Ovary Woevaries

My last few months (since mid-May) haven't really been the most pleasant. Somewhere between helping to renovate an old Midas building that became the new bike shop, TNNA and a summer full of shows with Good For Ewe (hurrah!), I started feeling a little...off.  I assumed it was stress and lack of rest and I pushed through. Then the nausea started...but only in the mornings. Then mood swings and finally a really odd cramp in my left ovary. (Catholics and squeamish people, turn away now) I have an IUD and being the worry-wart that I am, my brain went right to ectopic pregnancy. I called my doctor immediately and went in for an ultrasound. The good news is, it wasn't an ectopic pregnancy, or a pregnancy at all. I know how that sounds, and I do love and want babies, I was just really hoping to work on that AFTER my wedding next June and when Good For Ewe was a little bigger. The not so great news was that there was a nearly 4 inch cyst in my left ovary causing pain and first trimester pregnancy symptoms. They diagnosed it as a simple cyst- meaning that it was fluid filled, and provided that my ovary did not twist onto itself and cut off blood flow, it would eventually slowly osmose or burst, releasing those fluids back into my bloodstream.

That didn't happen. Instead I grew an even bigger cyst on the right side. By this point I stopped being able to eat breakfast or keep any dinner down. I've eaten my weight in crystallized ginger root in the past 3 months. I've lost 10 pounds and have no interest in eating anything anytime. With the next check up, there were 2 additional growths- not simple cysts, and we took out the IUD a year early and went to a hormonal therapy to help shrink the cysts. This treatment didn't stop the vomiting, only made me cry while puking. I've had my 5th Dr's appointment about these cysts today and we've decided to stop hormonal birth control altogether for a couple months to let my system reset. Since we are 10 months out from the wedding, I'm more than a little leary of this but I can't continue to throw up on the way to work most mornings. If this were happening a year from now, it would simplify my birth control decisions greatly, but it's not, so I just knit in waiting rooms trying to figure out what the next step is.

So that's what's going on with my reproductive parts and why I look positively haggard if you've seen me lately. Here's some better things:

I've been dyeing tons of yarn lately for Good For Ewe. I sell it faster than I can make it, which is a pretty awesome problem to have. Finding time to make it is proving to be tricky though. I look lovingly forward to a day when I only have one job and can spend several days hunched over a steaming dye pot prodding boiling wool blends. Okay maybe not that particular part of the process but I do really enjoy the gratification of looking at the day's work and seeing my favorite colors and knowing they will be loved.

So far I'm just dyeing lace and sock yarn but so far it's gone really really well!

I've been wedding planning and it's going pretty well- which probably means I'm missing something huge. I did have my caterer bail on me which I was pretty mad about, especially since I had to contact him to find out he'd changed his mind. Thank goodness I'd emailed him to ask if he wanted a Save the Date otherwise I could have gone several more months before finding out he'd changed his mind.  I was supposed to meet with another caterer last night and drove out to Zionsville in rush hour with my MOH and my parents coming in from the NE side only to find the caterer had gotten the day wrong and wasn't there and didn't have any food ready. Oy vey. So we'll try again in a few weeks when 4 people's schedules align again.

Wedding knitting is going really well so far. I had a totally masochistic notion that all of my bridesmaids needed lace shawls (in lace weight of course) and they would all be ecru but all different patterns. I got the first 2 done really fast (thank goodness there's only 4 bridesmaids) but I kind of petered out halfway through the third. I just need a break from ecru lace. I also decided to knit Tall/Dark & Handsome a pair of socks for a wedding gift, lovingly wrapped with a note that says "in case of cold feet".

*Gavin, if you're reading this, act really surprised when you get these socks, touched that I would knit socks at that gauge for your giant feet and for the love of all things wooly, make sure your toenails are short before wearing them*

I'm *done* with the first sock- kind of. I still need to kitchener to toe closed and weave in the ends, but considering we are still 10 months out, I feel like I'm doing okay. I just can't work on them when Gavin is around but as much as he's at the bike shop, that's really not that hard.

I am knitting a totally selfish project because I needed something that wasn't a giant blue ribbed sock or ecru lace, and I dug some Cascade 220 Heathers out of my stash from about 6 years ago and am making another Fitted February Lady Sweater. I made one about 3 years ago and it felt like it flew by- there's just something about gull lace that soothes my soul when I have a lot on my mind. According to my yarn, I'm about 30% finished but have a road trip coming up this weekend. I'll probably be incoherent after taking a bunch of dramamine, but a girl can dream about 12 hours of knitting time, right?


And the garden is going strong this year. I should have planted my fall veggies like my carrots and turnips but I had some volunteer pumpkins that sprouted and I didn't have the heart to pull them. So I have tons of tomatoes and the pumpkins are taking over the yard. They're growing up the fence and I've got pumpkins hanging 8 feet in the air which I think is pretty cool since I'm one of those weird permaculture enthusiasts.

But until those pumpkins are ready to pick and the fall tilling needs to be done, can I interest you in some tomatoes?