Helena Jacket - Interweave

Helena Jacket - Interweave





I use Interweave almost daily. Seriously now, I use it for techniques, inspiration, the newest in crochet and knitting trends, you name it. Today it paid off! I got an email offering me a survey, at the end of the survey I got a coupon for $5 off any purchase, no minimum. EEEEEEEEEEE! It was a hard choice between the Tuscany Tank Dress and the helena Jacket. You can see which one I chose, but I think I'll be buying the Tuscany Tank Dress pattern anyway. It's so pretty and I've been looking at it for at least a year so it's not really an impulse buy, now is it?
Yay for me!

Which way is up?

I am feeling so much better, the sore, swollen jaw has faded to a mild ache. I tried to eat a sandwich yesterday and despite it being as soft as I could make it, it was too much for my gums and jaw. I felt like I had chewed sand afterward.
Yesterday I finished the anti nausea Rx and today I'm taking my last 2 penicillin so I figured it was a good time to try going off the pain pills. I figured at the worst I would be in pain after a few hours and would take it again, but at the best I would feel fine and not have to take any more.
Um, I assumed too much. I was actually somewhere in between the two. I was sore and grumpy but not enough that I felt I needed the heavy stuff. Ibuprofen helped the pain well enough that I am happy taking that instead, but Mike suggested I take one of the heavy duty pills for the night. Not waking up in the middle of the night with a painful jaw? let me think about that. Today I was able to eat without pain, sauteed baby squash and mushrooms with a sprinkling of cheese. It was so good to eat solid food!
There is a single issue now that I would like to be rid of. I'm dizzy and a little slow. I know you're laughing, yuck it up. Got it out of your system now? OK, moving on.
I took one of the hydrocodone at 11 pm last night and nothing but ibuprofen today yet the dizziness persists. If I sit still and don't talk or move my head too quickly then it's minimal. I still feel like someone is spinning the couch a little if I focus too closely on anything but it's not overwhelming like it is if I stand or goodness gracious, walk up the stairs. I've also noticed a strange correlation. The dizzier I am, the harder it is to speak. If you know me or have ever read this blog, talking isn't a hardship for me. I feel like I have to work for every word, over-pronouncing and spacing each word out as though I've had a stroke. I'm not taking the pain pills anymore, period.

Stormy Weather and really good meds

I had 5 teeth taken out on Friday morning. 4 wisdom teeth, 3 of which were impacted, and one molar that couldn't be saved. I was all cozied up by taking a diazepam Thursday night and two more 30 minutes before my appointment on Friday morning. It was so easy, I remember being woozy and warmly dizzy on the way into the office but I lost visual somewhere between the waiting room and the exam room. I remember hearing them tell me to sit, I felt the iv go in and the 3-4 injections in my mouth, then I woke up. I slept most of the way home and I spent the first 24 hours in and out of consciousness, waking take pills and follow directions. Once I woke with an intense hot flash followed by cold sweat and shakes, then vomiting. Mike was taking such good care of me, he called Dr Kreuger for an anti nausea med which strangely, is revolting to taste.
Soft foods, liquids, and tons of rest and I'm getting slowly back to normal. Mike was waiting on me hand and foot all weekend and took a sick day today to help me out more since I'm still a little messed up. He's so great.
I cant focus on a book or crochet, I get crosseyed and sleepy every time I do.

Yarn Necklaces are pretty

Tonight my niece turned 15. We got her a pretty off-white linen dress with a thin leather belt, but I felt like something was missing. Being without wrapping paper, I quickly sewed a bag our of white fabric with black flowers and a red ribbon for a tie. Hmm.... tied up all pretty and still, something was missing. While searching for the fabric to make the bag I had run across a couple of balls of a very deep purple Pima cotton lace weight thread so when I finished up the gift bag a lightbulb went off in my head.
BING!! (yes, it made the sound)
I had seen a crocheted necklace somewhere, at sometime, I couldn't remember the details but I loved it. Basically it was lengths of chain with a small section of single crochet at either end, each chain length is a little longer than the last. A button on one of the single crochet ends and a button hole on the other, then some flowers sewn to the lengths off center. It was much simpler than it sounds when I explain it, I promise. So I whipped up a necklace and a bracelet.
Here's what I did, though you can change the weight of the yarn and number of stitches to suit yourself.

Necklace
With two strand lace weight cotton, doubled and a size 10 hook:
Chain 161, turn, sc in 5 ch, chain 170, sc in the last 5 ch.
Turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 180, (sc, chain 3, sc) in last 5 sc.
Turn, (sc, 3 sc in chain 3 space, sc), chain 190, sc in last 5 sc.
turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 200, sc in last 5 sc.
Turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 210, sc in last 5 sc.

Attach a button to the single crochet section without the button hole. Weave in ends. Crochet 2 flowers and attach them to two strands together, wherever you think they look best.

Bracelet

Same materials and hook as for necklace.
Chain 56, turn, sc in the first 5, chain 45, sc in the last 5.
turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 45, sc in 5 sc.
Turn, sc in 5 sc, chain 45, (sc 1, chain 3, sc 1) in the last 5 sc.
Turn, sc in sc, 3 sc in chain 3, sc in sc, ch 45, sc in 5.
Turn, sc in 5, chain 45, sc in 5.
finish off, weave in ends. attach button to the side without a buttonhole, make a flower and sew it to two strands together wherever you think it would look best.

Flower
with single thread, chain 4, join into a ring. chain 1, *sc, hdc, dc, 2tc, dc, hdc, sc* Repeat til there are 5 petals, join to first sc and finish off.

She seemed to like them. Her favorite colors are purple, black, and red and I managed to add those all to her present AND she has a thing for buttons but she also admitted that she's the type to smile and pretend to love it even if she hates it. She's 15 and I'm not sure what teenagers like or if it was really dorky. Oh well, *I* thought it was pretty so I think I'll be making one for myself tomorrow.
If you make this, it's fast and easy, just 3 tips - 1) try to make sure that the button isn't so heavy that it pulls the necklace down the back of your neck 2)take the time to stop and organize the strands of chaining every so often in order to keep it straight and even 3) sew the flower to 2 strands to keep the flower from twisting backwards.
My skirt is coming along nicely as well, but it's in a boring stretch where I just keep repeating the pattern over and over and over and... see it's not interesting in the least. 2 more inches and I'll start making some decreases for the waist, that will involve some thinking at least. I'm not sure what I'll do for the waist bad and tie, but I love the look of the motifs on the hem and I can't wait to get the edging on it to see the finished look.

I just don't know WHY

We have an old, mismatched, gas guzzling Suburban that takes 20 minutes to warm up. It's been a huge life-saver in the winter when we might not have gotten out of the driveway through the huge piles of snow if we hadn't had it. My dad sold it to us for a few hundred and we haven't gotten the title in our name as of yet.
This morning when Mike left for work it was here. This afternoon at 4:30 when Mike came home, it wasn't. Just like that. I was cleaning the house and getting ready for a family night with all of his side of the family so I was inside all day and other than running the vacuum or being in the shower, I didn't have enough noise that I would have missed that very loud engine.
It's really shaken me up that someone came on to our property and just simply TOOK a vehicle. I was here alone with my children. I was asleep from the time Mike left til about 9 am, too. After calling all friends, family, and neighbors that might have borrowed it and forgotten to tell us, Mike called the Sheriff's office. The officer came out, took our information and had Mike fill out the paperwork but told us he was holding off filing it til later tonight just in case the one person we didn't get a hold of had it.
No call yet to tell us it's found, but I'm hopeful.
The big thing - WHY? Why would someone come out to the backside of a tiny town, drive down a dirt road with 4 houses on it, turn down MY driveway and think to themselves, I should take that old 3 color Suburban with a bathtub in the back. did I forget to mention that we'd bought a tub to replace the one upstairs and since we had no room for it yet we left it in the back? Yeah.

On to something slightly different

I have lost weight, I really have. Last year at this time I was about 310 again and now I'm 278. I worked for that number - not hard exactly, but it was still work. However, the Acai Berry Blend and Cleanse Aware didn't help me lose wight. I did lose 4 lbs from colon cleanse and while I'm tickled to be down by ANY poundage, ew. Seriously? 4 lbs? Again I say, ew.
I've only lost 2 lbs this last month and a half and that's a little short of what I was aiming for, which was 12 lbs. On the upside, while window shopping with my SIL I found I am now a size 22W. Note the W, that means I'm still big, but a size smaller than before. My 24s are too big and most brands of 22 are tight. Not in a painful,red line, sucking-in-to-zip sort of way but more along the lines of an uncomfortable awareness of a tiny muffin top and obvious camel-toe kid of way. I just don't have the cojones to walk in public like that... which you would see quite clearly if you saw me in 22 regulars.
I love the losing, hate the in-between sizing. But who makes a 23 women's tall? in anything? Nobody *I* can afford. I hate showing off my knees in dresses and my ankles in pants. I hate showing them off, period, but it's especially bad when I am trying to look cute. I celebrated by buying a pair of jeans, a pair of shoes, and a super duper fancy dress. Who knows, I my wear it somewhere, but in the mean time I am prepared. And really excited about being a 22.
At least I was. Now that the shock of that has worn a little, I'm on to a new goal of a size 20. I figure that will take about 10 lbs, so I'm giving myself the goal date of June 1st to lose those 10 lbs. A friend of mine has lost a ton of weight and I am going to be a good little lemming and follow her example. She said her doctor was concerned about the weight she'd gained so she gave her some simple guidelines to lose the weight - avoid "white" foods and sugar, eat veggies, lean meats, and dairy (milk,yogurt) daily. So every morning she starts her day with oatmeal and eats normal portions of lean meats and veggies for her meals, having a snack of yogurt, fruit, or some sort of fiber bar during the day. Increase water. She's lost 41 pounds as of yesterday, she managed it BEFORE her goal date!
Considering my self control is spotty at best and I'm doing it alone, still feeding Mike and the kids foods I wont be eating, i don't think I'll make a spectacular showing right away. But I know it worked for her, I've thought about doing this before and I checked out the South Beach diet book for recipe ideas.
On the 29th of March my middle son turned 6. Not only was it hard to handle emotionally but I ate the cake. Like, nearly the whole thing, myself. I cant guess what you're thinking and I KNOW!! Gross. Ten my period and a cold hit on the same day. Period is gone, cold is nearly gone, but the weight is still here. I guess I can't keep calling it water weight if it's still here this long after, right?
In 9 days my oldest turns 8. Wah. I get to face this little scenario again. Then 5 days later, my youngest sister turns 19. WTH is going on here? I'm not that old, this is not happening. The best I can hope for is to lose weight, get healthy, and hope it makes me younger and prettier looking along the way. At least when I lose the weight I'll be likely to live long enough to see my great grandkids :)
I'm heading down to see my family soon. I've missed them all and it'll be good to see them. It's hard to see Nanny going through what she's going through, being in a nursing home, in so much pain, suffering with her dementia. It's even harder seeing her house empty or with someone else in it. But it's great to see Bert and her kids, being around the same ages as my monsters.. er, darlings.. we can get together at a park or large restaurant and no other adult in the group will be giving me THAT look. You know, the one that accuses you of knowingly bringing children into the world and then inflicting them on the public before the age of "knowing how to shut up and be invisible so as not to inconvenience adults". Bite me.
I get to spend time with my dad and his family, I really wish I could see them more. And Maybe, just maybe, I can pin my mom to a firm date for a visit to us up here in the boonies. I hit a bunch of sales after the first melt-off and I have a winter assortment of coats and sweaters for my nieces and nephews, a handful of clothing for my littlest sis, and a shirt for my mom.
I'm so glad to see less snow! I say less, not 'the end of' because still get snow every other day here and it melts off in anywhere from an hour to 2 days. when this stops, I have a bunch of planting and yard work planned. In the meantime, Mike is fixing things around the house. Changing the filter on the pump, building a well house, fixing the toilet and tub faucet downstairs, replacing the faucet in the kitchen, and making preparations for the remodeling the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms. When that's done, we have windows to replace and a new front door to put in... then I get to paint. hehe. this summer is going to be full, for sure. We joined Groupon and got a big discount on ticket to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, so we have plans to go to the coast in the beginning of August. Right about when I turn 31. Hopefully by then I'll be significantly lighter and feel much younger than (and therefore better about) turning 31.