Watching Ice Age

They were watching Ice Age while the adults watched the unrated version of The Hangover.

Small Sock Monkeys

Small Sock Monkeys
Originally uploaded by gramily

Smaller socks = smaller monkeys. These cotton guys are pure trouble, though one sports milagros and piggies fenced in. His buddy has a crewel wool yarn hat, or maybe it's hair escaping from the hat! They're wacky but lovable and available for best offer. You know where to find me.

Three Sock Monkeys

Three Sock Monkeys
Originally uploaded by gramily

These guys are just back from Boston if anyone wants one/two/three.
Make me an offer at elw207@hotmail.com

Critter of the Day

Lamb or monkey or aberrant? I'm not sure. These socks did not work out as well as I envisioned so I just kept working away at this critter. S/he's definitely different and took a loooong time to make, yet s/he was totally enjoyable to work on. After putting the piggy trim around the middle, it seemed like milagros would work well as a neck piece to complement the trim. The hat was whimsy and now I am taking a break before deciding whether or not a tail is needed and what type it should be - puffy little thing or long and twisty. After seeing Fantastic Mr. Fox, I am taken with a real fluffy one.

Complet! (That's French for Finished!)

It took me most of the day, off and on, to complete it, but it was fun. Best of all, Ms. Mifflette really likes her new hat and says she feels rather French in it.

Bunny-Ear Cap

My favorite mifflette this season is nakedly beautiful. She needs something, though, to enforce her mifflette-ness as all her peers have embellishments of one sort or another. Since I love her all-whiteness, I finally settled on knitting her a white alpaca cap.

After a couple of false starts, I think I finally have it and though it represents a lot of time, it is also a lot of fun. Isn't that always the way? Right now, I am working with eight needles, seven for holding and one for the actual knitting.

I'll post the end result, hopefully later today.

Visual Cure for Headaches

During this month I have been trying a new headache cure taught to me by my dentist, Roger Kay. I mentioned that my teeth ached after running in weather that was cool to cold. In looking at my dental x-rays, it was apparent that my sinuses were hovering closely over my teeth. Dr. Kay explained that signals to the brain can get confused and my sinuses and teeth could have indirect responses to pain. I told him I had frequent headaches (sometimes daily) and he asked if I were interested in curing them with visualization techniques. He got me interested when he said it was based on PHYSICS, as it is impossible for two things to occupy the same space at once. Frankly, I was hooked more on it being a SCIENTIFIC, rather that "New Age" technique.

I have been using his technique this month with spectacular results. Previously, the fewest amount of headaches I experienced in a month was thirteen (I have taken sumitriptan to control pain). That was a GOOD month. In fact, the average amount was closer to twenty. Here it is the end of November and I have had the grand total of seven headaches! I have medicated four of them. That means I have gone from using close to EIGHTEEN sumatriptan tablets a month to FOUR!

Here is my interpretation of the technique:
Sit or lie comfortably in a quiet space where one can tune out the world.
Breathe slowly and intentionally, deeply.
Picture the pain in a concrete way. Dr. Kay suggested giving it as a shape. I picture it as smoke whirling around my head.
Breathe in, picturing fresh air coming into your head, pain-free air. I picture it as icy blue.
Breathe out, picturing the pain leaving. With me, I picture yellow smoke leaving my nostrils.
While breathing in and out slowly and deeply, I am picturing the pain-as-smoke getting less and less.
I say to myself, BLUE as I inhale, YELLOW as I exhale.

If it doesn't work entirely in about ten minutes, I move on, but I come back to this during the time that the headache lasts. Sometimes it doesn't erase the headache entirely, but alleviates it significantly.

Most surprising of all is the fact that I have had far fewer onsets of headaches this month. It's almost as if my headaches have sought other territories where they are freer to roam...or died!

THANK YOU, DR. KAY!