So Much for Plans

Oh friends, let me tell you about the weekend that was -- it was not the weekend it was supposed to be. Friday started out pretty good with a great run, better than I've had in a long time. I didn't set out to run a 10K without stopping, but as each mile passed and I still felt good, I just kept running.

Shortly after I got home and was cooling off, though, I started to get that telltale glimmer in my eye that tells me I'm about to get a migraine. I had actually had two auras the night before, one at dinner and one just before bed, but both resolved fairly quickly and never developed into a headache (I always get an aura before a migraine, but in a few instances I've had the visual disturbance without the headache). This time around, the pain did come, though it wasn't terrible and, strangely, it was reversed from my typical experience -- usually my vision goes on my right side and the pain is concentrated on the left side of my head, but this time the visual issues were on the left and the pain was on the right. All of that was strange and a bit unpleasant, but it didn't disturb my day too much. In the afternoon, as planned, Molly and I went to get our flu and COVID shots, both in the same arm, so I was anticipating soreness and also some aches and pains from the latter. Well. I slept horribly Friday night but then felt okay after some Tylenol and coffee in the morning. We had to go get some stuff at Costco, and then I went for a walk before lunch. And when I stood up to clear my dishes from lunch, I realized I was having trouble standing upright. I was lightheaded, every inch of me hurt, and I generally felt awful. I ended up in bed for at least an hour while I waited for my next dose of Tylenol to kick in so I could at least take a quick shower. And that was about all I could manage for the rest of the day. I didn't get to meet up with a friend who was in town for a couple of days, and I didn't get to my high school reunion (I feel bad about that because I was really looking forward to it, but I can always go next year). It was just a total crap day. You will appreciate how rotten I felt when I tell you that I couldn't really knit or even read -- I just had no energy.

Fortunately, I had an extra-long night of sleep Saturday night (in the guest/stash room, where I would be uninterrupted by snoring) and woke yesterday feeling human again. I was still a little wobbly yesterday, but I think that's likely due to migraine hangover -- my brain always feels a little sloshy for a day or two afterwards. I was able to go for my usual walk, at my usual pace, plus do laundry and go homecoming dress shopping with Molly and one of her school friends. And I felt well enough to finish up the second bobbin of singles for my next handspun skein:

This was a really fun spin. I got the fiber -- 4 oz. of CVM/alpaca/angora/sparkle roving -- as a hand-me-down from Margene, and though it was a woolen prep with some chunky bits in it here and there, it was much easier to spin a fairly smooth, fine single with it than the batts I spun last month. The colorway is Gandalf, and it is a lovely blue-gray with lots of silver sparkle that really isn't showing up in the photo. I plan to at least start plying it tomorrow; we'll see how busy the day gets and how much I get done.

I also measured my second sweater swatch over the weekend, and though it didn't give me any clear answers, I think I have a plan. Somehow I ended up with more stitches per inch in going up a needle size than I had before. I can only assume that my swatch with US 4's just didn't really capture my tension accurately. My gauge on US 5's ended up being 26 stitches and 34 rounds over 4 inches, whereas the pattern gauge is 23 stitches and 32 rounds. I'm not as concerned about my rounds per inch, but obviously my stitch gauge off enough that it would make a noticeable difference. I did a couple of quick calculations from stitch counts, though, and it looks like if I do the next size up from what I was planning, I should get about an inch of positive ease in the bust, which is pretty much perfect for me. So I'm going to give it a try, and if the worst thing that happens is that I have to rip out a sweater yoke, so be it. I spent enough time spinning the yarn that I'm going to make sure it becomes a sweater, one way or another.

On that note, I think it's time to get the day started. I hope this week is slightly less hectic for me and good for all of us!