Spazzzz

After staying up far too late last night researching ethical sources of clothing for plus-sized women (more on that later) I slept in, made some tea, cooked some eggs, sliced an apple and -BAM- sudden back spasm. I had never felt anything like it before. It felt like the worst charlie-horse you can imagine (which I get often in my calves and feet) but instead it was happening in my upper back, near the base of my ribcage, which made it difficult to even breathe let alone stand up straight. Thankfully the Fiasco was home to take care of me. He got me a heat pack right away and then ran out for some Aleve and Icy Hot patches (and some chocolate). It was a striking reminder of one reason why it's a pretty good idea to shack up with someone: every once in a while your body is going to totally spazz out for no reason and it's a wonderful thing to have somebody around to help, especially someone as selfless and sweet as my Fiasco. I am now safely set up on the couch where I will probably remain for the rest of the day guarded by kittens.

It's not so bad and could definitely be worse, but this whole back spasm thing is still really cramping my style. We're going to Tennessee next week to see my cousins graduate college and for a sort of mini family reunion/vacation. (Speaking of, any recommendations for sites to see or yarn stores to visit in Nashville?) I have an entire long list of things I wanted to do today in preparation of leaving... things like empty the fridge, clean the kitchen, pack a bag, etc. I'm trying really hard not to stress out about it. Things will get done, and if they don't, well, we'll just have some old lettuce and moldy cheese to deal with in the fridge when we get back. No biggie. 

I am kind of bummed to be missing out on a spinning event today. There's an old historic building in my town called "Smith's Castle" and this was opening weekend with a bunch of people dressed up in period costumes and a bit of a festival going on where my spinner's guild were going to spin. Here's what I was GOING to work on, out in the sunshine on this beautiful Sunday:

Gradient-dyed BFL

I started on the purple-blue-green braid of my June Pryce Fiber Arts gradient-dyed fiber a couple of weeks ago but have barely had any time to work on it since. Hopefully I'll get back to it soon, it's a real pleasure to spin and I'm excited to get through the color changes.

Instead of all my plans, I think I'll tackle this:

Hello, my old, holey friends.

 That, dear readers, is a rather daunting pile of handknit socks that need darning. The poor Fiasco has been living with only a single pair (his Fiascos, of course) because he blew holes in his other two pairs. My mom also blew a hole in one of her pairs of handknit socks and I need to fix it before I see her next week. And the rest are mine, which apparently prove that I put a lot of weight/friction on the ball of my foot and/or the back of my heel, since the fabric rubs through to nothing in those places. As much as I love Socks That Rock, and I do truly love the yarn, the Merino wool does eventually wear through after a couple of years of wear, especially if you're not particularly gentle with them. I handwash all my socks but I still wear the heck out of them: walking on carpet, hiking in boots, attacked by kittens, etc. I'm considering adding reinforcement thread to the soles of my socks, or knitting with two strands of yarn, or duplicate stitching the ball of the foot, or going down a needle size on the sole, or something. I'm not a super tight sock knitter, I only achieve 7 or 8 sts/inch depending on the thickness of the yarn on size 1 needles, and I'm loathe to go down to size 0's or smaller to knit them with, so I might have to just thicken the soles somehow. Any suggestions? Have you had luck with any sock strengthening techniques?

Finally, I made a discovery today:

This is my cat on drugs.

Whatever is in Icy Hot must be similar to catnip because Calypso is going all blurry-faced-crazy over the heat pack I've been leaning against for the past few hours. Silly, crazed kitty.