Is postponed. I did not stitch one tiny stitch this weekend. I spent most of it stressing about what was happening today.

I alluded to my situation slightly yesterday… but here’s what’s up. Way back in August, the dentist sent me to a dental surgeon. I have one erupted wisdom tooth (and have since my early 20s). It’s never bothered me, so nothing was every done about it. But now it’s riddled with cavities, and because of where it is, and they angle of it, they can’t be filled.

The dental surgeon actually told me “If it’s not bothering you, leave it alone.” His justification is that healing from wisdom tooth removal is much harder at my age than it would have been in my 20s. Of course, there’s still the issue of the cavities, but he didn’t seem worried about that. He said if I decided to go ahead with the surgery – just give him a call and he’d get me in right away.

I came home, talked to Dave, and decided I’d probably suck it up and do it in the new year. I wanted to get through the drama of the holidays first. (Plus my benefits reset, so I’d have full coverage in the new year – instead of only partial coverage I have now).

But… about two weeks after the visit with the surgeon, I started to get intermittent pain. Kinda like tooth sensitivity but more intense. It would last for half an hour to and an hour and then I’d be fine. But as the weeks wore on, it got worse – lasting longer and happening more often. In November, I visited the dentist just to make sure it wasn’t another tooth (it was odd that it started so suddenly.) She determined that it was not, but when I told her my hope to wait until January, she suggested I try cleaning it out daily with my water pic, and that should help me hold off until the new year.

And it seemed to… until about a week ago. The pain became constant. I could only dull it, not make it go away. So I sucked it up and called the surgeon.

As you’re reading this, I’m probably under the knife, so to speak. I will be home later today, hopefully with some really good drugs. I don’t really know what to expect… I’ve never had any type of surgery before. It’s only one tooth, not all four. But they do need to remove a bit of jaw bone to get to it (since it’s in on an angle). And then, of course, I’m a long way aways from 20 years old.

So… I’ve booked off work for the rest of the week. I expect to be spending a lot of time in my chair with these two…

And maybe even get some stitching in if the meds don’t make me too woozy.

Not sure if I’ll be up to posting for a bit… so don’t fret if you don’t hear from me for a day or two. I’ll update as soon as I’m up to it.

… the needles

I’ve started another Baker’s Hat for Dave’s uncle. As you can see, I haven’t gotten very far. But I should have quite a bit of time on my hands this week. I’ll explain more tomorrow.

The snow on the ground means the feeders are a busy place. Here are my favourite recent pics.

Yesterday was my birthday. I took the day off work, but because we had Furby’s vet visit smack dab in the afternoon, it was mostly a quiet morning. Around noon, I got the ambition to finally go through the food cupboards and reorganize them (something I’ve been wanting to do for a while).

Just before two, we packed Sir Orange up, and took him to the vet. It was a quick easy visit (though yes, he’s still grumpy about it). We dropped him off back at home, then headed out to celebrate.

We started out with a late lunch at my favourite chain (Swiss Chalet), where I got the Festive Special! Dave got Chicken and Ribs and it was delicious as always! We followed it up with finishing up our Christmas shopping (I’ll get everything wrapped today), and thrifting – though we didn’t actually buy anything at the thrift stores.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t get any presents. Dave bought me some new bras from my favourite site (no pics for obvious reasons)

Mom sent a package full of goodies.

As did my brother. Some of you know my love for Coca Cola… you might not know my brother works for Coke.

He sent me a box full of cool Coke swag, including this lovely hat and mitt set. They will come in very handy for shovelling snow. Which is good because…

It’s been a very snowy December so far! I hope it lasts until Christmas. Then I want spring again.

The life of a house cat is hard…

Don’t tell him, but we have a booster shot booked for him with the vet this afternoon. It’s just one, instead of three like last time, so hopefully it won’t hit him as hard.

The curtains didn’t take very long on Sunday, and Burton was still keen on working in the studio… so I went stash diving again.

These were fabrics (bolt ends) I bought on clearance last year (or maybe the year before) with the intention of making a bag for former neighbour Krista. But I never got around to it. Her birthday is this month so I figured now was a good time to finally do it.

The pattern I had in mind is one I’ve made once before. It’s a freebie called Pick-A-Pocket Purse.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of making bags. I often find them fiddly… and they make me angry. But this one is very easy and it goes together quick. The only thing, is if you’re using directional prints (like the birds) you do have to make sure you’ve got your fabric cut the right way.

But the result is a nice little bag. I did make the pocket shorter to show off more of the frog print. There are a couple things I would add, including some top stitching. I did some around the top of the bag, but if I do it again, I’ll add it around the pocket too. I just think it makes it look a little more finished!

Last week, Dave came to me and asked if we had any curtains for the laundry room window.

When we moved in, we just stuck a pillowcase on the curtain rod that was there. Overtime, it got rolled up around the rod because to be honest, a covering isn’t really needed. That window is up high (it’s at neck level for me and I’m 5’7″; and it overlooks the back yard. It’s up high enough, that no one can look in it. It’s also the window I take a lot of my bird pics from.

I figured we’d worry about a proper window covering when we got around to reno-ing the laundry room. But for some reason, Dave was adamant we needed a window covering ASAP.

I do have a studio chock full of fabric, and intended to go stash diving. But then we were out thrifting the next day and I came across this.

It was in the “fabric” section, but it was actually about half of a twin sheet. Some enterprising seamstress probably reused her sheets for something. I quite liked the print, it said “laundry room” to me. I got Dave’s approval and it came home with us.

And Sunday, I hit the studio.

I don’t make fancy curtains, so it didn’t take me long. I think I had them sewn up in under an hour.

And another few minutes to make some tie backs so I can still photograph my birds. And the main thing is… Dave is happy.

Under the watchful eye of his Lordship

Many more stitches were added to the All Hallows Eve sampler

The second witch has a body, if not a head and a second arm. They will follow shortly. His Lordship has decreed it, so it must be so…

I cast off Wingspan just before the weekend.

It’s a pattern I’ve knit before, and it’s one that’s great for gradient yarns. Which this yarn is… it’s Bernat Wavelength. It is a subtle gradient, but for some reason, my phone camera really doesn’t want to show it.

As mentioned, I modified it a bit to work better with the chunky yarn. That mostly meant less stitches on the needles, but also more repeats. It’s not super long, but long enough to wrap a couple times around the neck.

Now we just have to wrap it up! That’s Burton’s favourite part.

I’d like to say this is the last thing I have to knit for Christmas. But Dave just told me he invited his uncle for Christmas dinner. That’s not a problem, but it means I should get something together to tuck under the tree for him. So before I do any wrapping, I have to go stash diving.

It’s going to be a fairly quiet Christmas here this year, so I’ve kept the inside decorating a minimum

The tree is up, and of course high enough that the cats can’t reach it because Lemmy cannot be trusted. And something tells me Furby can’t be either.

Skiing sock monkey is counting down the days. And we have a new addition…

Bagpiping Santa. We found him at a thrift store and Dave fell in love with him. Unlike me with Carl, no side-eye was involved.