Hey, so I heard via some new social network that Livejournal has cleaned up some of its interface and made things work better, so I thought I'd come test it out. If I actually start writing here again I'll have to clear out some of my own cobwebs--hello icon from 2006!

The diary tradition is to write about how so very long it's been since last I wrote, and then stall out because there's nothing particularly interesting top of mind. Let's see how far I get. If you follow me on Twitter or FB you know most of my quick hits--knitting is still awesome, infertility is still terrible, San Francisco is still delightful and expensive, and I still miss San Diego. We have a little dog called Rusty, maybe I should try putting a picture of him here:





I could be more specific about infertility related things, I suppose. From January until a few weeks ago, the next round of IVF had been on hold because we couldn't get my thyroid stimulating hormone measurements within euthyroid range. I switched dosages back and forth and back and forth--a new dosage takes a month to show properly, so they'd switch me from say 225mcg to 200mcg, I'd have to wait four weeks, then get my TSH tested again. Then I'd have to go back down to 175, wait another four weeks, find that wasn't right either, and go to 200. Finally we ended up settling on the goddamn dosage they'd prescribed in January, because my TSH measurements were *magically* in range in early August. And then they put me on birth control to regulate my cycle in preparation for the embryo transfer[0] which made my TSH go nuts again. So I'm now on a standing order for thyroid checks and getting weird instructions like "take three double doses this week then switch back to the regular dose the rest of the week". But I'm also on a calendar for IVF again, huzzah.

Also during this time of thyroid bullshit I discovered that FOR MONTHS I'd been using skin for my insulin pump infusion sites[1] that had become scar tissue from overuse. My blood sugars had been surprisingly erratic and I couldn't figure out why--I was switching sides and occasionally moving to my abdomen, but I couldn't get them where I wanted them. Finally I decided I would just switch to my abdomen only for a few weeks to see what happened, and boom. My basal insulin needs went down TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT within a week. (Lots of lows there. I still hate Smarties.) I would also like to note that despite what I could see were shitty blood sugars, my A1C was still 7, which is in the acceptable range for type 1s, though certainly higher than I would have liked. Now that my blood sugars are much more consistent, I feel physically and existentially better. The existential contentment is particularly nice. I really did feel like I was losing my mind for a while there.

Ok, stopping abruptly, it's time to go cook some vegetables. See you on Ello or whatever!

[0] We had four embryos frozen from last year's IVF, so I don't have to do the hardest part--generating lots of extra eggs via tons of drug stimulation--again for a while.

[1] Where I stick the needle with the little plastic cannula every three days so my pump can give me continuous insulin.

Some time in 2007, zigeunerweisen sent me a bundle of Rowanspun DK after she'd found it wasn't working into a sweater she liked. I was a pretty novice knitter at that point--stashless, even!--so I didn't know what I was going to make it into. I was sure it wouldn't be enough for a full sweater for me, so I started whittling away at it with smaller projects.

First was my Modified Knotty Hat.



This was only the second or third hat I knit, so I didn't know much about sizing to fit. I held the yarn double or triple to make it the worsted called for in the pattern, but I don't think I got row gauge. I actually really liked this hat until it somehow felted a bit and become too short to cover my ears. This pattern dates from before Ravelry, so I have no idea how I found it.

Not long after that I made Oatmeal the Bear, also with the yarn held double or triple to get worsted-ish gauge.



He still rides around in my purse lo these three and a half years later. He's traveled with us up and down the U.S. coasts (and to Pennsylvania ;)), to Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada and Mexico. His nose was a bit worse for wear for a while until I gave it a trim, but otherwise he's held up beautifully.

For over a year I was uninspired about the remaining ~400 yards of this yarn, until I had an impulse to knit myself some customized knee socks, my Lothlorien Stockings.



This was one of my longest-hibernating projects--I finished the second sock fifteen months after starting the first. I made them to fit me, but without enough experience knitting knee socks to know they probably should have been at least an inch longer, and much tighter in the cuffs (and ankle, as you can see in the photo). After an hour or two of wear, they are prone to terrible sagginess. One day I'd like to re-knit these, with more testing and maybe more reverse stockinette in the non-leaf-cable portion.

The last partial ball marinated in the stash for a while, until I decided I needed a hat to go with my Ravenclaw scarf. The "Leaves on Lazy Day" hat pattern met my yardage/gauge/leaf obsession needs. I modified the pattern a bit in my rendition so that the decreases started sooner (I thought it was too floppy as written) and completed the leaves instead of ending in the middle of the leaf pattern. I'm really happy with how this one turned out, and still wear this hat all the time two years later. (OMG, that means I've been meaning to write this post for two years. Laws, how time flies.)



This is the very last bit, reserved for mending.

Today, I am 34. On this date in 1995, I started taking insulin to treat the type 1 diabetes I'd been diagnosed with some weeks before. Unlike a lot of diabetics of my acquaintance, I don't know my actual diagnosis date, so I count from my birthday instead. It's a good date to use, anyway, since World Diabetes Day (November 14) falls in the same week, and I can look at it with the same sense of mortality birthdays bring after 30. ("Today's my birthday!") Diaversaries are a celebration of survival, after all.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be providing more blood to Dr. Faustman's autoimmunity research at Massachusetts General Hospital. I've become inured to the "the cure is coming in the next 10 years" noises people have been making in the 16 since my diagnosis, but I've never personally been involved in a clinical trial before, so it's exciting. In addition to the precious vials of sangre, I give the lab money every so often. Perhaps you'd like to do the same.

(Wow, I need to update my "diabetes" icon. I've been off the Cozmo (alas) for years now...)

And now, for something more fun!

1. What is so appealing about unicorns?
   
   They're just as fantastical as horses to someone who didn't grow up around them but desperately wanted to, only with magical powers. Not quite as fierce as dragons, less wild than gryphons.



2. What is the last book that you read that had a deeply satisfying ending. The sort where you felt it was
   okay for it to end.
   
   This is tough--most books, half the time I spend talking about them seems to be about how they SHOULD have ended. (Of course, my memory for books is so terrible that I can go back and re-read them over and over before the ending really sinks in, since by the time I've chose to re-read, I've forgotten most of what happened.) Anyway, I think The Last Unicorn had a good ending. The unicorns stay mysterious and free, after all. (Yes, I've actually read that recently. Peter S. Beagle stayed with us during Comic-Con this year (true story), so after he signed my copy, I felt compelled to re-read. It was even better than I remembered.)



3. Have you considered knitting other purse-like things in the shape of other significant organs?
   
   I have! Of course the heart purse/pillow is the obvious one (and there's a Knitty pattern for that), but I think a knitted kidney or lung for someone with a particular association with those organs would be fun. One of these days someone will specifically ask for one, and I'll be off.



4. What is the best thing you have ever gotten out of a Christmas cracker?
   
   My favorite things are always the tiny multi-piece toys that you have to assemble yourself. They don't appear very often, though--I think the last one I remember was a little car that I had to pop the axles into.
   


5. Why does it always rain on me?
   
   Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?
   

At this point I'd say that if you comment, I'll ask you some questions, but I cannot overstate how neglectful of the lj I've been until yesterday. All my comments were going to my spam folder! So I don't want to leave you hanging. On the other hand, maybe I've turned a corner on my blogging habits and I'll figure out a way to squeeze it back in.

Hi!

Time has gotten away from me. It really seemed that one day I was checking in on Livejournal when I had a free moment ("I'm compiling!"), the next I was only finding time fortnightly to peek at the journals of people I (a) know in real life and have gotten email from recently (boffo, electricia), (b) am subscribed to elsewhere (perich), or (c) am just curious what their view of news I follow is (jonquil, gfrancie). I have been terribly neglectful of everyone and everything else, since November at least.

I still read tons of blogs, but mostly via Bloglines. I have become completely obsessed with knitting--I must be subscribed to 80 knitting-related blogs now. That takes up a lot of my not-at-work reading/watching time.

I have been knitting, too. I'd like to say a post with my latest knits is forthcoming, but yeah, my blog posting suffers even more from my apparently fuller schedule than my blog keep-uppage does. Unless it's microblogging!

Like half the free world, I've mostly been using Twitter to keep up with people--and to share my own stream of inanity, of course. Find me there under the usual handle, kirinqueen.

I've also been using Flickr a bit more regularly, so that I can keep my Ravelry projects page updated. I'm more of a crafter than a writer or a photographer, it would seem.

(Wow, that photo of me is old now. Not that I look different--except my hair is longer, but geez. Maybe I can update that while I'm hanging around here.)

I am so behind on Livejournal. I think I need to cull some of my feeds here and in Bloglines. I can't keep up anymore. (How the hell do you do it, hober?)