Yarnification

No crocheting last night. I didn’t end up getting home from work until after 9:00, so my lofty plans of crocheting and sewing and all that didn’t quite work out. But I did find out that I don’t have to work till midnight tonight as I had previously thought, so maybe tonight.

This is a little, um, sad:

Your Inner Child Is Sad

You’re a very sensitive soul. You haven’t grown that thick skin that most adults have. Easily hurt, you tend to retreat to your comfort zone. You don’t let many people in - unless you’ve trusted them for a long time.

Just FYI if you access my feed at Bloglines or someplace like that…Since I’ve been updating posts here and there to fit them into my new category structure, a few of them are popping up at Bloglines as new posts. If I only change the categories it doesn’t happen, but sometimes I’ve been noticing a typo or a broken link and fixing it, which seems to make Bloglines think it’s a new post.

This will probably take me a few more days or a week since I’m just doing a month’s worth of posts here and there, so my feed might be a little wonky with old posts occasionally getting marked as new again for a little while.

Hey, I’m actually doing WIP on Wednesday! (Er. It is Wednesday, right?) The bad news is that it’s almost identical to last week’s, still limiting how much I crochet because of the finger thing.

1. Purse. I intend to bust out the sewing machine tonight. I’d like to get the purse handles finished and attached, dig around for that black fabric that I know I have somewhere, and get the lining made. I may not necessarily get around to attaching it tonight, though, since I also need to do laundry and things like that.
2. Comfort pack. I have the cover and buttons made and one button sewed on (two to go—only three total since it’s narrower than the last one I made). The fabric for the inner pack is cut, just need to sew it up and fill it while I’ve got the machine out for the purse lining.
3. Dreaming doily. I haven’t touched this all week since I started the pineapple doily. I’ll come back to it.
4. Ankle socks. Also untouched this week.
5. Pineapple doily. This is one of the patterns in the Workbasket I picked up, and it’s my first doily in #30 thread. Coming along very slowly but steadily since I’m only working on it a little at a time.

Boring stuff ahead: I’ve done a little bit of work on the blog here and there. I’ve been doing better at keeping my WIP progress bars updated after noticing earlier this week that the list had almost no bearing on what I’m acutally working on. And I moved the calendar and archives closer to the top of the page and installed a plugin to make the archives look more organized. Recently I’ve also been reworking the categories a bit, mostly just to make things better organized for me since the categories don’t really affect what you’re seeing on the page unless you click on a cagetory to see all the posts listed in it.

Okay, I’m done here for today, need to get things wrapped up at work…

The other day Don and I went to wander around the antique stores out on Route 40, mostly just to get out of the house. I found a stack of old Workbaskets, would’ve bought all of them if they’d been cheaper than $2 apiece but since they cost that much I just bought one that had some really cool doily patterns. I also found more old tatting thread, $5 for a big bag of it. I didn’t go out intending to spend quite that much money, but that thread…In terms of the price of tatting thread at Joann’s, there’s a good $40 or so worth of thread in that bag.

I’ve been practicing the tatting here and there. I seem to have gotten the hang of the slip join, which was really messing me up for a while. I’m still practicing in #10 thread so it’ll be easier to tell when I make mistakes and so I don’t waste my tatting thread.

I’ve also started one of the doilies in that Workbasket, but I’m only working on it about fifteen minutes at a time because of the ongoing Numb Finger From Hell problem (current status: only a little numb unless I try to do much thread crochet, which temporarily makes it a lot number). Fifteen minutes doesn’t seem to cause a problem, but anything more does.

I’ve got to start taking my B vitamins regularly again. I keep starting and stopping them, mostly because I try to take them with food so they don’t upset my stomach, so it’s easy to forget to take them. Anyway, between the Numb Finger and the fact that I’ve been noticing the twingy first signs of carpal tunnel syndrome in my left wrist (I’ve only had it in the right in the past from doing jobs that involved tons of data entry, but the Numb Finger is also on my left hand), there’s obviously an issue going on.

First reference I could find offhand—it’s at mothernature.com but the text is taken from one of Prevention’s books on vitamins (whole article is here, bolding added by me):

Shortages of the B vitamins can also lead to nerve damage in the hands and feet. Some studies indicate that people with diabetes experience less of the numbness and tingling of diabetes-caused nerve damage if they get supplemental amounts of B vitamins such as B6 and B12.

As for carpal tunnel syndrome, “you couldn’t say enough about carpal tunnel and vitamin B6,” says Dr. Ellis. “The evidence is that positive.” He contends that swelling and inelasticity of the sheath surrounding a nerve in the wrist may be caused by a lack of B6. “B6 helps you get rid of the extra water gain that causes carpal tunnel,” he says. Another theory, backed up by two European studies, suggests that B6 somehow short-circuits an angry nerve’s ability to transmit pain signals.

(Is it just me, or is the color of the little bar next to blockquoted stuff like those paragraphs up there a truly painful shade of green? Maybe I should fix that.)

Gotta run…

Just a quick note—my comment moderation seems to have a mind of its own these days. I haven’t changed a thing, but lately it’s developed a habit of holding perfectly innocent comments for moderation when they don’t seem to even remotely meet the criteria I set up.

I’m not entirely sure whether, when it decides a comment needs to be moderated, it actually tells you that your comment is being held until I look at it, or if it just looks like your comment vanished into the ether, so I thought I’d mention I’ve been having an issue with that.

I normally don’t discuss politics and all that here, but since this happened so quietly that I never knew about it until now, I thought I’d pass it on.

Americans’ health privacy violated

SUE BLEVINS

State governments nationwide soon plan to electronically track Americans’ use of commonly prescribed medications for pain, anxiety, attention-deficit disorder and sleep disorders.

On Aug. 11, President Bush signed into law the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005. It authorizes 60 million taxpayer dollars over five years to establish electronic prescription drug surveillance programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It requires those dispensing controlled substances (such as pharmacists and physicians) to submit information to state governments within one week of filling prescriptions, including patients’ names, addresses and telephone numbers. Data also will be collected on animal owners whose pets are prescribed controlled substances by veterinarians.

The whole things is at: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/sunnews/news/opinion/12558821.htm Please go read it. I am appalled by this. I don’t feel the government has a right to collect and hand out information about what medications I’m taking. I really feel alarmed these days at the erosion of personal privacy by the government. My fear is that this will lead to bureaucrats attempting to practice medicine by engaging in witch hunts against doctors who are simply treating their patients.

Without having read the legislation (I’ve only read this one article, and I’m about to go do more research after I post this), it sounds like it applies to controlled substances that are scheduled by the DEA, not all prescriptions. Now, if you go to that link, scroll past the schedule I crack/PCP/weed-fest—I don’t think there are any prescription drugs on schedule I— and take a look at what’s on schedules II-V.

Do you think that government agencies have a right to keep records of the fact that your doctor prescribed Tussionex for the horrible cough you had during that bout of bronchitis? Anyone out there who takes Lomotil for IBS? Vicodin for flareups of chronic pain? Ritalin for attention deficit disorder? (My family doctor already feels unable to prescribe anything but Strattera for ADD because the state medical board has been breathing down the necks of non-psychiatric doctors who treat ADD, even though he knows me and my issues far better than a stranger I’d be seeing for ten minutes once a month and even though I can’t afford to see a psychiatrist.)

And now that this has passed so quietly and with no discernible protest from anyone, what’s to stop it from expanding it to include all prescriptions? Or from being turned into a marketing database, for that matter?

Like John Prine once said, “I love America. I just don’t know how to get there anymore.”

I forgot to do this yesterday. Actually all day yesterday I thought it was Tuesday. Last week my work schedule was strange and I’ve been a little confused ever since.

1. Marvie’s purse with no name. This is pretty close to being finished, just need to do the handles and lining. [I am not afraid of lining purses. I am not afraid of lining purses. I am not afraid of lining purses. I am not afraid of lining purses.]
2. Comfort pack. I love my first one so much that I decided needed a second one, a little bit different shape this time. The first one I made to the same size as the pattern (about 8″ wide, 8″ plus the space for the buttons long), and it’s wonderful for my lower back and to use on my belly for cramps. But I decided I wanted one that was a little narrower for my neck so that it would be easier to put behind my neck and lean back and have it stay in the right spot. I just measured it (was going by what looked like a good width) and it’s about six inches wide.

   (This paragraph is showing up in my browser in a smaller font size than the rest of the page, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why.) I figure I’ll keep going until it looks like a good length, then make a pack to fit inside it. I have some leftover purple flowerdy calico that I might use for the pack (which is blue) unless it turns out to clash once I put them next to each other, in which case I’ll find some other leftover fabric that matches better. And I found flax seeds for a really good price last time we made a trip to Parkersburg and stuck them in the fridge in case it was a while before I got around to making this.

3. Dreaming doily. I’m at the point where you can either stop and have the small doily or keep going and have the large one, and I decided to do the large one. So not too far to go with that one.
4. Ankle socks. Still haven’t touched these in a while, but once I finish up the stuff above I plan to move on to the socks so they’ll be ready to wear once the weather turns cool.
5. The skirt thing for the shelves in the living room. I’m rethinking this project. I think it’d look cute…but I also think the cats would love to play Stalker Kitty with it since it has these openings, and a cat could hide behind it and Be Stealthy and Lie In Wait and then Pounce On The Victim, with the inevitable Great Fun Fighting Through The Curtain. So I’m not sure. It could get torn up pretty quick.

And that’s it, I think.

I’ve got a much better photo of the scarf now. I think I may be getting somewhere with the photo quality. (Or maybe this one’s a fluke.) I seem to have managed to get everything more or less right here, good lighting, background that isn’t almost the same color as the item (it’s the long-sleeved button-up shirt I keep wadded up in my backpack/purse for emergencies LOL), managed not to jolt the camera in mid-photo and blur everything. I’m all proud here.

Anyway, photo. Clickable for full-size picture and details:

I used almost exactly two balls of Microspun that I had in the stash. I’ve been seriously dedicated to using up the stash lately seeing as we’re not well-off to begin with and the price of gas is making yarn buying expeditions an impossibility. But I have a decent stash that’ll keep me going for a while. It’s definitely not huge, but it’s enough to keep me busy for a while.

Anyway. I was talking about the scarf, right? When I started getting toward the end of the second ball, I dithered a bit about whether to leave enough to edge it or just make the scarf as long as possible. I decided the edges were neat enough for my liking (could be better, but reasonably neat) and went with having a longer scarf. It’s really cuddly and nice, almost makes me wish for chilly weather. Almost, but not quite, because I just can’t bring myself to wish away these nice 75-80° days we’re having here…

I’m very happy to report that I can crochet again. I stopped for a short while, maybe three days or so, and it was driving me nuts not to be able to do some stitching when I had free time. But now my numb finger is almost entirely better, just a teensy bit of numbness on one side of the tip, so I figured it was enough better to try it. I crocheted for an hour or so last night and didn’t make the problem any worse, so I figure I’m okay. I probably still need to stay away from the steel hooks until it’s 100% better, but at least I’m not entirely crochet-deprived. (When I first typed that I made a typo and it came out as depraved. Heh.)

I’ve finished the seed-stitch scarf now. I took a picture of it last night, but it is a truly terrible photo. Anyone who reads this blog much has seen my awful photography, so if I won’t post it you can imagine how bad it was. I jostled the camera or something—it was all woobity at the top. I’m going to try to remember to pack it in my backpack tonight and take a photo of it here at work instead. Photos I take here seem to come out better since there are more places where there’s both good lighting and room to lay a scarf-sized thing down. With any luck I’ll get a decent picture.

I wish I could work on the doily I’ve got mostly done. I was going to send it to my mom for her birthday, which was a few days ago, but I couldn’t work on it so I’ll be sending it off when I can manage to finish it. Meantime I think my next project (if the weather stays cool enough, that is) is to start a shawl with the Wool-Ease that I got for my birthday (months ago, but I’ve been saving it while I decided what to make and then while I waited for cool enough weather to work with it). I had initially planned to make a sweater out of it, but now I’m thinking that a shawl might be more versatile. I’m thinking of doing the Seraphina shawl. I have nine skeins of Wool-Ease worsted weight, which is 27 oz and 1773 yards. That should be enough for a good-sized shawl, right?

Is there anyone out there who uses Gallery? Have you ever seen it flake out randomly for no readily apparent reason? I was just looking for something in my gallery and noticed that the thread crochet sub-album had mysteriously renamed itself “Crochet Projects”, which is the name of the album it’s part of.

I wonder if that happened the day I somehow cross-linked the descriptions for two different pictures and I just never noticed until now. But I was also editing some album properties recently by changing them on the main album and telling it to apply it to all the albums underneath, but it promised me that applying the changes to nested albums wouldn’t affect the album titles. And it didn’t affect anything else. Freaky.

Maybe I should update to the newest version, ya think?