still alive, I am

Hello, I have not gotten lost. As Teh Sue has pointed out to me once a month, I have not posted since the end of March. Been in a bit of a blue funk, and still am, to an extent.

I'm not really going to go into details, but I do want to say I know I've let several people down by not doing what I was supposed to be doing, and that I've rather been hiding from that and from just about everyone in the process. A dearly departed friend of mine would have told me that I'd barricaded myself in my nice little closet, and that it was time to come back out and deal with the real world. Please bear with me over the next little bit while I do so.

I've been visiting the dentist just about every week for the past month or so - I had to have a tooth pulled, and was informed that if I didn't get my gum issue under control, I'd have no teeth in very short order. I just completed the fourth (and final) scaling yesterday, and will be back in about 3 weeks for what is being called a 'periodontal' (no clue) and a polishing. If the gums look better - and right now, they look better than they have in over a year - I'll be taken off the antibiotic and the fillings will begin. Yay. Thank the good lord (and Charter) for great dental insurance.

I've also been buying comfort yarn:

• 1 100g ball of Berroco "Sox" (75% superwash wool/25% nylon) in colorway #1472 Leeds (rust, burgundy, orange, charcoal, white) self-striping sock yarn.
• 1 100g hank Sunshine Yarns "Twist" (100% superwash Merino) in colorway Accio Firebolt! (chocolate brown, ash grey, black, white, lemon yellow).
• 1 130g ball of Universal Yarns "fibranatura Yummy" (100% superwash wool) in colorway #41359 Seattle Skies (sky blue, ash grey, deep purple). I swear, I had no idea what the name of this color was until just now - and those who know me know I love Seattle!
• 1 100g ball of South West Trading Company (SWTC) "TOFUtsies" (50% superwash wool, 25% Soysilk, 22.5% cotton, 2.5% Chitin) in colorway #854 Four Leaf TOEver (leaf greens to white). These, I think, may be Nagini socks.
• 1 100g call of Berroco "Comfort Sox" (50% superfine nylon/50% superfine acrylic) in colorway Stewart Island (muted pine green, rust, orange, burgundy)
• 1 50g hank of Artyarns "Ultramerino4" (100% handpainted merino) in colorway #136 (very pale yellow, yellow, orange, rust, burgundy, brown, dark lilac). This was an orphan ball, so this will be a pair of anklets. I got it from Chris' Needle Craft in west St. Louis County.
• 2 100g balls of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (cotton/SW wool/nylon) in colorway #803 (red) for some Cardinals socks.
• 1 100g ball of Plymouth Yarn Co. "Sockotta" (cotton/SW wool/nylon) in colorway #30 Country Garden (blue, green, yellow, pink, orange).
• 1 4oz hank of Cherry Tree Hill "Summer Sock" (30% merino wool/35% cotton/35% acrylic) in colorway Silver Dollar (charcoal grey). Will be used with the next hank for striped socks in Ravenclaw colors.
• 1 4 oz hank of Cherry Tree Hill "Summer Sock" (see above) in colorway Little Boy Blue (royal blue).

Speaking of "Nagini" socks, the widower of the designer of these socks (Monkey Toes) has very graciously allowed upload of the patterns for her socks onto Ravelry.

I've been working on a pair of Monkeys (Cookie A's pattern) with the Gypsy Girls Creations yarn. I really like the yarn - very sturdy. I frogged it three times before I got a sock that I liked and that would fit! I first tried the Nagini pattern with the yarn - couldn't see the scale effect (needs to be a semi-solid or a solid yarn). Then I tried another one, but by the time I got to the end of the ribbing had decided to do Monkeys instead.

Cast on with US3s (pattern calls for US2s), knit down and turned the heel. Tried leg on for size. Sock = narrow leg. Me = fat leg. Rrrip. Cast on with US5s, and now they fit. I'm just to the heel flap on the second sock. I modified the heel to the eye of partridge stitch, which I rather like with this yarn. For some reason I can't seem to insert a pic, so I'll see if I can edit this from home and insert it there. There are shots of the yarn, Sock #1 before frogging, and Sock #1 Redux posted in my projects page on Ravelry.

I did go to the Stitch 'N Pitch here the end of May - sat next to Susan (eeeek! she took pics of me!) who apparently now thinks I know everything about the Cardinals. Useless Info! I'm tellin' ya, I'm full of it. We had a good time - great weather and Yes, we did win the game. I hope we get as lucky next year!

More of After the End has been posted on my site and is available there or by subscription via podcatcher - link on the right sidebar.

I'm working on organizing the trip to NY in October to see Dan Radcliffe in Equus on Broadway. It's looking like it'll be the second or third weekend of October, and we're aiming for the Friday matinee. That will give us all day Saturday to see some of NYC, since I've never been there before. Dan and Richard Griffiths presented the Tony for Best Play on Sunday, and it was amusing! You can see it here, and a short red carpet interview with Dan is here.

I think I'm done for now.

Cheers!