Yummy swifts

Tilly is nothing if not adventurous. Not only is she willing to go anywhere that we're willing to take her, invent a variety styles of barking to get our attention, and find a myriad of ways to jump onto the bed first thing in the morning, she is also willing to seek out and try new ways to be naughty.

Remember back in the day when all we had to worry about was her tendency to nip? Well, that is slowing down some (although she is by no means above grabbing a hunk of skirt in her mouth and attempting to haul me bodily wherever she thinks I should be; and she's still no good once she gets hysterical), but she's on to bigger and better naughtinesses. A couple of months ago, she decided that books looked like good fun, and that she should eat them when at all possible. A month ago, she decided that knitting books taste better than other books (alas for my EZ and Yarn Harlot collections). On Tuesday, she decided that my lovely wooden yarn swift was surely placed within her reach (I know, I know, my bad) for her chewing convenience.

Grrr....

Anyone know where I can find a lovely wooden yarn swift for cheap?

In other news, my foot is, in fact, tweaked. But it is not broken. It was hurting so much yesterday (worse than the day before, which I take to be a sign of not-healing) that I finally went to the doctor, who kindly x-rayed it and told me that it wasn't broken, but that all of the signs suggested that I'd done something to one of the tendons located along the outside of my foot. She then put a patch with a topical version of an NSAID on it, wrapped it up in an ace bandage and told me to take it easy for a while (I hate "until it feels better" diagnoses, but there it is). By the time I'd gotten home and installed myself on the couch, I was feeling veeeerrrryyy sllleeeeepppyyyyy. A little while later, my brains felt fuzzy. Somehow, through the increasing haze, I realized (and attempted, badly, to articulate to Rick) that it had to be that stupid patch. I fumbled the bandage from around my foot and ripped the patch off and threw that darned thing away. An hour or so later, I was feeling back to normal, although I admit to bouts of incoherence on and off through the night. Apparently NSAIDs knock me out. Who knew?

So today I'm making do with an ace bandage. I'm also wearing a long skirt, handknit socks, and Birks (the only shoes that fit over the bandage), so I look like a complete Berkeley hippie. Oops.

In knitting news, I'm done with the cuff of the socks that I'm test-knitting for Laura (she's over at Fiber Dreams, and in fact, she's having a naming crisis over these exact socks, so you can head on over and help her out if you're so inclined). The stitch pattern on these is great fun, and I have to admit here and now that the cuffs got me through Academic Senate yesterday, with its ongoing (and exceedingly long-winded) saga of budget cuts. (The chancellor of the system has told us that we can and must teach the same number of students using fewer resources, "without compromising academic excellence"; I keep wanting to say to him, in the immortal words of Inigo Montoya, "I don't think that word means what you think it means".)
Isn't that a great pattern? I'm knitting these in the extra-small size, since Younger Daughter needs a new pair of socks. The yarn is Old Maiden Aunt in the superwash merino 4-ply. I am loving the colors right now; the yarn is all spring green tones, and it's making me very happy. I'm using my size one Celtic Swans, which are also making me happy. So between the stitch motif, yarn, and needles, I'm having some fun with this one. I should be able to get the heel turned tonight, and then I'm on the home stretch. (Especially since tomorrow I have another long meeting about the budget, which is serious knitting time.)

And although I haven't said much about it, I think most of you can guess how much I'm enjoying it every time I hear "President-elect Obama" on the radio. Dang. We did good.