Sunday morning blather

It is about 1045 for me (GMT-6 until the time change!) with a nice 57F
on the thermometer and a northerly breeze. The sun is shining,
there's a high pressure system sitting directly on top of me. Temps
this afternoon are forecast for the mid-70s and the Rolling Stones
concert (to which I am not going, lawn seats with no chairs allowed
were selling for $300!!) should have excellent weather.

Yesterday I accomplished the buttonband on the handspun sweater I'm
knitting. With 1/3 of the yoke to go I made fast decreases to shape
the neck opening and it worked out beautifully if I do say so. The
buttons will be gorgeous once installed. I'm almost finished with the
first cuff and should have the second one done by tonight. Tomorrow's
forecast is for more of what we have today so my sweater will dry
lickety split once I scour it out. Unfortunately my digital camera
has now croaked completely and absolutely. Unexpected vet expenses
ate my play money budget for the month so I'll have to beg one of the
knitting cronies to take pix of it tomorrow evening, assuming I do get
the knitting done, get hte thing blocked and sew on the buttons. With
luck my fast-disappearing ball of yarn will let me finish both cuffs
without doing any more spinning. I decided to see how far the ~1600yd
would go that I finished spinning earlier in the year and I just may
be able to eke it out to finish the sweater.

It is that time of year when I do major wheel maintenance: temps are
cooler, bugs are not such a problem and I can throw a sheet over a
disassembled wheel on my potting bench and trust it won't be abused by
the weather if I have to leave it out overnight. Once that sweater is
"put away" as the saying goes I'll find my can of Briwax and buy a new
package of 4-0 steel wool. The Norwegian (aka Ormhild) is sorely in
need of a fresh coat of wax, for some reason her firwood just looks
shabby no matter how many coats I lay on or how much buffing I do. I
also need to take her mother to the local wheelwright and commission a
new flyer and maidens as I think she'll be a better spin with a flyer
that actually fits!

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Non-fiber non-yarn blather below, skip if your posting name is "Jane"
or if you have a short attention span!

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Cat TV is alive and well: the squirrel-proof feeder that I recently
installed in the tree right outside my computer room window has seen a
steady stream of customers in the past few days. I have three cats in
my window right now all chattering and switching their tails madly
back and forth: yellow cat, black cat, gray tabby. Funny that the boy
cats are the ones who watch Cat TV; the girls are completely
disinterested. It must be a guy thing?

I love my endocrinologist. Two weeks ago she phoned me up and told me
to have some bloodwork done, as I had been on thyroid replacement for
almost 6 weeks and it was time to do a titration and dose adjustment.
She bumped me up from 100mcg to 132mcg based on the labs. Even though
I've been feeling MUCH better all of my lab numbers came back as "OMG
hypothyroid!!!". I do admit that the increased dose is helping me
stay conscious past 8pm - I made it through the top of the 10pm news
last night for the first time since July! The fact that I start
fading in the late afternoon and have to struggle to stay awake may
suggest that I'm having trouble converting T4-T3 so I'll be talking
with her about adding some Cytomel when I see her in early December.

My first coffee of the day is in my belly so I must go KP: I'm
cooking for a cat with digestive problems. Somehow the boiling of
ground beef and the cooking of rice makes more of a mess than I
generate when I put on a five-course sit-down dinner party for eight.
I haven't quite figured out how that works... And of course the cat
is absolutely convinced that the blenderized mush I'm serving her is
not food at all. She's in isolation in my front bathroom until she
finishes her meds in a few days and THAT is a royal PITA...

Hi -- Gorgeous day here. A little foggy late morning but other than
that it has been about perfect for a fall day. My dogwood tree is a
beautiful color right now - about to drop its leaves but they are still
on it for now.

I am headed off for a couple of weeks - may get a chance to check in
from time to time. I am taking yarn for a pair of gloves for DD and
for a pair of socks for DH along with me to keep me out of trouble. I
am packed and ready to go early in the morning. I will leave the
orange tie shrug I am making for DGD#2 here and finish it when I get
back. I have one sleeve left to do. It is really bright- that neon
orange Dale Falk - but she loves it. Fortunately it is really
adjustable on fit - which for a 12 and a half year old girl is probably
a really good thing.

(This is the time I am glad I have no pets - so much easier for
traveling.) When we stop doing so much going I would like to get
another dog, however. We had dogs "for the children" - which is why I
got away with having them as DH is not much for animals in the house.
We had big dogs who MOSTLY stayed outside - at least when DH was home
and about. (They were known to get snuck into the boys' rooms on
occasion.) DS#2 had one very independent cat (I guess that is not
unusual) as well.

I finished a hat to go with the baby sweater I donated to an auction -
both pieces have been sent in and the folks there think they will do
well. Hope so.

Judy