Birthday Boy!!

Happy Birthday to our son Christian!!!

And congratulations to him and his girlfriend Katie as they start another semester at Herzing!!

Next week the two of them will move into their first home and start a whole new gig!! Good Luck! We Love You!!

Socks and Updates

I've been avoiding blogging about the recent turn of events in my Lupus, but this is my Lupus blog so I have to suck it up and get it over with. Then I'll write about these socks.

In July, my Rhuemy sent me to a Cardiologist to have an Echocardiogram to check for possible something or other. She determined that my eyesight problems are not coming from my eyes, but most likely from my brain's interpreting center...sigh. So they checked to see if my heart was causing problems with my brain, and then in turn.....with my eyesight. (and my leg bone is connected to my foot bone!!)

In August, the Cardio Doc. says that everything is fine except that I have the symptoms of congestive heart failure as a possible side effect of the Lupus treatment. Congestive heart failure (CHF), or heart failure, is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to the body's other organs. My heart is currently operating at 55%. The doctor decided not to begin treatment until I have more tests in a month or two. My bloodpressure is currently running about 90/62.

Heart failure is a serious long-term condition, but you can live a full and enjoyable life with the right treatment and active attention to your lifestyle. The treatment is usually very effective at stablizing or even increasing the hearts ouput, but it's expensive for someone without prescription coverage, and it's one of those drugs...once you start it, you don't ever stop.

Ok, so that's the bad news.......The good news is that I finished these beautiful socks!! The yarn came from our last girls trip to Santa Fe. (I dare say, with all due respect, that it's a Noro Knockoff.) The sock yarn is labled as Wisdom Yarns - Poems Sock, superwash wool in a very loosely spun single ply. My only complaint is, it split constantly on me! But, other wise, it was beautiful and very soft. The colors - rich like oil paints. The pattern was a simple 2x2 rib with a twisted knit stitch every fourth row. Deliciously simple but extra comfortable!!

Family Photos

We don't get a chance very often to take family photos. Here's a few taken last week. It's me, my husband Daniel, and my daughters Saschia and Samantha, both 17.

Girls Getaway

Twilight and I desperately needed a "time-out", so we ran away to Santa Fe for a couple of days of delicious yarn shopping. We visited 3 yarn stores that we hadn't seen before, which puts our total up to 5 yarn shops in Santa Fe now. This one is me inside "Tutto", Downtown SF off of the Plaza. I love girl time, and it was a great trip! There is something so special that happens during these precious hideaway moments. I can't wait for the next one!!!

Here's Twiligt at Tutto's. I think we gave this store two thumbs up!!!

Here I am at "Oodles". This was the smallest of the 3 shops. I think I had an energy drop while I was here, I had trouble focusing and the owner chattered on non-stop. I'll have to go back again before I can give a proper thumb.

The Looking Glass by far got my vote for Favorite in all of Santa Fe, owned and run by two sisters that seem like an older version of me and Twilight. They were exceptional personalities, and had us laughing and giggling. The store had quite a few rooms of goodies, and I found the perfect souvenirs for us to take home!

I got us matching coffee cups with purple knitted cables around the outside, and they say "Knit One, Sip One" on the inside and along the handle! I love mine!!!

Good Day to Dye

The adventure of dyeing!! Twilight and I dedicated an entire day to this endeavor. We used a combination of Kool-aid, and the acid dyes from Knit Picks. I used 5 gallon pails to do the initial mordant soak, and the inbetween rinses.

The Kool-aid dyeing required stove top cooking. Believe it or not, this is the only pic of Twilly that I managed to get!! The colors are so bright!!

The acid dyes came in powder form that we mixed into little baby food jars and used sponge paint brushes to hand paint our yarn! We covered the tables with plastic wrap first!!

This one is Twilly's beautiful creation! We used the same colors on each of our skeins so we could compare and contrast the results.

And this is that same skein, later.....dried and twisted up!! Omg, what a success!! Everything Twilly touches becomes beautiful!!

After each skein was completely rinsed, we hung them outside on the deck to drip and dry! I full dye day is exhausting, but totally fun and rewarding!!!