Thursday, February 08, 2007

When knitting is my "happy place" and a FO

For those of you that read this on a regular basis and/or deal with my constant whining in person, you'll know that we have fertility issues. I found a great doc, who did lots of testing immediately when I walked in the door last month. He did test after test and came to the conclusion that my progesterone is low.

Quick info, progesterone is produced after you ovulate to keep "your oven" happy so that a little fertilized egg can snuggle deep and grow. If you are not pregnant, your body stops producing the progesterone and good ol' Aunt Flo shows pretty quickly. Well, I had half of the minimum progesterone that a normal 34 year old woman should have. So Aunt Flo was showing up WAY TOO soon for any little egg to snuggle in. Really no explanation. My body just doesn't want to make it. So I started progesterone shots.

I promise Knitting is a part of this post! R gives me a shot in the rump every night. Not fun, but necessary if I want another baby. Well, he was in Chicago last night and I had to do it myself, in my THIGH!!! YIKES!!!!


So in the needle went, the meds are in, and out the needle comes. Of course, I start having doubts I did the shot right. Did I inject it into a vein? Did I put it into fat and not muscule?? (the needle is 1.5 inches) What happens if I did it wrong? Will I know something is wrong? My brain was going 100MPH. The first thing I wanted was a Xanax, but that isn't good for people trying to have babies so I picked up knitting.

Within 5 minutes, my breathing was normal again, my stomach wasn't in knots, I felt at peace. I figured that if anything were to go wrong, it'd be okay, I could call 911 or my neighbor. Slowly, but surely I realized that I did do the shot correctly AND everything was going to be okay. I'm amazed at how quickly a few rounds of socks relaxed me.

Knitting truly is my happy place! Luckily, my happy place can go with me anywhere! How many
people can say that!!??!!

Okay, so know onto my 2nd pair of socks. I made them for my Aunt Peg for her birthday next week! Not what she originally picked out, but she'll deal!! She picked Austermann Step last summer when I was in Florida with her and I was sure that I'd be sock expert by that Christmas. Both WRONG!! I tried and tried, but it just wouldn't work. Damn you, Step Yarn(ala Jodi).


So I went and got some Sassy Stripes by Moda Dea, used the best sock book ever, Sensational Knitted Socks, and whipped out these babies. Not the prettiest, but not too shabby for pair #2!!

A disclaimer!! I pulled both socks from different balls, but both came from the middle. I have NO idea why the striping didn't match. Not the best thing in the world, but they look quite bohemian, just like my aunt. Even L was confused with this one. I guess that is what happens when you buy $5 sock yarn at Michael's!! =) I'm happy that I was able to use a semi-pattern and really explore what I can do with socks.

I'm about 25% done a pair for S in his BLUE that he wanted. He's so funny about these socks. I couldn't find a pattern for a 2.5 -3 year old b/c apparently only babies and older kids wear socks. So I went searching for a sock pattern generator. I found this: Elizabeth Bennetts' Perl Sock Program. You just add a few pieces of information and boom, you have a basic pattern. I decrease the stiches by 4 just to make sure it wasn't too big. I'm on the 1st heel flap now and it fits perfectly!!

Gotta go watch Grey's and Ugly Betty. Life before DVR was just not living!!!!