Current Crafts

Currently I’m working on some paper and yarn crafts. Here’s what I’m doing right now as I watch America’s Next Top Model: British Invasion (and when that’s over, back to House MD on Netflix)

It’s a hexagon blanket for my soon to be nephew, Hunter. My brother just got married to my lovely new sister in law Sarah. They’re expecting for August 14. The shower is next weekend! I have 3 wedges to finish by then. They go by quick, and its an easy knit.

The blanket so far. It’s so soft! I love working with this wool. On a 31 peg Bufanda loom.

A close up of the wool. It’s so very soft and comforting.

Next, for my nephew, Hunter, I have a cross stitch pattern I made out of some clip art images. I have to fill in the bottom in the bottom left, which will be a bottle. Feel free to use and edit if you will, just link back to me.

My custom cross stitch pattern I made using PC Stitch for my nephew. I will be adding a date and weight when he is born.

Next I have my circle sweater I’ve been working on for months. I pick it up and do chunks of it at a time, when I’m not working on anything else. I have 3 large wedges to go. I’m done both armholes (although you can’t see the second in the pic) and have to make and sew on the sleeves when I cast it off. I can see the end in sight! I’m doing it on my 90 peg Cindwood loom, which I love.

It’s HUGE and finally taking shape!

Last I made a collage and a mood log for myself. I have schizoaffective bipolar disorder and keep track of my moods on it. I’m not much of a scrapbooker yet. I just picked up some more supplies today. I like getting messy with paper and glue and seeing what I can make. My mom picked me up a printer. I love dabbling with paper and seeing what I can do, and it’s a good way to track my moods.

The outside

The inside. I made the die (d20) to track how my week went. The closer to 20, the better. I also keep track of certain symptoms. Green is best. Yellow is okay, orange is meh, and red is bad. No red this week!

Here’s a few pics of my pony and I. Her name is Ayla. We have a show next week!

My first scrapbook page!

Well, I tried my hand at scrapbooking. It’s bright and it’s cheery. I do have bipolar disorder, so it’s the first stop at the crazy carnival: The Med-go-Round. I basically cut up some PI sheets from meds I take.

I feel like a little kid. I used stamps, and stickers, and foam letters and glue!

 

This was fun.

Hope you like it.

I do a lot of “art therapy”, even though I’m not an artist at all. Here’s another doodle from this mornings anxiety attack.

Pardon my handwriting.

I kinda suck at this stuff, but it’s fun and I like it!

For those interested, I have bipolar disorder type 1 with rapid cycling and psychosis, diagnosed 2001. I also have schizotypal personality disorder, but I’ve been told “you have the schizotypal, but not the personality disorder”, diagnosed 2008. Whatever that means. I think I hit the criteria. I also have mild inattentive ADHD, diagnosed when I was a kid. I take:

Topamax as a primary mood stabilizer, 150mg and still titrating. Lithium was my “godsend” but I ended up with a rare kidney disease. Epival/depakote lands me in mixed episodes, Tegretol and I don’t play nice, Gabapentin is meh.. I don’t mind the weight loss side effect, even though chocolate and pop (and beer) taste odd.

Haldol as a primary antipsychotic, 5mg and seeing how that goes (may have to add an extra dose)

Artane for possible Haldol side effects. I take Haldol because atypical antipsychotics (such as Seroquel, Abilify, etc) don’t work well for me. I have nearly NO side effects from Haldol. I tolerate it well.

Lexapro (40mg and reducing) for anxiety and mild depression. I’m using US names for you. 😉 It’s Cipralex in Canada.

Ritalin for inattentive ADHD, 20 to 40mg, it helps with sedation, even though I’m rarely sedated.

Clonazepam for anxiety, up to 1.5mg.

I’ve also had unilateral ECT, in 2008, 6 sessions, and it worked WONDERS. I haven’t had an episode of depression that wasn’t caused by a situation (for example, death in the family) or suicide attempt since.

If you think my med list is long now – you should have seen it then. I’ve been on almost everything. I had a short (3 week) hospitalization in Oct 2013, to stabilize, to de-stress and get involved in groups. I was a voluntary patient, and had a med overhaul. I’ve been stable since.

I also ride horses. It’s not horse therapy, per se, because I’m a competitive hunter/jumper. I journal, do CBT and DBT (which are good therapies for anyone, even without mental illness) and have a worker in the community. I see my psychiatrist every 6 weeks. I finally have a good one!

I just thought I’d share that with you.