Week 7 – Grief and More Puppies

This week, the hyperfixation on Pound Puppies continues.

Last week, I wrote about how I found a vintage 1985 pattern for Pound Puppies on Etsy. I ended up buying the mini puppy pattern as well, and the creator’s name wasn’t cut out of that pattern. So, I can report that the designer is Cheryl Vanderwall De Veronica for Millcraft! I tried looking her up, but I couldn’t find any details. Of course, 1985 was 40 years ago, so maybe she didn’t design anything else.

I decided to make another of the puppy designs (the Spaniel) with a cotton acrylic blend called Koosh. I used standard single crochet, and ended up making ovals in cotton yarn for the eyes.

What do we think? 

I didn’t give this puppy a name because my husband stole it as soon as it was done.

I got so focused on mastering this pattern that I totally forgot that the whole reason I was making them was to enter into the Royal Adelaide Show (thanks, ADHD)!

I still feel like I can do better, and I want to test out a few different yarns. I have some Little Darling chenille left over, so I’m going to make a mini puppy and see how it comes out.

Trigger Warning: Death and Grief

This week has been a bit rough because it’s my Mom’s birthday on the 17th. She died in August 2020, so this is the 6th birthday since she’s been gone.

Grief is weird… I have been having waves of anxiety over the last couple of weeks. They just come out of nowhere, and I thought maybe it was hormone-related as I’m 42 (yay, perimenopause). Then it clicked during therapy that it’s almost her birthday. It finally made sense – I was experiencing waves of grief, which is always accompanied by fear for me. I had a complicated relationship with my Mom and abandonment issues to work through.

These waves of grief have also been accompanied by increased muscle and joint pain. My diaphragm is tensing up, and it’s been hard to get a full breath. All pretty normal signs of stress for me.

I’m trying to take things slower, spend more time outside in the bouncy egg chair I bought (excellent use of adult money), listen to 90’s music, and find comfort in the small things.

Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate! If you don’t like “Capitalist Love Day”, it’s fun to celebrate the date that Captain Cook was shanked in Hawaii for trying to capture the chief, Kalaniʻōpuʻu. 

The sickening details of the Epstein Files continue to come to light. Honestly, I’ve needed to take a break from it all this week. I have been thinking a lot about how women are expected to stay small and smooth in Western society – pre-pubescent. I have a sickening sensation of searing anger and nausea in my gut. Patriarchy is rooted in paedophilia and controlling girls and women. 

I did watch some of Pam Bondi‘s congressional hearing. Nothing makes me sicker than seeing a woman protect these monsters. She wouldn’t even acknowledge the Epstein victims. I’m not religious, but I’m praying for the day that these fuckers face justice for everything they’ve done. 

The Trump admin knows they will lose the primaries this year, so they’re attempting to stop people from voting with the Save America Act.

Here in Australia, we are experiencing our own incidents of police brutality against protestors.

The horrors persist, but so do we. 

I have had to take a break on the Overlay Mosaic panels due to hand pain. The cotton yarn and small hook are brutal for hEDS. I am currently about 1/4 way through the 4th panel, and then I have 2 more to go! I used this project to continue learning how to use Stitch Fiddle, so the pattern includes SF graphs as well as printable and written instructions.

As I said above, I finished Puppy #2 using Koosh yarn and a 3.5mm hook. I’m not sure if I like it better than Greg, but I definitely prefer crocheting with Color Theory (one of my faves). I made a mini puppy Color Theory, and it took less than 1 skein! I will report back on the mini pups.

I also wrote the patterns for the Farm Fidgets this week! I am so excited to get these finished and up on Ravelry and Etsy. The patterns are being tested, and I need to photograph everything. 

We’ve almost finished Season 2 of Breaking Bad. So good. I still can’t get over that this show is nearly 20 years old now. 

I finished reading Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Honestly, I almost quit a few times due to the sheer weight of the science in the prose. You cannot convince me that one person would have as much random scientific knowledge as the main character does. Anyway, I’m glad I stuck with it because the actual story was worth it – 4/5 stars. I also finished The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw. I’ve been waiting to get a copy of this from Libby for ages, and I was so disappointed. It felt like the author wrote the whole thing with a thesaurus. I have never had to look up as many words as I did in this book (and I have an above-average vocabulary). Within a couple of pages, she used vermillion and nadir so many times that my eye was twisting. The bizarre word choices also made it hard to follow the story. There were parts that I had to re-read several times to understand who was talking and what had happened – 3/5 stars. I’ll be starting Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir tonight. 

This week, the Emotional Support Penis has been selling again! What a total little cutie. If you didn’t know, all of our peen patterns include beanie and helmet options (if you get my drift).

People continue to love the Alpine Stitch Fingerless Gloves. PassionKnit Kelsie made them on her Vlogmas series at the end of last year, and I guess people are still watching and making their own.

Update on the animal hair clip fidgets: as I said above, the patterns are written! We decided to call them Farm Fidgets. There is a sneak peek of the piggie if you scroll up a little. They are insanely cute and very satisfying to click clack.

I’ve had a few other weird ideas for patterns, but it just depends on my chronic pain and fatigue levels. At this stage, I’m just trying to get through the next couple of weeks. 

How have you been feeling this week? Can you get outside for a little time in nature?