Bleck

My sinus infection is still hanging on strong and it's gotten to the point that I'm not really sleeping (I keep waking up coughing). So today I went to the doctor and got an antibiotic that I know I'm allergic to and some steroids so that hopefully I won't react to it. We've done this before when I had some bronchitis that just wouldn't go away so I hope this works as well as last time! Fingers crossed!

I Am Not Amused

I am sick. Again. Week before last, I had a bad head cold. It was less than fun but honestly, I was pleased at how fast I healed. Especially since last weekend Dan and I had visiting guests in the shape of Dan's sister and her boyfriend. See?

The trip went well and fun was had. And then Sunday, I got sick again. This time, it's a sinus infection.

I normally get either bronchitis or a sinus infection after any type of cold so I suppose I can be grateful that it gave me a week in between the two this time so I was guest-appropriate. But currently I sound like someone that should work at a radio station where I have to say "smooth jazz" a lot, so I'd really be more appreciative of not getting a sinus infection in the first place.

Sigh.

In other news, I'm knitting a really cute hat. That will probably be too cuddly to wear in Texas except once every 3 years when we have super-freak snow storms. But did I mention it was cute? Cause it totally is.

Weekend Update... A Little Late

So this weekend was exciting - Dan brewed pumpkin beer and I finished my mittens!

First off, mittens!

Very exciting! Next up, i've decided I am going to make a hat. And I kind of want to make more mittens...

In other me-news, I've re-injured my shoulder. The chiro has given me some PT to do but has threatened me with an MRI if it keeps hurting. Hopefully that won't be needed cause that's one step closer to requiring surgery. Boo.

In Dan-related news, beer! He made pumpkin beer this Saturday.

So now it's in the fridge fermenting. Apparently it's going pretty actively because it has already managed to go foomp all over the inside of the fridge. Dan cleaned it while I was napping so there are no pictures of that.

More pictures of beer batch two, Fairytale Punkin' Ale, are here.

We Share Everything, Even Germs

Well, Dan was sick last weekend. Now it is my turn. Yep, he gave me his icky germs. I started feeling not so great Tuesday night and basically slept and medicated myself all of Wednesday. Today I still sound horrible (and I feel pretty bad, too) but I think I'm on an upswing. I hope. I'm able to stay awake for more than an hour and a half at a time and my head has unfogged just enough that I can be a little productive... sorta. I can knit. (Yesterday I couldn't even get enough brain power to pick what cup to use for tea. Having enough brain power to knit is huge.)

So what have I been doing with my massive increase in brainpower? Well, first off I made an I-cord for the drawstring bag knit project (the one that had given me such fits when I started it the first two times) and blocked the bag.

Honestly, I wasn't all that in love with the reverse stockinette bumps at the top of the bag (I apparently have a thing against how reverse stockinette looks), but once the drawstring is threaded and it is tied closed, the bag looks pretty cute. I did a seersucker pattern for the body of the bag (versus the pattern's stockinette stitch) and I really like how that turned out. I really have no idea what I'm going to do with this bag once it is all blocked and officially finished, but I have to say, I learned a ton while doing it so I don't consider the time (or the yarn) wasted.

And since the bag was now blocking, that meant I had no active project. I debated between either a hat or mittens to match my recently made scarf. After playing with the scarf some more (what can I say, it's fun!) I figured that the scarf actually doubles as a nice hood/scarf combo so a hat might be overkill. Which means my next (now current) project is mittens!

This is the fourth project in my learn-circular-knit book (I skipped the third project cause I didn't like it) and there are new things for me to learn. Hopefully it will go a little smoother than the drawstring bag!

As an unrelated aside? TheraFlu tastes awful, even with lots of honey in it. Yuck!

Weight Loss Challenge: Day 343

I've been a bit of a slacker recently with the kitty weigh ins so I thought I'd fix that today. We're at almost one year of scheduled feedings and the kitties are looking great!

• Ashes - 7.2 lbs (starting weight of 9.4/total loss of 2.2lbs)
  Still losing a little bit of weight, which is sad. I'd love to see Ashes back up in the 9lbs range but, at 20 years old, I think we are doing good to stay in the 7s.
  
• Chloe - 11.0 lbs (starting weight of 15.0/total loss of 4.0lbs)
  A fantastic 4lb weight loss here! Technically, Chloe doesn't need to lose any more, but if she is given free(r) access to kibble, she starts to pork up a little so she's still on twice daily feedings only. I have to say, she looks great. She's the perfect size. I'm going to try to get a good before/after shot at some point. She looks amazing.
  
• Happy - 10.2 lbs (starting weight of 11.2/total loss of 1lbs)
  Honestly, Happy looks better in the high 9lb range but she gets a little psycho and tries to eat the other kitties when she gets really hungry, so she's able to have kibble snack access through the day. I'm happy with her here; she looks good.
  
• Gidget - 8.0 lbs (starting weight of 9.4/total loss of 1.4lbs)
  8lbs is a great spot for the Fuffer-pants. Her massive amount of fur makes her seem bigger but she doesn't need to lose any more weight. (Though I imagine if we shaved her, she'd look a bit rat-like.)
  
• Bitty - 5.8 lbs (starting weight of 6.2/total loss of .5lbs)
  High 5lbs is were Bitty should be so I'm pleased, especially since she's my clean up crew for Ashes' older wet food.
  
• Cocoa - 13.4 lbs (starting weight of 17.0/total loss of 3.6lbs)
  Cocoa seems to be hanging out around this area lately but she's looking good. She needs to lose about half a pound still (maybe a little less) to get the fat off that is still hanging out around her shoulders/upper arms but other than that, she's doing great. Very close to a slender kitty size!
  
• Sam - 18.4 lbs (starting weight of 24.0/total loss of 5.6lbs)
  Holy monkeys, what a great weight loss here! Not only is Sam finally below the 20lb mark, he's well below it! He's got a waist now and everything! He's even looking rectangular now instead of square! We've got about 4lbs more for him to go to get to ideal kitty weight, but you know what? We've already lost over 5lbs. Four is totally do-able!

So there's the kitty shake down! All in all, I'm super-pleased with their progress. Sure, I'd like it if Ashes didn't feel like such a frail hair mat of a kitty, but at 20 years old, I'm just pleased she's still mobile and purring. But I'm very proud of Chloe and Sam - those two had a really far way to go and they've both done so well. Sam still has a ways to go but if we can do this for one year (and 5lbs!) then we can do it for two years for 9lbs!

Finished Product!

I forgot about my loopy scarf as it was blocking (I had to put it in the back room since Bitty kept trying to steal it... apparently wet wool and angora smells tasty to kitties) but I remembered it today and went to check on it...

It's all finished!

We had a cold front move in this weekend but, of course, it's "cold" as in the mid-60s, not quite scarf level cold. I imagine it will be at least another month, if not two, before I can wear this scarf for more than just pictures. But that's a good thing actually because it gives me time to make a hat! And mittens!

(In other knitting news, I am up to the troublesome rounds in the drawstring bag. Last night I put in a lifeline just in case I had to frog and surprise! I somehow had put in an extra stitch. I found the problem and fixed it (though there is a bit of a hole which hopefully will adjust a bit when I block the bag) but I honestly have pretty much no idea how I managed to cause the extra stitch in the first place. Oops.)

(Oh, and in non-knitting news, Dan's still sick which is a bit of a shock as we are going on 48 hours now. I made him some chicken soup though, so that plus his natural awesome immune system should put him back to normal soon.)

I'm So Crafty (and Other News)

Alrighty, I've officially restarted the little drawstring bag that gave me such fits last night. I haven't gotten to the evil increase/decrease rounds but I've learned how to do a lifeline, which is an easy way to mark a row so you can rip back to it and easily reinsert your needles. Yeah, even though I through the flat version of the rounds fine, you can bet I'm going to use that lifeline for those rounds when I hit them next. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a post to announce my success in rounds 14 and 15.

In other crafty-ness, I got more scrapbooking done, this one nine years after the event. Whoo! But it's a big one - Dan's and my wedding.

And there's even more hobby-related news, but this time it isn't my hobby, it's Dan's. His beer continues to ferment in the beer fridge and it is smelling like bananas. Apparently that is a characteristic of the yeast he used this batch, banana notes. Considering I'm not a beer fan, I think it says a lot that I think it smells tasty. I hope that continues cause I think it'd be cool if I would actually like the beer Dan is making.

By the way, next up, he's going to be making a pumpkin beer. I think we are going to get sugar pumpkins tomorrow and the rest of his grains should arrive Monday, I think. So I see a pumpkin-smelling brew day in our future.

In not so hobby-related news, Dan is sick. Boo. He usually gets sick once, maybe twice a year and it typically hits him hard but lasts about 12-24 hours. Right now we are at over 24 hours and he's still muzzy-headed, stuffy and not a happy camper. I'm sure it's just a cold but it's a pretty bad one. Poor guy. But at least today is the home opener for the St. Louis Blues so he can wallow in his ickiness while watching the game on Center Ice.

I think I'm going to knit more.

(PS - Oh! And more news! It's raining here! Yay!)

Ack! Frustrating!

My knit loopy scarf is blocking today (official pictures coming post-blocking) so I thought I'd start another knit project. This one is a little drawstring bag which, honestly, I'm not all that interested in but it is the second project in my book and I figured I'd be able to learn to use double-pointed needles and do increases and decreases (as the pattern has both).

Augh! It's so frustrating! I'm okay with the double-pointed needles. They are a little awkward but I think overall I'm doing okay with them and I'm sure things will get better the more I use them.

So I'm calling the DPN bit of the project a decent success. But OMG at the increases and decreases!

I have done the two troublesome rounds twice, once coming up with not enough stitches and the next time coming up with too many. Finally, I just decided to rip back the entire project because ripping out just a few rows in knit is a lot harder than it is in crochet and, having done it once, I feel no need to earn that merit badge right now. So yeah, that picture above? Technically that project no longer exists.

I do plan on picking it back up and restarting it, but I have to figure out that increase and decrease thing. Honestly, my book looks all helpful and stuff at first but when you get down to it, not so much. So after much research (God bless the interwebs), I was able to successfully do the two troublesome rows when working flat with crappy yarn. Hopefully that will translate when (sometime this weekend) I give the project another go.

Fingers crossed! Cause gotta say, while I really like the loopy scarf and that success made me all "Yay knitting!", ripping back knit makes me miss crochet. So much easier to frog.

Even Happier Updates

Just a quick Doodle-status. Happy is officially cone(s) free now and the spot that was a big, gaping, oozing hole of ickiness is now a dime-sized, smooth, red-but-not-oozy spot on her naked buttock. Honestly, the shaved buttock looks like it will take longer to grow back that it will take for the remaining abscess to heal.

So apparently, even though they are freaky (and nasty) as all get out, ruptured anal sacs aren't all that traumatic past the actual event. Good to know but I hope I never have to use that knowledge again.

Ever.

Happy Updates

As of last night, Happy has officially rejoined the general kitty population. Her abscess is crusted over enough that she's not oozy, so we figured it was time to have her out and about. She's kind of pathetic when she's in the guest bathroom - she misses her people. A lot. Last night, after we released her into the wild, I mean, rest of the house, she pretty much spent the entire evening in my lap.

I know before I posted a picture of Happy in her hard Cone of Shame, but for a bit, we actually had her in two cones. Which was both funny (to me, at least) and pathetic.

Apparently she could get to her sore while wearing either of the cones alone (though she did have to put some effort into it) and the thought behind two coning it was that she might be able to get around each cone style independently, but she wouldn't be able to get around both of them at the same time. And I think it worked.

But a kitty in a hard cone is kind of painful. Because she doesn't realize that every time she rubs up against something (a leg, the wall, the scratching post) that she was really scraping them with the cone. (I had nightmares about all the paint in the guest bathroom being scraped off because I could hear her in the bathroom playing bumper cone.) So this morning due to the nice healing of the abscess and the potential pain of the hard cone, Doodle is back down to just the soft Cone of Shame.

Per the vet, we've probably got another week and a half of healing time, but it should be pretty easy as long as Happy doesn't over groom (and irritate) her spot. I'm not quite ready to say we are out of the woods, but I can see the tree line.

There Is Wort in My Tub

Beer-making is occurring! Today, Dan created the wort and is now cooling it to room temperature before he adds the yeast and lets it ferment. And can I tell you, it takes five gallons a long time to boil. So for most of the afternoon and evening, Dan's been doing his beer magic and the house has smelled like malted barley syrup and (later) hops. It's fragrant. And since I can't share the smell, I'm sharing pictures of what is creating the smell!

There are a few more pictures on Flickr, where Dan's Beer Making has its own album here.