Randomness – The Sick Chick's Constantly Crafty

Update

My computer is still dead, the hard drive died entirely and after almost two weeks of trying to get life of it (and luckily getting all the data) I had to admit defeat and take it to get a replacement. It should be fixed sometime this week.

Meanwhile, my father is back in the hospital but still in Tampa, Florida. They can’t figure out how to physically transport him without risk. So Friday (or possibly earlier if he gets worse), Mom and I will drive the lengthy route down there and if we’re lucky be able to bring him back with us or at least take him to the next Army staging point which is one of their hospitals in Georgia. I will have my mom’s laptop with me but she has problems getting onto his internet down there so it may be dialup for us. (And anyway three of us in a STUDIO apartment up TWO flights of stairs — I can’t even bring my wheelchair as we’re all too crip to get it up and down the stairs — may drive us to murdering each other. At least we’re a stone’s throw from the beach!!)

So it may remain quiet around here for a while yet. Thankfully I have had a lot of crafting time and a 30+ hr round trip drive (maybe more if we have to detour to the other side of Georgia on the way back) will give me plenty of time to get my sock knitting going. If anyone reading this as Isela’s basic toe-up pattern (that you get with her sock looms) and knows how many stitches to cast on to start, I’d love to know — it looks like 18 but then peg 19 is supposed to have a loop on it already so I am confused. I’m going to have to keep going cuff-down until I figure that out.

And we’re not even going to talk about the mountain of crafting supplies I’ve bought since I have been here. My luggage is going to hate me!!

But enough of that, I have my diabetes classes this week so have to be up bright and cheery, plus the CFS/Fibro self-help course starts tomorrow too, so I need my beauty sleep!

I haven’t read blogs since I got to the US but I hope everyone and all their loved ones are healthy and happy. Best wishes to you and yours.

Gratuitous photo

Because I feel bad about not having had photos today, here’s a pic of my Lagoon legwarmers (Colinette Prism yarn in Lagoon, knit in a 2×2 rib on the Reader’s Digest loom) and my sparkly Converse All Stars that are the closest thing to “dress” shoes that I can get my orthodics into!

PS, yes those shoes are what I will be walking in on Saturday’s walk! Sorry, I’m a long way from my donation goal so I have to keep plugging it 😉

I can’t believe it’s not Monday

We had a nice Bank Holiday Weekend (three-day weekend) here, the weather actually warmed up — rather too fast IMO — and the sun has been coming out more than in the last nine months put together. Which has actually made photography a little difficult, I’m not used to full, bright sun!

Anyway, important reminder: My 5K walk for Fibromyalgia research is on Saturday so please donate now! If you are new to this blog, Fibro is one of the many diseases that I have and walking 5K is well beyond my normal limits but it was important for me to do this as it’s a very worthy cause. You can read more about my struggle on the donation page linked above.

So meanwhile, back to other things. We went to the National History show which was genealogy, archaeology and military history all together in one Expo. Once again I was shocked that no scrapbooking suppliers were there as that seems like a great audience. We saw some of the Time Team members (Tim, Tony and Phil) doing various presentations and generally found out about new stuff out for the genealogy market, etc. The only thing we bought was mead from Three Drunken Monks but then we went to the huge Whole Foods in Kensington to stock up on supplies.

I’m still recovering from that day even though I was in the chair. I also seem to have come down with some kind of stomach virus which is unpleasant to say the least. So my crafting has been pretty minimal. I made two coffee cozies (which I would show you but my camera doesn’t like bright sun apparently, the colours went all weird) and started a legwarmer for a friend but I started getting hotspots on my fingers so had to give it a rest. When I can’t knit or do something productive I feel guilty or at least out of sorts while sitting and watching tv or movies but sometimes my body just needs the rest and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I’m off to lay down again and get more rest. I need to plan the route for Saturday’s walk ASAP and just spend the week resting up that’s going to be very, very taxing. But I have so much crafting to be done in the next few weeks that I’m already feeling the stress and need to get things done for the sake of my brain,so we’ll just have to see what I can manage in between naps!

Please wear a blue shirt tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the big day for Project Superstar: Audrey (age 9) is donating her bone marrow to her sister Marian (age 6). Please wear a blue shirt (light blue if possible, Marian’s favourite colour) to wish them success! Marian’s request is on her blog.

The official shirt (but wear whatever you like, just send prayers, vibes, good wishes their way!):

April in Paris, part 3 – Crafty Shopping

This is really long and photo-heavy. To save on your downloads I have tried to keep the photos small, but you can click on any of them for the full-sized versions.

Day 1: Galaries Lafayette

We were staying quite near the “Grands Magasins” (big department stores) so on our first day we went to our quasi-favourite*, Galaries Layfayette. The craft department is a respectable size but I didn’t like any of their yarn. I did, however, find a delightful set of stamps from a French company:

I didn’t take photos of the store as we’ve been there a dozen times but t has loads of photos, although you may have to search a while as he has sooo many photos from this trip! I also bought socks and leggings there but I’m only showing the crafty stuff in this blog.

* our actual favourite is Samaritaine but it’s closed for remodelling

Day 2: Flea Markets (Les Puces)

Because it’s not very wheelchair-friendly, I walked this day — with many rest stops of course! We saw so many wonderful things, but alas our budget was limited. I do somewhat regret not buying the wooden hat block that was only 40 Euros, but it was so old that I think I would have to baby it and I’d rather a sturdy new one, even if that means a plastic one.

We saw: We bought:

Again, a lot more pictures in t’s Flickr (see above)

Day 3: Closed shops on Rue Saint Denis

Unfortunately, it was Sunday and these shops were closed. We never did get a chance to come back to them, but they looked interesting.

Knitting shop: Button Shop:

Day 4: Shop-a-rama!

We made it a point on this day to hit as many craft stores as we could.

L’Art du Papier: a paper goods store with stamps, scrapbooking supplies and lots of journals. This was my favourite craft store from the trip!

I bought a Fleur-de-Lys seal, an Eiffel Tower stamp and a nice “J” stamp

La Drougerie: Famous for its knitting patterns, I found the yarn selection pretty poor, the beads plain but the trims were mind-blowing! I didn’t buy anything as I don’t have any sewing projects at the moment and I couldn’t get the attention of any of the shop assistants as it was packed in there.

Bazaar du Hotel de Ville (BHV): I’d heard great things about this store (a department store with a very large arts and crafts department) but was disappointed as a lot of the material seemed to be American imports. Which is fine, if you’re not able to shop in the US, but as I’m spending most of the summer abroad I only bought a few things (erasable disposable fountain pens by my favourite brand). Their hardware section rocks though and we spent a huge amount of time there, I bought some washers for beading projects and a wooden wheel to make a spindle out of once I find a decent dowel for the stick.

Day 5: Montmartre, at the base of Sacre Coeur

This is fabric store heaven, with several very large establishments to choose from. Unfortunately, many are too crowded to get the wheelchair into so we chose Tissus Reine (Fabric Queen) and got some lovely stuff: upholstery fabric to make a bag, iron-on crystals and pirate patches. They had fantastic wool very suitable for re-enactment gear but it started at 17Euro a meter so was out of my price range.

Diagonally opposite Tissus Reine was a knitting shop that seems to be named “Laines” (“Wool”) that carries a lot of lovely Spanish yarn. I indulged just a wee bit 😉

We saw a really cool shop in lower Montmartre, near the Place de Clichy, called Tombees du Cambion. It sells all kinds of antique bric-a-brac and ephemera. We didn’t buy anything as it was a little bit overpriced but man, they had great taste! (Creepiness of the photos aside, t was just playing when taking them.)

Last but certainly not least, I finally found some craft magazines at the train station on the way home. The Marie Claire Idees is pretty beaten up as it was the last copy and I found it was nice but I’m not gushing over it. It’s sort of a very girly/romantic version of Martha Stewart and that’s not my thing. The Idees Magazine, on the other hand, is exactly my sort of thing, especially as this is the black and white issue — my favourite! There were several other mags to choose from but as my French is still pretty limited I decided not to buy any more.

April in Paris, Part 2 (Project Superstar photos)

(Photo: Me in the Project Superstar shirt with the view from Sacre Coeur in Monmartre, Paris. April 12, 2008.)

The Project Superstar photo program is people taking pictures of themselves in the Superstar shirt and sending them to Marian (the very crafty little girl having a bone marrow transplant whom I have mentioned several times here before, see the link for “I’m a Craft Artist” in my blogroll) who is now in the hospital after her chemotherapy. I’m not the farthest away or the most exotic locations (a family in the Slovak Republic has sent in photos!) but maybe I can be the most posh locations 😉

More photos, click to see larger:

My crafty photos are edited and on Flickr, I just need to write up the post about everything. Which may be broken into several parts as there are a lot of photos! There are also many more photos of me that t is posting, these are not PS shots but are usually for the wheelchair travel groups or they involve a lot of wine and thus are not appropriate to send to six year olds ;0 If anyone really wants to see those, drop me a line.

Failure

I really hate letting people down. Especially when I know if I had just not procrastinated I wouldn’t have had this problem!

I failed to finish my afghan for Tricot du Coeur. I let other things (Thing-a-day and Project Superstar) take precedence and then in the three weeks I had left — which should have been enough — I was too poorly to do much knitting. Where I normally could do about 2 feet per day I was barely managing five inches. So that just sucks.

I really hate disappointing people. I also hate letting myself down and not being healthy enough to finish things in the amount of timethat normal people could do them in. t has made me promise not to craft to deadlines any more. I really exhausted myself trying to do this and now I’m really overstretched and our vacation is this week. 🙁

I’ve got to conserve what energy I have so that I will be alert and not a total drag for our week in Paris! I’m going to give the blanket to the girls of Project Superstar when I finish it. I think I will be able to finish it (except for sewing up) whilst away so I can just add it to whatever I buy for them there. SO it’s still going to a good cause, even if not the one I had intended.

I still feel crappy about it though 🙁

Doldrums, Sock Lust, and more ramblings

Thanks to those who have written me with encouragement in the past two weeks. I’m coming to terms with everything but things got delayed as my father was in the hospital most of last week with blood clots in the lungs. He’s fine now but since his father died from blood clots unexpectedly, we were all more than a bit nervous. And it may be another genetic condition to which I may be predisposed, so I’m awaiting the results of his testing almost as much as he is. Since I have so far gotten every single disease known on either side of the family, and often younger than the “normal” onset, I’m starting to become a little obsessive about knowing just what may becoming down the pike. (And desperately praying that I miss out on Alzheimer’s!) I’m not crazy enough to think that I will get everything, but my odds are batting 1000 against me at the moment so I want to know what to be screened for.

Anyway, all of this has sent my mental health into something of a spiral. I normally have a depressive episode in February each year so it’s probably just a slightly delayed reaction combined with family illness (father inlaw then father) and the upheaval of my new diagnosis. It’s not that diabetes is a problem per se, it’s that I’m having to give up several coping mechanisms and unorthodox (but working for me) treatment strategies so my symptom load is going very high and I just feel like things are still very chaotic. Well, in fact they are, as we’ve yet to decide on new treatment regimes so I’m kinda of flying blind. Hence the “doldrums” part of the title. The grey, rainy weather isn’t helping any and knitting with my brightest yarn isn’t helping there either. When not even beading magazines can cheer me, I know it’s getting bad. So I have a med review this week, one of my four appointments this week when I don’t have the energy to get out of bed let alone trek to the doctors and hospitals. It has to be done though as I can’t handle much more of the way I am feeling…

But enough about that, let’s talk socks 🙂 I have been wanting to order a sock loom but have been put off by how many sizes there are (so if I make socks for myself and my mom I’d need a different loom for my husband and dad) and how long of a wait it is to get a loom. I think I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and order one though as I know that with diabetes foot care is important and that means wearing socks all of the time. I generally try to escape socks as much as possible and right now can only cope with toe socks or part cashmere (luckily I got a bunch of lambswool and cashmere at TJ Maxx last year for $5/pair). I’m hoping though that hand-knit socks will be every bit as amazing as everyone says. I also know from trying to get people to make hats for me that I won’t just be able to lean on folks to get some socks either so like hats I’m just going to have to make them myself. So if anyone reading this has sock looms and likes or dislikes them, please let me know which one(s) you have! I am hoping to use proper sock yarn (and do not like slipper socks or anything bulky!!!).

(As an aside, if anyone has single socks languishing without mates, my husband refuses to wear matching socks so will happily give them a good home 😉 He also could not care less what gender they were meant for or even if they fit him properly or not! So if you have second sock syndrome but can’t bear the thought of frogging the one you already made, he can put them to good use.)

In other news, I’m finishing up the mate to the Lagoon legwarmer. I had hoped to have it done by today but I was getting hotspots again so I am taking it slower. Then I need to really get cranking to finish my afghan for Tricot du Coeur as that is due this month. I made a hat inspired by Annie Modesit’s rasta hat but have yet to photograph it. I think I need to order a styrofoam head form for better hat photos plus I can use it for making felted hats. So another thing I just need to get off my rear and order! I’m just being a bit stingy since we’re going to Paris next month and always waaaay overspend there so we’re putting off nonessential purchases as much as we can just in case. Ooh, I should start looking for the Parisian yarn shops…:)

Oh, and I shall need to buy a spindle as my spinning class is very soon and I’m sure I will want to keep going at home!

Well I have to go, I’ve got an appointment to attend and miles to go before I sleep….

In lieu of a real post

This is a self-portrait from Meez.com. You’ve probably seen it on other blogs, as there is a knitting animation that you can have your virtual self doing 🙂 This is pretty close to accurate, but of course all avatars look better than the real thing! Here you see me dressed as usual in a t shirt and pyjama pants in a terribly messy room. I’m not usually in the chair in the apartment (in fact never, there isn’t room here), but they didn’t have an option for canes or crutches or my usual of leaning on the walls as I slink around… Usually if it’s less than 20 meters I don’t bother with a cane, so that can confuse some people who see me walking “normally” (like at my felting course this weekend which was in a small place) and then hear me talk about using a wheelchair.

In other news, I have found a new charity to knit for (after I get caught up on the projects already on the go). It’s pretty near to my heart as it serves people with neuroendoimmune disorders including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and multiple chemical sensitivity. (I have two of those for sure, maybe on the middle one.) Anyway, having been the person begging for warm hats a few years ago (when I first had to give up having hair) I feel it’s the perfect place to give back. P.A.N.D.O.R.A. is the organization, but I couldn’t find their request for knitted items on their website, only on their page on Liom Brand Yarns’ charity finder.

OK typing this has killed my fingers so I guess they need more rest. I’ll try to write up about the felting course tomorrow, achy fingers crossed! 🙂

Prayer Request

I don’t usually do this, but it’s really important.

I’d like to request prayers/candles/energy/anything that might help on behalf of t’s dad (John). He’s been in hospital for a month now battling a series of infections and is now resistant to all but one antibiotic. If he can just beat these infections and come home, he may get his new kidney within a few months (he’s been waiting over two years). But they can’t give him a transplant while he has an infection and anyway, being drug resistant is a very dangerous thing!! So please, do what you can….we’re very worried at this point 🙁