In the dark

This is, apparently, a bad ragweed season. I've had what borders on being either a light migraine or a really bad sinus headache for about three days now (it's worse today than it was over the weekend). Along with it, the sensitivity to smell, the chills - which make it like a migraine.

One thing that helped, and I should have thought of earlier, was turning off the overhead light in my office. When my head hurts, my eyes get really sensitive to light and it's actually easier to deal with the glowing computer screen in a surround of dimness.

What I SHOULD do, now that my office hours are concluded and I finished the bit of data entry I wanted to do today, is go home and just relax. Take a good long warm shower and wash my hair (that helps sometimes), maybe make a nice cup of tea, put my feet up (Oh, how brilliant it is having a recliner. I always said I'd never buy one because recliners are by and large kind of clunky and ugly, but it's SO NICE to be able to lean back and have my feet up to read or knit or even just watch tv.)

Hopefully my head will clear up enough to make piano practice possible later on. The headache makes sound less pleasant and also it makes me a little clumsy. (I make a lot of typos typing this, for example).

(Heh. Maybe Derpy Hooves' problem is migraines? Some people supposedly get unequally dilated pupils with them though I've never noticed that in me.)

I did do a bit of knitting over the weekend - I'm almost done with the back of the vest I have on the needles, and I'm working away at the tiger-striped socks. I want to finish those soon to have my good sock needles free to start my Christmas knitting. (I found a second skein of yarn in my stash that will make good momsocks so I'm set on that). I do still need to get "froggy yarn" some time for the project for my niece but I'm thinking the local quilt/yarn shop probably will have what I need, or at least most of what I need, for that. And I like to support them when possible.

I think I'll start my sister-in-law's mitts first - I'm just using a simple stretchy pattern; she does not like fussy clothing but she likes things that are comfortable, and using an all-ribbed pattern keeps me from having to guess, "Are her hands about the same size as mine? Bigger? Smaller?" If I have TONS of time, I might use the rest of the skein of yarn for a little matching watchcap. (Anyway, simple hats are FAST).

And thinking ahead for AAUW gift exchange: I might do a simple lacy or fancy-stitch hat out of fingering, again something culled from the stash. We're not supposed to spend more than $10 but I figure if it's something that's been sitting in the stash for a while, it's kind of amortized away its original price. I might even do a hat and then get some other small thing - I don't know, maybe a couple packets of fancy hot cocoa? - to go along with it.

It is nice to have a week with no evening commitments so I can go home, and provided my grading and prep for the next day is done, just put my feet up and knit. (Oh, I'm still slowly crocheting on Queen Chrysalis but I've decided I have to take that in small doses; I get tired of it and also crocheting too much at once makes my shoulder hurt)

And yes, I know, I'll get busy again and may be struggling to finish all these things (then again, maybe not - the simple stuff I could use as invigilating knitting). But it's exciting to think of knitting for other people, to be able to knit and not go, "Man, I have so many pairs of socks that I never wear because it's too hot here."

Maybe I'll actually circle around to doing more charity knitting. I do have a half-finished Red Scarf on the needles that, if I'm very ambitious, I could finish and send off this fall.