Just Humming Along

At the end of August I was working on Opus Magnusson - the piece I will eventually be giving to my eldest son.  This month I had a heck of a time.  Mistakes all over the place.  You see, I'm adjusting to my new glasses.  Glasses that took me a full three months to get if you count back to when I received the new prescription from the doctor.  I first took the prescription to Sam's Club.  Found the sort of frame I wanted, handed over my prescription and waited two weeks before they came in.  When I put them on I went "WHOA!"  They were really disorienting.  And the guy says to me that I just have to get used to them because they're quite different from my old prescription.  I wore them on the drive home.  The biggest thing I noticed was that if I wanted to see anything, I had to turn my head to see it semi-clearly.  After two hours I had a monstrous headache, took off the new glasses and put on my old ones.  That night I showed the new ones to my husband who looked at them and said it looked like the bottoms of two Coke bottles had been inserted into the frames.  When I looked at the lenses from a distance, I could see two distinct circles, dead center in the lense.  What up wi' dat?!

The next day I went to the opticians in town.  I told them honestly that I thought that the prices I'd paid last time were too high, so I'd gone to Sam's to save money.  They told me that the focal area for my reading had been totally put in the wrong place - centered in the lense instead of in the lower third.  Oh, well, that makes sense.  They also said that Sams had used an older progressive technique and that's why I had to turn my head to see anything.  So, I ordered a complete new pair of glasses.  They told me they'd be in - in a week.


The following weekend my husband and I went to Sam's and returned the glasses I'd gotten there.  I said they were the worst pair of glasses I'd ever had in my entire life.  I've been wearing them since I was a teenager, so I do have a few years of experience.  To their credit, there was no fuss, no bother; the money was credited back to my credit card and I went away happy.

Three weeks later I got a call from the opticians in town.  My glasses were ready.  I was excited.  You see, when I'd gone to the eye doctor, I'd taken in my stitching.  I said, this is the way I hold this, this is how close I hold this.  I don't hold a book here (in my lap), I hold it here (on my chest).  So we'd done all the focusing for reading for where I hold what I'm working on.  With a little fudging to accomodate table-top reading.  So, I got there and put the glasses on and tried to read the card and I told the guy that the words were blurry.  No matter where I held the card, the words were blurry.  Again, what up wi' dat?!  Well, you probably just have to get used to them.  I'm sitting there thinking, you gotta be kidding me!  So, I went home - feeling like a complete idiot.  I really, really thought that all this trouble was in my head.  So I wore those glasses - the far vision was crystal clear and great! - but I could not focus on my reading.  I think I went two weeks, switching back and forth from my old to my new glasses.  Finally I said, OK, I'm not going to get used to this. 

So I went back.  Different technician this time.  Turns out, the focal area for reading is basically off the bottom of the lens - or NOT THERE!!!  No darned wonder the *&^%%$ words were blurry.  So they have to make new lenses.  Another three weeks go by.  I get a call and go in.  This time I've tamped down my excitement.  This time, the glasses work.  I can read the words at the bottom of the card clearly, no problems!  So I go home a happy camper - only to be back in the shop a week later.

These new glasses sit different on my face than the old ones did and the nose pieces have literally dug into my face.  On one side of my nose I have a scab where I actually was bleeding over a weekend.  The guy asks if I'm allergic to silicone.  I say I wasn't before - my old glasses had the silicone nose pads.  So, he takes off the nose pads on the glasses and puts on different (better) ones.  It is sorta more comfortable, but now my face is just sore, so I really have to withhold judgement.  Finally, after a week, my face had healed and the nose pads aren't making it AS sore (still a litte sore).  I frequently have to take off my glasses and rub my nose.  But the tradeoff is that I can stitch without having to wear my magnifiers!

Well, at least I thought I could.  I can see, but not perfectly.  So, I put on the magnifiers, but now they're too strong to go with these glasses.  End result, I have to be very careful where I put my needle or I end up with a half stitch, or stitching over three threads instead of two, etc. etc.  Which is exactly what happened with this bird.  I was so disgusted with the whole thing, it was a relief to finish it off on the 31st!  Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be any worse for wear (as in, I was able to hide my mistakes pretty well).

And here is the whole thing so far -

Sorry, no matter what I do, this picture won't go in the right way.

At the beginning of the month, I got a start on the Anniversaries of the Heart block for this month.  Here is a preview:

I've noticed that this piece, at 28 count, is easier for me to see to work on.  I can't wait to finish this up so I can tell you the story about the lady this block focuses on!  Hope you enjoyed - inspite of all my whining.