Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Andrea Cowl

Yay! the "Andrea Cowl" is finished and she loved it - when I gave it to her she gave me and hug and then hugged the cowl over and over saying how happy she was. It always makes me so happy when someone appreciates something I make for them. There is nothing worse then spending hours working on a project and being so excited for the recipient only to have them do the "Oh thanks - set aside" move. It's heartbreaking for us crafters. I think proper etiquette should be to show appreciation and say a heartfelt thank you to someone that just took their time to produce a magically handmade from the heart gift. If you hate it or it's not something that is your style -then do the "set aside" after- never in front of the crafter! Just sayin'

With that being said . . here it is. A pretty simple pattern but I really like it a lot.




The middle picture cracks me up because little Ella is in the blurred background. I didn't get a lot of great photos. I took these all super quick right before leaving to go to work just as the sun was coming out. Also we were having a blizzard and this was a very brief second were it was only lightly snowing, though strangely you can't see the snow flakes in the pictures. Not to get off topic- but man my boobs look huge in these pictures! haha 

I have always hated myself in pictures. I tend to shy away -hide behind my hands or spin my head at just the right moment so no one sees my face. Not to turn this post into a depressed post, but I was always a super tiny girl. When I graduated high school I weighed a whopping 92 pounds (and I'm 5'4) But obviously I have grown up and my weight seemed to like being in the 115-118 range. The all of the sudden about 2 years ago or so, I slowly started gaining more weight and couldn't figure out why. I eat like a bird and hadn't changed anything in my lifestyle. Then I started getting headaches. Insane headaches that lasted sometimes for weeks without going away. With the headaches I also was extremely dizzy and off balance. I finally went to the doctor after about 7-8 months of daily headaches. I was poked and prodded and they could never give me an answer about the headaches but they did find out I have thyroid disease. They said this is why I gained about 10-15 pounds and was unable to loose the weight. It's been about 9 months on my medications, which I now have to take daily for the rest of my life (something I'm not found of - who knows what they are going to say this drug does to you after taking it for 20 years!) I now also just got a letter in the mail from my doctor after my last blood draw saying I have extreme (which they underlined like 3 times on the paperwork) vitamin d deficiency. So I'm on a crazy horse pill "trial" for the next 12 weeks  and then have to give blood again in the end of March. So crazy. I hit my mid- thirties (I can not believe I am "mid- thirties" how did that one happen?!) and I fell apart - well my knees have been falling apart for years but thats a post for another day. I don't want to sound like an old granny <insert crackly granny voice here> and complain and compare health ailments...but I was just saying it - I don't know why I was just saying it! I guess because I'm not comfortable with my weight and I feel like I look like an oompa loompa (sp? -but you all know what I'm talking about - were oompa loompas even fat? why do i say that reference?!) 

okay, i'll end this post here before you all realize how crazy my brain flips from one subject to the next..

off to write up a pattern for some crochet blankets I'm going to be selling in my shop.

Shop WILL be open this weekend. I'm shooting for Sunday. Saturday will be photo shoot day. I'm so excited to share all the amazing things I have gotten. I wish I could keep everything for myself. I told K that I am just going to display the majority of it in the kitchen until it sells, that way I feel like I was able to have the treasures for a bit in my life too.

almost mid-week - so excited rest of the week I don't have to drive into the office - the girls will be so excited to have me home for them to harass.

happy tuesday!
xo- t