Extension Relief, Bas Relief & Pain Relief

NEWSFLASH: I received an email from my sister in law, Karen, last night. It read, in part: "Alex's scans show no remnant of a tumor at all - it is gone!"

My nephew, Alex, had been diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma last year and the tumor was in a very difficult place - right in his hip joint - which made surgery almost impossible.

He's been so brave, so strong, and we're SO proud of him and Karen. We are beside ourselves with glee! THANK YOU to everyone who sent good thoughts, kind wishes, prayers, donations or any other positive energy to my nephew, Alex.

He's a singular kid, he and his mom are a great TEAM, and now he's clean. Hallelujah!

Hat Extension
All of you hat creators, I got permission yesterday from my publisher to extend the deadline to July 15! YAY!!

If you've already uploaded your hats and want to load more, please feel free. If your folder is missing it's because I've logged in what you've submitted, so just start a NEW folder and I'll deal with it!

Here's the link to the submission guidelines and a full explanation of how to use box.net If you try to log in and it won't let you, it's probably because two folks are trying to log in at exactly the same time. Wait a few minutes and try again, it should work then.

If you are submitting, PLEASE be sure to include the Grant of Rights and Image List. Without these I can't log in your work, and we can't use your images.

About the deadline change, I know, an equal number of you want to either kiss or kill me, I've been in your shoes! There're few things more aggravating than struggling to meet a deadline, then being told the deadline has been advance.

Please know that if you got your hats in early, you get EXTRA karma points. What this actually means, I don't know, but please know that I am grateful!

The main reason for the extension is that the setup at box.net, as well-working as it is, was TOTALLY overwhelmed with all of the last minute submissions. Folks were having a hard time logging in, boxes were disappearing, forms were ending up in other places and some people were freaking out. I'm not naming names, but one red-headed editor who lives in St. Paul just about had a kitten when half of her work mysteriously disappeared for about 15 minutes. Just sayin'

So you have time, babies, and I really WANT to see your hats! I'm blown away by the quality of what's come in so far - this will be a VERY hard decision!

A good friend sent me this, and it made me laugh out loud. (I think these are extras from that beloved soft-core porn video, "The Mad Naughty Hatter")

Visit Toast, where I grabbed this photo, for a hysterical walk down the memory lane of scary crochet...

A Knights Tale
Work progresses apace on the Black Prince's Mini Dress. (I need to change the name, mostly so I can call it, The Piece Formerly Known as "The Prince's Dress" )

Why? Because I am foolish and giggle easily. And I live in the Twin Cities.

I had a bit of worry when starting the jacquard (brocade) section, creating a bas relief of the fleur de lys and lions from the Black Prince's coat of arms.

I've tried this technique before with mixed results, and had stayed away from it because I thought I was cursed. But I was wrong!

I'm fortunate to have a perfect mix of 2 factors that I believe is making the technique work better for me this time.

1) I'm using a well suited yarn (the Berroco Pure Merino has a nice sheen that reflects light well and creates a strong, beautiful contrast between knit & purl)

2) I'm utilizing a technique whereby I twist each transition stitch (Transition stitches are the sts that are knit into an existing purl, or purled into an existing knit st)

I'm pretty thrilled with how it's looking! I can actually SEE the lion and the fleur de lys - YAY!

I tried to choose colors for this dress that referenced French Blue and English Red, without being too 'on the nose' about it. Working in parti-colors (check out the garment the servant is wearing in this painting) can be off-putting, I wanted to do it subtly.

I've been thinking about the Knight's Dress sleeves - I think I'll work them in King Charles Brocade, with a cool diversion on the elbow that references the join in a suit of armor.

I love this book. Is that obvious?

The fur stole hit a snag. I got carried away and had made it WAAAY too big.

I tried it on my mannequin and it looked more like a fur burka than a sassy collar, so out it ripped it while sitting at Max's baseball game and I look like I was dressing road kill.

Speaking of road kill, I was reminscing with a friend the other day how my mom would pull over whenever she saw a pheasant which had been hit by a car (aaah, Autumn in Northern Ohio!) to show us kids how beautiful a pheasant was. Yeah - gorgeous, mom.

We called it 'road kill zoology'

Pain? What Pain?
I visited my accupuncturist, who I see for asthma and back pain, and had another excellent session. I can SERIOUSLY feel the change in my breathing, and her ability positively affect my aches is amazing. That shoulder I hurt when I fell trying to ski? It's just about 100% again.

I mentioned that my lower back was hurting (the pinched nerve is awakening again) and she did some madness with pins in my hands that was miraculous.

Of course, the pain came back the next day - but not quite as bad. I'm doing a series of exercises over a big red ball that my chiropractor gave me, those seem to be helping, too.

But Gerry's pain continues unabated. He has terrible pain in his hips and back, and I can tell how troubling it is for him. Ceaseless pain was the entry into our Multiple Myeloma adventure, and whenever there's an upsurge in it we both hold our breaths.

Some days it's hard for him to get up, to walk, to do anything.

Then there are the days that he pushes himself (and pays for it later...) He suffers quietly, he's a brave guy. I need to convince him that HE could benefit from my accupuncturist, too!