Thursday, February 15, 2007

Ivy but not rashes



Ivy is coming along nicely

I am concerned that the lumpy looking section of the back of the sweater will not smooth out when I wash and shape the piece when I am finished. When I frogged Sorbet, the yarn was all crimped from the stitches in that piece. I did not wash and straighten it out the yarn before starting Ivy.


Now that I have started a second ball, it looks so much smoother and neater. This will be a lesson learned. I am not going to stop now. If I have to pull it all out at the end, so be it.

V Day

Valentine's Day was really nice. I haven’t had a Valentine in a long time so it was fun to be able to participate this year. ;)

Gabriel came over for dinner. I cooked Cornish game hens for the first time and they came out great. Here is the recipe from Epicurious.com. I also made garlic mashed (Yukon gold) potatoes, green beans, and kale w/apples and curry.

It was very low key, fun evening.

Until the topic of my rash came up. Again.

I have pityriasis rosea, a gross-looking but not contagious (or itchy or anything) rash on my torso, stomach, neck, and arms. It is nothing to be concerned about and will go away in a couple of months or so. Well, Gabe is convinced I need to go on a fast to stop eating carbs because they are contributing to my candida. Since when do carbohydrates have anything to do w/a yeast infection? Where does he come up w/this crap?

Old German wives tales I think. His grandmother's cure for everything when he was growing up was an anema. I guess that explains a lot.

The doctor also gave me an RX for a topical cortisone cream which he is pleading with me not to use. I appreciate his concern for my well-being but he has gone way over the top. I have read up on my rash and feel very comfortable with my doctor's prognosis. He doesn't believe her, because he says she is a lacky for the drug companies and the only reason she prescribed the cortisone is because she ultimately gets a cut. Paranoid much?

Friday, February 09, 2007

In all of his beauty

I am back after a long absence. What have I been up to?

I knit three scarves for the Orphan Project. They sat around waiting to be mailing for weeks and then I was racing out of town and remembered I had to mail them. Therefore no pictures. I am so glad to work on that project, this is my second year.

· My current project is Ivy from the fall 2006 Knitty. I have had Cashsoft sitting around for more than a year and this is the perfect yarn for the project. The cables threw me at first, but they seemed to come together as I knit each row. I am pretty psyched, actually. Last year’s knitting resolution completed.

· Reunited with Gabriel in October and things are going well. I am really happy. Last fall I was thinking about him a lot so I got up the nerve, after much angst and hand-wringing, to email him. Just to say hi and to apologize for just walking off that day he broke up with me in the middle of my sailing class. And he responded almost immediately, to my surprise. Two weeks later, it’s Saturday afternoon, I am home, talking on the phone to my brother in Maine, and out of the blue there is someone is calling me from the front door of my building (the buzzer rings to my cell phone). To my shock it’s Gabriel. I race around, change my shirt, brush my teeth, and go down to see him, trying to catch my breath as I casually walk out the front door.

And there he is, in all of his beauty. Wow. Shock.

We have been seeing each other regularly, but not constantly, ever since. He threw me a lovely birthday of hiking at Great Falls, Mexican food, a soft-kiss (finally), an emergency Red Cross crank radio, and amazing sex (we move fast).

· Cranked up the yoga to two classes a week. Tranquil Space is about two blocks from my office so I have no excuse. My colleague was going on Mondays at lunch time so I started going with her (thanks Charisse). It was just the push I needed. I appreciate the discipline of Iyengar yoga that I have been practicing at Unity Woods because it makes my flow classes at TS that much more enjoyable. I know most of the poses and it is empowering to understand how to get into them. And I am learning more from the different teachers I see weekly. It’s great, I so recommend yoga to everyone. It is so much more than stretching. That is a difficult message to get across to people. But if I can get one person to try it for 6 months, they too will see.