I itch. I scratch. I hurt. I itch more. I scratch more. I swallow an antihistimine. I pass out.

That pretty much sums it up. My hands itch so bad at times they burn and I can’t do anything~~crochet, laundry, shower, or anything else that requires me to touch something with my hands. I’ve tried colloidal oatmeal lotions, creams, body washes, and even a prescription steroid cream, but nothing seems to take the itch away except store-brand Benadryl, and that knocks me out so I can only take it when I’m ready for bed.

Last night was especially bad. My hands, legs, sides, abdomen and a few unmentionable areas that are affected with discoid eczema were itching so badly that I couldn’t sleep. I’d try lotion, washing, scratching (which, by the way is a REALLY bad idea), lying still, covering with just the sheet, throwing the sheet off, but I just couldn’t shake the itchies and relax to get to sleep. Every time I’d stop itching long enough that I thought I’d get to sleep, the itchies returned~~with a vengence. I finally took a Benadryl at 2:00 am and slept till 7:30 when Sami got me up.

It seems to be worse when I first get up, but there are times during the day when I just get really itchy and desperate for relief. I can’t take Benadryl during the day, and hydrocortisone creams don’t work on eczema flare-ups. My problem doesn’t seem to be responding to any treatments so far, and I’m about to try a dermatologist for help.

I can’t wash dishes without wearing rubber gloves anymore. I used to love soaking my hands in the hot dishwater and feeling the thick crocheted cloths between my fingers. Now, my hands hurt just from the water’s heat coming through the gloves. Forget trying to wash bare-handed!

Handling raw meats has become an adventure as well. It seems that I always have water blisters on some part of my hands any more, so I have to wear Nyplex (latex alternative) or latex gloves when handling meat to prepare meals. On the plus side, I don’t have to worry about the stuff raw meat can leave on your hands even after a thorough washing!

Showers have become more of get-in-get-clean-get-out now because it hurts too much to keep my hands wet. I’ve also had to drastically lower the temperature of the water because of the pain. No more hot showers or baths for relaxation!

I’ve changed my shampoo to Johnson’s Baby Detangling, my body wash to Aveeno, and haven’t changed my laundry detergent from All Free & Clear. I’m doing everything I know to do to help avoid allergic-type reactions, but I’m still having problems. I wonder if it’s the fabric softener sheets we’re using? We’ve switched from Bounce to Member’s Mark (Sam’s Club brand), and I wonder if there’s something in the fabric softener that my just certain areas of my skin are sensitive to? That may be worth exploring; I’ll have to try that and post the results here.

In the meantime, I’ll keep slathering on the lotion to help keep my hands from drying out and keep using the Benadryl at night for itch relief and sleeping. Man, I want to get this problem sorted out soon…..gotta go scratch my fingers….

In reading some of my fellow crafters’ blogs, I’ve seen a few “To Do” lists for the Christmas and holiday season. I might as well add my own here. I’m going to be busy in the next few weeks with these projects!

• Lion Brand Suede/Fancy Fur totes
  • Mocha/Ecru & White
  • Coffee/Jungle Print
• Lion Brand Chenille T&Q/Boucle tote in Purple and Jelly Bean
• Angel Cardigan & Hat in Red Heart Lt. Raspberry and Aran
• Wine & Black men’s scarf

I know, it’s not as long as some, but considering I’m busy with homeschooling three boys and chasing after my toddler daughter while still trying to maintain the house, that list has me pretty much swamped!

Gotta go rescue Sami from a dining room chair she climbed into!!!

Yep, my Sami wears my old (and I do mean old) clothes! She also wears my sisters’ old clothes. These are baby dresses from the late 70’s and early 80’s and they are simply gorgeous!! They only need a bit of altering to fix elastic problems, but other than that, they’re in really good shape. I’ll get pics posted of the dresses once I add a casing and the new elastic~~with Sami in them, of course!

Other Happenings

Sami turned one on Monday, November 21! Two days prior, she decided to take her first solo steps. Now, she toddles around the house anytime she pleases. Time to put the TV guard back up.

I’m working on a beautiful Mobius Scarf/Shawl written by Bonnie Pierce. Elizabeth, my secret pal from Crochetville, sent me some lushious Cherry Tree Hill glitter alpaca fingering yarn in their Birches colorway and a sassy long-lashed nylon eyelash yarn to match. Bonnie’s pattern is just perfect for this yarn combo! I’m planning on using all the yarn sent to me and make a stunning shawl for everyone to ooh and aah over.

I haven’t started my squares project for the Blue Squares Too swap. There are a few people in the swap who have started edging their squares or even laid them out the way they want them. I have done none of that. The only squares I’m working on right now are for my sister’s wedding gift. For that, I joined the 63 Squares CAL at Crochetville. I’ve already planned four more 63 Squares afghans in solid colors to give my children. I haven’t decided what yarn or colors to use as of yet, but that will come closer to the time to make the afghans. I do know that the yarn will not be dyelotted and will be a “soft” type yarn.

Speaking of yarn, I’ve done well and the only new yarn I’ve purchased in the last month is solely for gifts! My stash is humongous and I really need to use some of it before buying too much more. I will NOT go on a yarn diet, but I’m cutting back a bit due to the holidays (I already have all my holiday gift yarn bought!) and then I’ll check out what I have and what projects need to be finished and what needs to be started. I never have enough WIPs or PIGs around, even though I’ve lost count on both! LOL

School Stuff

The boys are doing well with school. William (9) has almost completed third grade and I’m confident he will by Christmas or shortly thereafter. He is ready to finish third and get going in fourth grade! Tracey (6) is moving at a more “public-school” pace and won’t finish first grade until May, but that’s okay as well. This is one of the reasons I homeschool. Every kid needs the chance to learn at his or her own pace and the public and private schools (at least where I am) don’t afford them that opportunity. Delbert (3) has really taken an interest in his “school work” before he plays Katamari. He has decided that he must color 5 pages before playing his game. I’m glad he’s taken such an interest in school. Next semester, I’m going to start working with him on writing his name and drawing shapes other than circles. He’s good at drawing circles.

Christmas Wishes

William: another baby sister (not happening!!!)
Tracey: ??? as he hasn’t voiced it yet
Delbert: “big boy” bicycle (he has a tricycle now)
Sami: ??? (what does a 1 y/o want??)
Del: family time
Me: a safe trip to see our family in Ellenburg, New York
Sierra: a feline playmate

I guess you can tell we don’t really want for much. We are planning on a new family member, but she’ll have to wait until after we return from our road trip in January. We’re taking a trip down to the local animal shelter to choose a new baby for Sierra to play with and to teach her all her bad habits. We haven’t decided what color or breed we want, but we do know that we want another female (spayed) kitten for Sierra to be buddies with. As it is, Sierra walks through the house in the middle of the night yelling for a feline buddy with whom to play; that’s got to stop!

Patterns

Hopefully, I can get back to the Travel-Ghan pattern soon. After the holiday rush is over, I should have more time to get back to writing patterns. The blanket part is pretty much written, but I still have to draw the schematics and write the pattern for the duffel pillow.

If anyone has anything for which they’d like to see a pattern, let me know and I’ll try my best to oblige. If it’s totally out of my league, I’ll let you know that as well and point you to some other pattern writers.

Holidays

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend. It’s hard to believe that Advent is already upon us! Just a few more weeks until Christmas for my fellow Christian readers.

For my Jewish readers, I hope you have a happy Hannukah.

For my Pagan readers, enjoy the Winter Solstice.

And for my readers who celebrate Kwanzaa, don’t get lost in the crowds who are shopping for next year’s Christmas/Hannukah/winter holiday gifts!

To all my readers, I hope your family get-togethers and parties with friends are happy occasions and that you receive all your heart desires.

Au revoir!

Well, they are sorted and out of my house! I mailed them to their new homes this afternoon. It took the postal clerk 30 minutes to weigh and meter 40 packages to send them out! Of course, standing still and quiet for that long is no easy feat for a 9-yr-old and a 6-yr-old boy. William and Tracey would have much rather been fighting each other or shopping with their Daddy at Sam’s than standing at the post office with me!

I requested a big canvas cart when I arrived at the post office, took it out to my van (where I had parked next to a blue space for easier access to the ramp) and proceeded to load it with boxes and envelopes. Pretty soon, it was apparent that I should have asked for two carts instead of one, because the cart was overflowing with pacakges, had packages on the bottom, and my boys each carried in 3 boxes!

Once inside with this now portable mountain, I proceeded to package one set of squares into lighter shipping materials since it has to go overseas. I then filled out the customs forms for the two overseas packages and stood in line for the counter. Once at the counter Sarita, the postal clerk who helped me, was very kind and understanding about the number of packages. Apparently, she sees this kind of load beginning around Thanksgiving and lasting through Christmas. She and I worked together well to get the packages out~~Sarita weighed and metered the packages as I emptied the cart onto her counter. Once all the packages had been sent to the back, I paid a sum of $199.04 via credit card (thank you ALL for sending your postage ahead of time!) and received a receipt about 2 1/2 feet long.

All I can say is, “Thank God that’s over.” Seriously. Coordinating this swap was a lot more work than I realized it was going to be. Would I do it again? Maybe with a smaller group. Now, I get to look through the squares I received (no, I did NOT pick and choose the ones I wanted; it was totally random!) and decide what to make from them.

To see the Blue Squares Too Gallery, simply click on the logo in my Swaps section. More pics will be added as the swappers send them in. The swap’s not over yet!

Here are the pics of the mountain of packages I’ve received while coordinating the Blue Squares Too Swap at Crochetville. You’ll notice Sami’s look of distress in the last one, and of course, all pics are clickable.

The Blue Squares Too Gallery is set up for the square swappers to display their photos of their squares and projects they’ve worked on with them.

The last box of squares arrived today!! Now, I get to gather all the submitted squares and sort them out into new piles. I’ll be taking pics of the squares as I get them ready for sorting. I’m thinking of having William help me with the number drawing to make it go faster.

Either that, or I’ll get hold of Stacey since she’s only a few hours’ drive away and get her to help (hey, she offered!) sort these things! JK, Stacey.

Other Squares
Got a couple of comfortghan squares to work up. One is for the mother of a 2-year-old child in Stacey’s hometown. This little girl was killed on Halloween by the van driver in her trick-or-treat group. How tragic for that mother!!

The other squares I’m working on are for a mother and her son who suddenly lost their husband/father. The details for both of these can be found at Crochetville under the Crochet for Charity forum.

I’m off to sort squares….as soon as Sami wakes up, that is!

…I mean, the last package for Blue Squares Too is winging its way from Victoria, Australia. As soon as it arrives, I get to begin the huge job of sorting hundreds of squares and shipping them off to their new homes. My bedroom will feel kind of empty after sending off all the lovely squares that are in there now!

I’ll make sure to post a pic of all the packages before sorting begins, but I’m NOT dumping all those squares into one big pile! That would take FOREVER to go through. No, I have a system for sorting these squares. It involves printing a numbered list of the participants, and some random number-drawing. That way, the decision for who gets whose squares (and which one) is based on random drawing. After all, this is a “random” square swap!

I’m excited to see the finished projects from everyone’s squares once they are received. I still haven’t totally decided what I’m going to do with mine. I’ll have to see what I end up with.

Crochet News
I’m busy finishing up a new shrug in Lion Brand’s Incredible ribbon yarn. It’s 100% nylon and feels SO silky!! I’m using the color Blue Shades. I’m also hoping to have enough left over to make a matching scarf, but I may have to put the scarf on hold until I can purchase some more yarn.

I’ve also started a new sweater for Sami, and Delbert has chosen a sweater pattern that he’d like me to make for him. I’m currently on the first sleeve of Sami’s sweater, so I need to get busy on it before sweater weather gets here. She also needs a warm hat to fit her, so I’m planning on making the matching hat for the sweater.

The tote I’m making in freeform is turning out to be VERY lovely!! I’ve mentioned several times to my family that I’m going to hate mailing it off, because I want to keep it for myself!! I’ve also told myself that this tote is being made for someone else, not for me. If I want one similar, I can buy another canvas bag at Wal-Mart and cover it with freeform. I’ll be taking pics of this one before I mail it!

Family News
My nephew is sick. We just found out today he has croup. The doctor put him on antibiotics and will put him in the hospital if he isn’t better in three days. I really hope the little guy gets better with the antibiotics! It’s no fun spending your child’s hospital stay in the room with him!

Sami still isn’t walking, though she’s getting closer. She’s confident enough now to take a step or two solo, but isn’t ready to just let go and walk everywhere. I think she’ll be walking by the end of the month if she doesn’t start by her first birthday–November 21.

William is almost finished with third grade! He’s been working more pages than he’s required so that he can get through third grade and start fourth grade after Christmas. Though he’ll be in fourth grade for school, I’m not sure if we’re going to let him skip fourth grade Religious Ed and go straight to fifth grade next fall (since he’ll be in fifth grade for school, the church will probably put him in a fifth grade class).

Tracey is continuing to make progress on his handwriting, which is good. I’ve told him that he has to practice handwriting daily so he can continue to get better. He’s wanting to learn cursive, so I told him he needs to get his printing very neat first. That’s been a good motivator for Tracey.

Delbert is really into a PS2 game called Katamari Damacy. He’s very eager to do his school work each day so he can play his game. He’s getting better at it, too. I’m amazed at how fast my 3-year-old has picked up on this game!

My diet has gone down the toilet! I went to the doctor yesterday about an annoying itchy rash on my hands (and in some other places) and my weight was up to 191! That’s the most I’ve EVER weighed, pregnant or not!!! I REALLY need to lost about 50 pounds now! About that rash: I’ve got discoid eczema and was prescribed a topical steroid cream to help clear it up. I did my first treatment last night and my hands are already feeling better. The doctor (and I) think the eczema might be a reaction to one of the inactive ingredients in my birth control pill (I’m on Seasonale). Because of that, for the next cycle, I’m going to be on Ortho Evera (the birth control patch). Hopefully, I won’t have problems with that! Since Sami’s birth, I’ve had problems with birth control–the Mirena (IUD) irritated me, whereas I had no problems with it before, and now the eczema issue with the Seasonale–that I haven’t had in the past. I just want to find something that works and be able to stick with it (no pun intended there….)