Sweater hat

I made a hat out of a scrappy old moth-bitten sweater. Sorry - forgot to take a "before" photo, but in my defense the sweater was pretty ratty. It makes for a lovely little hat, though!

Fat Me and a Pocket Shift from an old sheet

Fat Me: Thank you, psychiatric meds. You've made my body a blob of yuk and I hate it. Psych meds, you've packed on fifteen or twenty pounds over the course of two months. Salads be damned! And I practically live on salads, greens, veggies... Seriously, I do not know how much less I can eat without stopping eating altogether. Betcha I'd still gain weight if I quit eating. Grrr... How much of the weight gain is due to menopause? The weight gain really bums me out and balloons my bum. No, it is NOT funny!! Grrr... Should I quit the psych meds and be skinny but depressed? At least I'd look good. Oh, Woe Is Me! Woe! And there's Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream sitting in the freezer, a virgin half-gallon, which I yearn to sully.

Pocket Shift from an Old Sheet: I posted about this briefly over at Refashion Co-op. Now here's the deal with the shift - I dyed the old sheet twice. The first time I used only one bottom of RIT Dye Black, and the cloth turned purple not black. Nice, but not great. So the second dye bath used RIT Dye Dark Brown and a half a bottle of black, and POW! The color punched up nice and rich. I'm happy with it. I added large pockets to the shift, plus I hand-stitched a silk tie around the neckline. The inspiration came from Annekata's page on Japanese tunics, which are simple yet adorable.
Albert 'photobombed' a couple times, for added charm.

Upcycled maxi to top

You know, I cannot seem to break my depression. The Abilify fattens me - so far I've gained a whopping ten pounds and I'm up to 150 from LAST WEEK. This is NOT acceptable. It's bad for my blood pressure, which goes up with weight gain (not rocket science). Time to quit Abilify because I won't be able to fit into my clothes if I keep taking it. Damn it all, the Abilify works but there is this trade-off, which just isn't worth it. Maybe with the Springtime sunshine the depression will lighten on its own. We shall see...

This was a VERY quick and easy 'upcycle'. The word works better than "refashion" because the maxi-dress was truly trailer-trash tent-like. So it classes it up a bit, chopping it at the waist and hemming the top. The bottom part I've set aside for another skirt, which I'll write about at a later date.

Hair Affair: II

Sunday night, I stopped taking Abilify* (an anti-psychotic) and Ambien (a narcoleptic). My scalp's sebaceous glands were working overtime and the skin on my earlobes, of all places, started cracking and bleeding(!!) The medications surely must have initiated these mild dermatological annoyances. I'm an empiricist: I took new meds for a couple weeks then once I stopped, *voila* my skin cleared up.

Ah, Menopause! and a "Kojak Alert"

My hair sparkles with silver strands! The G.P. (general practitioner/family doctor) advised me to make an appointment with an OB/GYN (girly-parts doctor) and have my estrogen levels checked. Menopause, permit me to introduce you to clinical depression. The addition of Abilify to my regular Effexor compels me to crave starches: pastas, breads, rice... ANY starch as long as I can keep eating it. I've already gained three pounds since last Thursday. Ugh. The hunger cravings and Hello pounds of plump!