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Hello dear reader, I am quite sure you have been waiting for an update on the prodigious pursuits of my fingers! (I mean crocheting and knitting, of course…)

Last month, the mother of two of my co-workers (they are sisters) died in a sudden traffic accident. Let me tell you a little about these two sisters. One is tall and sort of reserved, the other is loudly cheerful. I wanted very badly to put a smile back on their faces, so I crocheted a pair of comfort shawls. The first one was an Irish rose pattern, but everyone said that Miss Dee (aka The Loud and proud Mouth of the South) loves sunflowers. So, the dimensional roses shown in the pattern book in mint, cream, and pink became sunflowers when worked in deep green, bright yellow, and coffee brown.

Then I worked up Miss Pam’s shawl. I was so unsure what she would like, so I took a filet motif I found online(which I will link to later) and tweaked it to go around the edge of a plain open mesh triangle. I worked that up in a pretty variegated yarn in autumn colors, then finished it off with a ruffle of the coffee brown left over from the other shawl. Both were done in worsted-weight acrylic (I Love This Yarn, from Hobby Lobby).

I can also add spinning to my list of craftiness. I made a drop spindle a few months ago, and finally got to order some fleece. It was a luscious hank of Blue-Faced Leicester, dyed varying shades of brilliant blue. It was wonderful, it just about spun itself, despite my noob status and my really unbalanced homemade spindle.

I am also still working on Becky’s armwarmers (arm scarves, she calls them.) They are being knit with Alpaca Fina from elann.com, in the same shade as that first ever pair of socks. The first one is done, and the second is about a third of the way finished. I got the pattern from Melissa Morgan-Oakes’s Two-at-a-Time Socks. It’s called Athena, and all i did was work the cuff and leg, increase a couple of times along the backside to accomodate Becky’s big ol’ Popeye arms, and do another cuff. Next up will be socks for Momma and Carrie, and Donnie expressed interest in fingerless gloves. But those are to be Yule gifts, and I’m not sure I want to spoil the surprise.

By the way, another co-worker is expecting another grandson and asked if I would do a baby afghan on commission! She wants it to be in different shades of blue, and she wants me to pick the pattern. I’m thinking something patchwork-inspired, like Log Cabin or something like that. The little one has four months left before he makes his entrance, but I need to get crackin’. I think that will be crocheted as well, because I just knit too slow. Expect more updates and work-in-progress pictures. I shall be attending to my crafty duties faithfully.

Michie has a problem! On Monday Michie was thrown out of her house byher Husband! He has told her he does not love her and doesn’t want anything to do with her. She is sleeping in her car! She has Been to the Housing to see if she can get a place with no luck! she has no money as he drained the Bank account! Her name is off the lease! She has contacted a Lawyer who told her to try to get housing. She is living in her car with no money! Please help if you can!

This is urgent, please help if you can.  Michie is on Microgiving and has given this 501c3 organization all evidence of Identity and personal income for a need she had for her son.  Her level 3 status on MicroGiving means she’s a real person and she has given evidence that she’s the mother of sons one of which is disabled and before this incident happened her income was low.  Now it’s not just low income that is her trouble it’s low income and homelessness.  Please help!

http://www.microgiving.com/profile/michie

You can donat here:  http://stormys.chipin.com/michie

My Birthday was August 9th

I had sprained my wrist on Aug 7, it’s my right wrist which is the only part of my body that works 90% correctly. Well anyhow…the plans I had for a free trip out were pretty much shot. I couldn’t use my scooter, walker or wheelchair. I was telling a friend what was going on. I was really depressed as Amy and managed to get my birthday off, we rarely have her home to any holiday, let alone a birthday. Finally by friend got hold of me and asked if Amy would be able to push me in the wheelchair on pavement…yeah…I guess she could, but we can’t do any kind of free outing and have her pushing me all day. It would be no fun for either of us. I HATE, being pushed and I know it’s a wear and tear on her body and that would bother me the whole time. Well my friend didn’t have that idea in mind, she had remembered quite a while back when another friend had wanted Amy and I to have a dinner out and she funded an evening for us to go out to dinner and coffee…we had taken pics of that night. Lori wanted to give Amy and I that same night for my birthday since it wouldn’t require me to propel my own chair and Amy wouldn’t be pushing me very far.

So….My friend Lori send me a birthday gift along with this note, that was for Amy:

DO NOT LET HER worm out of this! Get dressed. Make plans. Get the hell out of there for a little while. . HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY! YOU helped me enjoy our wedding anniversary by taking loading those pics off my mind. Now stop arguing and say thanks. . We love ya’ll!

LOL…so Amy promised her cell pics as proof…here was my day:

First we made a trip to a chair accessible part of the Savannah River in SC. I was able to just roll down the hill to the shore, later she was able to bring the truck close enough so I only had to take a few steps to get into the truck so that worked out perfectly.

Course Amy got in and waded…we make it a practice to clean up places we visit, so she was pulling trash out of the water.

We headed out a beautiful scenic dirt road back to town:

Ran outta battery juice so I didn’t get pics at the buffet…but we did go out to dinner and the cell stayed charging in the truck. Next we got our rare treat of Starbucks coffee!!! Now THAT is a Birthday Gift!!

Uh…excuse us…we are goofing around in Starbucks

She stole my whipped cream! Can you believe that! She told them it was my B-day they gave me a size larger and charged us for the regular size and they loaded me up with whipped cream and all that gooey terribly bad for you dark chocolate syrup..and she just reaches over and grabs a fingerful!

I came home to tons of happy birthday wishes on FaceBook and that brought tears. It’s so nice to know you are thought of and remembered. I know some of my FaceBook friends are here….Thank you friends, it really did mean a lot to me.

Since I couldn’t make it to Allendale SC to view the Topper Archaeological dig site like we had hoped, we will plan that as another outing sometime next month, but today was special and perfect…couldn’t ask for better friends & family who made it all happen.

My Name is Antonio Steward but I like to me called Tony for short. I was just 17 teen when I lost both legs due to a tragic violent crime. I am seeking some help so that one day I will have a car to drive myself to physical therapy. I have to go to, physcial therapy four times every week to learn how to walk. I am learning how to use my prosthesis. I would like to be able to drive a car with hand conrtol’s. I want to live life again and be independent upon myself.

Antionio has submitted all his verification documentation to Microgiving.com

If you think you could offer a little bit to help Antonio please visit his profile at MicroGiving.com

http://www.microgiving.com/profile/miraclemanwalking