The day started fine. Early. Too stupid early, but fine nonetheless. I had my day all planned out. Everything was going along just fine. Took my shower. All nice and clean. Started to clean out my ears, best time to get the guck out is when the ears are warm and damp. Pulled the cotton swab out of my ear, and… no cotton. Just a scant amount of earwax. Egads. The cotton must have come out in my ear! Nooo! I hollered down to Dave, I need help up here, Dear. He came up, looked in my ear, too dark, he said, can’t see anything. We both looked at the end of the swab. No cotton. He got a flashlight, looked again, still couldn’t see anything, but the ear felt funny.

I don’t have a regular doctor other than my ob/gyn, and her I rarely see (I do need to get in for an annual). I spent some time looking online for a nearby emergency care facility. Found a bunch of gluck. Who knows? I called my insurance company, got a referral, called, got another referral, went down. I waited there for 1½ hours. I swear, I spent more time talking to the receptionist than I did in the august presence of the doctor, the doctor who pronounced my ear empty, though a tiny bit red. Empty? No cotton? Gods. A little red? That’s all? He asked if the swab had blood on it. Nope. Just a little earwax. That’s all. And no cotton.

He was going to prescribe some drops to help heal the very minor scuffing inside my ear, but I walked out without the slip. Too disgusted for words.

When I got home I got out a bottle of peroxide, verified that the swab in my hand actually had cotton on both ends, ducked the thing in the bottle, washed out my ear, and am done with it. Well, I’ll probably do that again tomorrow for good measure, but still.

Absolutely disgusting.

I hope your morning was better than mine. Geesh.

One thing I did this morning before all hell broke loose for no reason whatsoever, was to take some pictures of my knitting. Wanna see? Knew you would.

I finished up the last rows of the second repeat on Mingus’ cuff yesterday, and got a little more than an inch of twisted ribbing done on the heel flap. Woot!

Yesterday afternoon I made progress on the border of the vine stole.

Yes, that there is the start of the black border on the green stole. I love the color combination. I’m not as much in love with the black Malabrigo Lace as I was with the Forest. It’s not quite as soft, and the yarn isn’t as full. After a brief discussion in the Malabrigo Junkies forum on Ravelry, I have hopes that it will fill out a bit when I wash it. Otherwise, me thinks I’ll have a light and airy border on my stole. Not what I was looking for. I hope it’ll work out, because I know myself, and I’m definitely not going to do what a very kind woman named Joan suggested:

If the yarn has been badly stretched, you can hasten the “re-plumping” phase by letting it get steamed. Hang it in your bathroom for 24-48 hrs; the steam from the shower/bath will help revitalize the wool. Or if you’re in a hurry, I’ve had good luck hanging the hank over a couple of wood spoon handles and suspending over a frying pan of boiling water (more surface area with the pan). Let set on the counter for a couple of hours, then wind gently, probably a couple of times if needed to get a very soft, squishy ball.

Ha. Can you see me doing all that? Not. I’ll just soak it, block it, cross my fingers, and hope. That’s much more my style. Especially after the whole ear thing this morning.

Yesterday afternoon Karen suggested another name for the vine stole: Dulcamara. Yes, it sounds a bit familiar. It should. It’s the second half of Bittersweet’s botanical name, Solanum dulcamara. Hm. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? I rather like Dulcamara. It’s definitely a contender.

My furry little helper was on the job this morning. In that first picture, if you look closely, you can see the little zig-zaggy ring of red near the outer edge of her eye. It’s always there. The vet said it doesn’t do anything, though it is unusual. Just like the rest of my furry little girl kitty. Well, except the looks she was giving me when I was taking her picture. Those weren’t unusual at all. Not even a little. She was bored with having her picture taken long before I was done.

The ear is empty, the mail has been sent (I did that on the way home from the pointless trip to the doctor’s office), the blog has been posted to, and now I prepare myself for a fun afternoon with Kristie. At least I have something good to look forward to after that whole stupid, waste-of-time, ear thing. Gads.