I'm so proud!

I have this idea that I will organize the kitchen window sill which is behind the kitchen table to have all of our arts and crafts stuff so I can sit with the Babe and do arty things. I know myself well enough to admit that nothing will ever be organised. But I like these jars anyway. :-) They are pretty and the pencils and crayons and water colour pencils never looked better. And they are getting used more. So there. I am so proud!

So maybe not so many socks...

I have managed to do a couple of pairs more. But they seem to take me a very long time. I imagine it is all the crocheting I do while I have socks on the knitting needles. And all of the time I spend on Ravelry looking at all the socks I will knit...if I ever get off Ravelry.

Finally finished these ones today.

The above socks are being sent to America now, to the lovely S, who has just walked a marathon and half raising $3000 for a Breast cancer charity. I think her feet deserve a treat. They have taken me 2 and a half months. Partly because I am not used to the stretchy cotton yarn, partly because I made a mistake when I started the toe decreases and then left them for several weeks before getting around to sorting them out. But mostly because I have been crocheting these things...

 David Cameron puppet for Socialist friend to do with as she will. Pattern from Lion Brand's Barrack Obama puppet.

 A summer hat, cuz the sun shone here for a couple of days in May. 

 Beautiful top for the teenager from Inside Crochet. The pattern is by the talented Rosella Tinn.

 Churchmouse vintage crochet blanket pattern  for baby Leo.

A present for Aurora's first birthday. The Shortie Sweater from Holland Designs.

I have managed some knitting as well though. There was this hat, which was knitted with Fyberspates Scrumptious. That yarn is appropriately named! It was sent to Morag, who was much more appreciative than the various offspring.

And this hat which was for the dear hubby who cycles 8 miles to work every day. It helps keeps his ears warm under his cycle helmet.

And another pair of lovely socks. Everything about these was quite nice. From the Knitpicks sock yarn to the pattern.

They were for the eldest daughter, and were a request, so I was happy to oblige. They looked lovely!

 I did manage these little ones as well.They just barely fit the 4 year old, and now that the weather is nice, they are not getting worn. I can see myself trying to pick out the toes and lengthen them so that they get more wear next winter.

I am working on some others, and a toddler jumper and a baby blanket. So all in all, considering my wonderful ability to start things and not finish them, doing 6 pairs of socks so far this year is pretty good! Even if some of them were started a long time ago!

Phew. Managed to get all of that written while the 4 year old was at the allotment with her dad. And now she is back and needs a pooh. So back to real life. The story of how I managed to stand on my DPNs and stab myself in the heel will have to wait for another time. :-)

Mostly, I will be doing socks...

Since it is a new year, and there is all the psychobabble about new starts, I  am formulating a plan. It is not about a year of change, or loosing weight, or getting a job,  although all of those things would be nice. :-) I am planning on knitting a lot of socks.

I want to get better at socks. I want to decide which is my favourite heel to do- heel flap and gusset, short rows with wrap and turns, short rows  with double stitch, or any number of other options such as the  recently purchased fish lips kiss heel.

I have already finished three pairs this year. But wait! I hear you scream - It is only the 11th of January. Ah yes, I guess I shall have to point out that actually, two of those pairs were mostly finished already, and the third was for a toddler in aran weight yarn. But it is motivating me.

The nice ones were replacement socks for the dear daughter at university. They were the first proper toe ups that I have actually completed, and made using Crazy Zauberball 6 ply. I don't like the Jenny's stretchy cast off, as it means the that ribbing doesn't hold its shape very well. I will try using other cast offs, but I may just be a cuff down knitter.

I was also doing  a lovely pair of socks with some yarn from Ripples that I got at Woolfest last year. They were going to be for the Babe, but when she saw them she was adament that she wanted different ones. She picked up the first yarn she could spot which just happened to be aran from a blanket that I did for Truffle for Christmas, and she demanded stripes. This is what she ended up with. Took me two days, and she is very happy.

I shall resume work on the orange Ripples ones sometime soon. In the mean time I am very proud to have finished a pair that I started 2 and a half years ago. Before that I had made a pair of pink fluffly socks for the Meister, as she had chosen the Regia Softy. But unfortunately, they were too big and her big sister got them. So I tried again. We were camping a couple of summers ago and I cast these ones on thinking I would finish them in no time. Well when I got to the toe decreases I realized they were too narrow so I put them aside and forgot about them. A few days ago, while sorting my stash and trying to tidy the living room, I found the one that was nearly finished and thought, "These will do for the Babe." I pulled back a few rows of the long narrow thing and decreased the toes to fit a 4 year and whipped up another in a day and a half and voila. The 2 and half year long  socks are finished.

So that is two daughters with pink fluffy socks, neither of which is the daughter who originally chose the yarn. But she looks like this now, so perhaps pink and fluffy would not be her first preference. 

Happy New Year

I haven't been writing much lately, mostly because things haven't been that great, and I don't want to write about how shit things are. :-) But with the date January 1st come renewed hope and expectation. It just happens, I don't have to foster it. We had a fun evening last night playing silly games and drinking shandy and eating far too much food. It is nice to have friends.
My life is a lot different than it used to be. Funnily enough, not on the outside, because I am still at home with kids and home educating them. But things are different. And I am just getting used to that.
Arthritis is fine these days. Lots of diet and exercise. But it is such hard work that there isn't a lot of time for thoughts of jobs or classes or courses. So maybe a book group instead.

In the meantime here is the New Year's celebration...

And here is the Christmas knitting...

There is a pair of socks and a Katniss Cowl which are going to be post Christmas presents. And I have a desire to knit lots of socks. And read lots of books. And start having fun again.  :-)

2013

So when 2013 started, I thought it was going to be my year of change. As told in the previous post from 3 months ago, medical issues have been dominating the year and they are ongoing. The arthritis is getting better. Well, the arthritis is still there but lots of Pilates and a bit of physio and trying to walk and cycle a lot means that I am feeling better. Even been dancing in the past couple of weeks. :-)

When last I wrote I was still waiting for my physio and in a bit of pain when walking. I didn't know if I should push it or rest it. Well, going camping a couple of times meant I had to push it. First just to get across the fields to the toilets - then to run around the whole site asking people if they had seen The Babe. She had a great time! But all of that walking around worked out some muscles that obviously needed working out. I started the week on crutches, and ended able to walk around the whole site without them. :-)

We are still seeing the neuro for the Meister. They think it may be her thyroid. Funnily enough, Truffle is having cardiac problems and they are testing her thyroid as well. She has a heart murmur and is having palpitations and is has regular episodes of tachycardia, but they can't figure out why. The Meister is taking a homeopathic remedy at the moment for her thyroid, while we wait for appointments for more blood tests which will take us into December. So that is the year really isn't it.

I am still hoping for some sort of change. I started the year thinking that I would initiate some sort of change to make me happier with life in general. I attended a couple of open days about doing post grad study, but there is no way we can afford it. Although I did get excited about studying again. Or at least using my brain. I have sort of half-heartedly been looking for a job, but since it is  difficult finding anything part time for a very intelligent woman who has little job experience, that has actually been depressing me more. 

But money is not forthcoming from the universe in other ways. :-) And since our debt is piling up, I am back to looking seriously. And it is actually making me feel positive. Nobody seems to want to hire me, but I am finding enough to apply for, that I keep a little bit of hope alive every time I get a rejection or no response from the previous one.

All this means I am knitting and crocheting from my stash a lot, and developing a fondness for acrylic yarn. :-) Here is a selection of things made over the past 3 months.

There are three babies coming up so more will be made. And I have officially started my Christmas knitting as well. Haven't gotten very far, but at least I have started. Knitting and Pilates is my life these days. And crochet. :-)

Life gets complicated

I thought we were pottering along nicely there for a bit. Oh well.

The past few months have been dominated by medical issues. Not traumatic ones, but life changing ones. My hips stopped working properly back in Feb. I thought it was just more of my life long back problems so kept trying to do Pilates and sort it out. But I couldn't actually walk to Pilates classes.

After a few weeks I went to the doctor. It was a locum who didn't really listen to anything I said. Quite literally. When I was trying to tell him a bit of my 30+ years of dealing with back problems, he actually put his hand up and told me to start listening instead of talking, it was his turn to tell me what was wrong. Groin injury. Sprain. Buy a back brace. Take Ibuprofin. Rest. 

I went home and rested.  It got better. It got worse. It seemed to get better. Then it would be bad. I always overdid it on a good day. So I tried resting some more. Eventually I went back to the doctor who sent me for an X-ray. This was June 4th, after about 4.5 months of being mostly unable to walk the 50 yards to the shops.

A week later I got a phone call from a different doctor who said, "You have osteo-arthritis. Wear and tear. Lose weight. Go to Physio." That was it. When I said (quite impressively I might add) that I thought I was probably in shock at the news and that I would eventually have some questions, and who could I contact to talk about things, she told me to Google it.

In the mean time, I have given up eating wheat. I actually did that to kick start the weight loss. But two days later I could walk. The immediate pain went away. I could sleep better as my back pain was lessened significantly as well. I cannot believe the difference that giving up wheat has made!

But I am now waiting for appointments with the Physio and trying to get used to my new reality. Actually my lower back and right hip are still very problematic. I cannot use them properly. I cannot walk too far. I have bad days. I have good days. But I am still figuring all of this out, and I reckon it will take months, if not years.

Simultaneously, The Meister was having a hard time. She has been rushed off to A and E in an ambulance 3 times this year. She has been blacking out, and not remembering anything. A couple of these have been absolutely terrifying as she has been missing and I have been on the phone to the police reporting her as missing when I get a call on the other phone that the police have found her in a park that she doesn't know and they are worried she has been drugged because she is incoherent. It has all been pretty horrible. I won't go into too many details. We have seen the neurologist who thinks (as I do) that these are stress related episodes. CT scan didn't show anything. We don't think it is epilepsy, although I did for a while.

Adding to all of the stress is the fact that the Meister wasn't allowed out on her own in case she had an episode, but I couldn't walk, and we don't have a car, so I couldn't take her places. I am lucky that I have so many people who have been helping her get to activities. Thanks to some lovely people she has been able to get to drama and Guides, and to take part in the Manchester Day Parade, and perform at the Stockport Teenage Market.  But day to day has been quite boring and we have been spending a lot of time in front of screens, not really talking.

So we are now making attempts to communicate better. Well, I am. :-) And going to see the homeopath.  And getting ready to have a holiday that we can't afford. Thanks to my mother lending me some money to hire a van. But it is nice having something to look forward to.

The Meister has been to the homeopath first. It has already done her good as she is letting out a lot of pent up feelings. It is really hard being the 4th child. It is really hard having clever or talented siblings. It is really hard having an exhausted mother. It is really hard being displaced by a younger sister after 10 years. And it is really hard when money is tight and your mother spends her whole life saying no to everything you want.

And even though I had wanted to take her to the homeopath for ages, we didn't have the money. So I asked our lovely homeopath if I could knit her something in exchange for seeing Maggie. She said yes and is now the proud owner of  a lovely pair of socks made with Hand dyed yarn from Ripples crafts and using a pattern from Violet Green.

Life goes on. Either at home or the allotment. We don't stray far but are really looking forward to HESFES 2013! Now I just have to pack crutches and lots of knitting and crochet.

And another thing...

I seem to be getting my brain back.

What you need to understand, is that I am always been a voracious reader. I had a mother who used to say, "Get your nose out of that book and listen to me!" I read the Chronicles of Narnia in 2 days when I was off school being ill. My first taste of the Brontes came when I was 12 and in the 7th grade and Sister Anne Kieran recommended Jayne Eyre.   My BA is in Literature, and my MA in American Studies meant I got to read things like Edith Wharton and Henry James. Bliss.

But for some reason, I have really struggled with reading since having The Babe. Keep in mind she is nearly 3 and a half now. I have been knitting like mad. And crocheting. And lactating. And being all hormonal. But not really reading. I have read a few things - Bel Canto, The Tiger's Wife, Never Let Me Go, A Pale View of Hills, the first three books of The Tales of the Otori - but nothing like my 'usual' self. There was a time when that would be a month's reading list, not 3 years.

I was going to do a reading challenge that Martine is doing. Something about reading a book a month that has been on your to be read pile for at least a year. I starting doing a pile. But in the end, there weren't enough and then I got stressed about having to do it. So I just picked up a book and started reading. Geraldine Brooks, The People of the Book. Then it was Sandi Toksvig's Flying Under Bridges. Now I am reading another William Boyd. I do like William Boyd. And I have a present from Martine which is waiting to be next - Miss Peregrine's home for Peculiar Children. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? :-)

Yes, I think my literary appetite may at last be returning. I shall have conversations with people about books, I shall carry my books around the house, I shall lose my page markers with abandon. It is all beginning to feel a bit 'normal'.

I may even put down my knitting. :-)