A bit of comfort...

The past two nights, in particular, have been rough for Amos and I.  Thankfully, tonight is better.  By that I mean, the fireworks nutters seem to have gotten it all out of their systems Sunday and Monday. My neighborhood sounded very much like a battlefield, with concussive forces so strong that car alarms kept going off.  I thought Sunday night was bad, but last night was worse.  Amos and I ended up in the closet with all the weighted blankets, trying to survive the onslaught to our compromised nervous systems.  Poor puppy dog!

Saturday night, I worked on making a small weighted blanket for my bed.  I wanted one for up there because carrying heavy things up and down the stairs is not especially a safe thing for me to be doing and because I have been thinking that I might sleep better with one.  My idea was to make a small one that could be draped over one shoulder and down my back (I am a side sleeper).

This is my end result.  I am pleased that I actually completed it and I am pleased that my squares are actually fairly even at 4x4 inches.  I am not pleased with my edging or my closing.  I mean, I had wanted to have an edging around it the way that my friend Becky made mine and Amos', but I realized that I wasn't sure how to make one after already starting.  That could be forgiven, I suppose, though it is hard to sew all the way to the edge when making the pockets.

What is really bothersome is that I just couldn't figure out how to do the closure, so, before I started making the pockets, I sewed down the raw edges at the top.  Since I had already sewed the sides, this meant that I had to sew in a circle, since I essentially had a pillow case at that point.  Sewing in a circle is much, much, much harder than sewing a straight line (on super duper slow motion speed).  Mine seams were all wibbly wobbly and didn't match up once the two edges were put together.

Doing it this way meant that I had to sew a third seam to close it (third) because each side had a seam on it.  The third one, which closed the top row of pockets, does not align with the seam sewn to tack down the raw edges on either side of the top of the blanket.  In fact, since I was trying to catch the top of the columns I initially sewed to start the pockets of weighted beads, I sort of backed up and started over.  Mostly, it looks like a child sewed the top.  I am not a child.  SIGH.

However, the function of the blanket worked perfectly, as Amos decided almost immediately after I finished it (and took a photo).  He used it for the rest of the evening before I carried up to bed.

Twice, since getting it, I have slept just over four hours without waking.  That is a Myrtle miracle.  In fact, Saturday night I only woke three times total!  It may be too early to be definitive about the weighted blanket's help, but I believe it will have benefit to me at night.

I really, to be honest, was first thinking it would be helpful when I am in the throes of violent waves of nausea and/or writhing in pain and am flagging in spirits. I thought having it about my shoulders might be sort of like having a hug.  In any case, I do like the weight across my shoulder and back whilst sleeping.

Not knowing what size I needed or what to do, I bought a yard of this fabric.  I think, maybe, a yard and a half might have been a better fit for draping completely about the shoulders, but I really only need one shoulder.  If I were making it for someone else, though, I would make it a wee bit longer.  Of course, if I were someone who sews, I would have figured out how to make a half-moon in the middle so it wouldn't bunch up around my neck.  But given that I know nothing about sewing and basically can only sew in a line using super duper slow motion speed, I did fairly well.

In case you are wondering, I used the weighted pellets Becky uses in her weighted blankets, Poly-Pellets.   They are currently half-price at JoAnn Fabrics and the 10lb box is even cheaper when bought online.  Each bag is two pounds and I used about 1 and 2/3rd bags for my blanket.  There are all sorts of charts to figure weight, but I basically measured a half cup into each 4x4 pocket.

I suppose I am now doubly thankful that my mother bought the sewing machine so that I could hem all the curtains upstairs.  Now, not only has Becky used it to create resting pads for Amos for four rooms and a weighted blanket for him, I have used it to created a small weighted blanket for my bed. Those things could not have been created without Mother's gift and Amos and I have certainly found much peace and comfort through them.