Hannah is taking the week off, but she would like to remind everyone that they should have a good Caturday. Go outside and listen to the birds! Roll around and coat your fur with some nice dust to take the oil off. Look for a bunny. Demand tuna!! Run wild through the house, chase your brother, and sleep in a sunbeam.
I’m still struggling with fatigue, and even though I’ve been trying to eat iron-rich foods, my doctor has decided that I need supplementation. Ugh. I’ve discovered that iron supplements are pretty much evil. Seriously evil! Like, the awful goes on for at least three days after each supplement, but I am starting to feel better. I sleep better. I have more energy. My GI symptoms are starting to calm down. I’m more mentally alert and have an urge to write. Huh. Anemia. There is another post in here somewhere, but not today. Today is about my happy place, the crafting room.
For some reason that I don’t understand, Hannah has decided that I need to spend all my waking hours in the crafting room. She trills and carries on (like, she scratches the woodwork around the doors to make me come running…) until I come back to the room. She is okay if I’m up and moving about, but if I try to read in bed, she intervenes and makes me get up. Okay. Transferring my reading to the craft room… huh… there is lots of sunlight in this room. I have a little loveseat along with the indoor garden, my loom, and a television, so this is actually a good place to hang out while I’m iron-loading. Did I mention that there is a walk-in closet attached to this room with all things crafting inside? Maybe Hannah knows what she’s doing. Over the last week I’ve been gardening and moving things around, and I realized that I really have made a happy place for myself in this room.
Did you want the links for those knitted objects? Just in case you do, here they are. The sweater is La Prairie by Joji Locatelli. The shawl is another Joji creation called Julie’s Wrap, and here is the link for the Emotional Support Chicken.
Do you see all the popcorns on the edging of Julie’s Wrap? It took FOREVER to make all of those, and you would think that I’d learned my lesson, but noooo…. I went ahead and made those popcorn stitches on the La Prairie. Do I regret this choice each time I come to that row on the chart with the popcorns? Why yes, yes I do. And yet…
If you commit to knitting this sweater, and it is a serious commitment, you might as well commit to the popcorn. I’m really pleased with how this is looking. I’m into the third color of yarn and can’t wait to get to the fourth one. This is going to be a fun light cardigan later on this year.
Back to the happy things. They have pretty much piled up on the table in the room that usually has my fabric cutting station on it. This is what has moved onto it over the last week or two.
If you are interested in knitting your own cat, the pattern is Grey Kitten, Calico Cat by Claire Garland. I think that some more things will be joining this assembly on the table. I have some little statues that were put away because… Hannah… that I can now take out and arrange with the flowers. I have some special skeins of yarn that might be fun to display. Maybe I should focus on weaving a little wall hanging on the loom.
Tomorrow it will snow again, but I will be safely indoors with Hannah in the craft room, embracing the popcorn stitch, and enjoying all the little happy things that have been collected in here that are emblematic of friends, family, favorite knits, and happy memories.
There is a little take-home lesson here somewhere. If you are struggling with extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, and everything hurts, just go with it. Make yourself a happy place. Make something beautiful. Hang out with your cat. Embrace the popcorn stitch. Read in the sunshine.
Don’t forget to take your iron supplement, though, no matter how nasty it is!
p.s. MR, how could I have forgotten to post the picture of the whole quilt? Here it is, a ribbon winner by my wonderful cousin Ruth Ann. Ya’ll, MR is at Downunder with Boodz and sets me straight whenever I wander from the straight and narrow…
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Ah, Purina’s Fancy Feast ! – Boodie loves it too, but we don’t get it in tuna.
You are lucky, Marilyn, in your family’s and friends’ various crafty gifts; they’re all absolutely super ! I’d love to see the whole of that quilt …
Tell me a bit about your Amazon Echo. I mean, you are talking to someone who can’t read books any more and so listens to audio books all the time. And my Dell (d’oh !) laptop has THE WORST AUDIO OF ANY LAPTOP ANYWHERE. So I say again, tell me something about it, yes ?
The knitting is as impressive as ever, m’dear: and a lovely range of colours. I too look forward to the 4th. :)
The quilt picture is now on the blog! I just updated it.
I bought that tuna as a treat for Hannah when she hurt her eye a year ago. She is VERY food oriented and I would put the little carton in front of her while I put her eye ointment in, and then she got the tuna immediately afterwards. Worked like a charm, and she didn’t even paw at her eye as she was so distracted by the tuna.
The Echo is actually an Echo show, and it is an Alexa device. I got it on sale a few years ago (during Amazon Prime Days) and it is like a speaker and fire tablet all in one package. It reads my books to me and the audio is pretty good. It is HD and I can watch shows on it, and it also plays Amazon music so I can listen to podcasts. Like other Alexa devices it answers all my questions. You can also use it to talk to other people, but no one else in my family is interested in playing that game with me. I use it a lot while knitting, and when I can’t read because of brain fog it really is great. I order books from my library, they dump into my Amazon library, and then I listen on the Echo for free. Over time it has been worth the cost.
I think that you can also buy a little plug in speaker for your computer that will fix that issue for you. I did that with my work laptop.
The fourth color is grey with flecks of color.
Thank-you SO MUCH, Marilyn !! – that’s a lot more than I expected, and it must’ve held up the knitting for a good while. So now I feel guilty, and it’s your fault ! [grin]
So much info.
I have to think about all of it now. But the Echo sure sounds like A Good Thing !
XO
There is an Echo that is just a speaker with Alexa… she tells me the news, the time, the weather, and if I MEOW she replies with cat meows through an app called Box of Cats. It purrs too, which really gets my cats’ attention!
PURRS ??? Hmmm … Dunno how the Boodster would react to that, seeing as how he’s never heard another cat purr.
Well, Mateo come running to the purrs, but Hannah is much more chill. By the way, when things are tough and Mateo is being a brat with Hannah, I tell Alexa to play bird music and nice music with nature sounds and birds starts playing. Calms him right down!
I went the other route with a Google Nest Hub. Does the same thing in my Google-based house. I don’t have the largest one, with a tablet/reader that can be lifted off the base. But I love having a constantly changing display of my favorite photos, date, time, and temp, plus being able to tell it to adjust the temperature, turn lights on and off, make phone calls, and answer my random questions. Oh, and maybe my favorite, run timers for me.
That’s what the Echo Show does. I love seeing the photos, and after seeing your comment I had to see if Alexa can start a timer for me (she can!). I really like the convenience. I don’t have a smart thermostat like yours, but I do have the Echo hooked up to the Hannah Cam so I can check on the cats when I hear crazy noises in the house…
Oh WOW ! – your cousin is a real, genuine CHAMPEEN !!! That’s possibly the nicest, beautifulest quilt I’ve laid eyes on. Look at the little self-material leaf groups in the corners – she’s a perfectionist, alright ! Please tell her that she has an admirer Downunder ?
Several members of my family are exceptional quilters. They enter their works in county fairs and other competitions where they earn high honors and lots of ribbons. I am the knitter on steroids in the family. 🙂
You sure are !!
You are such a good role model for positivity. I love the idea of turning a space in one’s place into a comfort zone, something I never thought to do. Hannah’s tuna stash looks tasty enough to be used as a base for all kinds of human food. As for the iron, is it okay to ask what form your doctor prescribed? I measure my ferrous sulfate elixir into a small amount of straight cranberry juice without sugar, and it actually tastes good, although a tiny bit tart. That last bit was a suggestion from my gastro guy…he said adding it to Coca Cola or something as acidic made iron easier for the gut to digest, but he didn’t go into detail. A tip of my “iron brew,” pun intended, in a toast to us all. Slainte!
It is a sign of improvement that I am feeling happy and positive again. I think that I started putting the happy stuff in the room two weeks ago, which was a week after I really upped the iron intake. It really does make me feel better to have a happy place instead of feeling bad that I can manage so little. My doctor told me to take iron bisglycinate which is supposed to be gentler, but it was absolutely horrible! I was in real pain for hours and pretty uncomfortable for the next 24. I have pretty significant gastritis so that seemed to be the issue, but even my intestines were screaming for relief! I bought some “Gentle Iron” on Amazon that is iron bisglycinate chelate, and that has been much better. The acid works as it helps pull the iron into ions that maybe are easier to absorb? Anyway, it makes sense to me. I avoid all things acidic because… gastritis. I have to make this work or it’s going to be an iron infusion for me down the road, and I kind of want to avoid that!
It is good that you are feeling a little better; I am pleased you can find happy things, and congratulations on your popcorn
It’s a lovely space you have created for yourself with treasures, memories and crafts. It seems like a good place to hang out for sure. I had to take iron supplements and remember the hideous indigestion and then thought I my innards had dyed when I went to the loo…so I certainly don’t envy you those supplements but hope they do the trick and you can come off them soon. I love your little room and think I should make my craft room a bit more cosy.
The first couple of iron supplements were really difficult to tolerate due to pain/nausea; thankfully there are several different types on the market and the third one seems to be better. Luckily breakfast cereal also has iron, and then there is steak! The cozy craft room has been huge in terms of boosting my spirits and keeping me productive.
Hannah knows what you need. ❤️
Hannah: Exactly!
Yes! This post makes me happy!!! I am craving an African Violet now. Your chicken is adorable! I recommend https://feosol.com/ This is so gentle on my system and doesn’t bind me.
I am doing better with a chelated iron bisglycinate, but thanks so much for the recommendation. The African violet has outdone itself. I’m thinking that I need to make more chickens for donation, but meanwhile there is the popcorn infested sweater to finish…
I love that you’ve created a cozy, comfortable, and creative space to enjoy. Your kitty is on to something, enticing you into the room. I’m sorry to learn of your friend’s passing. I’m glad you have pleasing memories of your time together.
I enjoyed seeing all your creations, smiled at the idea of a support chicken, and marveled at how cats can look smug and adorable at the same time. I’m glad you’re adjusting to the iron supplements and that your energy has returned. The last time I went to donate blood, my numbers were fractionally low, so they suggested a Flintstones vitamin, of all things. I’m still dragging my feet for some reason. However, they keep reaching out for donations, so I should let your post inspire me to buy some.
Hannah and I are in the craft room as I write this. She is the best girl ever!
As my internist said it, most people do poorly with an iron supplement. Boy, was she right in my case. The first type I tried was labeled as gentle but caused pain and nausea: not good! I found another type named Gentle Iron on Amazon that is iron bisglycinate chelate, and it is causing zero problems. In a couple of weeks I’ll find out if my blood iron levels came up, but so far I’m seeing improvement, so I suspect that they are.
Bless you for donating blood! They won’t take mine.
I don’t think Hannah really is taking time off – it sounds like she is on duty all the time! So nice to have another cozy spot to sit and enjoy things that make you happy. I still can’t get over that quilt. It’s so lovely. Cheering you on with the iron supplements and glad to hear they are making a dent.
Between Hannah and the Fitbit, I do get up and move around regularly during the day. The quilt is just beautiful; what doesn’t show in the picture is how nice the quilting is in the open areas where she added additional quilted designs.
Those are all very lovely things! My sister, as a teenager, needed to take iron supplements for a while, and she hated them also. (But they really helped.) I’m glad yours are helping as well, and I hope it’s temporary for you too.
I hope so. The first supplement hated my guts (literally) but I have now found a slow-release one that I’m tolerating well. Yay! I hope that this is temporary, but a lot of my online scleroderma friends are also taking supplements as anemia is one of the side effects of our illness. Boo! Bad scleroderma, bad!
Slow-release sounds much better! My sister always used to complain that her iron supplement made her feel like she was going to be sick. I’ll have to remember the slow-release one if she ever needs them again. (Not likely, though, since that was a puberty thing for her.)
It is much better!
Your happy placed sounds like a good place to rest and heal! So glad your iron supplements are helping, and that you have such a sweet helper to nag you into your happy place 🙂
The best situation I can hope for right now. I cozy and spirit lifting place to iron load in while attended by a bossy and loving cat.
🙂
I’m still trying to find the perfect treat for Rowdy. He likes the Fancy Feast with gravy, but just licks the gravy off. Tried some “saucier” foods but he didn’t like them at all. :(
Love your knitted kitty and am jealous of the orchid and violets. I’ve tried both at various times and always manage to kill them. Tried several bonsai, too, with similar results.
The kitties are so picky, aren’t they! I tried the saucy or brothy treats, but they were an instant reject by the felines. Hannah loves Temptations treats, but I think that she is allergic to them, so they are off the menu.
I’ll post the picture of the indoor garden in my next post. I have the plants under grow lights in my craft room and I seriously don’t know why some plants die and others thrive. They are all in the same environment, right?
Ah yes, Temptations. Rowdy goes nuts over the tuna flavor. He runs back and forth in front of the drawer in the coffee table where I keep them if he thinks I’m about to bring them out.
I just spent a couple days with my son and his cat Liam follows you around, gazing at you constantly until you produce the Temptations. If you don’t produce them fast enough he will hit you with a paw…
LOL