Post 500 Not bringing home the bacon

The Adelaide Show was on last week. I didn't go, but did catch glimpses of the fireworks at 9pm each evening - a bright spot each night. 

On Wednesday I had the appointment with the dietitian my GP had recommended back in March. She was not taking new patients until September, so this was the first appointment I could get. She lived up to my GP's praise in most ways. She listened, gathered data, was supportive and non-judgemental. What I was after was help with how to maintain a reasonable weight in the long term.

It was going great guns until I mentioned that my nephrologist recommended injectables. To my surprise she became excited and enthusiastic. Not what I expected. She showed me the epipen for injectables. It has a sliding dosage measurement. You begin on the lowest dose and only increase if your body isn't responding with weight loss. You need to inject every day, recommended initially for a year.  Evidence suggests you can wean yourself off, but weight will gradually go back on.  She is very keen. I am not,  even before factoring in the cost. I've decided to give myself until I see my GP in November to maintain weight loss sans injectable and discuss with her. Nothing I have read, before or after my appointment, suggests this is what I am looking for. 

I treated myself to lunch at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart, grilled whiting (within my food allowance) and a flat white coffee that made me smile.

Thursday was my mole excisions. Two in the middle of my back. The procedure went smoothly. I rested for a day, kept them completely dry for 66 hours and mostly dry thereafter. The stitches come out in a fortnight and someone will be in touch if the analysis raises any problems. So far so good. The stitches pull when I stretch in any direction, so I've cancelled Pilates this week. 

I entertained myself on Friday by advancing the Christine Bishop Pulled Thread Mat and reading, in between watching the birds. There was a bit of a competition between a noisy miner and the resident dove for domination of the budding tree. Quiet persistence seemed to win out for the dove.

This evening I had a phone call from a friend in Darwin, who  had an encounter with a similar dove at almost the same time and decided this was a message to get in touch. I'm glad he did.

On Saturday, an email from Create in Stitch sent me scurrying to the shop in pursuit of a set of large stretcher bars to make a repository for my earrings - an idea I had been pondering.  In my usual madwoman obsession, I had it finished by late afternoon - and was exhausted. The full story is in my stitching blog (although, in the end, there was no stitching required). It is 28" square and hangs on my bedroom wall.

On Friday I bought some chicken livers, mushrooms and parsley to cook with bacon for my dinner - a favourite of mine. There were enough for 2 meals, and I planned to repeat the meal on Sunday but ran out of bacon. 

On Sunday morning, I bought more bacon, but when I came to cook the meal, realised I had lost the package of bacon somewhere along the line, probably in asserting my independence by packing my own bag at the checkout. 

I have been making this for years, never without bacon, which I regarded as an essential ingredient. After searching the car and my shopping bags, my make-do instinct came good, and I made the meal using broccoli and beansprouts instead of bacon.   Worked a treat! I'll do it again.

The second alpaca shawl-in-the-round is coming along. It is a 28 row pattern sequence, worked 8 times, increasing by 2 stitches per row. I have begun the third sequence. It is difficult to calculate yarn requirements because of the increase, but it seemed likely to be touch and go. Only the black is still available, so I have ordered some more as backup.

It's an interesting and fairly easy pattern, an 18 stitch repeat with only one colour per row. The trick is in which of the 18 stitches begins each row.  One-colour-per-row should make for an easier steek finish than the last shawl.

It was a lovely 24C today. Feeling tired, I stayed at home, tidied up a bit, checked over tomorrow’s WES presentation, did a lot of crosswords and sudoku and got some Christmas bags started using the fabric from Missy Rose. 

Five are stitched into bags and 10 folded and ironed, ready to stitch. That’s enough progress for today. 

I will sign off my 500th post to return to my knitting.

Post 486 A wee soft

There was an eerie glow over the city at sunset yesterday when I drove Niamh to her football bus stop. Once we were out of the building, it was evident that this was rain. The roads were wet, windscreen wipers going full pelt and heavier than usual traffic, yet from the apartment it merely looked a bit misty,  with all the buildings grey. It reminded me of what was referred to as 'a wee soft' by those I taught with in Scotland in 1972 - barely visible rain that nevertheless soaked you through.

I've not encountered this in Adelaide before. Apparently, had I looked East rather than West,  I'd have seen  a rainbow. 

Winter rain (and only Winter rain!) is the norm for Adelaide - showery rather than torrential, and that's what we've been getting, with a few hours of sun in mainly overcast days. 

I have had plenty to occupy me at home - some research for my brother, reading and a concerted effort to finish St Brigid. The latter came a bit adrift last night when I discovered I had underestimated the number of pattern repeats I had completed on the front. I got one side finished to the shoulder before I had the sense to place it against the back, discovering I was out by 22 rows. There was nothing for it but to undo back to the neck decrease (the point shown here) and knit another 22 full rows before trying again. 

While I am using a row counter to keep track of where I am within the 22 pattern rows, I relied on my memory for the number of pattern repeats, which are not easily discerned from the finished garment. Memory is OK - but I should have checked against the finished back before decreasing. To catch up today I have stuck to my knitting, following the sun from the back to the front balcony and then inside.  I have made up 19 of the missing rows and am 2 days behind where I expected to be. Not disastrous.

Before our Sit'nStitch on Friday I ventured warily to the Grange Hotel for lunch. I have been having a problem with the left side of my jaw. I'm not sure if this relates to an operation I had in 1984, or something else. A week ago, chewing calamari set off a lot of pain and jaw restriction which gradually improved throughout the week but left me cautious. Opting for grilled fish without chips worked well and I enjoyed the meal.

Luckily, I have my annual appointment with my periodontist tomorrow, so will hopefully get some indication of the cause of the problem.

Still on the health front, I have read a bit about the injectables recommended by my nephrologist and I remain sceptical. I will certainly seek further medical advice.

I interrupted my knitting today to fertilise my plants. Those on the back balcony are mostly doing well from the rain. The wall garden is spreading nicely.

Again, I've been playing with shapes, tracing the outlines of these leaves to create embroidery patterns. This one has potential - when I've finished my knitting... oh, and the Phoebe Ann Traquair piece I'm planning for next year...

Did I mention the extra alpaca wool I ordered from Adagio mills? They had some black and browns in stock. It runs out quickly, so I ordered some for a shawl. When it arrived I liked it so much I ordered more (enough for 3 shawls) while stocks lasted. It arrived this week, along with a complementary ball of a new line. Now I've got an idea for that....