Sunday, October 28, 2012

I Can't Weave it Alone

I Can't Weave it Alone
or
Take That, Arthritis!

I used to crochet.  And knit.  A lot.  Then RA took away my ability to do fine motions with my fingers for an extended amount of time, so I had to pretty much give them up.  And that was sad.

But then my wonderful husband bought me this!

And I have been very happy since.  It's an Ashford Knitter's Loom.  It's collapsible and portable, and I can make projects up to 20" wide.



Recently, my sister was diagnosed with stage zero breast cancer.  (Stage zero meaning that it was caught at the precancerous stage.  Radiation treatments suck, but she's gonna be fine.)  And with it being breast cancer awareness month, I made her a pink scarf.

These are the yarns that I used:

All of them were at Joann's.  (Moonlight Madness sale!  Woot!)
The fuzzies near the bottom are fun fur and sparkly fun fur.  The Pound of love is lighter than the rest, and I used it for my weft.  I liked the contrast in the finished product.

Work in progress:






And the finished scarf:



I'm very happy with this project (my selvedges are actually even!) but there are a few things I learned.  Fun fur looks like it would be a good idea, but the weaving process makes all of the threads lay down and you can barely tell that it's there.  The sparkly yarn, however, is a big yes!  I thought it added greatly to the overall scarf.  It's hard to see in the picture, but it's there.

So what colors should I try next?

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

I'm (still) on Drugs

I'm (still) on Drugs

It's been a while since I've done this, and my meds have changed in the last year, so I thought I'd give this another go.  In order of when I take them:

5:00 am (right when I first wake up)
A single teeny-tiny 88mcg Levothyroxine.  It's a thyroid hormone, to keep up with my sluggish thyroid.  Cause - Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.

6:00 am
A single slightly-less-teeny 400mg Gabapentin.  It's a fun one, for my tingling, numb, oversensitive feet.  Cause - Peripheral Neuropathy (non-Diabetic).  Apparently, this one's got a decent street value.

6:30 am (with Breakfast)
Can you believe I can take all of these in one go with a sip of water?  But they say it's not a problem until I'm chewing the painkillers...

Top row - Supplements.  Iron, Multi-Vitamin, B-Complex, and Flax Oil.
Bottom row - 600mg Ibuprofen (and that's it for painkillers, folks!), 120mg Propranolol (for the Essential Tremors caused by the next one), 200mg Plaquenil (an anti-rheumatic for my RA), 20mg Paxil (guess what - chronic illness can cause depression and anxiety), 5mg Prednisone (for the RA), and a Claritin.

2:00 pm


Another 400mg Gabapentin.

6:00 pm (Dinnertime)
Top row - Supplements.  Calcium, Fish Oil, Feverfew (for headaches), Align Probiotic.
Bottom Row - 600mg Ibuprofen, 200mg Plaquenil, 50mg Hydrochlorothiozide (which I just spelled from memory...and is my blood pressure pill).

9:00 pmish - 10:00 pmish (Bedtime)
50mg Elavil (for the Neuropathy and headaches), the last Gabapentin, 750mg Robaxin (whee!...muscle relaxers!), and 50mg Desyrel (sleeping pill).

That makes 12 meds (11 prescription and Claritin) from four different doctors plus supplements for a grand total of 28 pills daily.

Oh, and let's not forget this:
Every six weeks.  I'm at 4mg per kg, but he's bumping it up for my next dose.  This is an immune suppressant (in the hopes of getting my overactive immune system to stop attacking my joints).  So, if you see me use Purell after shaking your hand or refuse a bite of whatever yummy food you have, don't be insulted.  I'm just trying to keep from getting Every. Single. Germ. that is going around.