It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas! November 7, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Art, Knitting.4 comments
Ok no, not really. It’s a bit too soon for Christmas actually because we still have Thanksgiving to go and I like each holiday to have their own time. Still, it’s definitely time to think about Christmas in terms of what we’re going to get for others. Of course I’m developing a new skill set to use to actually make stuff for presents but I’m still a bit slow to do much in the time remaining. But having said that I did manage to crank out one little item for someone 
. Behold!
As requested by frequent commenter Mr. Lemur King this is a bottle cozy for his hot sauce. Unlike mine this one is ribbed for his pleasure! If ya want it drop me a note to let me know where to send it buddy!
Happy Halloween! October 31, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Home.7 comments
Just a quickie thing here for the one or two of you who still drop by from time to time. I’ve been meaning to drop a link to this for the longest time: Dracula – in blog form! This is really very cool and perfect for the season. The original novel from Bram Stoker (isn’t that an awesome name?) was written as series of journal entries and letters from some of the characters and here they are presented as entries posted on the same days as they are in the book.
Now you can read the original that inspired all the rest! Remember, Dracula was the original “old school” type vampire. Like James Lileks quipped about the movie Nosferatu “…from the days when vampires were stinky and ugly, not tragic lads from the goth version of the A&F catalog.”
Gettin’ Cozy October 8, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Art, Knitting.6 comments
Just a quickie thing for now. Check out the Tobasco Cozy I knitted:
This is my first thing to knit “in the round” using the magic loop method. For my next project I started a hat. I’ll post some details later.
Still Knitting! September 10, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Knitting.7 comments
I’ve been busy! Check out what I’m making for my sister for Christmas:
The yarn is a kinda funky cotten strand that has lots of – ummm – “character”. It has a bit of a knotty texture to it that made it rather difficult to work with initially and I very nearly gave up on the whole thing. But I persisted and practiced with some other stuff a bit more and now I’m just sailing right along. It’s about 49 inches of scarfy goodness right now (by 6 wide) and I’ve got about another 20 inches to go. I hope to get this finished this week as I’m anxious to move on to something else.
Quick Update September 9, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Home.6 comments
Goodness the days do just slip on by don’t they? It’s funny, all day long I think of things I want to tell y’all but as soon as I sit in front of the keyboard they all just sort of go “Eh. Why bother?’ Still I do have some things I want to share real quick.
Diabeetus - Actually the ol’ blood sugar levels are getting rather boring. They dropped right smack dab into the middle of the normal level almost two weeks ago and haven’t moved since. And it’s not like I’m just measuring them at the same times either. I’m “exploring the studio space” if you will and they just aren’t varying very much. I think this is what one could call “well controlled”:
Coming up this Friday I’m going to the first of three diabeetus education classes arranged by my HMO. Yes! Just a short six weeks after diagnosis! Dunno what they can tell me that I haven’t already figured out but I guess we’ll see. And yes, I am going to bring a copy of this graph with me. :0)
Weight loss – my “official” weighing days are once a week on Saturday mornings. As of last Saturday I have lost 46.8 pounds since 6/22, which just happens to be exactly 26% of my weight loss goal. Hooray! I actually figure that the first 20 or so pounds I lost between late June and mid-July was mostly water that I was retaining due to my high-sodium diet and it got flushed out by the onset of the later symptoms of the diabeetus. The last 24 or so was definitely all excess porkage though. I’m starting to have the happy problem of not being able to wear some clothes because they are too big now. Fortunately I’m a bit of a pack rat so I never throw stuff away and have clothes that I haven’t been able to wear since the Clinton administration. Hell, I think I have some shirts that are even older than that! It will be a while before I get into some of those but I’m well on the way.
That’s it for now, but tune in tomorrow because I have a knitting update!
Behold! August 28, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Art, Home.3 comments
Here’s a picture of the blue jean* quilt I mentioned a couple posts ago:
This is entirely made up of pieces of old denim jeans with various patches, pockets and belt loops added on. The backing is a nice, snuggly soft flannel. The overall size isn’t big enough to cover a queen bed but it’s still a generous 5 x 6 feet. Denim is of course far too heavy to quilt in the traditional way so the top and backing is joined by tied yarn as you can see in the bottom left corner. This is the sixth quilt my parents have made for me so far, and there’s another on the way. It’s going to be really cool.
*Yes I know they’re not all “blue” jean pieces. Don’t make a maniac out of me.
Blood Sugar Update August 17, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Art, Diabetes, Health.3 comments
Just a quick note about how it’s going. This last week has been really pretty good! As you can see levels have been entirely in the “Normal” range which is really gratifying. Aside from the uptick on the 13th the trend is still going down too. To be honest I’m not entirely certain what to make of the last couple days though. For instance today’s first read was around 11:15 am, well after breakfast and yet it is the lowest I’ve measured yet. The second read was at 2:00 pm, and so about an hour and a half after lunch and it only moved up about 19 points. I was told expect a 30 – 40 point movement upward though. Something to keep an eye on anyway.
I Haz a Quilt Rack August 13, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Art, Home.6 comments
I just got this in last week and I’ve been meaning to put it up:
The Parental Units have made me enough quilts now so that I can load one of these up. My latest aquisition is the blue jean quilt in the back. I’ll put up another picture of that one later. Anyway, I got it at QuiltRacks.com and it arrived in less than a week! And shipping was only 7 bucks!!!
Very cool!
I’m Makin’ Diabeetus My Bitch August 10, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Diabetes, Health.25 comments
Jeepers. I didn’t really mean to be away this long but real life intrudes.
Anyway, I implemented a lot of changes in my life since Diabeetus Day two weeks ago and there are already many noticable improvements. I now test my blood glucose levels twice per day and, being the data guy that I am, I of course record the results in a spreadsheet. And numbers in a spreadsheet just beg to be graphed. Check it out:
In less than two weeks I have my numbers in the normal range. This happened a lot sooner than I expected but it’s definitely welcome. Similarly my blood pressure numbers have returned from “Stage 1 Hypertension” levels to those approaching normal as well. Now the goal is to keep them there.
Diabeetus Confirmed July 28, 2009
Posted by Enas Yorl in Diabetes.16 comments
I got the call today (that was fast!) and the test confirmed that I have the Diabeetus. Also high cholesterol. But no thyroid issues! But I do have high blood pressure on top of the other stuff. So, I’m quite the mess healthwise. But now I have medicines, blood sugar tester thingy, and orders to “eat healthy & exercise”. I guess we’ll see how that goes.
