Thanks to everyone with ideas on the migraine situation (April, really liked the tequila suggestion - the husbeast agreed), but I already know what the trigger is, and there's nothing really to be done about it. It's all about the weather. We're at that seasonal point where there are huge differences in temperature between day and night (today it's changed twenty degrees in four hours) and that plays hell with my sinuses, which trigger mild migraines. Fortunately these are not the killer, blinding migraines that I was having for a while, but after a week, any kind of migraine sucks. Anyway, I've had these all my life, and there's really nothing to do but hunker down and feel like crap for a while. (Well, massive doses of caffeine and Excedrin Migraine help, but then I can't sleep at night.) I've had, oh, sixty-odd sinus infections, lifetime. This just goes with the territory. For a chronic problem, it beats cancer or rheumatoid arthritis, at any rate.
I'm babbling.
KNITTING NEEDLE QUESTION: (Sorry I missed this one yesterday when I was answering the yarn thing.) I've had some questions about what kind of needles to use for the steek-along. Obviously you're going to need circulars. The size depends on your yarn weight; use what the ball band suggests, or what YOU want to use. (I often use needles larger than suggested, but for a jacket I want to wear as outerwear, I'm using smaller.) You'll also need some double-points for the cuffs. For the hems, you need something a size or two smaller than your planned needle size, in double-points for the cuffs and either single-points or a circular for the body hem - the body hem is knit flat. (For instance, I'm knitting mine on size 7/4.5mm needles and I will be using size 5/3.75mm needles for the hems.)
As for LENGTH of circulars, well, that's a tough question. I prefer a 26" needle for everything. It crams the needles together and that way I don't have to waste time smooshing the stitches around as I knit. (This may be a partial cause of my alleged knitting speed.) HOWEVER, if you're not skilled at stranded color, mashing the stitches together will give you a really tight, puckered gauge. You need to keep the stitches spread out on your right hand needle, spread to approximately the final gauge, so that the floats on the back of the fabric are the proper length. (Does this make sense? Let me know if it doesn't.) So it's up to you; if you aren't experienced and want to spread out a bit, try a 30" needle, or even longer. But make it at least 4" (uh, 7cm? about? you want me to do metric conversions with a migraine?) smaller than the circumference of your sweater body. Jumper. Sweater. Whatever.
For the sleeves, you'll need double-points or two circulars or a magic-loop type needle for the cuffs. Once the sleeve gets long enoug you can shift over to an 11" circular, or knit the whole blessed thing the way you do the cuffs. I've knit entire sleeves on double-points before, it's not that horrendous. Not to mention, with the way this pattern works, you'll only be knitting the sleeves up to the arm pits, after that we join the whole thing together on the circular you're using for the body. So the sleeves aren't that long, all things being equal.
I'm still babbling.
If any of this is confusing, let me know and I'll go over it again.
In other news, I'm a horrible mother. The Baby woke up this morning, I parked her in the Pack-and-Play, laid down, and fell asleep. I woke up two hours later when The Baby yelled "MUMUM!" at me. Her diaper had overflowed. I suck.
You can see how traumatized she is by the whole thing:
I'm thinking it's nap time for everybody.
10 comments:
So sorry that you're having such a bad time with the migraines. I understand, I get them too, and they suck.
Hope you're feeling better soon.
Mild or not, migraines suck. You're not a bad mother, you're a sick one. I can't imagine being a full-time mom on a migraine. B always goes elsewhere when I have them.
Hugs on the migranes! The baby looks like she's suffering from her 'abuse'. I'm sure she used her time in the pack-n-play to plot with the cat. God help us all.
Trish (who switched to the new blogger which won't read the password, yada yada. Life sucks)
I'm impressed with the way you handle your migraines AND still get stuff done! How do you do it??!Have you tried Imitrex? For me, it gets rid of the pain in about 2 hrs, then I'm fine until the next change in weather pressure. (The doc may give you free samples)
ok, so I'm going to need to a)get together all my circulars and figure out which one/s I need.
26" is 66cm. That's longer than I've ever used but I think I have a 4.5 addi turbo that's about 16" - probably not long enough, huh?
OK, so I'll need new wool, new needles. I reckon I'm gonna go for 5ply - now I just have to choose the colours. At the moment I'm thinking navy blue and cream, but I'm also partial to purple...hell I only own about four purple cardigans, plus the mohair I haven't sewn up yet. obviously I need another one....
The Baby looks just fine. I'm sure in her own way she understands that Mummy isn't well and needs her sleep. At least she had the decency to let you know she had full pants....!
(amy lane--my work computer won't let me post comments as myself anymore...)
Anyway, no, you don't suck as a mother--I'd lay odds that she hadn't been crying very long before your 'mom-dar' popped on and you sat up with a pounding heart, sure the world had come to an end as you snoozed. (Have I been there? O baby, have I!)
I've taken Zomig before - it's a drug related to Imitrex, for migraines. But the side effects aren't worth it. I wind up getting muscle cramps and taking other drugs on top of the migraine medication until it's like I've taken one of everything in the house. These types of migraines aren't horribly awful, it's just that they last for weeks.
As for doing things - it's a chronic pain coping method. Worst thing you can do is sit and think about how much you hurt. So I try to do something - even if it's just playing computer games.
I'm well acquainted with zomig but not with the side effects. Wow. I almost feel like it does nothing to me at all.
Coping mechanisms are good. I just don't go to work, but other than that I stay home and knit, watch DVDs, clean the house - anything to save me thinking about the pain. Distraction is good.
I also really, really like submerging my head in the bath - that floaty feeling is good.
Tsk! You don't suck, migraines suck. And the Baby looks so happy.
The last vibrating-laser-drill-through-the-eyesocket migraine I had, while I was laying in bed with a pillow over my eyes, my kid brought me his Tigger. That's when migraines really suck, when my 7-year-old is taking care of me.
Luckily, she's so young she won't remember anything at this age - good or bad. At least she's not 18 and calling you from jail at 3 AM.
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