Half Marathon Hats, Week 3

I so love my newest hat.  I love it so much I don't even mind the obvious jokes about it (and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you have a very sparkly, clean mind!)  So without further ado.... I present to you....



The Great Gonzo!

I was really worried about the nose... making sure it curved and all, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  I also was concerned about the eyelids, but I think they turned out pretty well, too.



I left it on the lamp like that and Bill was startled by him when he walked in there in the dark.  That just makes the hat all the more awesome!  He wouldn't look at me this morning when I had it on.  =)

I took it to work and even had someone request that I make them one!  Woo hoo!

The girls aren't crazy about it. Zoe said, "I like it a little bit, but not a lot."

I have one more blue-themed hat before November ends.  I also have to finish up my three turkey hats before Thursday.  Make another Gonzo.  And I got the stuff to get started on my brother-in-law's Christmas present (a blue and orange mohawk hat with a twist...).  I've had two really fun ideas for hats the past two days.  I need to write this stuff down so I don't forget.  I love it when the creativity is flowing!

I have been feeling a little under the weather this week, and the cold finally hit full-force last night.  Blah.  I hate being sick.  I need to get it to run its course quickly so I can be well by Thanksgiving.

If I don't make it back here before then, I hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day!  I am oh, so grateful for each and every one of  you that read this, whether or not you comment! 

Hooked again...

I totally forgot to come show you last week's hat. 



It's not the best picture, but it's all I have.  It's just a mohawk hat.  It's not the hat I had planned, but the yarn I got for it wasn't working out right.  This is actually one I started - goodness - a year or so ago?  The fuzzy yarn was a pain to work with and I gave up on it, but it worked with my blue color scheme, so I tried again.  It's a little too small for my head.  I think I was making it for the girls.  I didn't actually run in it.  It was raining Sunday and I'm a total lazy bum lately.  Really need to stop that.

My turkey hats for the Go!bbler Run on Thanksgiving with my sister and her friend are coming along.



Those legs kill me, I have to say.  So funny. 

I won't tell you what this week's hat is going to be, but I will tell you that it's probably my most favorite creation to date.  Seriously.  I've wanted to make this hat for a long time and it's turning out better than I had hoped.  I can't wait to show you.  I'll show you the yarn.  Maybe you can guess...



It is a character hat and it has a 3D element to it.  That's all I'm giving you right now.

I have a goal of not using any patterns for any of these hats.  I have a few that will be tricky to make them look just like I want since there is an actual pattern that exists that I like, but we will see how I do.  Today I was browsing Pinterest and Etsy for some ideas for some of my future hats and realized that I really do love this and the old desire to actually do something with this hobby is creeping back up.  Pattern making, custom hats... I'm not exactly sure where I would go with it, but improvising these hats is just too much fun - especially this week's.   We'll see what happens...

Diabetes Awareness Month and Grover

Did you know that October is Diabetes Awareness Month?  Well, now you do.

And it's only fitting that this month I start to become very aware that my diabetes is out of control.  Fun stuff.  I knew my A1C was up last month when I went to the doctor, but I really didn't feel like things were bad.  And, if you never caught this before, I'm a horrible patient and never check my blood sugar.  So how would I know anyway?  Let me tell you how...

I started connecting some dots.  I've been so tired lately.  I have to take a nap every afternoon before the girls get home and still want to go to bed around 8pm... I usually have trouble winding down to get to bed by 10pm, so that's just very unusual.  I got a boil (gross, I know) and discovered in my research on how to get rid of it (it was right before the half marathon and in a very inconvenient place for walking) that it's not uncommon for diabetics to get boils when their blood sugar is too high.  I haven't been sleeping well (I attributed my fatigue to that) and was having night sweats (I attributed that to the new comforter being too heavy).  And this week I just felt ill.  Slightly nauseous off and on.  Yesterday something just clicked in my head.  I feel like crap because my blood sugar must be out of control.  I remember a few  years ago my blood sugar being over 300 and I felt HORRIBLE.... insanely nauseous, couldn't sleep because of the night sweats.  I wasn't feeling quite that bad - yet, but I knew it was coming.

So I went to the drug store and tapped out my health savings account buying test strips.  Damn, those things are expensive!  $75 for 50 strips.  Crazy.  That was a huge factor in why I never checked my blood sugar in the first place.  Anyway... I got home and about an hour after dinner I checked.  266.  Not good.

This morning's fasting... 237... REALLY not good. 

So, yes, it is time to really get myself back on track.  I told my doctor I could control it without medication and my intention is to do just that.  Otherwise, I'm back on Metformin in January and I really don't like the side effects.  But it's better than how I feel right now by a long shot.  I'll be checking my blood sugar like a good girl, my morning fasting and then I'll pick a meal to check each day.  Hopefully those numbers will get better.

I need to watch my carb intake, obviously.  And I'm going to get back into the routine of taking the girls to childcare at the rec center on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  In addition to that, and my long walk/run on Sundays, I will go straight to the rec center on Wednesdays after work.  I won't get to see Bill those days, but I talked it over with him and he's OK with it.  Hopefully that will do the trick.

Oh, and I read a very interesting article today when I was checking to make sure there wasn't a connection between Zoloft and increased blood sugar, and there isn't, but there is a connection between high blood sugar and depression.  So my sudden onset of depression makes sense in that light.  Gives me a little hope that I won't have to be popping pills my whole life.

Bill has a cousin that has LADA (Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults), which is basically adult-onset Type I.  (Usually Type I diabetes is diagnosed early in life, not as an adult)  She's very active in the online diabetes communities and has been posting a lot of stuff about Diabetes Awareness this month on Facebook.  Fridays in October, you are supposed to wear blue to show support of diabetics and diabetes research.  She is compiling a collection of pictures of people wearing blue on Blue Fridays for a blog post.

I knew my first "half-marathon training" hat was going to be Grover, and therefore blue, so I made sure to finish him in time for a Blue Friday picture. 



He's a little bit big... my gauge was off because I can't crochet with just eyelash yarn and have to use it with another yarn so I can find my stitches.  And he's HOT.  I have a feeling he'll be making me sweat tomorrow when I take him out for my run/walk. 

Bill's cousin loved the picture and asked to use it for her Blue Friday post as I was typing a comment to her that she could.  LOL  And I decided that all my half-marathon hats this month will be blue.  I already have my yarn for next week's hat and hope to get it started tomorrow.  I have to sew tonight.  And work on my turkey hats.  And I have an order for two Hello Kitty hats.  Lots to keep me busy!