pictures and boring details

Here's some pictures in any order.

Mandolin's halloween costume I made for her. It's fairy wings (i dyed the thread to crochet with), a wand, and a dress. The dress is will so she has an undershirt on to keep it from itching. I needed size 2 thread and the only size 2 i could find was wool.

The dress pattern called for 5 balls and I only needed 2 and couldn't return them. I paired the wool with some simply soft in bone and made this shawl for myself called "mother of the bride" a free some from lions brand.

I also took left-over yarn and made 2 shawl pins. I bought a $20 shawl pin for myself a few years back from a free-trade org, but MissM broke it. It was beautiful but fragile. I walked around Walmart and found some items that were good for shawl pin making and bought them ($5 worth) and made a few. People ave approached me about making them for money. I am going to donate a few to the church holiday craft sale.

The blue shawl is my latest prayer shawl. I didn't have enough blue, so I put in some white stripes. When the border is on and all the ends are tucked in, it'll look nice.

The rabbit is my recent project for church. In jan, we have a baby sunday and every baby born the previous year is given a gift. LAst year they made these and they were a big hit. The elderly ladies each knitted 1-2 of them and HATED it. When you knit it, it's all knitted in one piece. I found the crochet pattern at lionsbrand and set about doing one. It took me about 1.5-2 hours and was easy-peasy. I said i'd do 5, but I might give in and do 10. I bought 2 5oz skeins thinking i'd get 3 blankies and I got 1 blankie in at 2 oz, meaning i might make all 5 in this yellow/blue. If i go back and get the purple/green then i could try and do 5 in those. we'll see. This is a small buddie at 18" ear tip to tail.

I have also been commissioned to make another "mother of the bride" shawl identical to the one i made myself for some money and i need to make a hippo for some money. I'm going to start the shawl this week and the hippo next so i can plan my christmas shopping for missM and my guy. I like to get it out of the way early so I don't have to bother with anything.

I've also offered to make something in trade for a sweing project i want but don't know how to make myself, so that'll take some time. So, if you've evere wondered what a non-desperate housewife does when she isn't watching kids, cleaning, cooking or shopping: that's it!

Normal, well according to the BMI

I got weighed today and found out that I weigh exactly 154 lbs, which at 5'6" tall means my BMI is 24.9 making me a NORMAL weight and roughly 9lbs from the end goal I set myself at the beginning of weight loss. I felt happy and sorta silly too. It's nice to say "Hello, I'm NORMAL" but really, does it matter? Fireworks didn't go off, no one around me noticed that I'm "normal" now. They saw the same me they see every day. But I like the idea of going to the dr and not being tolld "well, you could lose 5 lbs" or anything like that.

During this past year or so that I've been working on weight loss, I've given myself little treats when I hit specific goals. I'd get a pedicure or a new workout DVD or outfit for # and non # goals to celebrate making progress. Sometimes a # victory isn't as important as fitting into something that didn't fit before, or getting hit on when you weren't expecting it and should be celebrated too. The silliest thing I celebrated was when my official weight was LESS than what my driver's license stated it was, especially since I didn't lie on my DL when I had it renewed.

Someone recently asked me what I was going to do for THE BIG V and I had no idea. I'll probably hit the big one sometimes during the Thanksgiving/Christmas season and that being the case, I decided that for every pound I lost I will donate one pound of food to my local food bank. I'm not going to donate the food no one wants either, but the same type of food that I eat and that is good, like brown rice, legumes, pasta sauce, chicken broth etc. I talked to my guy about it, and he thought that was a good idea to celebrate. I could buy myself a nice gift or take a small trip, but I've done a lot for myself (especially losing weight) and it's time I did a little something for the people around me that need a little something. My sister told me to adopt a family for Thansgiving and go talk to them and tell them why I'm donating a meal, but I don't know if I want to be THAT hands on.

volunteering and shots

I had shots the other day, a D-TAP and pneumonia shot. My arm is hot and swollen and itches like hell but hurts so bad I can't lift it. All of the joints in my body ache and my neck is now stiff, as if I slept on it wrong. I also have a low grade fever BUT I've got the chills and a killer headache and severe fatigue. Earlier I sat and looked at my daughter's bedroom door and then almost cried at the though of lifting her onto her table to change her for bed and then lifting her into bed. The take-home info sheetr on the shots lists all of these things as possible side effects from the minor to moderate category, so I'm not worried, I'm just miserable.

I have signed up to work sunday school once a month for the 2yo class and I'm looking forward to it. I also joined the prayer shawl group at church and even though the other members are all in their 80s, they're a snappy bunch and we laugh a lot and I like them. Once I've been around longer, I'm going to introduce the idea of teaming up with the youth group to pass the talent on. There are over 100 teens at the church, some might want to learn.

MissM is about to turn 3 and I'm excited about it. She can tell you that she's 3 and hold up 3 fingers (Well, she put up 4 fingers and then uses her other hand to hold the 4th finger down and show you 3).

I went to the Dr the other day, a new doctor near where I live, and she was very nice. She tested my strength and said "You're VERY strong, I wouldn't expect it because you're so small" I snorted like Emma! That's when I pulled out my driver's license and showed her my 57 weeks ago and told her how much weight i've lost. People usually act like I've parted the red sea when I disclose my weight loss. I have several new friends who wouldn't know at all if I didn't tell them. I never wanted to say anything to my new friends, because why should it matter? But, at prayer shawl meeting, some of the ladies teased me for not eating the food and one made a half joking comment about "oh the new girl turned her nose up at the candy!" I chose to see it as a joke, but just in case, i whipped out the trusty driver's license and told them about my weight loss. They forgave my passing on the food and promised to not be food pushers in the future.

I am half-done my prayer shawl and i think I may need to make it bigger. We work with all donated patterns and yarns, so most of the yarn is the ugliest stuff you'll EVER see and many of the patterns are from the 1970s and before. Many of them look like a bad acid trip with vrey bright and od color combinations and tripped out models in weird poses smiling like they're demented. It took me a bit to find the least obnoxious yarn and pattern I could. Most of the donated yarn, besides being vomit colored, comes without a wrapper listing brand name, weight, dye lot, and type. Anyone who's ever looked at paint chips knows that white isn't always white. Therefore, unless someone donates a solid pound-1.5lbs of the same yarn, there's little that can be done with random skeins, unless we find a granny square shawl pattern.

One woman makes children's hats and her BFF makes mittens to match, so that gets rid of a lot of the odds-and-ends yarn and another woman makes chemo hats, so that helps too, but the rest of us are making lapgans, baby blankets, and shawls.

I completed another round baby blanket in golden yellow, creme, and light purple and i'll post pics. I've also started a baby blanket in tunisian blocks of white, chocolate and sky blue. I will then cross stitch the alphabet and numbers on the "wrong" side.

I completed a fall fashion scarf and a tunisian scarf in shades of blue with a "wave" border. And I am done MissM's fairy dress and am in the process of assembling the wings. I used a 20 gaguge wire and it wasn't strong enough and the wings collapsed, so I went back and got 12 gauge. I'll post pics of these projects as a) they're completed or b) I have time to take and post.

I've been busy trying not to collapse in bed for the past few days and trying to plan the birthday party.

they're collecting small finished hand-crafts to sell after/during church during the christmas season and the intent is to donate that money to a school out west. I have a few scarves and odds and ends to put in the pile. I asked the PS ladies if they'd be donating and most said no. I don't know how they don't have several little projects that just sit around waiting for a home, but I have a hard time getting rid of this stuff as it is!

That's it for me really. My arm huts and it's 9, so I can justify going to bed. Have a nice week everyone.

how 'bout them dinosaurs?

we went to the smithsonian natural history museum last monday because missM wated to see dinosaurs. she LOVED the metro train ride, liked the walk from the smithsonian metro stop to the museum, really LOVED the museum, liked the lunch at the cafe and had a blast on the mall carousel. She didn't really cry or fuss once and used the big girl potty in the big girl bathroom 4 times throughout the day. I only used 2 pullups from we waking to sleeping time. that's progress!

after we got back to MD we went to baskinrobbins and she got a treat and then later went to boston market for supper, which she loves. so it was a good day. i like boston market's soup and right now, they give you unlimited free refills on soup there, so it's a decent bargin.

i've been laid up with asthma attacks and migraine combos that leave me drained and depressed. last week i got it together enough one day to make eggplant parm and spaghetti squash spaghetti pie as well as 2 veggie side dishes so we could just reheat food all week when the urge hit. the week before i made sloppy joes with half the meat. i used 1/2lb 97% turkey and then shredded a zucchini into pan with the meat and added the packet of seasoning, only a small bit of water and the tomato paste and it turned out good. MissM loved it and I was shocked because she a) hates ground meat of any sort (beef, turkey, pork, chicken etc. she hates all of it) and she isn't a big squash fan. the kid loves raw carrots though. So the week before last, we ate a lot of "sloppy" joes with veggie soup and carrot sticks.

i think i'm going to make "oven fried" chicken and more spaghetti squash spaghetti pie to eat this week with a spinach and orzo side dish and re-make one of the veg side dishes from last week. the ragweed is rearing its ugly head and these are the times i just want to move somewhere else.

we started at a new church and they don't have nursery care during the 9:30am service. the 8:30 is too early and I can't try the 11 for a few more weeks and the 7pm is just too late. there's a nice woman who sits behind us who mandolin relly likes. half through the service, missM will get up and go sit on her lap. The woman is of granmother age, so she's highly indulgent and i don't feel too bad. she didn't send MissM away the first time missM sought her out, so MissM keeps going back. we'll see how it goes tomorrow. this church has a co-op preschool instead of a egular private school i'm used to, so i'm thinking of looking into that. if i did a day or two at the pre-op, that generally allows the kid to attend the rest of the week, allowing me to seek out a pt job at a craft store or teaching crochet or something. who knows? it's worth looking into.

here are some smithsonian pics.
in any given order:
*mandolin loving the metro train
*us in the mammal room (2 shots) [I AM ALWAYS COLD, EVEN IN AUGUST IN A CROWD!]
*The orkin insect zoo, it's funny they paid for it.

I just don't understand

This is a story about my sister. She works hard, but doesn't make enough to provide everything her kids need so she's on food stamps. Fine. She needs help and we live in a society where some help is provided (usually not enough, but that's another issue). I don't look down on her because I'm a decent human being. She works 50+ hours a week to provide what she can. While I dislike her husband, I don't hate him and often feel bad for him. He's a type 1 diabetic with many health issues related to it.

I think part of the problem is that for years they insisted he's a type 2 before he got sick enough to almost die and then they ran a few extra tests and said "golly gee, you're a type 1, our bad." You can't treat the two diseases the same, because they aren't, they're quite different. His health is pretty bad right now. He cannot feel his legs, stand for more than 25 mins and he's probably going to lose his foot soon. He needs one vial of insulin a month and it's $75 a vial AFTER insurance. They can't afford that and so he hasn't been taking it. My heart hurts for them. One shouldn't have to choose between feeding and clothing their children, paying rent, or getting vital medication. Today his blood sugar was 405. I am not sure how he was awake and talking and not in a coma.

While the situation is terrible, what REALLY GETS ME is that these people out-and-out RANT about "those people on welfare" and vote republican. In fact, they're volunteers for the republican governor candidate. They love watching Red Eye and Glen Beck, and listen to Rush (although they HATE oreilly). My sister brags about boycotting various restaurants that supports pro life and other heathen morals (although she hasn't seen the inside of a church in almost a decade). I don't understand how people who are literally living because of welfare despise "those people" on welfare and vote for people who want to eliminate welfare.

It makes no sense to me. This is why I think it MUST be an issue of racisim. Anytime someone has any sort of conversation about "those people" they're usually talking about someone who isn't white, well-to-do, or of a religion that's approved of by people who are white, well-to-do, or of a specific religion. The comments attached to the loathing of "those people on welfare" leads me to believe that they're really just talking about the "Danisha's" supposedly living in the ghetto with 4 kids by 4 different baby-daddies who have fancy cars and expensive clothing while getting a welfare check or two a month.

Look, I live 4 blocks from one of the worst ghettos on the East Coast and I've never seen someone making bank off of welfare, and we all shop at the same A&P, even on the first of the month (I try to avoid the store that week if I can, but it's not always possible). I can honestly say that the people I see with food stamp cards tend to be people who are dressed as if they work at least one menial job, work very hard, and try to do the best they can by their kids. I never see crab legs, steak, or any other outrageous items on the belts of the people with the independance cards at my A&P, like the welfare reformists insist is a common occurance. I can't say it doesn't happen, I'm just saying that I've never seen it happen. I mostly see people who are trying like hell to make it, like everyone else.

I also know that being a parent sucks when your kids want things and you can't provide them. Sure, no one NEEDS expensive shoes or an MP3 player, but most kids wish for them, especially at Christmas time and birthdays and it's horrible to say "No, you can't have that because we're poor." My niece had a birthday recently and she only asked for one thing: A store-bought birthday cake, the one with the REAL BARBIE in it, not juse the top half. My sister got her that cake, and it was probably around $40, but that's all the kid wanted. And that's about all she got from her parents. Over the years, I've learned not to ask the kids what they want because they'll say the most heart-breaking things like "we're not having birthdays this year because we're poor." I always get them something, but I know that has to piss my sister off because she can't provide for them, but here comes her uppity bitch sister showing her up and getting the kids gifts.

I hope my daughter never tells me "I can't have a birthday this year because we're poor."

what i've been doing

i've made this round blanket for my guy's great aunt and uncles first great grand child. It's due around valentine's day, but i like to get everything out of the way ahead of time. I picked a neutral color to fit a boy or girl. the blanket's about 45" across and is the color of vanilla pudding. the pattern called for yellow, but i needed to buy 2lbs og yarn for the blanket so i bought two 2lbs skeins of vanilla pudding colored yarn 10 skeins of yellow. The fewer yarn changes, the stronger the blanket. All in all, i spent about 14 hours on the blanket b/c the pattern caused me trouble when it came to the border. I spent 6 hours on everything that wasn't the border and 8 on doing and re-doing the border. I finally got it all worked out and i'm happy with it.

Pic 2 is a granny shawl i made myself. I'm always cold now. It's a large granny square sewed to 2 half grannies. This is in an off-white color. Sorta like the vanilla pudding, but less yellow. I made this while on the way to indiana in the car. It's a good lapgan or wrap. The long end measures around 6'

this is a navy blue scarf done in tunisian crochet (which is a hybrid of knitting and crochet). I then used some left-over yarn from the shawl and cross stitched JILLIANSWAY in script from a victorian sampler i own on it. It looks like a snow storm until you really focus and see the lettering. This is meant as a fashion scarf.

I am currently making a tunisan scarf in various shades of blue based off a washcloth pattern. The problem with tunisian crochet is that all patterns are either stritcly beginner or so far advanced that it isn't funny. Several of the shawls and afgan patterns i've found consist of having 5-8 skeins on yarn attacked to the project at the same time, making it hard to move. if my scarf works out, I may write a few patterns to sell on etsy.

I'm being paid to make a stuffed animal for christmas, so that'll be a day. I am also making MissM's halloween costume, and that should take 1-2 weeks. click here to see what i'm making. It's the fairy wings and dress. I have the patterns, i need to go buy the materials and get started. I'm going to make the wings first, so if I run out of time, she'll have that part.

I've also considered selling my doll clothing patterns on etsy if i can get them copyrighted. i see alo tof people selling patterns instead of products on etsy, and that's SMART. It doesn't take too long to author a pattern, but it can take ages to make something tangible to sell.

You know if I ever have a "real" job again, I'd like to do three things:

1) teach people to crochet, and not just using the official terms, but telling them it's okay to hold the hook differently etc. Holding the hook is a lot like holding a pencil or a fork, it's silly to think that there's only one way to do it, and yet people DO insist there's only one way.

2) Add plain speaking tips to patterns. Instead of just reading the instructions like r2 sch 4 (dc in same sp) *c4 sk next dc ch4 dc in same sc* and on and on, I'd give that, but then i'd make a note "yes, this pattern ends up a square eventually, but starts out a circle, so it's going to look really funky right now. That's okay. At r9 it really comes together, hang in there." and other helpful tips throughout the pattern. Seriously, with some of this stuff you have no idea if you've funked it up until you get to the end, and if you have, it's like shooting in the dark trying to fix it.

3) Write patterns and translate diagrms to ledt handed crocheters. As i get older, the more i refuse to conform. I'm a left-handed person, I LIKE being left-handed and that's the end of it. Almost half the world is left-handed, but it's just assumed that everyone is right-handed. I'd love to take some righties and plop them down in a home/office where everything is made for lefties and see how well they survive. There'd be more left-handed products on the market ASAP. Most left-handed people I know are able to over-come and adapt better. I can use my right hand for almost anything, and I can use it pretty well, almost seamlessly, but it feels off like I'm wearing my shoes on the wrong feet.

When I really started to crochet for real, I had major issues with the fact that all stitch dictionaries, patterns, and diagrams are written for righties. I have to spend a lot of time looking at diagrams and flipping it around and stopping between rows and comparing notes while thinking of how the mirror image of the diagram should look to see if I've funked it up or not. Also, learning new stiches isn't easy when they're all taught for righties. Many of the books and patterns that do give helpful hints along the way are sure to say "okay now that you're on the right side, work left" etc.

I want to write a book on crochet from the left filled with left-handed stitch diagrams and how to turn right-handed to left, left-handed pointers and pictures and descriptions on how to do various forms of crochet and related arts (picot, tunisian, crochknit, loom etc.) as a left-handed person.

Will it sell? Mayvbe, maybe not, but I'd love to have that guide.

Some pictures from the Columbus Zoo and Oliver Winery in Indiana

the frog/waterfall and fish are at the winery. All others are from the zoo trip. I got many lovely pictures and I think I am going to make an online photo album for easier viewing and i'll post the link here if i accomplish that.