Update

My illness is unchanged. The doctor gave me a mild antibiotic to start with, saying I should come back if I don't get better. Well, that medicine seems to have kept me from getting worse, but I'm no better either. I'll go back to the doctor tomorrow for something stronger. Hopefully I'll be on the mend in time for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, and we're supposed to have company. I'd hate to have to cancel.

Progress on the secret project continues.

Out sick

I'd love to tell you all about what I've been knitting lately (I've been doing a lot), and what I did for Knit Like a Ninja Day (I did knit in secret). But I've been knocked over by something new. Pneumonia. I just came from the doctor, and he say's I've got it. No wonder I feel so crumby. Maybe I'll reveal my knitting secrets when I'm better.

International Knit Like a Ninja Day?

Do you know what you're going tomorrow? I know what I'll be up to, but you'll never see it coming. I'll be sneaking into unexpected places and knitting in secret.

Very sneaky. Very deadly. Very yarny.

Post your Kninja activities on your blog showing how you sneaked your awesome yarny skills into daily life and confounded the muggles.

Darn! I hate it when that happens.

It's another pair of socks. This time it's my Rock n' Weave socks made of STR Jewel of the Nile. I've had these socks and worn them regularly for a long time. A very long time. But they finally blue out in the ball of the foot, as usual.

I guess I feel a need to mark the passing of each pair of socks with as much fanfare as I made when the were cast off.

I'll miss these socks. They wore like iron. I'll miss them. I guess it's a good thing that I have 3 skeins of the stuff secreted away in my stash.

Dream Trip

The Amazing E is away for business this week. He's at the Kennedy Space Center hanging out with the NASA types. It all has to do with a project at his work where he's trying to get NASA and the NIH to work together to put medical research on the International Space Station. His trip will culminate with VIP viewing of the shuttle launch later this week.

Well, E has a long standing dream of being an astronaut. So he's in heaven right now. Here's a picture of him with the thing that is supposed to replace the shuttle in a few years.
His caption for this picture is "And finally, I prove to you that I could fit inside the Orion capsule. Yes, you heard me NASA - I could be in that capsule, serving the Public Health of the United States, while at the same time exploring distant planetoids. Call me!?"

Seven

That's how many repeats of the chart I've finished on the Starmore wrap. Twelve is the magic number. I guess it could still be possible to finish it before my anniversary if I worked my little fingers to the bone. But I won't.

New Orleans (not knitting related)

The Amazing E and I will be going to New Orleans to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. I got a pretty good package deal yesterday, so we're all set. I guess we thought going to New Orleans for our first anniversary was appropriate because of several Louisiana coincidences contributing to our marriage and families:

1. We were introduced through a mutual friend who attended Tulane University with E.
2. My sister (the Beautiful E) and the Amazing E both hold masters degrees in biomedical engineering from Tulane university. Apparently they had classes together. (more parenthesis... the Beautiful E did go on for a Ph.D.)
3. E's best man is a native Louisianan.
4. Some of E's ancestors settled in New Orleans.
5. Our wedding coordinator was a Katrina refugee who had been the catering manager at the New Orleans Sheraton.

For all these reasons, we're celebrating the first anniversary of our wedding there. Also, I understand that all foods there are "special chicken" and therefore okay for me to eat without guilt. My sister who told me this is one of the smartest people I know and lived in New Orleans for something like seven years, so she must be right.

If your name is Mike...

and your surfing the internet waiting to hear if you got your new job, the Amazing E and I say good luck.

Half time

Tada!

I've been waiting for a sunny day to take a picture of my latest knitting triumph. There hasn't been one in a few days, so I can't show you a well lit and artistic photograph. But here it is. The first half of my Rheingold wrap. I restarted knitting it about three weeks ago and finished about four pattern repeats to complete the half.I'm really pleased with it. It's almost 28 inches long. And yes, it's a tube. It will be steeked after the other half is finished and the two parts grafted together.

I am not, however, sure when I'll be able to finish the second half. I'd love to have it done by my anniversary, or the winter holidays at the latest. But as tends to happen when I work on large projects, my shoulder injury has been aggravated by the knitting. It will get done though! I can't wait. This half is so nice.

And I already have plans for my next shoulder killing, blindness inducing fair isle project.

Happy knitting times!

Matisyahu

In 100% non knitting related news, I took the Amazing E on a date Saturday night to see Matisyahu in Baltimore. For those of you not familiar, Matishayu is an Chassidic Jew who does a sort of rap/reggae/jam band type of music with (what I consider) very spiritual lyrics.

The show was very cool. They played most of the more well known songs and did a lot of jamming with members of the opening act and some other people. I haven't been to a concert in a very long time, and had never seen him in person. He seems like a very intense guy. I was shocked when he stopped and looked directly into the crowd as if he were at once trying to soak everything in and connect with the people in the crowd.

We had a lot of fun.