Itches And Stitches

You know, getting fired from your job, really plays havoc with a blog. Being cooped up all the time, it's hard to come up with a blog story!

Here's what I do have. A story about itching and a story about stitching. First the itching.

About a month ago, I got a new pair of blue jeans. Way cool, huh? Well, I wore these jeans for two days, before I washed them. I developed a terrible itch that I was blaming on the new jeans. It's right where the waist band hits, about an inch wide strip, but here's where it gets weird. I itch half way around my body along that line. From where my belly button is all the way around my left side back to where my spine is. I itch. I itch bad.

I really did blame it on the unwashed jeans. I thought maybe some fabric dye, or just the roughness of the new jeans was irritating me. Unfortunately, it's now a month later and I still freakin' itch! At times it's almost unbearable.

I've had Ron check me over pretty closely. He can see no rash, no bug bites, no irritation other than my scratch marks. I've work old and worn jeans, but I still itch. I've worn elastic waisted shorts and I still itch. I wear no pants, but where my shirt touches that half band area, causes me to itch. I've tried hand cream, Gold Bond powder and even Benedryl ointment. Nothing is making it better. It's bizarre.

Any itch remedies would be appreciated.

On to the stitches side of this story.

As most of you know by the towels you've received from me recently, I've taken up crocheting again while I've been laid up. The towels just weren't challenging enough any more plus I have more finished towels here than I have people I know. (If anyone needs more, let me know!)

I've eluded to a new project in my previous blog post. Here's the story.

I bought a few books of patterns for afghans. I picked probably the hardest one in there, but it is so the most beautiful of them! Here is a picture of a work in progress, to give you an idea.

Here is my workspace! The afghan is a bunch of squares with raised pansies. Then you sew the squares together and voila, an afghan is made!

I need 54 squares. In the middle I have a bag with all 54 centers. On the right is one completed square! Underneath all of that is my instructions.

Each square is done if four parts, as there are four colors in each square. The center, the pansie petals, the leaves and then the outer square.

This picture was taken a few days ago, so now I'm up to two completed squares, probably 20 or so completed with the pansie petals and a few more with the green leaves. It's like I'm on a mission with this thing.

If you gotta be laid up, it's good to have a hobby. I've read more books than I can count since I've been off, so this is a nice addition to occupy my time.

Anyone need an afghan? This is definitely one I will do again!