:)

By faerycrafty

So how was your Thursday?

Mine pretty much stunk. I'm sitting her with 5 craters in my skin in various parts of my body trying to decide if I want to talk about my day or not. I figure by the time I get to the end of this I'll either hit post or just close the window. I guess if you're reading this I must have just said $#!# it and posted.

I went for a skin cancer screening today, expecting not to have any problems, and I ended up having 5 suspicious areas removed for biopsy. Now you have seen pictures of me and you know that I'm a red head, with very fair skin, and freckles. I have also had a few blistering sunburns as a kid, and members of my family have been diagnosed with skin cancer. My beautimous Grandmommy just had a melanoma removed. If you have ever read up on skin cancer, you would know that puts me at a very high risk. Needless to say, I'm worried. Yes I do know that I could be totally fine, and it's just possible that I have a great doctor who is just being cautious. Let's hope that is the case. I still can't help but worry. I mean to add insult to injury, one of the spots is on my face. Do you know how much flesh has to be removed if it turns out to be melanoma? Ugh, I don't even want to think about it.

On the way home from the doctor's office, I learned that my Aunt Peggy lost her battle with lupus and cancer today. She is the fourth loved one I have lost in about six months, three were lost to cancer. I realize that as you get older people in your life will start to pass away, but this is just ridiculous. These were not old people. My cousin Debbie was just in her early 40's. I know that they are all in a better place now, but I mourn for those of us left behind to miss them. I mourn for my Uncle who had to make a really horrible decision today. I mourn for my cousins who lost their mother, and for my Grandmommy and her surviving siblings who lost their little sister. I pray for their comfort.

So if you pray, please throw one up for my family and maybe toss one in for a clean bill of health for me. If you don't, cross your fingers and your toes and send us all some happy thoughts :) All will be very much appreciated.

And please, for the love of God, and all that is holy, wear sunscreen, with zinc!! Go get a skin cancer screening!! Can't afford it? Don't have insurance? That's ok. Here is a link to a website where you can find dermatologists in your area who are participating with the Skin Cancer Takes Freinds campaign and are offering free skin cancer screenings.

Ignorance is not bliss!
It is deadly!
Sorry for yelling.
I'm a little emotional.
Here is a hug.
I'm going to bed.

Knitters Who Crochet

I have noticed quite a bit of crochet projects on knitting blogs lately, and I think that is great! It seems that the old stigma with crochet is finally lifting, and people are starting to give it a try. It's a wonderful skill to acquire as a knitter because it offers you more options with edgings and also with finishing. I have also seen many crochet/knit hybrid patterns that are quite beautiful. The Beachcomber Tunic from the Spring Interweave knits comes to mind. I bought the magazine for that pattern alone.

Heather at Craft Daisies have been kind enough to offer free tutorials (with videos even!) on her blog. If any of you would like to learn how to crochet, just follow the links below. Have fun!

Learn to Crochet: Lesson 1
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 2
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 3
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 4
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 5

Pictures!

Ok this is one of those posts where I'm not really sure what to say but I do have some pictures to show you. This predicament usually creates major blogging procrastination. I decided to just upload the pictures and just start typing. Let's see how that goes.

I was lucky enough to marry a guy that came from a super crafty family. Rob's a great artist, does amazing work with ceramic tile floors, and is a pretty darn good "Builder of Stuff" if you ask me. We are also a very recycle friendly couple, and Rob often builds things from recycled materials. Remember my yarn shelves? After a trip to the pet store, Rob decided that he could "totally build one of those cat thingies". Let me just tell you, when Rob gets something in his head you better watch out. First thing he does is go to carpet stores to get some free scraps and then made a trip to the homedepotlowessomethingorother store to get what we didn't have around the house. He showed me all the materials he had acquired for the project and I basically came up with a design. He called me the Executive Creative Producer hahaha. Anyways, he did most of the work and I did the "here hold this and grab that over there and hey could you please bring me this..." A day and a half and a bunch of sweat later, and our kitties have this...

Is that not the coolest Cat Thingy you have ever seen!? I have seen towers half this size for $164, and the only thing we paid for was the rope, staples, and a cardboard tube. The rest of the materials were all recycled/re purposed. I think the post used to be in our flower bed before Rob replaced it with rock he got out of the river. The cats absolutely love it, especially this guy...






Wow he's getting so big isn't he. I realized that I have never posted a picture of Kayne. This is mostly because she is in a constant state of motion when she is awake. After about 20 blurred pictures, I successfully captured this one.



She is such a pretty cat. She really ought to stand still more often. Of course I could take a picture of her sleeping, but then you would not be able to see those beautiful eyes!

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. I lost my freakin pattern for the shawl I was working on, and I got bored with the 3 sweaters. I will definitely finish them (they are awesome sweaters), but I am taking a bit of a break from them.

I got the urge to crochet, and started on a Carnival Throw. Technically the pattern is for a shawl, but I thought it would be more useful as a throw. Here is a picture of two motifs seamed together using an invisible seam.



After seeing other people's motifs, I realized I made a mistake on mine. Luckily the mistake I made is just on the last row, and crochet is so easy to add to. The yarn I am using is TLC Cotton Plus in Kiwi which is a cotton/acrylic blend.

Well that's enough pictures for one entry. I'll be back with more! I hope everyone has a great weekend! Mine has been awesome so far. I went to a spa on Friday courtesy of the best bosses ever, and got a Swedish massage and a body polish. Can you say, HEAVEN! Today I helped out with my very first horse show! I got to ride (not in the show just for fun) two of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen!! One was a jet black Tennessee Walker stallion, and the other was a black and white Paint. The stallion was hands down the most powerful and amazing horse that I have ever had the pleasure of riding. The most amazing thing is how gentle and well behaved he was, because a horse like that could really be a handful. Tomorrow will probably be quite uneventful, but after those two days I am fine with that!

Summer Knitty

Just a heads up that the Summer Knitty is out :) I'm gonna go check it out now... I'll be back later with my favs!

Thank You!!

Thank you for all the happy anniversaries :) You are all too sweet!! We had a wonderful weekend together. Hey girls my hubby made me breakfast in bed. Heaven!

So I have been quite the Slacker Blogger lately haven't I? I hate to say this, but I guess I simply haven't felt like blogging. I had stuff to blog about, but just didn't get motivated enough to get out the camera, take pictures, upload the pictures, edit the pictures, try to type something half way interesting... I used to feel bad about not blogging often, but now I am of the attitude that if you don't feel like it, don't force it. I think that once you start having to force yourself to blog, you start resenting the blog. It becomes a chore, and what good does that do? It takes all of the fun out of it, and wasn't that why you started the darn thing in the first place?? I toyed with the idea several times to give up blogging all together, but could never bring myself to do it. Despite the decline in the frequency of my entries, I would honestly miss blogging. I would miss reading your comments and visiting your blogs in kind. Yes even though I'm slow to answer, I truly look forward to reading your comments after I post an entry. So I'm going to keep blogging for as long as it is fun, but I'm not going to feel guilty anymore when I don't post. I don't feel guilty when I don't watch a movie, go shopping, and any other fun things like that. Ya know?

Ok so let's see. Here are some things I do have pictures of. I finished one of my Baubles....

I really, really, really love this bracelet. I wore it out tonight and got lots of compliments. This was a very easy project. Once you get all that stringing done the knitting part is done in a flash. I have an idea for a necklace to go with it. I'm going to start stringing that tomorrow.




That up there is the turquoise and sterling silver bracelet I made Mom for her birthday, and here are the gold threader earrings I made to match a bracelet I made for her once upon a time ago.



I hope you all have a great weekend!! I'm gonna go play with my rescue horsies on Sunday. I'll see you Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday...