Apparently, my last update didn't go through. And I didn't check it. Silly me!

So, to catch up: I've been to my wonderful rheumatologist and he's diagnosed me with RA. For sure. Which is good news, as far as having it goes. Because this means that now I'm on the correct medication for it, and we are treating it instead of just treating the pain. I'm taking about 4 different meds, all older that are available in generic (thank you Doc!) instead of all of these new, VERY expensive meds that are out. I see his point, though. If I'm doing better and not having as many flare ups with the older meds, why spend extra money on newer stuff that are not as proven? Wish my previous doctor had that same theory.

Knitting update: Still knitting up a storm. For the dish rag tag, I received a beautiful dishcloth from Kat, and some wonderful handmade soaps, and a box of Sweet Tarts (yum yum!). I've already used the cloth to wash a bunch of dishes, the Sweet Tarts were very yummy and sustained me while knitting my dishcloth to send out, and the soaps are absolutely wonderful! They leave my skin all smooth and silky! Now to figure out how to make some of my own. (another hobby, here I come!)

Since my dishwasher is broken, I've been washing all my dishes by hand. And I absolutely love knitted dishclothes. I've made a lot lately. For one thing, it's an easy and lightweight and small project to carry around. I've been knitting them in the car, in restaurants waiting for my family to finish eating, in church (with about half the congregation as well! We're known for our knitting!), standing in line, at the library, in Wal-mart--well, you get the idea!

Not that dishclothes are all I've been knitting. I've knitted a couple of socks. Split-toe socks. So that I can wear them with my flip-flop type shoes if I want to. I've completed one pair in red cotton (ggh Scarlett. Love it. Unfortunately, my lys that carried it is closed and the only lys left are snobs, so I don't go there often). I've already worn them twice: once with flip-flops, once with my sneakers (feels different in regular shoes, but it works!)

Now I'm starting my charity projects. Even though the temps have been in the 100's here lately (cooler today. Only in the upper 90's.), I've started making hats and scarves for the homeless. Chattanooga has a homeless problem. As many cities do. But a lot of the people IN Chattanooga ignore this problem. We have a Community Kitchen, and a center where people can go to, but only for a temporary solution. There are a couple of resources in town, including Interfaith Homeless Network, IHN (which my church, Unitarian Universalist Church of Chattanooga, participates in hosting families with children for 1 week twice a year), but the ones that we do have in town are stretched to their limit. So there is always a call to help out. All year round, not just between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I'm making hats and scarves out of my stash for these programs. I'm hoping to get my knitting group or other individuals to help out, but if not, at least they'll have the ones I've made to hand out. So far, I've made a matching ladies set. I'm starting a men's hat now.

Well, I guess that's enough of an update for now. I'm going to try and get this "published" and hope it goes through. Maybe more later, and I'll work on updating more often!