Hotels are superstitious places.

I'm doing computer stuff while listening to "The Shining" audiobook. It's hard to concentrate on the book and what I'm doing at the same time but it's a new thing, I'm just trying it out.

Went to the doctor's office today. No prognosis yet. She ordered tests. But the good news is that the doctor, a new one in the practice, is amazing. I started off by declining to be weighed. The nurse did not give me any problems with it. But when she took my blood pressure it was really high. The doctor was super nice. She listened to me. She agreed with me about my metabolism being screwed. She did not ONCE say or imply that I should lose weight. No patronizing. No talking down. She’s read Heath at Every Size and size acceptance stuff and is very much OK with it. She said she’s watched her family struggle with weight her whole life. I told her I have accepted that I’m famine-proof and she laughed. We discussed my old back injury, my vertigo, my costochondritis. She re-took my blood pressure and it was much lower. She was in the examining room with me for almost half an hour, which is pretty much unprecedented in doctoring these days. She said we'll move forward after the test results come back. She took a lot of notes, and right where I could see them, not surreptitiously at all.

I hope she never changes.

So, tonight is therapy. We'll see how that goes.

Some knitting progress. The Lovlund sweater is moving along nicely. I'm into the sleeves on the back.


It's hard to get a sense of it but I think it's going to be pretty nice.



I'm doing a pair of simple cabled mittens.


Mostly because I can't find my gloves. Now I can't find my lens cap, either. Life is a challenge sometimes.

The yarn may look familiar, because it's from the Pinwheel Sweater of doomy doom, which is now happily ripped out and converted into wonderful usable yarn. I just could not make it work for me, and I'm not sorry about it. I'm also going to make a long pointy stocking cap that matches the gloves.

Started a pair of socks on new year's day. Monkey, from Knitty. Ingenious design, easy to knit.






Pretty stuff. I got the yarn from a swap on Ravelry. It's Spunky Eclectic Super Sock. Another one of those luxury sock yarns that I'd never buy on my own.

It's hard to tell, but there's progress on the Hundertwalkers.

Once I finish these, it's going to be a while before I do socks on size zeros again. Too long.

I also took some photos of some of my favorite christmas presents. I didn't get to photograph my Hines Ward steeler jersey, it's in the wash.

Here's a vase my mom got us.


And a cat she got me.


Lena got me a peruvian quena flute.



You blow like a flute, but through the end, and you have to close off the end with your chin before you blow. It's different, but it sounds very nice.


The kids also got me these drums, more decorative than anything. They look nice against the new wall.


Here's the wall.


It needs something to hang, but what? No idea. The pictures are getting moved around and rearranged and reevaluated.


That's our "wedding wall". It's now in the dining room.

Not much else. I'm in a state of transition and who knows where I'll end up.