Garbo stays home

My eye troubles, which have been dormant for a dozen years or so, flared up recently. Essentially, I have macular degeneration, but I got it from a cause other than old age. If you really care about the details, follow the links.

What I have - CNMV
What caused it - POH

Anyway, I had a treatment today that I have not had before. In a nutshell, they shot me up with drugs and then shined a soft laser (cold laser, they call it sometimes) in the eye to activate the drug. Again if you want to know more, click through.

What Visudyne does
How Visudyne works

The main side effect of the drug is photosensitivity. I must avoid the sun for three days. They were very specific about making sure I had long sleeves, long pants ,and a wide-brimmed hat. They gave me the stylish shades and the cloth to cover my face and hands while I was in the car. I felt like a reclusive movie star.

I'm ready for my close up, Mr DeMille.

Until Sunday, I am restricted to indoors during daylight hours. Long days of naps and knitting and DVDs - the sacrifices I make for my health.

Still here

I'm still around. No, I haven't posted for awhile. Without getting into details, let's just say that going to the dentist to have a filling replaced is NOT the worst part of my week.

TTYL.

KnitWits Gone Wild!!!

It's possible that ours was the only group of knitters to commemorate their trip to Stitches Midwest in this way:


Yes, those are real, permanent tattoos, procured during our Thursday visit to Wisconsin. No, none of those legs are mine. Not getting a tattoo was one of my birthday presents to my dearly beloved.

Stash flash

I went to Stitches and only bought enough yarn to fill a small bag. (Foot included for scale.)


Here is the bag unpacked.


Seven skeins of sock yarn, two skeins of silk-ish stuff, and a scarf's worth of cashmere. This isn't even all from Stitches. The first three skeins on the top row came from a yarn shop in Wisconsin that we visited a couple of days ago.

Of course, I had to bring projects to work on as well. First, the Fish Scale socks.


I finished the first sock last week, but still need to graft the toe. I have not yet had a period of quiet contemplation suitable for that project, so I just slid the stitches onto spare needles and cast on the second sock.

I've turned the heel on the Zebra sock. For me, one of the great thrills in knitting is turning the heel on a sock. I always think I have performed magic.


The colors are pooling rather dramatically in the decrease area, but c'est la vie.

KnightStar arrived in town yesterday, and we took him to a Greek restaurant for his birthday dinner. Today, he is playing in the blitz tournament at the US Open Chess Tournament.

Meanwhile, the KnitWits are headed downtown today to see the sights.

News flash from Stitches Midwest

The foofy garter stitch scarf is over.

And there was much rejoicing.

The new trend, unfortunately, is wearing a ginormous backpack while you are shopping. Someone smacked one of my companions in the face with her backpack, and then had the b***s to say, "You're in my way."

I don't think rudeness is a trend though. For the most part, people were pleasant. When I got separated from my enablers, total strangers stepped in to fill the gap, as I did for others. Belisa Cashmere should give me a kickback.

I bought some sock yarn, a small ball of cashmere, and a set of needles. Everything I've bought so far, including yesterday's foray into Wisconsin, fits into a 9 inch bag.

But we're going back this afternoon.

On the road

Amy pointed out to me that I have not updated my blog for awhile. Oh, yeah. Guess not.

Several KnitWits and Amy's friend Dianne are in Chicago, waiting for Friday so we can go to Stitches Midwest. We came early so we could sightsee. Today we are going to Milwaukee, where Amy has been working recently.

I'm knitting on the zebra sock (just turned the heel) and the fish scale sock (a couple of inches into the second sock) while we travel.

Stay tuned. In the next day or two, I should have yarn porn photos, and possibly a tattoo crawl to report on.