and veggie stir fry and to start some of the spice concoctions for Sunday’s Eithopian dinner.

Now with pictures….

Ok I promised some actual photo evidence that I haven’t just been sitting on my ass  doing absolutely noting during the strike, so today I shall present evidence of all of my accomplishments. Wow what a long stupid sentence, see what happens when you cancel classes because of a strike, out brain goes to mush. Maybe I should write a letter to the admin at York that says I need school back because “I need classes to learn and for smart making thinking” yes that might work.  In strike news we are voting on our forced ratification vote on Monday and Tuesday. This is where the University asks the government to step in and make us vote on the last offer they made even though we think it is crap. I really want the strike to be over, but the back to work protocol we are voting on for our Unit is crap.  Cupe has 3 units, Unit 1 which I think are the TAs, Unit 2 which is contract faculty and Unit 3 which are GAs.  I fall into the last one having just started my Masters. So with the back to work thing, the first two Units are guaranteed 90% of their salary back pay.  Our Unit is not guaranteed that and apparently will only get our back pay if we finish all of our assignments that were assigned before the strike. So I think that means that unlike the Undergrads who will have their term condensed we  have to finish all our work in order to recieve any money. That and the Unit 1s get a 6 month paid extension on their program to help them incase they need to finish because of the  strike. Unit 3 only get a two month unpaid extension and only if we prove that the strike disrupted our school work. So UNFAIR, that the fact that the bargaining team took off most of the Unit 3 demands right before this offer, is making me hate unions right now. Of course I will still go vote because I want a better back to work protocol then that.

So that is the strike news… In medical news I was back at the Emergency room the other day where the nice doctor agreed that there was obviously something wrong with me but that without any obvious evidence, once again nothing in my blood or urine tests, that he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I did go back to see my doctor and have some antibiotics to try just in case I have an internal infection in something that isn’t showing up because this can happen, and also some new pain killers that do not cause me to pass out for 5 hours and vomit endlessly. So that is some progress. Also during my doctor visit we discovered that I have an extremely painful spot on my hip bone, so I was sent for an x-ray yesterday. I also have an appointment set up with the urologist finally so hopefully something will show up. The good news is that it is probably nothing too serious because that would show up in blood tests.

Ok enough talk about strikes and mystery illnesses, lets see some yarn porn.  First I present to you my first attempt at Novelty Yarn. I am waiting for my Sit and Spin dvd from Insubordinknit to arrive but in the mean time I have the Plucky Fluff book  Intertwined.

So here is my little neck warmer. I used a core thread and just started adding other roving to it. There is merino, mohair locks, some strange silk stuff and whatever else I had handy.

It is a little strange but I like it. Sorry the photo is so dark. Here is a close up of the yarn.

See the mohair locks. I think I love mohair locks. I have a small bag that I bought at the Winter Fair last year. I just started to dye some as you can see below. I think I will have to try and find some more plain though. Anyone know a  good source for inexpensive mohair locks?

I was experimenting dyeing different fibers the other day and the mohair worked the best. Look how vibrant they are. That is cheery kool aid, orange and the mystery blend which always seems to be some shade of green. I love them though. I really want to dye more.

Now you can see what happens when you try and dye silk using the same dyes.

There is some mystery fleece, tussah silk noils, silk hankies and the mohair locks. The silk hankies didn’t do too bad, but the noils really didn’t absorb much dye. I think I am going to go to the dye shop on Dundas and get some real acid dyes and try again with those. I wanted really vibrant colors to try and mix into some yarns.

The hankies look pretty good. But the noils.

These are more like the real colors, the photo up top was brightened and they are not quite that bright. Sorta in between the two.

In other crafty news remember the silk I got in a swap, common I know you do. Here it is in its unspun form.

And here it is all spun up. This a two ply I think a fingering weight, kinda between a lace weight and a sock yarn. There are aprox 145 yards.

See how pretty it is. I set this in the normal bath method, but next time I set silk I think I will steam set the twist,as it is supposed to keep the sheen better. This kinda dulled a little bit, which was disappointing but I still love it.

Whew, well since this is more then I have posted in along time, I will let you all absorb this before I post anymore. Off to take my little doggies out in the freezing cold. Its warmed up to -17 now instead of -28 so yay. Cheers.

A New Year and a New Post

Ok so I kinda disapeared there. Not sure if anyone really reads this anyway but I have been missing posting so I decided to come back. So what has been happening while I was away.  I had some family life issues to deal with, I went back to school to start my masters only to go on strike a  month and a half into the program and have been on strike ever sense, and I seem to have a mysterious pain in my abdonmen and side that we are trying to figure out what it is, but ruling out what it isn’t. I know it isn’t bowel cancer which is great, but not very helpful. It is also probably not Crohns which was the other culprit, but still it is a very painful pain that hasn’t subsided for almost a month now, so lets hope we figure it out soon.

In the craft front, lots has been happening, since we went on strike. Previous to that, I was busy with school work, but with the free time when I am not on picket duty I have been spinning, knitting, and crocheting, which I have decided is my new favorite thing to do. Since I stared crocheting I have made several produce bags for groceries,  a hat, a small doll, a dog coat and some elbow length lacey arm warmers. All in a few weeks, which for me is fast. I made the arm warmers over three nights and the hat in two days which included ripping it back twice because it was too big. Today I shall head to my LYS  The Purple Purl for the latest Interweav Crochet so I can make the thrummed mittens that are shown. I tired knitting thrummed mittens last year, but ended up with things that are the size of pot holders. I should try felting them and see if that will work, or I need to find a guy with huge hands to wear them.

I promise I will post pictures of all the progess on the craft front soon.  Here is a list of what I have accomplised though:

• spun one skien of thick and thin
• spun aprox. 140 yards of gorgeous silk in a tow ply lace weight
• spun my first core thread novelty yarn and made a little neck warmer with it
• learned to crochet again, and have decided I LOVE IT
• practied my hand dying and hope to get better

lots more but I can’t remember.  So pictures to come, more posts to follow and Happy New Year everyone!!!

Demystifying the Sock

I know this sounds like  it should be a knitting how to or something, but no the demystifying of the sock was me trying to explain to my coworkers why I wanted part of Tuesday off.  I could have lied and made up something, but I figured why not go with the truth. Conversation went as such…

Me: can I leave early on Tuesday say around 1pm or something.

Coworkers: sure, but why?

Me: well there is this local author, and knitter who is releasing her new book on knitting and I want to go and she is having a sock photo scavenger hunt that you need to take lots of photos for so I have to leave early.

Coworkers: *blink, blink* a sock what now.

So I explained that you had to take a sock in progress to various places and take a photo of your sock with said item. I then explained some of the concepts ie. the sock held by your boss, or at a tim hortons etc..

They stared at me and said “people knit socks? why would anyone knit socks.” I explained that most socks are knit, we are just getting machine made ones, and that socks are easy to take with you when you go out so can still knit. That was it “People knit in public???” again with the dumbfounded look, as if I had just told them that I am the reincarnation of the Hitler and I am  back to take over the world one latte at a time. I explained the concept of the day, take photos of the sock, go to the book launch and then knit while walking to the pub, and then sit and knit in a pub. Oh the crazy knitting fun.
They asked if many people would actually go to something like this.  I said well I am not sure if there will be that many but I would say hundreds. Again they looked like I had just stated that  I eat babies for supper every third Sunday of the month for religious reasons. I explained that there are tonnes of knitters out there, and that maybe close friends of theirs were secret knitters that they didn’t know about. They asked what the book was going to be about, patterns?, a how to? I said ‘nope it is just about knitting’, sorta essays and antidotes about knitting and knitters and non knitters. At this point I realized I had lost them, and so I finished with ” so is it ok if I leave early on Tuesday”.

So this Tuesday if you come to Balzac’s cafe in the Distillery you may see one crazy barista take photos of her sock, while her coworkers look on in dis belief and awe. Maybe I will bring some extra wool and see if they want to knit socks too.  See you all on Tuesday.

Whew, where has the time gone?

Wow, I can’t believe it is almost the end of March. I sound like my Mom. “where is the time going?” I had meant to post more about my trip weeks ago, but alas I have been busy working at ye ol coffee shop, so I have been most tired as well. I am just not cut out for this working full time stuff. Or at least not cut out for this working full time at a job where I have to stand up for 8 hours day minus my 45 mins for breaks. Maybe if I had a real job, I wouldn’t mind it so much. So what has been happening…

we left Quebec right after the last big storm. I have some pictures of the previous storm there.

If you squint you can make out more stuff in the distance, it is just covered by the snow.

In this one you can’t even see the mountain. You can see a plow if you look hard enough, it is trying to shovel out where the ski hill is.

Another rare trip moment, was this one. I don’t think I need to explain.

I also tried to teach Simon’s Sister Sarah how to use a drop spindle. She wasn’t very impressed with the dropping part so she decided to just spin it on her leg. It did work out well and she managed to make two spindles full of yarn which she then knit into a small little card holder. I only have a photo of the yarn in progress.

She enjoyed spinning a lot and so with the help of the lovely Emily I gave her a spindle and some fiber for her birthday so she can spin when ever she feels like it. I also completed Simon’s mother mittens finally. They were meant for a xmas present, then became a birthday present and finally ended up as a skiing present. Unfortunately even though I had a camera near me at all times, I neglected to actually take a picture of said mittens. Anyone who has been the Purple Purl in the last month or so would have seen me knitting on them and I can assure you they were quite nice.

In other knitting news, there isn’t much on the home front. I have cast on for a sweater, but since I have only knit 6 rows I am not dignifying it with a photo. Maybe once I have decided that myself and said sweater are friends then I will post a photo, for now let me say me and the sweater are not sure of our relationship yet. I also have a one row scarf in progress but no pictures of it since it is down stairs and I am lazy. I also need to cast on a sock so I can take part in the Yarn Harlot’s Sock Picture Scavenger Hunt.   Is it wrong that I am thinking of trying to get Tuesday off so I can go get more photos taken of my sock. I know I can get a few if I work on Tuesday, but I know I can get so many more if I have the day off.

Well I have two tiny terriers staring at me like I am a giant sausage, not sure what they want, but that is the look they are giving me, so maybe some tiny dogs need to go pee. Hope everybody had a great easter and happy Sock hunting.