Hey! I'm losing my marbles.

I don't know if I've posted any recent pics of myself. I want to say that I haven't in a while because I just
haven't been blogging. Please forgive the terrible lighting, but here's a pic that I took just today. For the record, my hair used to be approximately hip length three years ago. Two years ago, it was shoulder length and breaking, coming out, and splitting. So, I walked into a salon with a picture of what I wanted. The people running the salon had me literally sit in the corner and think if I was sure I wanted such a dramatically different cut.

Looking back on that, I chuckle. I've wanted a haircut like this since I was a teen. When I was a teen, I would have been thrown out of the house for it. For you folks who can't tell with the messed up lighting, I have a buzzed undercut and a short pixie cut on top. I've mussed it up and spiked it up for this pic. It's how I usually wear it. I don't typically put product into my hair, but I did today just to make sure that this look held long enough for me to take this pic. 

The people at the salon were declaring me brave for cutting my hair. I looked at them like they had lost their minds. I said bluntly, "It's hair. If I don't like the cut, it'll grow back. What am I going to do, get mad at you because I was dumb? That's just foolish." There was a collective gasp and then a sigh of relief. When the haircut was done, the stylist said to me that she had never seen someone so determined to get their hair cut before. I shrugged and replied that I knew the only way to keep my hair from falling out faster was to go short. Next thing I know, I'm being regaled with horror stories from the stylists in the salon of others who were losing their hair and went long to super long and how badly it ended up for them.

They still don't believe I had hip length hair before. I think I'm going to have to bring my wedding picture in to show them how long my hair used to be. I still don't understand people who flip out on their stylist when their hair doesn't come out like how the envisioned it in their minds or like the person in the photo. Everyone's head is different. I knew my pixie cut portion wasn't going to lay flat because I have something like five cowlicks on the top of my head. (Super annoying with a regular pixie cut but kinda awesome with this.) Maybe other people are not as self aware when it comes to their hair. I don't know. I still think it's foolish to scream over your hair being your hair and behaving in its own unique way. 

If you hate your hair that much, wouldn't it be easier to just get a wig instead of constant disappointment or anger with your stylist?

Edited to add a better pic:

Fiber Fluff Check In.

 Hi everybody!

I haven't made much progress on spinning right now. I've come to realize that I spin more and do so more consistently when the weather is fair and warm. The weather mocks me by being fair and bitterly cold. I want to go out and walk with my spindle and distaff. But, I have to wait about a month for that warm weather.  I pace a bit in my apartment but it isn't quite the same. My kick wheel is put away until I'm ready to ply the singles that I'm working on. I had two balls of grey alpaca pencil roving. One of them got spun up into a twisted and pigtailing single. Things look the same for the second ball of roving. I'm then going to ply it with hand spun acrylic roving. I found it at the craft store for a few bucks because it was on clearance. I have no idea what the staple length is. I'm really hoping it isn't 35 yards. If it is, I'll have to bust out a ruler and a good pair of scissors to cut it down to a uniform staple length. The thing about the acrylic roving that threw me for a loop (aside from finding it to begin with) is the fact that it feels like silk. 

If the roving feels like silk, how on Earth do they mangle it into the scratchy monstrosity that we're all familiar with? My plan is to ply the three together to make a yarn that is a bit more sturdy than my usual three ply laceweight yarn. If the acrylic experiment works out well, I may try spinning it with other materials. It's the same grey as the alpaca but it has a silver sheen. I know it will play well with the other singles as soon as I get them done.

I haven't done any embroidery in the last few months. I just haven't been feeling well and the frustration of getting my glasses adjusted properly made things harder. But, now I have new glasses and I'm going to pick up the needle and thread again as soon as I'm done cleaning everything for Moura.* Right now, I realized that I was measuring the progress I was making on Cuddle Bear's sweater wrong. I have another ten inches to knit before dealing with the shoulders and then the back of this sweater. I'm frustrated but I'm not giving up. Cuddle Bear is being gracious and patient, which is pretty hard for a 15 yo. 

Aside from what feels like an endless knitting project that I'm doing all wrong, I am working on the final batch of preemie hats. I have eight in the box, one on the hook, and about 24 more to make to hit my goal of 99 hats for the hospital. Apparently the big preemie hat program that I was contributing to was only giving donations to the big city hospitals. That made me a bit mad. I'm debating how to continue the project on my own and the logistics of getting them out to the smaller hospitals in the rural counties like the one where I live.

Aside from that, once I get hat 99 done, I'm going to start making scarves. I have to talk to the school social worker about how many she thinks they need. I figure I'll start with my kids' school district and branch out from there.

*Moura is the name of Filianism's season/month of purification and preparation for the Daughter's sacrifice. I've been spending most of it with a migraine thanks to these stupid winter storms. When I am not dealing with a migraine or its fallout, I've been cleaning like a madwoman. This deep cleaning got complicated when the bathroom sink started leaking. But that's a post for another day (and a bit more of a rant).

I hate this weather.

 Hello all, it's me again.

I'd have posted more over the last little while but I have been dealing with recurring migraines as these cursed winter storms roll through the area. One of them was four days long with the prescription medication from the doctor. I'm currently on day two of a migraine. Yesterday, I took a brand name off the shelf migraine medication. It wore off and I felt horrid. I've been nervous about taking the prescription medication too many times in a month. That's why when the four day migraine hit, I only took it on the first day and then the other stuff on the following days.

Today, I said I'm not going to be so damn cautious and I just too the prescription medication, despite the fact that I had it twice earlier in the week. These winter storms and the wild swings in the temperature are just wrecking havoc. When I was a kid, I used to love winter and how pretty it all looked. Now, I scorn it because it has been causing me immense pain.

One of my doctors said that I was going to quite likely be more prone to migraines as I go through perimenopause. I wasn't thrilled with the news. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled to be told that I  have entered perimenopause. But it explains why my hair went grey so fast and started falling out. As such, I have had to abandon the long hair that most of you know me for. I have a super short pixie cut on top and an undercut to go with it. It's confused some people. I look more masculine with this haircut to some people. I think it's a pretty androgynous look, to be honest. 

When I changed my hairstyle to one that I had wanted since I was a teen but never got because I knew my parents would have likely thrown me out of the house for it, I changed my clothing style. Due to coincidence, I've dropped a fair amount of weight over the last few years. Clothes that were sort of loose started falling off me. I had to give up my favorite sweater because it was falling off me. I was a 3x for a while now I am a 1x. I'm almost back to the size I wore before I had kids. I figure it'll probably be by the end of the year that I am down to that. It goes every 3 mo to 6 mo, my clothing size goes down for the last two years. I suspect it's due to the diabetes. 

But instead of the Boho style that I was sort of doing before, I have gone to Goth with splashes of added color. I call it Rainbow Goth. My in-laws are a bit confused and mildly perturbed by it. I know they'll get used to it. Or not, I'm not going to worry about it much. I've always loved the Goth aesthetic and wanted to wear that style. I'm not  yet where I want to be style wise but I'm working towards it. Most of my wardrobe is black and I've got my colorful scarves. I have a small selection of colorful stuff, but I'm sorting it out because I don't know what fits anymore.