Dyeing up a storm.

I owe plenty of people emails, and I owe Tammy a huge thank you for an amazing Harry Potter Sock Kit. (Pictures to come soon, I promise.) But this is my first day really back after being ill for the better part of a week, and the work has piled up. So for now, please accept this generic thank you for all of your kind comments and well wishes.

I've been meaning to post these pictures for some time now and have just got around to actually uploading them and etc.

I've been having fun playing with the acid dye kit that Joe purchased for me from Hello Yarn. First let me just say that I love this kit. If you want to try your hand at acid dying, but are just a little hesitant because you really don't know where to start, this kit is for you. It has everything you need in it. Joe bought me the primary color kit, which has black, red, yellow and blue dye. It comes with plastic bottle for mixing the dye in, plastic cups for the dye you want to mix together to dye the yarn, gloves, a dust mask, and very complete instructions, including a page with tips from Adrian.

Second let me say that this kit is not only fun for me, but also fun for Joe. I had no idea he would be so into helping me dye yarn, with color suggestions, and naming my finished skeins. It's really great that he's so cool about my knitting and yarn obsession.

And now without further ado, my first attempts at dying yarn! As always, click on images to see a bigger and better version!

200 yards worsted weight alpaca I had left over from a shawl. Joe named it Rainbow Sherbert:


330 yards of sock yarn, which Joe named Plum Parfait:




400 yards of sock yarn, which Joe named after Billy Joel's first album, Cold Spring Harbor:




400 yards of RCY Cashsoft 4 ply that was originally a tan color. Joe named it Bloodwine after Klingon Bloodwine:




And last, but certainly not least, 330 yards of sock yarn which Joe named Tequila Sunrise:

Foiled!

I had such big plans for the rest of this week, and for this weekend. There was to be plenty of knitting, shopping for swap gifts, finishing up my bag for the Harry Potter Sock Kit Swap, and visiting with Knitxcore at some point this weekend.

But then yesterday happened. I woke up in a lot of pain. I brushed it off thinking it was extremely bad cramps, and attempted to get ready for work. About an hour later, the pain had grown worse, so I called the boss and let him know I would be a little late. I took some Midol and laid down with the heating pad in hopes that the pain would just pass. I'll spare you all the details of the morning, but by lunch I was begging Joe to just kill me already. Nothing was helping with the pain and I wasn't feeling anywhere near well. We decided that he should take me to the emergency room.

After eight of the longest hours of my life, I was sent home with a diagnosis, and told I was on strict bed rest. I was also advised to come back to the ER in the morning and told that when the rest of my labs came back later that night, they would give me a call.

In the end, I decided not to go back to the Emergency room today since my white blood cell count came back normal, and to instead make an appointment with my primary care doctor. I was still advised to be on bedrest, given a prescription to help with the pain, and was told that if the pain got worse, or I broke out in a fever to get to the ER as soon as possible. I was also told that I needed more labs run and some invasive tests run to get more details on what they already know.

And what is it that they already know? The sonogram showed one cyst on my right ovary, and the CAT Scan showed more cystic activity on the left, the CAT scan also showed free flowing fluid which means that I had a few cysts that burst.

I have to say this whole ordeal was a bit scary, and I wish it was over already, but it's not. In a way it's also a relief because it explains a lot of the health related issues I've had over the last year or so.

The worst part of all of this however is being stuck in bed. I can't concentrate enough to knit, read, cross stitch, or etc., and I hate laying around feeling useless.

The most important day in history.

Well maybe that's stretching it just a little. But is a rather important day for me. It's my birthday! [By the way, it's also Obsidian Kitten's birthday as well... Make sure you go wish her a happy birthday!]

So far it's been a great birthday, and while I don't have any huge plans for the rest of this evening, I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Joe tonight. A low key evening of cuddling and movie watching sounds great to me!

Joe really surprised me with his well thought out and absolutely perfect presents. He gave me two hanks of Socks That Rocks, one in G Rocks, and the other in Henpecked. He also bought me an acid dye kit from Hello Yarn so that I can finally progress to acid dyes rather than the unreliable and unpredictable Wilton's Icing Dyes I've been using. I was shocked when I opened the dye kit. I mentioned it once, in passing, a while ago and he took note!

The best gift of all though was four of the pictures he took from our weekend getaway to New York City back in February, blown up and framed. I absolutely love them!

You guys might be wondering what the pictures were... Well here they are for your viewing pleasure (click for bigger. Really, it's worth it!)

Atlas and St. Pat's at night: I love this picture. The first time I was in NYC I bought this same exact shot taken during the day. It's been hanging on my wall for years, and while we were visiting and wandering around the city, we came across the Atlas Statue. Joe promptly took this shot for me.


My favorite shot of Radio Music City Hall all lit up:

A really cool shot of the Rockefeller Building:



And a shot of Madison Square Park:




Hope you all enjoy the rest of the day!