The cupcakes are done! The cupcakes are done!

Only about a week late! not bad, I think.

These are gifts for the guys in #1 Son’s band. No, I don’t know yet what a punk band is going to do with four cupcake hats. #1 Son has promised pictures, and I will pass them along.

I made a few changes to the pattern. Since my hats need to be adult-sized, I cast on 88 stitches and used US#7 needles. I knit the cake part for 3″ and the frosting for 4″ before beginning the decreases. About 1/2 way into the “nubble” row (the dripping icing edging) on the first cupcake, I realized that knitting 44 little nubbles would be the death of me, so I crocheted them.

The particulars:

• Needles: Size US#7, one Inox gray, one Crystal Palace bamboo
• Cascade Sierra (cotton/wool) in color #50 for the cake part
• Cascade Indulgence (alpaca/angora) in color #9434 for the frosting. (These kids better appreciate that fiber!)
• Crystal Palace Little Flowers (nylon metallic novelty) in color #409 (Spring Picnic) for the sprinkles

In other crafty news, I’m still turning cables on the Sockapaloooza socks. I’m thinking of getting started on the sock pattern I promised Alice at Tangle. But good intentions are being derailed by a bag idea. Stay tuned.

I visited Kidd in the kitty hospital today, and he’s looking pretty chipper. He’d eaten some solid food. Dr. Specialist believes he will be able to come home tomorrow. Moo Cow is missing him, and so am I!

Today I learned that teaching, even of knitting, requires at least some talking.

I arrived at Dr. Grinder’s (not his real name) office precisely at noon, all ready for my root canal.

And how are we today? asked Dr. Grinder’s assistant. We’re just splendid. I replied.

Ms. Assistant (who was really very nice) took my history and talked about my tooth and laughed at the comment my dentist had made on my referral: She said that cold hurt worse, so I took pity on her and tested with heat. (I’ve known my dentist for 25 years. He has quite a sense of humor.)

Dr. Grinder, another truly nice person, came in. And how are we today? he asked. We’re just splendid I replied.

He began the usual poking and prodding and peering with mirrors and such. In the end he agreed with my dentist that the tooth did need a root canal. We’ll just numb you up and get to work. he said. You might have a little pain afterwards, but we’ll send you home with some medication to help.

Ahhh… thought I. The good stuff.

He numbed me and waited awhile. Then numbed me some more for good measure. By the time he started, 1/2 my head was numb from the eyebrows down to my chin. Next came the… well… you know… the root canal.

But then Ms. Assistant took a digital x-ray, and that was one of the coolest things I’ve seen for a long time. The pictures popped up on their computer in about 10 seconds. She could change the color and enhance the image and all kinds of cool stuff. That was really neat to watch. I would have asked more questions about it except my mouth was full of stuff and my head was numb.

Dr. Grinder wrapped up the procedure and removed all the equipment from my mouth. All done! He said brightly. I don’t think you’ll have much pain. I gave you an extra-long-lasting numbing agent. The worst part of a root canal is usually over after the first three or four hours, and you’ll be numb for at least 6 or 8 hours. Just take a couple of Advil when it wears off and call me if it’s too bad.

Wait a minute… I’m thinking… what about the good stuff? No good stuff? I’m going to be numb for 6 or 8 hours? no, no, no… I have to teach a class tonight…

But I have to teach a class! I said. Or at least that’s what I meant to say. It actually came out something like bmt I hvmg t tsch a clshh!

Just call if you have too much pain. Dr. Grinder said, and sent me on my way. All the way home, I kept wondering what I was going to do if I couldn’t talk.

#1 Son laughed at me when I got home because I couldn’t move half my face. I tried to eat some dinner (soft food, only). When I looked in the mirror, I realized that quite a bit of it had ended up outside my mouth. This was going to be interesting.

By the time I got to Tangle (I hear a song there…), some of the numb had worn off, and I could talk. I had to slurp my wine, which was rather embarrassing.

But I could talk. So I have no excuse for totally losing control of the class. No excuse at all. I think most of the students got the techniques I was attempting (badly) to teach. But I didn’t get as far as I would have liked to. I need to figure out how to make this work better. Hopefully next week will be different because there’s not as much to cover.

The numb is just now finally completely wearing off. Now. 10 hours later. I could use some of the good stuff.

Poor #1 Son. He came home last night really sick, with chills and fever. I sent him right to bed. I know he has to go to class today (it’s the last one before finals). I woke him up briefly this morning before I left and gave him some Advil and a glass of water, then left him sleeping while I headed to work.

Captain Kidd, although he seems generally better, will not eat much and has gained no weight. Tomorrow he goes back to the vet where he will be kept a few days. Dr. Specialist believes that Kidd has developed a food aversion because eating made him sick before. The only way around this is to take the eating choice out of his hands (er… paws) for a couple of weeks and try to get him plumped up. Poor baby. He will be able to come home, probably Sunday or Monday.

I’m off to the ol’ root canal shortly.

At least my cold seems to be of short duration. It’s down to the mostly just annoying stage. I managed to work a few rows on the brim of cupcake #3. And I’ve turned the cables again on the Sockapaloooza socks. I now believe that they will fit.

And tonight things will be looking up because I will be amongst my people as I knit at Tangle. The first sock class is tonight. I hope I can talk. I can just see me trying to teach via gesture. Thankfully, knitting is something that can be taught by example.

I woke up this morning with the crud that’s been going around.

I get to have a root canal on Thursday.

I have done no knitting of any kind on any project.

It’s not one of my better weeks.

Today I was nearly attacked by a mad squirrel when I came between him (her?) and an old acorn. He (she?) was obviously feeling feisty.

There are signs of rummaging in the old squirrel’s nest that perches in a tree outside my work window. I’m surprised it made it through our winter storms, but it did.

Some of the flowering trees are starting to bloom. My iris, glads and daylilies have been up for a month.

Last Friday, as I stood outside admiring our (not sticking) snowfall gently wafting down, I heard the first songbird of the year. This morning the dawn chorus woke me up. Soon the peepers will sing me to sleep.

I will finish the cupcake hats because they have a purpose other than keeping heads warm. Score: 2 down, 1 cast on, 1 not started.

I may finish the green sweater before it gets too hot to even think about knitting sweaters. Or it may languish until the seasons turn again.

A new pair of Fair Isle gloves for #1 Son (he lost one of the other pair) will probably be put on the back burner until fall.

In other news, I am now completely ready for the sock class starting on Thursday. I know I said I was ready before, but now I’m ultra-ready.

I have turned the cable twice on the Sockapaloooza socks, and I think they’re going to fit. I still have my fingers crossed on that one.

Since #1 Son released me from the need to have four cupcake hats completed by today, I went back to working on my Sockapaloooza pal’s socks. I really should get these finished, or at least far enough along to tell if they will fit, before starting a bunch of other projects. (Yeah. I know. Like that’s gonna happen. I can see you rolling your eyes out there.)

The pattern for these socks was fairly vague about gauge. It offered suggestions for the number of rows per inch. But stitches per inch? Oh… whatever…

I do have the rows-per-inch gauge. The toes looked wide, but I think the cables are pulling the width in enough. Of course I’m knitting the things backwards, since I’m a toe-up person. It’s a top-down pattern. But cables are cables in either direction, right? The toes look long and pointy. But, if you look at the pattern picture, the toes there look sort of long and pointy, too. I tried them on, and so far it looks like they are just slightly wide on my skinny feet. So I think I’m good to go! [fingers crossed]

I really want these socks to be nice, since they’re going off to someone I don’t even know. Hopefully the wonderfulness of this fiber will help my pal to overlook any little flaws. (I’m not suggesting overlooking not fitting. That would be a big flaw!)

I’m finding it extraordinarily difficult to get a good pic of this yarn. Of course, if there were any light around here it might be easier. As it is, I’m stuck with a gray sky (and snow fall). This was the best I could get. But you can see how I’ve done the first cable. The needles, unfortunately unseen in this picture, are my brand new 3.0mm Suzanne ebonies. ooooo… ahhhhh… yum!