Thursday, October 23, 2008

I think my eye is going to be all right. I was astonished, when I got home from the appointment, at the ease and relief I felt. I must have been reeely scared.

I was emphatic (thanks, Tamar) in telling them that sight in the affected eye had deteriorated during the week. The nice man agreed – I’ve got fluid on/in/under the retina, and it may need laser treatment. They prefer to leave it a few weeks – he explained it all in Layman’s Terms and I’m afraid the word “pudding” occurred – and the delay won’t affect the outcome. (Unlike a detached retina, which he assured me I hadn’t got -- that needs prompt treatment, he agreed.)

My next appt is towards the end of November.

Not the least happy event of the day was a message from Leslie B. of NJ. Our virtual friendship goes back a long way.

When I originally got online, ’94 I think it was, the very first thing I did was sign up for a newsgroup called (I think) rec.crafts.textiles. I’d read about it in VK. Nothing happened. I think I even tried to send a message once saying, “Is anybody out there?” Then, somehow, I discovered that it needed to be rec.crafts.textiles.yarn – and I began to get messages.

It was wonderful, after a lifetime of being nutty about knitting all by myself, suddenly to be in touch with other loonies. I wrote a note once about finishing a shawl for a baby, and Leslie wrote to me and said, why don’t you join the Knitlist? And I did. And the rest is history.

Those were the great days of Phyllis Stein, and of Selma Kaplan’s virtual parties around her virtual pool, to cheer up the stay-at-homes who couldn’t go to Stitches. (I don’t remember any talk of Rhinebeck. Is that more recent?) I’m still in touch with Phyllis, and Selma has become a flesh-and-blood friend.

Here are Alexander’s socks. I’m just over half-way through the dread k2p2 rib the second time. As I think you can see, I now do gents’ socks with a k6p2 rib for the body and the top of the foot. The knitting is not as blissful as the plain vanilla st st round-and-round I used to do, but it’s bearable, and I think it makes a neater sock.


I don’t see how anyone could bear to work toe-up, and have the awful ribbing to do at the end.

I’ve embarked on row 44 of the 9th repeat of the Princess centre. One more evening should finish it off – but that won’t be until next week, as we’re hoping to go to Strathardle today at last. The weather is abominable: if the Forth Bridge is closed, we’ll turn around and come back. Otherwise, I should reappear next Wednesday.

Angel, I'd love to know which Ohio college you're at. I was at Oberlin. You could email me at the address in the sidebar if you don't want to make the information public.

9 comments:

  1. >I don’t see how anyone could bear to work toe-up, and have the awful ribbing to do at the end.<

    I so totally agree. I'd hate doin' the whole sock knowing I had ribbing to look forward to. I'll try your 6-1 ribbing...looks like a good idea!

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  2. I do toe-up, and the way I can face the awful ribbing at the end is because I know I'm nearly finished.

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  3. Anonymous6:45 PM

    So good to hear your eye news. At bottom, these are the things that matter. What I don't understand is how you can possibly do fine lace knitting with impaired vision. By the way, did you see that list of five actions to preserve mental health which has been compiled, based on research findings? It was amazing how may could be covered by knitting, especially for others.

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  4. I find ribbing not too bad if I practise project monogamy at the same time. Even so, if the next project allows my mind to wander I find the ribbing magically transferred to the new project. Annoying to undo in an everyday garment but potentially catastrophic in a Princess!

    It appears that everytime any government tries to do something to cushion the stock market fall by buoying up confidence, the market plummets even more gleefullly. Our government's guarantee of savings accounts in domestic institutions has resulted in a run on international bank branches, further denuding the Antipodes of cash funds. Grim times.

    Good to hear that the specialist can identify what exactly is causing the difficulties in the eyesight. A candle has been lit for ongoing improvement.

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  5. Please come visit my blog today, Friday. There's a gift for you there!

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  6. I'm not Angel, but I went to the University of Akron. Awful place. Like a prison.

    Eventually I went to the Univeristy of Hawaii instead (one of their satellite campuses) and enjoyed it much more, even if the classes were easier.

    I'm hoping to get back to Ohio State one of these days.

    Hello, almost fellow Ohioan!

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  7. Anonymous9:53 AM

    Jean - good luck with your eye. I have been thinking good thoughts for you.

    Regarding socks, I have only knit toe up so far. I started sock knitting about two years ago, having taught myself continental knitting in preparation. For the ribbing I use the Norwegian purl and I find I can do K2, P2 or K2 P1 rib on auto pilot, so I don't find it too boring. Then again, I don't do the whole leg in rib.

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  8. Anonymous7:22 AM

    I don't want to upset you but if there is fluid under the retina, it got in there somehow, and the usual cause is a tear in the retina. Is there any way to get a second opinion? The husband of a woman on the Traditional Knitting Yahoo group is having emergency surgery in two days for a torn retina that had let fluid get under it.

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  9. I remember those days... Phyllis, Selma, someone named Jean who knit a scarf for the Dalai Lama, a list provided by someone assigning topics for the monthly flame wars.

    Be careful of those eyes.

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