Of illnesses and tails and blocking soy

Alex is ill today, with a rather bad cold. He was home and in bed yesterday when I came from work, which is something he *never* does, no matter how tired, so he is really not very well. He did come out of bed yesterday for a bit, while I was ironing, to play Shrek III in the Play Station, and he was looking much better. Only then he felt crap again after a while, and today he is staying home. I spoke to him at lunchtime and he is feeling better (and he sounded so much better), but he is still not 100%.
It made me a bit sad that I couldn't to anything to help, and I think part of me is a bit sad still. The manic happiness of the weekend is now past. That was so weird. I was ecstatic, bouncing around, with this uncontrollable energy inside me, and I had no idea what to do with it. It was nice, but in a way I'm glad it's now past: it was too much and uncontrollable. I would like to be just normal. I've never gone manic before, just depressive, but I guess it's never too late to develop bipolar disorder. Which I doubt is the case, but the word "manic" earlier brought it to mind.

While he was ill yesterday, I worked on my Draconic Mittens, discovering that I had not written down the needle changes I had done. I'm pretty sure now that the finishing edges are knitted with different needles, but it doesn't look too bad or different, so it doesn't really matter. The knitting is done now, and I need to block them, to bring out the diamonds.

I'm not entirely sure how to block soy. The ballband says not to iron it, but I do plan to iron it, just at very low heat and through a piece of cloth. There is not need for molten green soy on my iron, thankyouverymuch. My current blocking plan involves digging out some of the old moving cardboard boxes and cutting some strips from them, in the width of the mittens. I will cover the longitudinal edges with ductape so that the cardboard doesn't catch on the yarn (and maybe all the cardboard, so it doesn't soak and get messy). If I damp the mittens, slide the cardboard inside them, and pin them to shape with pins onto the cardboard, and then let them to dry, that should hopefully keep the diamond lace into place and pretty. I really hope it works out, because the mittens are really really pretty. Pictures will be up soon, most likely when Alex feels well enough to take some pics. Sadly, I do not have a tail to hold the camera while modelling my mittens. Evolution cheated us there. We kept the monkey hairy armpits but not the tail. I want a tail!