Update on post below

After debating the decision, I finally went ahead and created a crafting blog since crocheting is such a big part of my daily life.

http://crochetingkeesha.blogspot.com/

Finished!

Finished today! Yay! I'm excited for my first crocheted top. I think it came out pretty well for a first attempt at a shirt.
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Saturday charity check-in

I belong to a wonderful Yahoo group. It's a small gathering of some very strong-willed, like-minded women using their crafting abilities to make items for charity. We have a database of charities we are in involved with, including contact information for other members in case they are looking for a new charity to help.

We have an annual goal of how many items we would like for charity a year as a group. Last weekend, the total for the 137 of us is 14,395. **This week's total is at 14,997.**

What will it be tonight? How much progress have we made in one week? I can hardly wait to find out! I'm having such a great time with this. With all of the wonderful yarn I was blessed with, I can pay it forward to these folks in need. I'll update the number again later when the (very patient) moderator is done with the counting.

My count as of last night was 16 caps for NICU/school programs, 4 dishcloths for shelter, 1 potholder, 1 small child's play clutch, 1 scarf, 3 squares.

It may slow down a bit this week. If I didn't know better I'd say every speck of collagen in my body is staging a revolt.

Dogs and cysts and crochet, oh my!

Life has been pretty uneventful, I must say, and I am glad to report it.

I went about a week without the vertigo, but it was kicking my butt last night. DH helped me to the bedroom to go to bed. I forgot to do something and went back to the kitchen shortly after that, and when I went to leave the kitchen I walked straight into the dishwasher/counter, knocking over everything there. This morning though has been better.

NY reports the growth pushing on my cerebellum has...GONE! Shocking, isn't it?

My CCF has failed, and I've lost 1 1/2 inches in the last year, based on my recent bone scan. We can however put off surgery indefinitely.

Why? Because I've developed a Tornwaldt cyst. It's an ENT thing apparently, a pus-filled cyst in the lining of my nose/throat. It's main symptoms? Severe headaches and dizziness.

It makes me wonder if that is the cause of the recent vertigo resulting in the 2 passing out issues that caused the closed head injury. I'd never had vertigo so severe as the week leading up the Easter events, and the Tornwaldt cyst had never been there before, so it is a recent development.

So, TCI has me going to an ENT this month. Tornwaldts typically need to come out because they are so prone to infection.

Hopefully it can be left alone but if it's got to go, then I may go ahead and have them fix the deviated septum I've been avoiding for so many years. I can't remember the last time I've been able to breathe out of the right side of my nose (see the picture on the lower left corner of my blog banner).

I am really dental phobic because of people being around my face with pointy metal things, which is much of the reason I've never had the septum fixed--scared of the surgery. I know, it's pretty dumb considering all the brain and spine surgeries I've had, along with other EDS-related surgeries.

But if they have to get the Tornwaldt out, they'll be doing surgery anyway so they may as well fix it all. I will do what NY/TCI says needs done.

I have been crocheting like a fiend, making caps for NICU babies at local St. Joseph's, the NICU she stayed in. I'll never forget going in there one morning to sit by her and there was a crocheted blanket over her isolette, donated from a volunteer. I have never forgotten how that small gesture lifted my spirits, the love with which it was made, made me feel things would be all right.

Now I have the chance to do the same for others. I'm making caps of all sizes for the NICU (Meg was tiny, being a bit early, but Collin was 10 pounds at birth and still ended up in the NICU as well--nothing they had would fit him so I'm making large ones as well). I'm also making dishcloths for a local domestic violence shelter so they'll have some for when they move out to get a safe, new start in life. I spoke with a crisis pregnancy center too and if I can find a good pattern, will make booties for their clients, since they give them out with every ultrasound client; they also give a cap and blanket to the moms when they give birth so will try to help with that as well.

I'm also making a scarf for Collin's 7th birthday next month. It's the Gryffindor scarf from the Harry Potter movies. I work on it at night after he goes to bed. I just ordered a Gryffindor patch off Ebay to put on it when it's complete, so it should really turn out awesome! I'm really excited and hope he will love it as much as he loves reading the books.

The dogs are doing great, all 3. I'll post a pic so you see how the newbies are getting along with one another. Wolfie at this moment is sleeping 1/2 on top of Gizmo, who is asleep on top of my ankle here in the recliner. Life is good. Oh, to be a spoiled dog in this house!

Rant

I joined a crochet forum in late February. It's a very large group with just under 20,000 people. There are tons of sub-forums regarding different aspects and specialties of the craft but there is also an off-topic area for general discussion.

There was a thread started WAY before I was there and it has 10 pages now because the topic simply hasn't died off. We all know how that goes, right? It asked who all had tattoos. Many included pictures.

I responded a few days ago that I have a cartoon-type ladybug on my ankle and a large butterfly on my shoulder. I couldn't find a pic of the ladybug but posted my butterfly--not the same picture at the top of this blog. I know people at a non-health forum would not be thrilled to see a pic like that.

Today I go to check out the thread to see any new pics and lo and behold, my response is GONE.

In its place is a reminder from the main admin to stick to the site rules: no profanity and no mention of where a tattoo is if it's in a personal location ("anything that would be covered by a bikini"), and of course no pictures if that is the case.

Excuse me but what is so OFFENSIVE about a picture of a butterfly on a shoulder? *gasp* I guess it was a mortal sin. There's not a snowball's chance I cussed.

They didn't email or PM, [i]nothing[/i].

You probably know by now that I sent her a PM a moment ago that was straight to the point. We'll see what they have to say!

Gotta love Freecycle

I crochet, having learned when I was around 6, but never really did anything with it until last fall. I made my daughter a Babette blanket.

I am so glad to have jumped back in on the crochet bandwagon. It's a great sanity-saver because of being in the house all the time, and being able to hold a finished product in my hand that used to be simple yarn is awesome. I've taken up making caps for NICU babies, and more caps for the local Caps for Kids program.

I thought I'd take a chance earlier this week and see if anyone on Freecycle had any spare yarn skeins or scraps; I wouldn't be able to afford to continue the charity projects on my finances. However, I was surprised by the number of responses and long story short, four women thanked me for posting because they had been intending to clean out their yarn stashes and now they had the motivation! Between them all, I was given around 3 Hefty bags overflowing with beautiful yarn.

I will be able to continue the charity projects indefinitely thanks to the great baby yarn; I can also do some clothing and kitchenworks too (dishcloths, etc) with all of the cotton yarn.

I am so surprised and thankful for these generous women. There are some great people out there!

Babette blanket FINISHED!

I had one extra skein of sea foam and needed another salmon to complete the border so I made the exchange at Purl's this week. Tonight I finished DD's blanket! It is so soft and the salmon-kind of color as the border is her favorite. She doesn't know yet that it is hers. It's been such a therapeutic process to crochet this blanket.



While I'm here I'm going to do some shameless plugs. Christmas Day will be my CafePress Chiari/Syringomyelia store's 3rd anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long! I designed all the items there and 100% of the profit goes to the Research Fund at the American Syringomyelia Alliance Project, also known as ASAP, a 501(c)(3). I have a design for everyone: CM and/or SM patients, Chiari 0 CMers, family members and friends, people of all ages including infants, clothing, stickers, magnets, pins, tote bags, etc. It's worth checking out.





I also still have my CURE CHIARI wristband project going for another outstanding 501(c)(3), Wishes and Rainbows, to assist them in helping patients with their expenses. The wristbands are dark purple, have CURE CHIARI embossed on them, are 100% silicone to stretch past the hand to fit comfortably on the wrist. Unlike the majority of wristbands out there, I have 3 different sizes. 7" fits teenagers, average-framed women, and small-framed men. 8" fits large-framed women and average-framed men. I also have a small amount of 5 3/4" for very young children. They are 2.00 each. All profits go to W&R to help patients with immediate needs. If you would like to purchase a bracelet feel free to contact me via comment or email. It's a great way to spread awareness to the public and show support!



I also wanted to let you know about GoodSearch, which is a great search engine. They donate one cent per search to ASAP. Simply select American Syringomyelia Alliance Project in the box by the yellow buttons. (One of these buttons also allows you to see how much money was raised per month!) If you just enter Syringomyelia then the foundation name will pop up. You can make a difference! Consider adding GoodSearch to your favorites or making it your homepage.

Babette weaving--complete!

Wahoo! I stayed up late and attached the very last square for the Babette blanket. It's just in time for me to head to the airport shortly. I just wanted that part done!

The next part will be done when I return. I'm using the salmon color in it for a small border around the blanket.

Son's MRI; Babette blanket

My son's MRI is scheduled for next week. I'm glad to have it done before I go to Baltimore for surgery a few days later. I admit to being unnerved and fearful last night when he came out of his room to tell us matter-of-factly about having pain in his chest. That was a first, at least he has never told us before of chest pain.

I had PT this morning and am glad it's almost done. On the other hand, that also means surgery is around the corner.

I finished crocheting all the squares for the Babette blanket---well over 100! I marked the progress chart toward the bottom of the blog to 95%. The other 5% I am reserving for the process of attaching them all together. I am putting a picture here but it's a little misleading. It only shows panels 1-8 because my dinner table isn't big enough for 9 and 10, the final two panels. I'll post another picture when they are all connected, and another after I add a small finishing border to complete it.

Don't sweat the small stuff

I've been asked about some other daily issues of late so I thought I would do a post about these things that keep me going on a daily basis and help me remember there is more to life that than waiting for a particular doctor call, test results, etc.

The Babette blanket is coming along pretty well. I am part-way through Panel 7 so I just took a photo of panels 1-6. It's exciting to see some progress now. Working on it is an excellent distraction from the pain and for the most part I look forward to each and every square.


Collin wanted terrible to help me with the blanket and eventually I had him sit with me and "help." My friend took some pictures but I just now saw this one while uploading and is sure one of my favorites, his little hand in mine.


We do not have Meg's CPAP yet due to paperwork problems at the hospital. And thus, we continue to watch this 5 year old munchkin throw herself around as she tries to find air. Here, she lifts her head up and backwards so she can breathe, at least until her head falls back down. This is all done in her chopped up version of sleep.




The kids had their first baseball game today. Well Collin played in the spring but this was Meg's first game, ever. They both hit coach-pitch, both times at time.

Babette Update

Panels 1 through 4 are complete.

My 6 year old helped me lay out the squares this afternoon for a quick photo.

Babette blanket

As promised, here is what I have done so far with the Babette blanket (blanket joined together using crocheted squares of varying sizes).

I am using Gong yarn from Italy and a size G6/4mm hook. I have never used the yarn before and it already feels heavenly.

Panel 1 is the largest square of the entire pattern. It takes up the whole panel itself. I used pink, lavender, and salmon.

Panel 2 consists of 2 smaller squares put together.

The left square, inside to out, is salmon and purple. The right square, inside to out, is sea foam and pink.

I'll get pictures when it starts to come together. There are 10 panels are become progressively more work (or at least more squares at a time).

I just worry I won't have enough time to finish.