Happy Easter!

He is Risen!

I Fell Off The Wagon

Yes, I fell off the wagon. The not buying yarn wagon. I have successfully used up all the little balls from past projects. I big yeah to that, but the new rectangular granny afghan needed more "bigness". I rummaged through the stash and did not find yarn that I felt fit in with the previous yarn used. The exception was a small bit of I Love This Yarn in grape (300) and pink (100). I had seen some nice colors in Red Heart With Love yarn that I felt might fit in the color scheme of which there is really no real scheme. I added Mango (1252), Daffodil (1201), Boysenberry (1907) and Blue Hawaii (1803). I have used the With Love yarn before and found it to be pretty good but the Daffodil is a little rough. It is not as rough as some others but I was a little disappointed. I don't know how big this afghan will be. I will just crochet till it looks the size I want it.

 I have done something different with this afghan than I did on the original rectangle. The original pattern was from a 1976 Leisure Arts leaflet. There were no ch1's inbetween the dc groups along the side of the afghan. This made the first afghan pretty thick. I liked it but also found it made it a little less floppy for lack of a better work. This time I am using a ch1 between the double crochet clusters and we will see how much difference that makes.

 

This is the last of the yarn. If there is any leftover yarn once I decide the afghan is finished then I will use the little balls for stripes in hats for the Knit-A-Cap project.

 

Pollen!!

Welcome spring to the North Central Texas area. Pollen count yesterday...4813!! This is crazy! Are there any other words to describe that other than very high?

First Box of Hats

The first box of hats for the Knit-A-Cap project is filling up. One advantage to having all those little yarn scrap balls is you get a lot of interesting hats. I am not counting how many are done right now. When a hat is finished it gets put in the box. Once the box is a little fuller and I need a new one I will count how many are in the first box. This project is not mailed until September but I am excited I am using up all those little yarn balls. Once all that stash is used I will allow myself to buy more yarn. Well, that is after I use up some skeins that have already been designated as hat yarn.

So True

Check out Lene's post today on www.theseatedview.blogspot.com , "Real RA: The Great Pretender ". Click on this link or the one on my blog roll. So true.

Scrap Afghan 2

I am still trying to use up all the extra small balls of yarn from various projects. I already crocheted the one rectangular granny afghan and decided to start on another one. I also am working on the hats for the Knit-A-Cap project that is a continual work in progess. These help use up smaller yarn balls for stripes in the hats. I am having some difficulty with my hands as my RA seems to be flaring up but I still am working. I switch back and forth between knit and crochet when they really start to bother me. If I had to completely stop.... that just would not be good.

I am not sure how big the afghan will get because I have now run out of the original colors from the leftover yarn and now will go through the stash and choose whatever is next. This could be one interesting looking afghan.

 

RA Blog

I came across a very good blog post today thanks to a link by Lene, www.theseatedview.blogspot.com . Unless someone has RA it is hard for people to understand exactly how it makes you physically feel. A few years ago I decided it made me feel like I have the flu all the time. My rheumatologist said that is a pretty good description. Add to that the pain that never goes away but is only lessened by medication. Remicade usually works pretty good for me but the last two months I have felt like I didn't get an infusion. I call it a medicine controlled flare. The reason for that is I have had flares without the meds and it can be totally disabling. Lene linked an article from www.livingwithra.wordpress.com The Musings about RA from a Scientific Frame of Reference. The post is titled "Why Do I Feel So Bad With RA: Cytokine Induced Sickness." Andrew writes from a scientific perspective and I am so glad. I get so tired of people giving me advice on how I could make my RA "well". RA is NOT like the arthritis advertised on TV that we can "cure" with a few Tylenol or Advil. I tend to get a little upset at those ads because this seems to make the average person think they can tell you what you need to do to feel better. Many of us are treated by drugs that were originally created to treat cancer. Read Andrew's post. It describes the battle that goes on within our bodies as they fight the attack that comes from within. I have added Andrew's blog to my blog list. Check it out. Knowledge is power.

Cookbooks

I finally finished the last of the cooksbooks. About five years ago I decided my four kids (ok they are adults) needed to have a collection of all our family recipes. These include ones from grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts and the more recent recipes I have used as they were growing up. I wanted them to be handwritten because I enjoy reading recipes and letters that were handwritten by family. While reading the letters I can see those people writing those things to me. So inbetween all the other things that have gone on the past few years I worked on the cookbooks. At last they are finished. I am happy and excited. Plus these cookbooks are ring binders so there is extra room and extra pages to add new recipes. Here is a picture of the last cookbook. Now on to other projects.

Headboard Cover

I have a very old, antique, bed set. The bed and dresser belonged to my parents when they were first setting up house so it must be around 74 years old or so. In the 60's my mom and sister painted it going from dark to the popular thing at the time, white with gold trim. The headboard has taken the worse part of wear having been passed on to one of the kids who proceeded to put stickers on it. Oh well, it still works. But it really has been looking haggard for many years. I do not like or enjoy painting or restaining furniture. I recently found some Red Heart With Love yarn. I am not crazy about RH yarn, most of it is pretty scratchy but this stuff was super soft and a pleasure to use. The main reason I wanted it was it has very Caribbean, water, beach looking colors. Of course the name won me over. It is Beachy #0938. I measured the width of the headboard and then used Attic 24's Granny Stripe pattern (www.attic24.typepad.com) I also used an I crochet hook. I crocheted till it fit over the headboard. Then I folded the top part down about 4" and stitched a little pocket-like enclosure so the cover would stay over the headboard. I think it goes well with the bedspread. This will do till someone volunteers to strip and repaint the bed. I am not holding my breath on that.