The Sick Chick

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!):

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.

I finally ordered my first “big girl” looms from Decor Accents — an extra small gauge straight rake for dishcloths and an extra fine gauge sock loom (will fit me and t both, yay!) to be delivered to my mom’s house. Now to find some cheap sock yarn to practice on — anyone destashing? Mom has already bought something like 25 skeins of Peaches & Creme for me (she went to the factory outlet unchaperoned and went a bit crazy!) so I’m good for dishcloths for now

I’m sure I will eventually get plenty more looms — I’m especially hoping that Duxall Inarow (love that name!) will resume producing her stunning rakes soon.

I’m also going to try my hand at crocheting dishcloths this summer as I’m feeling a lot more confident wielding a hook now after using it so much for casting on and finishing things on the loom. I sooo need a light-up hook for the road trip, methinks (Oh yeah, forgot to mention we’re driving to PA — I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be many quilt stores on our route!)

Sorry I’ve taken so long with getting all of the Paris and spinning class stuff written up but t and I have a stomach virus right now so we’re behind on everything — except our tv watching

[crossposted]

As many of you know, I suffer from a condition called Fibromyalgia among many others. Fibromyalgia — called fibro or FM for short — is believed to be a disease of the central nervous system. People with this condition suffer intense, widespread pain and crushing fatigue. It can completely disable a person and destroy their lives. Up to three percent of the population may get this disease at some point in their life, although many go for years without obtaining a proper diagnosis. There is only one drug so far (approved in the US only) and that only works for a percentage of the population and only dampens some of the symptoms. We usually have pain every moment of every day and can find it difficult, perhaps even impossible, to find the energy to get out of bed, dress or leave the house. It is not a lack of willpower, but a chronic, permanent illness. It is like having the worst case of the flu you have ever experienced and it never goes away.

On the 10th of May, the National Fibromyalgia Association (US) is hosting a walk to raise awareness and funds for research. They have called for others — yes, even in other countries — to help them as Virtual Participants, and I am organizing a team. Walking for me is still a painful process, but I am committed to giving my all in support of this cause. Please honour my pain and hardship (it will take me at least a week to recover) with your support.

London Crawling is a pub crawl through the West End on that Saturday evening. We’re going to walk our 5K (hopefully, fingers crossed!) but take regular breaks to sit down, rest and perhaps have a half. (Alcohol not required, indeed not recommended for many on certain pain medications!) It’s social but socially conscious all in one! We’ll also be pointing out things which are hazards to the mobility impaired along our route for those who have never had cause to notice such things before.

Join our walk, either as an official Virtual participant (Cost: US$35, a non-tax deductible donation, you get an official t-shirt and your name on the virtual walkers roll) or just come along and make a cash donation. Perhaps you can match the pounds spend on beer with pounds given to Fibromyalgia research?

If you’re not in London, I urge you to become a Virtual participant anyway. You (apparently) don’t have to even walk. Maybe just walk virtually Second Life anyone? You can still be on our team even if you can’t crawl with us in person. Join in and help raise funds for this very worthy cause near and dear to my heart!

If participating doesn’t appeal, then I beseech you to consider donating. My personal sponsorship page has some more details of my personal struggle. You can join our team at the London Crawling page. You can donate either to me or to the team. And if joining the team, you can walk in my honour or anyone else you know with fibromyalgia. Let me know if you want more details for that part of the form.

Please spread the word!

I know the fad now is to offer prizes draws to those who make donations but I am not in a position to offer anything special. But I will promise a hand-made thank you card to any donor who requests one. These take my time and energy and can be a bit painful in the making so I hope that this gift will be as meaningful to you as anything else on offer.

The NFA has already helped make my life better and continues to search for ways to improve the lives of allof us with fibromyalgia. Please contribute today to keep the ball rolling and fight against this dreadful disease! I believe that donations are tax-deductible within the United States.

(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.

So we’re back, and yes we had a lovely time.  Mostly because we abandoned all plans except eating (hitting many of our old favourites) and shopping in what craft stores I could find.  We had some problems with the wheelchair not liking the steep hills (it drained the battery very quickly) so t had to push a lot, and it poured down rain for two days, but in general it was a pleasant and relaxing holiday.  It’s going to take me a while to recover.

Paris has changed a lot in the four and a half years since our last visit.  We used to visit annually when we could afford it (this is not that grand — remember, it’s just the next major town over and only 2.5 hrs by train so it’s one of the cheapest possible vacation spots for us) but I guess the changes seem a lot more pronounced when more time has passed.  I’d read that many French people think that the city is becoming a museum rather than a living, vibrant center of life.  I didn’t want to believe it but I’m afraid it is true.  Maybe models find  places to party but it’s becoming a tourist trap; there are more tourists than locals in most of the city center and the shops and venues have changed to reflect that.  It’s a little sad, really.

I certainly won’t say don’t go if you have never been.  I won’t even say that I won’t go — I’m always researching the history of Paris and/or using the museums as resources for other historical research.  But just to chill out and mellow, I think we’ll go to Provence or back to Italy (where I lived for a while).  Or who knows, maybe somewhere out there is a city that really is wheelchair friendly. I’m not holding my breath on that one though!

We’ve got about 500 photos to sort through and tag, but I’ll try to post the crafty ones (shops and my purchases) as soon as I can.

I’m trying to catch up on everyone else’s blogs so bear with me!

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

Oh yeah, I simply must mention this!  I was one of the guests on the latest episode (4) of Knitting 911, the loom and needle knitting podcast by Denise Layman of KnitChat.com and Loom Knitter’s Circle Magazine fame.  You can listen on the webpage.

This has gotten me fired up to resume my own long-neglected podcasting and I will be posting more about my plans soon.

I know I have been very remiss in my blogging endeavours, but I have to plead illness.It’s been a very hard month+ for me and talking to people is one of the most difficult things at times so I’m afraid I have just been hibernating away. But today, perhaps because of the spring weather (oh how I wish it were going to last!) or perhaps because I saw mallard ducks in my back lawn (why I have no idea and sadly I didn’t have my camera with me) or because I have a lot of announcements, I have finally felt like talking to the world at large.

But before I say more about what has been going on, here are some piccies for your entertainment:

That is a scarf that I made for my mother last December, didn’t photograph until February and am only managing to post about today. It was made using Trendsetter Yarns Blossom using the Alternating rib stitch (5 rows each direction) on the Knifty Knitter long yellow loom. At least, this is how it looked before I washed it and sadly it is far more anaemic looking now I’ll try to photograph it again to show the difference. t says he can’t tell and looking at the scrap yarn I can’t tell differences in the strands individually, but it just looks less fluffy I’m very mad at myself for chancing a machine wash (delicate cycle) on a handwash yarn, even though I know my mom will only machine wash it anyway. I feel like I screwed up US$45 worth of lovely yarn and am really beating myself up about it

Beating myself up about things is sort of the theme lately, as that’s part of what happens in my depression cycle. The big D is what has been making life  miserable lately (mentally and physically as it increases pain levels). I’m not really going to talk about it much here as I know people don’t like hearing about that very much and so I’d rather save your illness attention spans for when I may need it in the future But I’ll just say that it has been the worst episode ever but finally my meds are adjusted and things seem to be on an even keel again. I still don’t feel that my meds are quite right, but I plan to study the meditation course for the prevention of depression relaspe so hopefully the meds will become less important in time.

The big news is that I have decided to go to America for a while this year. Normally this wouldn’t be news as I spend between 5 and 10 weeks a year there but I had actually been planning to *not* go over this year and have my parents come visit me instead. But my dad got sick (another reason I have been silent online is being stressed over him being in the hospital, etc.) and can’t do a long haul flight for a while and now my health problems are just getting to be more than t can handle. We’re going to have to look into getting me a carer but to do that I need to get disability benefits and that’s going to take several months so the temporary answer is that I will be going to the US to stay with my mom for two months to give t a break, then she will come over here for a few weeks to get some stuff organized so that we’re in a better position for the future.

SO: I’m going to be going to North Carolina from late May (ish) to the end of July (ish), with stops in Pittsburgh (and maybe Philly) and Tampa to see my dad (and maybe Disneyworld, that would rock!). I’m going to work on my knitting, practice spinning and maybe do some re-enacting. Also probably doing some scrapbooking and maybe a bit of quilting (Mom’s a big time quilt freak). And buying craft supplies. Oh yes, the best part!

All that comes after our trip to Paris next week though

I have more to talk about but I must rest my hands, my spinning class is tomorrow so I can’t afford to be crampy! I’ll try to post again soon, really!

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….