Last SOS Push and Going Gluten-Free

I’m working on pairs 17 & 18 for SOS, and hoping to get to 20 by Monday at 10PM, when the Most Socks contest closes. It will be tight. After that, well….hmmm…knitting shawls, reading, watching TV–normal life in other words! Or as normal as my life can be.

I was Plurking this morning about going gluten-free, and got too many questions to answer on Plurk, so here’s the quick run-down on that for Plurkbuds and anyone else who might find the info helpful.

First, let me say that I’ve been feeling bad. And I mean reeeaaaallly baaaaadddd for months. (And not the Isaac Hayes version of badness. I mean bad as in lousy, awful, wretched.) I’m not going for sympathy here, but I’m just saying that I’ve been pretty much non-functioning for a long time. I drag myself from bed and manage to make it to work and struggle through my three or four hours there, and that’s about it. Some days I don’t even have the energy to shower (I do spit-baths, as my mother calls them. Don’t freak–I’m clean, just not squeaky-clean!) I can’t even begin to describe the mind-numbing, bone-breaking fatigue I stagger around in all the time, and I’m fed up with it.

I’ve been blaming it on the fibromyalgia and lack of exercise, but I’ve had in the back of my mind that I’ve not been eating well, so yesterday I got a couple of books on FM and gluten-intolerence, and I am seriously convinced that I must go gluten-free.

Now, I’ve known for some years that I can’t tolerate wheat well. No, let me re-phrase that. When I eat wheat, my abdomen distends until I look five months pregnant, my eyes feel like they sink two inches into my head, and I start feeling too weak to breathe. The natural response to this would be to stop eating wheat, right? Alas, when you have a sensitivity, you tend to crave the very thing you’re sensitive to because as soon as you eat it, you feel better briefly–very briefly. It’s a vicious cycle. Add to that the fact that wheat and/or gluten is in almost every single processed food we eat, and it’s tough. (Last night I discovered that my herb tea contains barley, which contains gluten. Who knew?) Top it off with the problem of not feeling like shopping or cooking, and you end up eating processed junk food all the time, and the cycle continues.

So to answer a couple of questions from this morning: one way to figure out if you’re sensitive to a certain food is to think about how your gut feels. If you have any symptoms of irritable bowel, a food sensitivity is a possibility. Here’s how I would go about figuring it out (with the caveat that I’m not a medical professional in any way, but I have been through this.) If you find that you crave a certain food–say bread–eliminate it from your diet for a week (some pros say two weeks, but I suspect a week will do it.) That means eliminate completely. No bread, crackers, pasta, croutons, breaded foods, rye, barley, cookies, and so on. Avoid oatmeal as well, as it can be cross-contaminated because of growing or processing conditions. After going the week, fix up a nice dish of couscous or pasta or a couple of pieces of toast and chow down. (Same for any other suspected food; eliminate for a week, then have some and see how you feel.)

Here’s what happened the day the light bulb went on for me–I fixed a dish of couscous for lunch and wolfed it. Within twenty minutes I felt like I was dying. I could barely sit up on the sofa for the fatigue, and my heart was thumping–not racing, but thumping harder than usual, if that makes sense. Suddenly it clicked. All those years of bloating, pain, and fatigue could almost certainly be pegged to the fact that I lived on bagels and Raisin Bran. (Seriously, I used to eat Raisin Bran at least twice a day. I thought my body didn’t tolerate raisins well. Huh.) I did go to a food allergist and had some other tests to confirm it, but that day, I KNEW.

I’ve avoided wheat since then. Sort of. But it’s really, really hard. Especially when you’re a lazy cook, as I am. But I do know that when I buckled down and stocked the pantry with “safe” foods, I felt better. So I have to do that again, only more thoroughly this time, because I discovered from my books that there are more things that contain gluten than I thought. And I’ll have to go through a sort of withdrawal from the cravings for bread, and weirdly enough, beer. I don’t crave beer for the alcohol, it’s the taste, the mouth-feel, the stout yeasty flavor. But it’s essentially liquid bread.

According to the specialists, here are the most likely culprits for food sensitivity: dairy, soy, yeast, wheat, corn, and eggs. Most people who are lactose-intolerant know it, but the others are sneaky because they are in so much of our processed food. And, as much as I love my doctor, I have to say that this is one of those subjects that the mainstream medical community doesn’t deal with very much. In all the years I’ve been treated for FM, none of my doctors has suggested dietary changes or nutritional guidance.

I could go on and on about it, but if any of this raises a red flag in your mind for yourself or anyone in your family, there is a lot of information out there. You have to go looking for it, though, because you probably won’t hear it from your doctor. I say “probably” but I’m sure there are exceptions. BTW, although my sensitivity causes me to feel fatigued, in children it often comes out as hyperactivity and irritability.

Sensitivity is different from a true allergy. An allergy causes your body to release different hormones, or whatever it is that it releases (told you I’m not a medical expert!) When you’re talking about allergies, it’s usually stuff like shellfish or peanuts, where people have their tongues swell up and their throats close and can even go into anaphalactic shock. That’s one of the reasons food sensitivities are overlooked or underrated, IMO. If you don’t swell up and choke, you must not have a problem, right? Tell that to someone who’s lactose-intolerant.

I can’t be positive how much, or if I will feel better if I go gluten-free, but I strongly suspect that there will be an improvement. I know there was before, so I’m hanging on to that hope, because feeling this way is just impossible. For the record, let me say that I’ve had tests for everything from lupus to thyroid problems to heart disease. According to the tests, I’m in perfect health. That’s why I sit and cry at my desk at work from the effort of holding my head up. (My, wasn’t THAT a pathetic picture!)

On a brighter note: I’ve scored some Wollmeise! Ravelry was all abuzz the past week because of the Wollmeise releases at The Loopy Ewe. Some of the lovely people who managed to get more than one or two skeins generously offered to sell or trade, so I’ve got at least one coming, thanks to msknitsox. The nice thing about Ravelry is that for the most part, everyone gets along so well. Yes, there are disagreements, but apologies are freely offered and accepted, and the generosity and sharing spirit are wonderful.

I’m going to go have my last piece of Toll House Pie. If anyone knows of a nice gluten-free recipe for that, let me know, will ya?

Hey, It’s Only Been A Week…

So I finally got pictures done and posted to Ravelry of my SOS socks. I’ve finished 15 pairs, and am working on #16. I’m not sure what the stats are, though I do have some inside info that someone (who shall remain nameless) has more socks done that she hasn’t posted yet.  So I know I just can’t win this thing. Second place would be nice. Yeah, a silver medal works for me.

Not to mention that I love having all those socks!! I had planned to share the wealth and give away most of what I made, but I’ve only given two pairs to Missy because she happened to see them and yowled for them. I never “got” the whole sock-making thing before, but now it’s one of those little weirdo things that make me happy every morning when I open the sock drawer and see the awesome selection waiting for me. The rest of the day may be a total disaster, but at least I’m wearing cool socks!

Here, as promised, is the Clapotis before washing and blocking:

 

Here are the post-blocking pics:

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It really softened up quite a bit after washing, but I think I spread it out too much while it was drying. It seems to have lost some of its “crinkle” so I may dampen it again and let it dry kind of bunched up lengthwise. Or I may just wear it and let gravity and humidity do its thing. The Noro Sock yarn worked out terrifically, and I do love it. I think I want one in every color they make!

Meanwhile, this jumped on my needles and demanded to be started:

This is the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn C. Clark. You can download the free pattern here. The yarn is a really gorgeous cashmere/silk blend from Fila de Crostura–I think it’s called “Suprima” but I’ll have to check the ball band. I can never remember this stuff. So far it’s an easy pattern, but I really must put it aside and make one last surge in the sock contest.

So that’s the project update for today. I updated my Ravelry notebook with the latest socks (I’m Spingirl1961 there) so if you want to see them in all their gorgeousness, check it out!

I got a kick out of this blog post. I SO feel her pain!! But at least I got my Dream in Color Smooshy the other day (in a gorgeous lavender/blue colorway) so I’ll live at least another day without Wollmeise!

Breaking my Silence

For some reason, keeping up with computer stuff was not something I did while on vacation. Maybe it was because I was too busy winding yarn balls (or cakes, as they’re called on Ravelry. Too bad I don’t have the little icon that pops up for “cake”.)  Ennnyway–that was a whooooole bunch of yarn-winding, and I at least can see what I have waiting to be knitted.

That, however, huge pile that it is, did not stop me from just ordering more sock yarn. It was just one skein, I swear! And I haven’t ordered anything online for more than two weeks! Well, not counting a couple of things I got on ebay. They don’t count, because they weren’t knitting related. (I love my rationalizations, don’t you?) But I needed  the Wendy Knits “Ribbon Candy” pattern for the pink yarn that came in the “Boobie” sock kit because I don’t like the “Boobie” pattern that came with the yarn, and while I was at The Loopy Ewe site, I thought I might as well get some of that great Dream in Color Smooshy yarn everyone else seems to love. I would have ordered some Woolmeise, but it goes out of stock exactly 73.2 seconds after it’s listed, apparently. I need to get on the advance notice list or something!

I still haven’t taken pictures of the things I’ve been working on. Not the ball-winding part. That would be just too dull. No, I mean the socks that I’ve still been half-heartedly knitting for SOS08, and the other project that I mentioned. I might as well admit it here and now. I joined the lemmings and made a Clapotis scarf.

If you haven’t heard of that, where the heck have you been? Not on Ravelry, that’s for sure! The pattern is from knitty.com, from sometime in 2005, and it’s the most downloaded pattern they’ve ever featured. In fact, the latest Interweave Knits magazine has an article about the designer and the impact the Clapotis had on knitty.com and the knitworld in general.

When I first saw it, I thought, “Meh. What’s the big deal?” But the more I looked at it, the more I liked it, and I kept reading that other people felt the same way until they saw a finished scarf, then they fell in love. Well. I had three skeins of Noro Kureyon sock yarn, and the more I petted it, the less I thought I would like it as socks. It is kind of wiry and rough. But three skeins is more than enough to make a cool scarf, so I started looking through my patterns and books for just the right thing, and that turned out to be the Clapotis. (BTW, it’s pronounced something like, “Clah-poh-tee” in some Frenchy manner. Accent on the last syllable, I think. That makes it sound a little less like some weird STD.)

So that’s what I worked on between socks, while listening to “Persuasion” on the iPod. It’s an easy pattern, once you get the rhythm of it, so it didn’t take long and was fairly mindless. I haven’t washed it yet, so it still feels a bit wiry, but it drapes nicely now and I think it will be even better once it’s washed and laid flat to dry. The general consensus seems to be that you don’t want to block it hard, like you would a lace shawl. I really will get before-and-after pictures, but the resident expert photographer is mortally ill (i.e. he has a cold) so I won’t bother him today.

In other not-so-exciting news…well…that’s about it. Except that I did finally get to my violin lesson, and I’ve been practicing a lot. I’ve loved all my teachers, but this one and I communicate so well, and she spots immediately what I need to work on and explains it perfectly. It’s encouraging, because we agree that I am making progress, yay!! Violin is tough at any age, and when you start at the age of 46, you’ve really got your work cut out for you. Part of it is the simple fact that holding and bowing the instrument are new motions, and if you haven’t been doing it since you were four or five years old, your body rebels a little. I got a new shoulder rest, after test-driving about nine of them, and that’s made a tremendous difference.

So I’m loving my music more and more. One of my favorite pieces is “The Lark Ascending” as played by Hilary Hahn. (Go buy the CD. Even if you don’t like classical music, you’ll LOVE this. I promise.) I bought the sheet music, even though it’s way beyond my skills, and can actually play snippets. That makes me so happy and keeps my enthusiasm up for continuing to slog through the Suzuki books. I have my own pet names for the pieces in Book One: “The Not-So-Happy Farmer” and “The Stinkin’ Gavotte” are a couple of them. And, yes Virginia, playing your scales does improve your overall playing.

I’ve been trying to resist starting a shawl, but my Plurkbuds tell me resistance is futile. So, if I can find that cashmere-blend lace yarn somewhere around here…

Vacation!

My stay-at-home vacation started today, though I’ve been considering myself on vacation since I got home from work on Friday. No, I haven’t tackled the basement yet, but I intend to work on that later this week. In the meantime, I have a tiny problem.

I can’t lift my arms.

One of the plans for the week was to start doing regular exercise, whether by going to ballet class, joining a club, or working out at home. I’ve gone too long without any exercise at all to jump back in to ballet class, so I thought I’d better get a few workouts in first. I checked in at Curves, and they’re having a special this month, and the lady said I could come and try it this week. So I thought I would do that tomorrow. Today, however, I finally grabbed my exercise ball, stuck the DVD in the player, and did my own at-home workout.

That was two hours ago, and I can hardly raise my arms above my waist. The exercises didn’t feel that hard while I was doing them (though I did feel hideously clumsy–trying to drape myself over the ball without falling off was a hoot. Probably I really hurt my arms from flailing them in vain attempts to keep from sprawling on the floor. The cats were clearly baffled by the whole ugly scene.) Anyway, the pain didn’t set in until about  half an hour ago. Which is a more holistic treatment–a pain pill or a shot of Old Crow? Pain pills have fewer calories, which is a consideration.

The really bad part of this is that I had a violin lesson scheduled for this afternoon. I was so embarrassed to call and cancel only an hour beforehand, but I have a wonderful teacher. She started laughing and said, “Oh, I did that once. I had to call in to the XXX Symphony (a fairly large orchestra) and tell them I couldn’t play because I’d done a workout and couldn’t move my arms. I was tempted to lie and tell them I had the measles or something–anything but the truth.” So we had a good laugh, and she was totally cool with it. THEN she told me she’ll be in China next week, playing with the orchestra for the Olympics! How cool is that? Bet she doesn’t do any workouts between now and then…

So I obviously can’t clean the basement today, which leaves me doing more of what I’ve been doing since Friday afternoon: cleaning the sewing/weaving/stash room, knitting, loading my iPod, knitting, adding to my Ravelry queue, knitting, winding yarn balls, and knitting. Obviously, I have a short attention span.

Since I have to set up the swift and ball winder on the dining room table, I’m trying to get all my skeins wound and stored neatly. I pulled out the bags and boxes of random yarn items–leftover bits, odd skeins, acrylic, novelty yarn from the scarf craze a few years back–and have decided what to keep, what to give to the Knitting Guild for community projects, and what to throw away. I’ve kept some yarns for small projects, but a lot of it is going to the guild. They do hats and mittens and lap ropes and such, so they’ll make good use of it, I’m sure. And I didn’t give them crap yarn, so I feel virtuous.

I didn’t realize how much laceweight yarn I have, and that’s what remains to be wound. I’m not looking forward to it, especially after the 2500-yard skein I wound the other day. I thought it would NEVER end. (But now I’m looking for the perfect shawl pattern for it. That’s where Ravelry comes in. I’ve seen pictures of some breathtaking shawls, so I’ll have to go through all my “favorited” items and see what calls to me.) And once I get all this yarn wound, I’m going to “repurpose” the clear storage bins hubby bought for the basement last week. Heck, we can use cardboard boxes down there. I need to see my yarn! I just need to get them up here before he comes home and sees me doing it. I hope I can carry them. Heck–I hope I can walk down the stairs and back up again!

I’m still plugging along (sort of ) with SOS. After I started digging through all the yarn, and figuring out how many projects I have planned, I decided that the priority list needed revamped. It’s not an official List yet, because I’m still sorting, but by the end of my vacation week, I hope to have a better idea of what I really want to do.

Moving my arms will be high on the list, I’m sure.

Almost Vacation Time!

I haven’t been spending much time on the computer at all, so I feel really out of touch. I’m sure all kinds of interesting things are going on in Plurk, but I can’t keep up, so I declare “Plurkruptcy” on the “View Replies” button and start all over. I’m sure there are lots of new blog posts for me to read as well, and let’s not even talk about Ravelry! When did things get so complicated? So much for simplifying! Thoreau’s head would explode if he were suddenly dropped in someone’s computer room.

So, SOS. Well, I finished pair #13, and am poking at pair #14 occasionally, but the thrill is gone. BUT! I have a week off coming up, so after work tomorrow, I declare myself officially On Vacation (even if it is at home!) I’m trying to decide between being a total slob and knitting all day every day, or getting some big stuff out of the way, like finishing the basement clean-out that I started a couple of weeks ago.  Depending on which way it goes, I may get back into the SOS swim of things, but I’m not sure. Something else jumped on my needles last weekend, I’m embarrassed to admit, so I’m making no firm promises. One thing’s for sure. I need to hit the store and stock up on ice cream and other healthy snacks.

It’s very possible that I could not even leave the house next week, except for my violin lesson and Bible study groups. That’s a little scary. I’m not agoraphobic in the least–I just like to be home. I do enjoy hitting a bookstore at least once a week, and there are the obligatory yarn shop visits, but otherwise I’m truly a homebody (no, not homeboy. Completely different thing, that.)  But I also know that it’s better for me to get out and mingle, even though it’s difficult. Mostly it’s because I’m so stinkin’ tired all the time from the fibromyalgia.

Speaking of FM, maybe I should use next week to start getting back into some sort of exercise schedule. I was taking ballet classes for the past few years, but I hurt my back in February, and haven’t been back since. So when I do start back, it will be absolute murder on my body. That’s one of the things about FM–it takes so much longer to build strength than it does for other people, and you lose it so much faster. So if I take class, that means the whole day is shot because I will pretty much be in bed the rest of the day–at least for the first couple of weeks until I get some strength built up. That would be a good use of my vacation time, though, because I will feel so much better once I get back to regular exercise. But I’ll lose so much knitting time!

Decisions, decisions. Ah, well, we’ll see what happens. Maybe if I rummage in my sock yarn bag I’ll get the urge for sock knitting back!

Trying to Catch Up

As I promised some of my Plurkbuds (y’all know who you are!), here are photos of the sock yarn in “Plurk” colorway that I got the other day:Ok, so that photo was washed out, but I wanted you to see the tag, so you’d know how to hunt it down. But here’s a link anyway, because it’s hard to see. This is the yarn in all its glory:
For the non-Plurking among us, those are the main colors of the Plurk Timeline when you join up. It’s lots of fun–the wittiness of knitters is a blast. Witty knitters. What can I say?

Here are a few photos of other fun stuff I’ve gotten recently. I wish the true colors would show up better, because this hand-dyed fiber is out of this world. This first one, the teal and bronze colorway, is really different for me. But I absolutely loved it, so I bought all she had. Now I have about 12 ounces of it to spin, and I want to know exactly what I want to knit before I spin it, instead of just spinning it, then figuring out what to do with it. This came from here.

I’m a sucker for pink and yellow together, so this (from here) found its way into my shopping cart:
And then here’s a study in blues from the divine Ms. Z:
And then we sidle back to the yellow and whatever side of things for this, from here:
Obviously, etsy is a major trap for me. I have so many shops favorited it’s not funny. You’d think that would be enough, but no, last night I did a search for “roving” and just about went out of my ever-lovin’ mind! Do you have any idea how much gorgeous handpainted roving is out there, just waiting for my credit card to come a-knockin’? I did escape with ordering only one braid–another pink and yellow, but softer than the one I showed here. That’s it. No more. I mean it. (“Yeah, yeah,” they all sigh, “just like The Last Purchase sock yarn.”) I know, you’ve read it before.

Speaking of etsy, here’s another batch of really fun stuff (notice the quick change of subject?) I’ve already bought several sets of stitch markers from WeeOnes. That’s where I got the cute sock monkey markers that were a few posts back. I wanted ice cream cones and cupcakes for my daughter, who loves both, and these were custom-designed for me:

I wish you could see the real thing because the texture and detail is beyond amazing. Missy keeps raving about what an artist Jillian is, and she’s right. I simply have to stay off that site for at least a week or two!

This is what she custom-made for me when I described my Jack Russell Terrier, Boomer, to her:

I think she came pretty close, didn’t she? Only the face is a little different, but it’s close enough! Here’s the real dawg. Is that too cute or what?

And what of SOS, I hear you cry? Oh, I haven’t totally given up, but I’m still putzing along on the same pair I started last Friday. I should get them done tonight. I still haven’t felt well at all this whole week, and I’ve been playing the violin more and doing some spindle-spinning as well. I think I just needed a little break, but I feel myself getting fired up again. The competitive urge is coming back, so though I’m down, I’m not out yet! I’ve had to resist casting on a sweater coat (don’t say a word) and so far I’ve been successful at that. So it’s back to socks tonight. And no more shopping on etsy!

Gotta go plurk. And knit.

Crisis Time

I pretty much decided to throw in the towel on SOS last night, in spite of Daniele’s nice comments. I just was in a terrible funk, and couldn’t imagine another six weeks of nothing but knitting like a maniac and seeing myself always behind. (Not that I have any hard feelings whatsoever toward the leader. She’s very nice, and she happens to be in a situation that allows her to knit more than I do. Plus she knits realllly fast!) So I was sulking and crabbing and feeling like everything was totally pointless, and I ought to just give all my knitting stuff to Goodwill and move to, oh, Alaska or someplace. Which would really be stupid, because I think I would need knitted objects there if anywhere.

But today is looking a little better. I’ll keep going, but I have to do the other things I want to do. Like play my violin, for instance. It hasn’t been out of its case for 10 days, which is ridiculous. And I really need to do some work in the yard, once it cools off a bit, and I’m feeling the stirrings of a basement-cleaning attack, a clothes-sorting attack, and a wallpaper-stripping attack.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should just stick with the socks…

Tenth Pair Done!

Woo hoo! Ten pairs done, but I’m still behind on the leaderboard of SOS. Oh, well. Everybody’s lives have ups and downs, and I’m sure there will be times when I’m knitting when the leader(s) aren’t, and vice versa. In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it ain’t over ’til it’s over!

So this is pair #8:

These are Marigold Socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The originals were done in yellow, but I’ve always loved orange marigolds, so the pattern was perfect for this yarn. The whole time I was knitting them I was thirsty for Orange Crush. I’m so glad I can get it where I live now. Do you know, when I lived one county north, Orange Crush could not be found for love nor money. Go figure. Anyway, nothing tastes so orangey. Starkist orange soda, blech!!

Back to socks. This is pair #9:

This pattern is WendyKnits’ Double Eyelet Rib, one of my favorite patterns (though I do my own toe and heel in my own…idiom?) I bought this yarn online, thinking it was another yarn that I loved but had lost the label for. Turned out to be completely different, but I love this too. It’s Opal Rainforest; one of the “bird” colors. These socks go to Missy, so I have an excuse to buy more of this yarn. And I’ll make them plain because I love the color and variegation so much.

On to pair #10:

These are Supersocke Cotton Beach yarn that I bought on clearance from Simply Socks. I’ve made two pairs now, and I really like how they turned out. The colors were much prettier than I expected. These are going to Missy, too.

I’ve been through another book: “The Age of Innocence.” Great book, terrible narrator. I hate that. And they did a hideous job of editing it. Right in the middle of a tense scene, the narrator says, “Oh, let’s retake that,” and reads the paragraph again!! Talk about being jolted! She had an awful, grating voice too, so I plan to leave a negative review for that particular book on Audible.com.

I’m listening to “Sense and Sensibility” right now, because I love Jane Austen, and that narrator is fantastic. She has the amazing ability to change her voice so completely for each character. That makes listening so enjoyable. She happens to be the actress who played Mrs. Elton in “Emma” (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow) so her acting experience apparently is a great asset in narrating books. Her name is Juliet Stevenson, and I plan to search for more books narrated by her.

I feel as if I’ve done nothing but knit socks for years. It’s like being down the rabbit hole! I miss spinning! I miss my needlepoint! I miss reading the newspaper! Seriously, to keep up, I have to knit every free moment. I’m trying to remember why I’m doing this…The prize of more sock yarn? Hmmm…

The other time-sucker is Plurk. It’s so much fun, though. You have your own friends whose plurks you follow, and the back-and-forth gets hilarious. I’m in a little circle of knitters that includes Wendy from WendyKnits, and she’s a riot. I also covet her cat, Lucy, and would be Lucy’s stalker if I lived closer to her. Don’t tell my cat. Or Wendy. She’ll de-friend me.

Missy bought the Rugrat a wading pool today, so as soon as Papaw is done cutting the grass, we’ll fill it. The water should be warm enough tomorrow afternoon for her to play in it. I need to dig out the pictures of Missy in her wading pool at that age. No, I’m not sniffling. Shut up.