Kotaatok

Clear! There is a heart beat!

2011-10-25T16:26:00.001+01:00

As you would have guessed I have not been well. Many thanks for all the well wishes.

Basically I had a bad summer fibromyalgia pain management wise which was topped with the August bank holiday weekend from hell. The after effects of a horrible Bank Holiday Friday night where I did the timber impersonation of falling over one to many times resulted in some more nerve damage to my existing broke list collection along with the acquisition of a frequent customer points card with the Walton Centre in Liverpool. For those who don't know the Walton Centre it is a one of the top specialist neurological hospitals in the UK and is next door to Aintree Hospital.

I have been climbing out of the repeat roundabout where I have had of hospital appointment after hospital appointment again with the occasional short stay. Hello wasn't I just here just before, hang on which hospital am I supposed to be at. There was a recent Friday where I had six different neuro-consultancy areas all have a poke and prod at me thankfully the appointments were all at the same hospital and some how they were organised one after another. That is not a normal occurrence with the NHS.

I have almost finished the workplace occupational health assessments and the associated risk assessment processes for all my employers which meant that on one occasion I was three different hospitals all on the same day. Could you all just not have the same report from one occupational health service and save money? I have a occy health needs assessment next week in North Manchester but hopefully that will me for a while with a return to the regular routine consultant appointment schedule with the various consultants who have been scratching their heads with my treatment plan. The quacks have knocked something together which seems to be working touch wood.

Knitting wise aint got anything done as I have been struggling to use the hands but that has improved thanks to occupational and physical therapy. I have almost got full hand control it is just the pinkie and ring finger of my left hand who are a little dodgy. In the middle of this drama, the academic year started again and it looked like I would not be able to do the crafts course due to the health issues but I am still hanging in there just and starting to get life back together with normal mundane chores of life like work, kids activities and household things like getting the dishes washed. The occy health assessment next week is for the course to get the support I need to stay on course. So life is getting better and thanks again for all the messages and I am working through crowded inboxes (email, ravelry, google, pin interest).

New Meds

2011-08-22T01:49:00.002+01:00

The thought of summer free time sustained me through many months of the last academic year but I was deluding myself. I thought. I just thought. That is where I made my mistake. I made it by thinking that I could actually think about a time when there was not some drama lama invading my consciousness.

Yes I have felt like I was falling falling.

Since April I have been on new meds as the recent skin issues have acerbated something I have had for over 20 years. My spoonieness has been confirmed for the last 9 years when I started to limit my actions due to my condition. But right now I have not had any action or activity in my life as I have had several quacks (medical professionals) play around with my medication regime. It has been so bad I have not been able to work. Shock horror me not lerking in the workplace how will the library not fall down. A great side effect is that I have been seeing lovely things in my induced granny naps. Things like this blue hippo. I would not mind if I saw him again in the flesh as it would mean either I was in Paris or New York. Either place for a short visit would be nice..

Dreaming really odd things!

The side effects of new meds is I dont feel like I am getting much of anything done in life from the list:

housework (optional of course),
university work (not optional they pay the bills),
work pdp (must maintain certification to maintain paycheck thus not optional),
children (they never stop being demanding),
knitting (to many things to do and not enough time),
family commitments (not meeting them so yet again I am in the dog house again with the family)
associations (not being a very good executive member)
doctors ( struggling to get to appointments and do everything they ask)

ZZZZZZZZ sorry I am supposed to get something done. I think I will just turn over and have another 20 minutes. when I wake up I might even knit a row which I will probably have to rip out later.

Startitis Part 2 2011

2011-08-14T23:13:00.002+01:00

To try and combat the startitis I thought I would work on an old project which has been waiting for a skein or two to finish it off. During that bush turkey impersonation of trying to find something to cast on with, I found the two skeins I had been looking for and so I did some garter stitch knitting. I stuffed it up. I stuffed up garter stitch how the heck I did it I just do not know. I should of known that I needed to walk away from the knitting as I stuffed up some lace which required me to do some wrip wrup wripping back. oh NO! It was not just a tink but a frog and recaston job which only did about 6 times before someone else in the house (the dearly beloved husband) suggested I look for something less complicated what about that stuff that goes back and forth and it is all the same stitch (aka garter stitch). I swapped and still managed to stuff up my knitting.

Red Buttersoft DK

I probably need a good cuppa tea and some scones with jam and cream. The Red Buttersoft project is a cardigan that I started in Scotland last year with another pattern. When I had finished the whole lot and blocked it up there I did not like so it was frogged. I love the wool but the old pattern just was lacking. So I changed to another pattern which is a one piece knit across the body that produces a seamless short sleeved cardigan. I had got so far and then I could not find the final two skeins. I had got as far as almost all the back done. This short sleeved cardigan is designed just to keep your kidneys warm when working in a slightly chilli library. I think the red is lovely as it is semi solid so there is movement in the colour. I just have to get my knitting mojo into action and finish it. Now that I have the skeins found that is more likely to happen.. I also have a project that I have to finish for the end of the month for daughter before she goes back to school in September. I have a bit of work to do and I have still got a case of startitis. The count so far is four different weights of lace, 3 sock patterns, a hat, mitts and everything else in the workbasket which has not been finished for the last 12 months.

Startitis or Olympic standard Nana Napping

2011-08-13T13:41:00.004+01:00

Since Monday all I have seemed to do knitting wise is cast on and cast on repeatedly. Yes the symptoms are in for a case of startitis. The differential diagnosis process has led me to believe that this condition had struck again.

Symptoms:

more sets of needles spread around the preferred seating location along with paper patterns, needle rolls, project bags and sssh! swatches.
more pdf files on the desktop of the laptop which is located on the left arm of the preferred seating location also known as mother's couch in this household.
all the sides round the couch have work baskets that been dragged out from their lounge room hiding places and are creating a trip hazard for the rest of the family.
a worried dog looking over the pile of headhog frames (what else to do you call dpns when there is a sock cast on them). The dog is worried cause he is thinking how the heck to I get to my food bowl and will she kill me I walk out with one of her projects around my neck or leg again.
repeated mutterings of "german long tailed stretchy cast on, turkish twisted cast on, garter tab cast on".
although the knitter concerned has short hair she has a dpn holding her fringe up off her face as this hair has been twisted up out of the way as it was annoying her.
The knitter is muttering about a lost dpn which she had just a minute ago and can not find anywhere totally forgetting about the one that is holding up her fringe.
a number of half completed projects which show absolutely no further progression even though one or two of them only need seaming or two french knots so they could cross over from works in progress to completed objects. As the two simple french knots have not been done it is definitely not finishitis.

Mutley on the other couch

The causes of this condition.

Now the causes of startitis is pretty well unknown as it seems to randomly strike but this week's dose I am blaming on the new medication regime. Yes really. I am. The pain quack, the blessed Saint Anesthete, is trying to find me the new optimum dosage for my fibromyalgia and I have been having a new cocktail combination in my dorsett box. I don't remember much of Wednesday day between 10am and 6pm. Not much at all and I had to tink back my knitting. As one of key knitting commentators whom I actually pay attention to says "Good friends dont let friends knit drunk". Ms Pearl-Mcphee (aka the Yarn Harlot) advises it is never a good thing and I so agree to the point where I want to amend this advice phrase to "Good friends dont let friends knit drunk or as high as a kite".

These are not the needles I am looking for.

So of the side effects of the new medication combinations beside complete out of body moments is bouts of confusion. Did I or did I not cast something on from my never ending ravelry queue and extensive xmas list? No I have not got any lace on the go at the moment totally forgetting about the three projects I have cast on in the last 24 hours. As I have fallen asleep yet again I have dropped another newly started project onto the floor and out of my line of sight. Where are all my needles? Confusion is reigning the couch.

I think I am going to apply to compete in the granny napping world championship and then the Olympics as I believe I am starting to get into the elite sports standard. Do you think the Australian or Republic of Ireland Olympic committees would consider this lump for the nana napping events? I could do the sprint as I am getting under the 1 minute time splits. This is where you take medication with a cuppa and go to sleep before you have a chance to pour the rest the cuppa down your gullet or even return the mug a level surface. Side effect is the potential to spill hot liquid down your front but I could also do the hurdles too. The ability to take medication, fall asleep holding your mug upright and not spill any hot liquid on yourself. Some days I stumble but that is where my fencing jacket aka duna (translation: douvet) comes in handy as it help to protect my skin from liquid burns but I normally end up washing it and its cover a couple of times a week. Why yes my couch (mother's couch) is set up as a day bed and I routinely have a duna around me even in Summer? We are talking the English summer here it gets terribly wet and cold. I probably would not be selected as I expect that I would fail the drug testing mainly due to the steroids I take to keep breathing. Cherio now I am off to take my constitutional siesta. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Thinking of Autumn

2011-08-08T14:15:00.001+01:00

Today's socks are definitely at touch of autumn in their colouring. They are the well loved pattern called Nutkin. Originally they were going to be for me but then halfway though the middle of the first sock I acknowledged that they were going to be a little tight on me. As the next person in the house who they could fit had gone to bed I could not finish the first sock off that evening as I needed to check the length of the foot.

I should learn to read the pattern introduction properly as it did warn me that the foot was 8 inch diameter. She jumped at the thought of this pair of socks being for her incredibly long foot. I am a 8.5 to 9 (27cm to 27.5 cm) shoe depending on the style while daughter come in starting at 9.5 (28 cm). She has skinny ankles and long thin feet where I have a very very good grip on the ground. I am 9.5 inches round the ball.

That is a long foot as the legs are 4inches.

Daughter has been wearing the round the house unblocked and I have finally managed to get a photo on them. There are little flicks of colour in the brown but she loves brown so it is a win win. There was just a little bit of crispness in the morning that indicates that autumn is on its way. While I have to get some more sock knitting done I also have to do some lace knitting cause I am getting WAY bored can you tell I am channelling some teenager lingo. Off to go an rattle round in the stash and look at patterns on ravelry.

Zig Zag socks

2011-08-03T19:29:00.001+01:00

So that is another pair of socks down. I really did not like the colour changes in the Zig Zag. Now have half a ball of it but I will be good and use it. I have a test knit and it is the right weight. I don't think the colour change will be supportive for the cables in the pattern but why not have a test knit to prove that variegated yarns are not suitable for the pattern. I could be completely wrong but it somehow I don't think I will be.

The stash down is continuing as I am now looking at what yarn we have left and what I can use it for. I also need to get some items done for the autumn. My God woman England is the middle of the warmest three days of the year and you are already thinking about autumn.... I know I know but you have to be prepared. I am also planning to catch up with my A-Z knitting but I need another knitting project which is not 2.50 mm needles.

Stash Down 2011

2011-08-01T02:09:00.005+01:00

This year I have been doing a bit of a stash down attempt. Basically I looked at my Coal bunker and thought that i should reduce the amount of items I have in it. I have fabrics that are 20 years old sitting there waiting to do something about it. I want to get the shelves down considerably so I am not overflowing. Some of the stash has been shared with a local charity shop as I was honest with self that I was never going to use it at all. Part of my stash includes fabrics stashed by my grandmother. Nothing like inheriting stash.

So far this year everything has been knitted, sewed or crocheted from the stash. I have mainly only done minor purchases such as lining for daughter Carnaby skirt and buttons. These purchases have not ended up as stash but rather helped the stash to enter into the wonderful world of being finished projects. The one yarn purchase I have done this year was some crochet thread so I could do a surprise project for the daughter. This project is currently on the back burner since daughter is on holidays so I can not seem to get anything done without her putting her sticky beak in.

After the tour de fleece I have a lot handspun which I will be using for projects but when I sorted out the coal bunker I noticed I still had a lot of hand spun which I had not found a use for. So as part of the stash down I want use up my hand spun as much as possible. The Moorlit fleece which is a now a nice yarn will need to get a decent photo before I knit it up into a cardi for hubby. This will be his Christmas pressie this year. I still have the 500gms of BFL in a Mocha which I will have to work out what I am going to use it for. There Shetland braid from Wonkyknitter which I had in the stash which was spun and then knitted into a Haurni shawl. I have blocked it but I will need to re block it as I wont ask the children what happened. We have reached August and I have not done a major yarn purchase it is amazing.

Sock yarn wise I am almost getting to the bare cupboard situation. Currently I am knitting some socks in some King Cole Zig Zag that I had in the stash which I had regretted purchasing. The stash down attitude has helped me to use this yarn cause I had in the past gone meh, not that keen to use. The yarn has too short of yarn colour change and I am not enamoured with it. Additionally I don't think the yarn is particularly sympathetic to the pattern and it would have probably better knit in a plain coloured yarn. As I am knitting my H pattern in the yarn which is top down design I a suddenly hit upon a solution. Don't make the socks for me. Make them for someone who will like the colours. Simples! My sock foot is suddenly shorted from a size 8.5 to a tiddly 3.5. Sanity back in check and the feeling of absolute relief when I get the first sock done. But I still have a second sock to finish. Must knit this second sock now to brake the chance of a large hiatus or the dreaded second sock syndrome.

Update on the A-Z KAL

2011-07-29T18:03:00.001+01:00

I have had a couple of socks sitting in the one sock cast on hiatus for a while. But this week I managed to restart a pair from scratch. I had to rip them back and start them again with a larger needle.

Tickle Tickle

Do you know how hard it is to photograph your own feet? Son took his life in is own hands when he decided to tickle my feet while I was taking a photo. I am not someone whom you even think about attempting to tickle my feet cause I dont like it. So this was my L pair of socks as the pattern is Lakehouse Socks by Yasmin Kock for the A-Z KAL.

An Aussie wins the Tour de France

2011-07-24T17:56:00.000+01:00

So Cadel Evans wins the tour and I limp across the finish line of the tour de fleece with head held over the handlebars of my spinning wheel. All my singles of the Moorlit Shetland Fleece are done. I am not fully plyed or wacked but I have singles.... and no more brown fluff, to card , pick vm out of and hold in my hot little hands. I am over the moon about Cadel and I think I am about my effort in the Tour but I am in that exhausted phase where I dont even want to think much about anything. YKWIM.

Doing a run down of this years Tour I would definitely say it has been the year of brown where last year it was the year of purple. Most of what I spun was Brown in some shape or form.

500gms of Mocha Blue Faced Liester
1 kilogram of Moorlit Shetland Fleece
120 grams of Shetland braid.

While this year was an all British breeds tour de fleece the only break from brown tones was a contrasting blue tonal from the WonkyKnitter which I managed to spin up into a light fingering. I was trying for lace weight but it did not happen. In addition to the spinning, I have also been doing some knitting. How / When? No I have not managed to get my hands on the keys of the Tardis but I got a shawl done in that light coloured shetland from the WonkyKnitter.

Day 5 of the Tour de Fleece 2011.

There were some heart stopping moments in the Tour de Fleece shawl project - the great rip back in the shawl from 12 pairs of central leaves to 6. Dont ask for the gory details but lets just say it involved an animal or two in this household and the knitting was just collateral damage. Then there was that race to the finish line between the edging and the amount of yarn left. It was measured at..... wait for it...37cm. That is like winning the time trial by a 100th of second. Currently the shawl is blocking and I am putting my feet up and icing my aching hands. Thoroughly planning to talk myself out of a major challenge next year.

A blur of continuous motion

2011-07-18T22:42:00.016+01:00

Between Tour de Fleece last week and graduation ceremonies after graduation ceremonies where some 6000 students were pushed across the stage the last week was bit of a blur of continuous motion. I did a lot of ceremonies and my hat goes off (and it was off most of the time any way) to the speaker who read those 6000 names. It was big ask to get every one of those 6000 names correct. She did and did it well. So it was a blurr of what ceremony, seating area, group of students, part of the ceremony and where are we up to in the vice chancellors speech. The VC retires this year, so the speech which has basically been the same for the last 8 years, twice a day for five days once a year has had its last outing. I can say it word for word... You know its bad as I have a crap memory.

Look hard you might see a harried academic checking seating cards

I have used my mommy voice, my teacher voice, my large lecture theatre voice and finally to the law students on Thursday my police parade ground voice. Most of the time students were great with having their name cards ready but the Masters of Law students took the cake with their telephone usage and unruliness. No you can not sit with your friends. Get off that telephone and put it on silent. Repeat rinse and reapply.

The back row of the Post graduates

The other side to Thursday afternoon is that I had some business post graduate students who were nothing like their faculty counter parts (it is Business and Law) whom also graduated through the largest ceremony of the week at 900+ students. These boys where the back row as in the absolute last of the last on the platform of the super ceremony. So here they are in the correct seats early, present and accounted for. Notice the empty seats in front that is the Master of Law. Sorry MMMC but you mob in the Law Department are absolutely bonkers and some of your counterparts I wanted to slap silly.

We had a great speech from the Chancellor. He always is really cool as he has been both a parent of a student, a long time student and recent graduate not just a legendary rocker. The problem I had in his ceremonies was that I had the earwig of a malapropism of another raveler's (rrevbdd) child of one of his band's classic songs running through my head all the way through the ceremony to the point I was mumbling it out loud. As in to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody...I'm just a poor boy..., I need no sip of tea. To which one wit in one of my ushering rows suggested that I needed a cuppa with a strong dash of something like rum cause obviously I was having a hard days night - Scousers yah gotta love em and not a bad idea.

Caught giving directions in my normal hat.

Lot of knitting graduation pressies were given out - my shawl cupboard is absolutely bare. I had to do some super fast shawl knits cause I was a little short as in 3 pressies short on the Saturday before the start of graduation. I must get the photos of the projects updated and sorted as I just made it... like last minute steam iron assistance to get the blocking finished. I also managed to do at least a bobbin of the Moorlit fleece spun each day and I am finally over the half way mark. Not very far over it but I have finally made it to the halfway point. Hopefully I will get the rest of the fleece finished by the end of the Tour de Fleece. Then I just have to start knitting it up for the hubby's cardi. I need a drink just thinking about knitting for him again... I think I will head over to the Rav Tav yet again.

120gms of Shetland already in working its way into a shawl

I got a phone call this morning from another institution whom I also work for and have in the past been an active participant in graduation ceremonies with a cheeky request of if it was possible I could help out this week as like this morning since I only live round the corner. Nope Nada I have done my lot. You should have asked me months ago as I need to plan and schedule my valuable time xP. I started another Haurni shawl over the weekend to help with my BP issue (missing house guests) in the 120gms of coloured Shetland from WonkyKnitter aka Anne that I spun up on Day 5 of the Tour. So I will keep on knitting like the clappers and try to treddle my way through the rest of the fleece by the end of the Tour. Bye now I have a bobbin to finish tonight.

Tour de Fleece Day 11

2011-07-12T22:50:00.001+01:00

Well I now have 3 full bobbins of ply and I think by the end of the night I might have another half plyed up. Fleece wise I have still done less than a third. I have a long way to go but I dont think I am going to get it finished byt the end of the Tour de fleece but I will have a good try.

I went to my second day of graduation. The fellow awardee was a little in love with her own voice (hello I am actress) so we got out latter than expected. Then down side was I was late for knit night but I got to see the start of a new shawl that Caro is working on in Noro. We will have to watch the colour repeats to make sure it looks good.

It is supposed to be a rest day on the Tour de Fleece

2011-07-11T21:08:00.002+01:00

Well there is no rest for the wicked as I had to do a couple of hours work first in the library before rolling down the hill to the Cathedral for the first of five graduation ceremonies I am attending this week. Yes that is one ceremony a day. I get to usher and make sure my students graduate. Today due to the high powered guests I did not get a disabled park but rather was miles away at the bottom of the hill. Tomorrow I am leaving the car at the library and hailing a cab. So I did not get much of a rest day as per the schedule in the tour de fleece.

My first kinneared photo ever

So I got to herd these students from one side of the city to the other. Put them in their seats and then talk to them about not being so loud when they are chatting while waiting to cross the stage. Getting them in order, dressed and pressed, announced, across the stage and then herded back in their seats. So on their way back to the other cathedral and my way home I finally managed to get a photo. The photo was my first ever attempt at a Kinneared photo. Not Bad Not Bad and I love the way you can see the reflection of the camera in the mirror. Must do better for the photo shots during the rest of the week. I have a couple of masters and PhD students so I have to get some decent bonnet shots. I have made it home just as the batteries in me decided to die. I am completely knackered.

We wont mention my colleague going absolutely ballistic at one student in a whisper. Student was chatting on the phone in the middle of the ceremony. Ummm you are in A) Cathedral, B) a formal ceremony and C) Right in front of the High Alter. [We were in the Chancel] You may be graduating a course but you sure have not graduated as a mannerly or respectful human being. I swear in a twenty row radius the students were all on their best behaviour. To level up the bad a good part was the ice cream vans. I managed to get out via the long way round before my students in the academic parade and have an ice cream or in my case an icy pole before they had even left the cathedral. [There are some photos on the net with me and an icy pole in my hand]

On the Hill Climb of the Tour de Fleece - Day 9.

2011-07-11T01:12:00.001+01:00

Today it was a hill climb in the Tour de France and it was also one for me in the Tour de Fleece. I have been carrying an injury on the hand and I thought the reason why I was not progressing so well was due to this injury. Nope it turns out it was probably a equipment issues which helped to contribute to the hand issues. The equipment issues was the drive band. Finally the wheel stopped turning when I was treadling and I was there wondering what happened. A bit like those riders who looked dazed after the large crash in today's stage. It turns out I had worn my drive band out on the wheel it was just shredded bits of fluff which used to be a cohesive piece of thread.

I have done five bobbins of the Moorit fleece and I plyed the first two bobbins and it can be seen in the middle of the back row of the picture above. The upright bobbin on the right is a bit then but it is a case of the bobbin making a squeak and the family complaining about the noise.

From the close up above you can see that I am averaging 36 to 32 wpi in the singles. I am trying to get a light weight yarn so that hubby has a cardi that covers him (Gorilla size) and not too heavy as he tends to run hot. It will be an interesting week this week spinning wise as I will have student graduation ceremonies running interruption and normal work life returning to almost full swing.

I think I can I think I can

2011-07-08T20:11:00.000+01:00

I think I can said the little engine. At this stage of the tour de fleece I am already displaying signs of injury. I have got some sensitivity in the finger tips of my left hand. I think I have been pinching the twist to hard. While I have got one bobbin done I am not pushing for a second bobbin today as I am taking it as a slower day - that makes 3 down about 27 to go. Instead I am doing something about the pig sty which is better known as my coal bunker.

Yarn barf every where

I have let the children in there too often and as a result they have ratted around a little more than I like. To the point I can not find anything. So today I decided was D-day to go through and get it reorganised in preparation for the new academic year. At some stage I am going to have to repaint it but that is not likely to be this summer. I made some project bags to help sort some of my yarn projects. I sorted out some fabric to be sent off to the charity shop. I know me putting fabric out the door is a totally strange concept but I felt that I was never going to use it and therefore it was better off in someone else's fabric stash. I almost did some yarn but then my yarn hoarding tendencies come over myself and I held onto the yarn. It is a box where if I dont find a use for it in the next six weeks I will send it out to someone else.

Day 6. Starting at the bottom of the hill climb

2011-07-07T19:46:00.001+01:00

Yesterday after finishing the dyed shetland I started on the moorit shetland that I have to process for a cardigan for the dear husband. I managed to get half a bobbin but no photo yesterday. Today on day 6 of the Tour de Fleece I have managed to get a bobbin and half done.

This amount and yesterdays half bobbin is less than 100gms. I have a kilo of fleece to spin. So if we say 3 bobbins for 100 grams that means I have 30 bobbins to fill and ply...... 30 bobbins ok who has lost her marbles. I think that we agree that would be Moi.

Today was the first day of Ry's summer holidays so of course she slept in. I finally turfed her out between the thunder storms to get photos with a shawl. We talking the English Summer here it will be wet guaranteed.

I made the Garden of Alla shawl back in January but only got around to blocking it last night. This shawl was designed by Suzy Crancer but I used another ravelry user's edging to what is in the pattern directions. My Masha'allah was using up some Schoppell-Wole Zaberball Starke 6 that I had left over from making some socks. This shawl is one, yes one skein. While the pink to green is not really my thing as I think there is too much pink in this shawl I have another graduation present in the cupboard.

This is a big shawl we are talking over 80cm from centre back neck to bottom point. Daughter is 6'3" and she had plenty to spare when she was doing the eagle spread of the shawl as from tip to tip we are over 2 metres in length.

Day 5 of the Tour de Fleece

2011-07-06T21:07:00.002+01:00

Today I had to face up to the fact it was time to bite that bullet and start the challenge of spinning a fleece worth of yarn up for hubby. Yeap that means I have to start carding and preparing fibre. Nope dont want to spend my life playing with combs and carders. Why is when you want certain objects you can not find them for love nor money? Don't answer that... Yes I know my house is a tip at the moment as I am domestic slattern. I am working on the tip of the house with a good action plan. ie I do a chore and then I can knit or spin for half an hour. I am pacing self as it is important with fibromyalgia but the pain in the neck moment is when you just finished cleaning something up a kid comes through and it was worse than before. Sometimes I knit so I don't kill people. No I am not kidding it is called anger management and pain distraction.

So yesterday I started and finished 120 grams of Shetland and it is a nice single see pretty picture of the ball. This means I have to start on the Moorit Shetland for hubby. I thought since I had the afternoon off from work today I would attend the Treadle and Chatter group in Ormskirk at the Knit Wise. So since I could not find my carders one of the dog detatchers attended with me. I can see that this is going to be a very long process to get through all of this Moorit.

This morning after tidying up some odds and ends in the kitchen and increasing our recycling pile I managed to block a shawl that I knitted a couple of weeks ago.

It is a Ginkgo Shoulderette Shawl by Maggie Magali. It was made up using 1 skein of Araucania Ranco Multi colour. This again was very quick knit and I really really want to do a larger size one for myself in a very very bright colour. I am thinking an eggy yellow or a fluro orange. I don't know why but I can just see this shawl in those type of colours.

Knit night in Pemberton Wigan

2011-07-05T23:17:00.036+01:00

Tonight at knit night I was spinning rather than knitting. Got quiet a few looks from the bar regulars but no questions. Since the demise of the Prescot knit night I have been going to one in Pemberton on the boarder of Orell which is considerably closer than before. It used to take an hour to get to knit night now it only takes me roughly 20 minutes. If you are in the area of Pemberton, Wigan on Tuesday between 6 and 8pm come on down to the White Swan pub and join the knitters, crocheters and spinners.

So last night since it was a tour de fleece day I took the wheel to knit night to catch up on my spinning for the day. I had finished off the last of the BFL Mocha so that is 500 grams done for the tour de fleece. I started on the 120 grams of Shetland that Wonkyknitter aka Anne had sent me in a care package and it was finished up when I got home. The singles is a nice wpi for lace and I think I will use it for one of three shawls I have to knock out in a hurry. No I have not started on them but I must get my A in to Gear.

So I have to bite the bullet now as I dont have any other fibre in the house except the fleeces. I am now up to carding and preparing the Moorit Shetland into a fibre for hubby. Yes I am going to knit him a cardigan after I have spun this fleece up... Yes I know I am crazy and absolutely dilusional to think that I might have a chance of spinning a fleece in approximately 10 days while working, raising a family and managing a house with a dog and a cat.

Day 2 to 3 of the Tour de Fleece

2011-07-04T19:11:00.006+01:00

I have been cruising along with the spinning on the BFL Mocha. I have now got 400 gms it done, that leaves another 100 gms. Additionally I also washed two shetland fleeces yesterday. A Moorit and a white. I am looking forward to getting them dry and then I have a lot of carding to do while I remove some to extra vegetable material out of them. I got a lot out during the washing but there is some items that I think only carding will help me get it out.

I managed to get a rats size clump of the morrit dry and spun it up into a taster and it produces a lovely tweedy effect with the shift from light to darker brown. If J plays his cards right he might get a cardi in it for his Christmas present. I also think I need to be right royally out of my brain to knit again for him but since yesterday was our wedding anniversary I think I might be blissed out. It is either the love or just the latest drugs from the new pain clinic consultant who will be forever known as Saint Anesthete cause he has worked miracles in less than a week . I could just be in a drug induced haze but I am actually considering to knit for J again gorilla arms and all that considered.

Moorit Shetland

The white fleece has some bright white sections which I hope to get some lace weight out of. There are other sections which are a creamy off white which I think will end up dying. I have another two fleeces to process but I don't see me doing them in the next week cause I am absolutely knackered from doing these two. The white sheepy had being playing in the heather some sand and lots of grass.

White Shetland.

Trip to Cambridge

2011-07-03T12:13:00.001+01:00

Earlier this week we drove down to Cambridge with daughter to check out her preferred university course. If she gets in she will need a push bike like the one in the picture with a big enough basket to carry all her library books. How do you like that courtyard building for the just the English department? I loved their library and I could see me spending hours working in there but I think she liked the other libraries this campus had just as much as well so is likely to be spoiled for choice.

It is day two of the tour de fleece here and so far I have done another four bobbins of the Mocha Blue Face Leicester. So I currently have plied yarn which has been twacked outside in the sun do some finishing off drying with weights.

The lovely weather yesterday also allowed me to get a shawl that I made in January blocked. I know, I know but we have a shortage of space and waiting for days and days to dry is just not a feasible option for me. Between the cat, the dog, children and the husband something would happen. So here we are with my Zertzerta shawl project.

Zertzerta

This shawl is made out of first attempt to spin a lace or lighter weight yarn. It goes from cobweb to light fingering in places but I am getting better at doing finer weight yarns. I just need more practice aka the tour de fleece for a period of consistent practice. The pattern is Hauni and I can not believe how quick it was to knit the second time around. The first time took me something like a month to six weeks of grief. This time I did it in 2 days. If I had more yarn I would have made a larger shawl and I really like how I got the graduated colour on the bottom leaves. It was really worth doing all the individual pins for the crochet bottom edge. A pain on the fingers but I like the edge effect.

Daughter again modelled this shawl for me and she is doing the typical behaviour when she likes my project of I WANT. I want it. Repeat, wash and rinse and you now know what is like to live with a teenager it is a bit like a broken record.

Yes the garden is getting rampant again but I hopefully will have some kids to help wack it back into submission soon. Daughter has 3 more days of school next week and then her brother gets off two weeks later.

Since this is not the only shawl in the cupboard that need blocking I am off to block another one or two. I do have to do a few more shawls in the next couple of weeks for graduation pressies so I am between a rock and hard place with time commitments so I can see some midnight oil being burnt knitting or spinning like the clappers. Now I just have to make a choice about shawl patterns. I think repeats of patterns I have done before is the way to go but it is a case of which ones.

On your marks

2011-07-02T20:42:00.001+01:00

Today is the start of the Tour de Fleece which is an annual spinning event that coincides with Tour de France. The idea is to be challenge yourself. Well I have a challenge or four thanks to the fleeces I brought last year while at knit camp. I have to process these four raw fleeces soon. I can not keep putting it off to the weather gets nicer I think it is this weekend or never.

Day 1 Plyed Fingering weight

Today I was working on some BFL that I brought last year at Fibre Flurry in October. I have 500gms to get through and I have about 300gms to go. I had done about 50 to 100gms earlier so I estimate todays spinning activity at 100gms. So we are off and racing in the tour. I am hoping to get some of the fleece dry tomorrow so I can prepare it for spinning but knowing my luck it will now rain since I am trying to dry the fleece.

17 years ago....

2011-06-23T17:12:00.007+01:00

I became a mother on this day for the first time. She was early for the only time in her life but at the same time late. When she finally started to arrive with some urgency I had already been in labour for four days. They had shot me full of steroids to help with her lung development and said this time they were going to let me proceed in labour. We had a couple of early kick offs which they had shut down but this time the doppler cord reading indicated it was time to run the marathon of labour. She was flickle whirlwind of a thing even then with her stormy emotions. I by this stage was so ready for this having a baby thing to be over cause I was sick of being terrified about what might happen after being prepared for the worst case scenarios. At this point we were almost 7 weeks before my expected due date. My pregnancy has not been this rosey thing but rather one where I got to learn too much technical terminology.

A ~~little~~ lot of prayer.

Today 17 years ago I got sped up faster than the midwife and obngyn was expecting as 30 minutes after the drip line inserted I end up getting wheeled into an emergency c-section while the hubby had nipped out for a quick bite to eat (his first meal in over 24 hours). I was not allowed to eat incase it ended up in a c-section good plan but it had been at least 24 hours since I had a bite of toast and I was ready to eat anything if it moved. I had transitioned to pushing in less than 15 minutes and the midwife hit the panic button as she was crowning. Obgyn and others responded and the race was on. Wheeled into theatre with a nurse on the gurney pushing her back from where I wanted to get her out of. Yes I was doing that head swivelling thing were you want to rip someone's head of their shoulders when they are shouting at you NOT to Push. Hells bells lady do you think I have any control in this you must be completely BATSHIT CRAZY.

Come on spit it out? What do you want?

I was had two new lines put in each arm as I am transferred from the gurney to the operating table along with a midwife still between my legs pushing back a stubborn head. While I am looking down at the aneathesologist putting the second line in my arm and answering his questions, I am also asked do I want the baby baptised, what names have I picked out and say hello to the emergency on call peditrician. More names and faces flash into my vision in this cacophony of sound as I am trying so hard not to push. I listen to my obngyn explain in clipped frantic phrases what they are going to do through the intercom as he is scrubbing up. My friend a theatre nurse says she is here and I recognise her eyes from behind the mask. I ask again have they told J what is going on. Apparently someone in maternity is searching for him in the hospital canteen which is directly below the theatre I am in. I had clocked the stairs and sign as they wheeled me from the labour suite to the theatre at high speed. In between all these questions and everything else including the urge to push down NOW I look at the clock and the ticking hands are almost at 6pm. Obgyn enters the theatre and the total rushing sounds of carts, trays and frantic preparation noises stops. A quick order for his quiet music, a last eye smile (wink) for me as the peaditrician confirms he is ready and prepared. Start time is announced as 6pm. The gas mask is lowered and I get told to count back from ten and look up at the anaesthesiologist. The nurse is removed from between my legs. I lose my voice at about 6 going to 5. I am counting and I listening to the sound of music and the commentary and commands of the obgyn. The anaethesiologist flashes a light in my eyes and announces I am out (sorry mate I am not) but I am not able to move, he tapes my eyes down. Don't put that tape on my eyes I want to say as I am allergic to it. My Eyes are itching as Obyn announces starting to cut (did not feel it) and it is 6:02. I feel some tugging on the belly but that was all. Baby delivered at 6:04 is announced. No cry nothing. I hear the frantic activity to the side of me at the paediatric set up. The murmur of voices and equipment but still no baby cry. I am struggling to move my mouth and after what seemed an age I ask if the baby is all right... A sharp urgent command is issued to put me out, Put her out Now.... @£$@£@ Put her out now. First time I have heard the Obgyn swear ever. More Muttering from the anaethesiolgist - yes he was swearing too. I feel more of the cold burning sensation in my arm again and at last my ears hear a cry of protest. More flashing in my eyes as they try to confirm that I am out. I am not but I feel like I am falling. My friend whispers into my ear it is a little girl, she is ok, they have baptised her, Ry, and they are taking her out to the baby ICU where J is waiting for her.

Do really think I am going to pay any
attention to you mother?

At that point I crash out into the blackness that was pulling me down. Later on I am waking up in recovery with a lot a pain, a new drip line location, itchy eyes, a horse voice asking for confirmation about baby girl and an urgent need for a bowl to throw up in along with a body which I can not move properly. Do you know how hard it is to throw up when you are partially paralysed it is not fun at all especially with stitches in your lower abdomen. How could l keep throwing up I had nothing left to throw up I had not eaten in days. I drift in and out of consciousness, throw up yet again and again as I move from recovery to a room near the Baby ICU. I can hear a baby screaming. It was Ry who was already expressing her displeasure and letting the world know she did not suffer fools well. After throwing up yet again I am suddenly propped up as they clean me up and change my vomit covered sheets where I have missed the bowl (again). The screaming torrent of noise is getting closer. The door opens and a wheel crib with a battle axe of a nurse who I seen too much of in the last weeks brings Ry into me. Closely followed by J. The room is echoing with sound of Ry's displeasure of being prodded and poked. I am still half out of it and I am rearranged to hold a baby who was screaming for a feed. I have almost no control of my arms as they attach her to my breast and all of a sudden I am crying my heart out with relief..... She is just so perfect. As I look down at her I wondered when they are going to take her away from me as they realise I am not supposed to be her mother as she is just too beautiful and totally needs someone who is infinitely more qualified than inadequate little old me.

With her little brother at about 5.

Today I do a double take as she towers above me and wonder about how fast the years have gone by. She still is a storm of emotion who does not suffer fools well. She has had J wrapped round her fingers from the first moment he saw her and I think I was not that far behind him.

Wind in the Willlows

2011-06-04T13:38:00.001+01:00

"O Mole! the beauty of it! The merry bubble and joy, the thin, clear, happy call of the distant piping! Such music I never dreamed of, and the call in it is stronger even than the music is sweet! Row on, Mole, row! For the music and the call must be for us." The Mole, greatly wondering, obeyed. "I hear nothing myself," he said, "but the wind playing in the reeds and rushes and osiers."

- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ch. 7.

My Willow Leaf Stole by Linda Choo has finally been finished and blocked. I originally queued this pattern up in 2009 for the the 2010 shawl challenge and just did not get round to it. It was a case of too many patterns and just not enough time. It is third shawl for 2011 but the first one I have managed to get blocked and daughter to model the photo shoot.

It is longer than her arms. We have to do some gardening before we can have a proper photoshoot as it is dangerous out there. The camera also seems to have developed a blurr but that could be due to the sunlight so we are going to try this again later in the day when the day is not sooooo bright.

Finished Object Friday

2011-06-03T22:37:00.001+01:00

After having a couple of weeks of really being stalled in knitting land I have actually managed to finish a few things this week despite having a fibromyalgia flare up week. I have finished a green stole which is currently stretched out and being blocked. I have stuffed my hedgehog that I made way back in April. He just needs a decent photo in daylight. I have even worked my way towards finishing my crocus shawl. I feel it needs another foot or so as soon as the blocking mat allows it will be heading there.

Today was a POETS day for me which has been good for fiddlely little bits. I have managed to cast on another pair of socks my K pair for the KAL just in the nick of time. I just have to finish off some of them. I also have looked longingly at other shawl patterns to cast on. I might make it to tomorrow without another shawl on the needles but I not holding my breath on it as it could be two or three shawls the way I am feeling with this bout of startisis.

Galloping Grasshoppers

2011-05-30T11:20:00.001+01:00

My A-Z KAL knitting has been slightly stalled for a while. I was good at casting on but actual knitting on and finishing was a bit stalled. Life and all that jazz got in the way. I had managed to finish of the D socks - Dublin bay a couple of weeks ago. These socks were supposed to be finished in February that is only two months late. I had cast on E a little late so according to the official list these were taking a bye but I had cast them on. I just did not do the official KAL group thread post in time. The E socks are one sock done.

The colour work pair Fishy Fishy aka F pair are stalled in the first sock I have not even made it to the first heel of the sock. The H and I socks have been cast on but there has not been much progress. But But But my G socks are done. These were a pair of galloping grasshoppers. I had cast them on and only just got to the pattern section of the gusset. After being in hiatus land for quiet a while, a couple of weeks is a while for me, I sat down on the Friday afternoon of the Royal Wedding (after sleeping in) to look at where I was at knitting wise on these socks and went foo bar as I dropped a needle out and managed to pull the work at the same time. So it was a quick rip back a couple of rows to about the second row of the toe. Yes these were toe up socks. Managed to get Sock 1 redone on Friday evening and then got Sock 2 done on Saturday evening. That was not bad for me. Photo on Sunday 1st May. It has just taken me almost a month to finish this blog post and actually up load the photos to the blog and Ravelry.

So the Galloping Spring Hoppers were made out of Regina which I seem to have a lot of in my stash. Stash down 2011 is still in progress. The pattern is called Grasshopper Twists and the cuff length is 4" for this boof foot at 8.5 UK Ladies.

Three days to go

2011-05-17T23:39:00.001+01:00

I have three days to go to the weekend and I am already getting silly like the muppets cause I have so many things on. Three days to being able to knit for more than two minutes. Three days and counting.

A good form of insomnia

2011-05-15T04:01:00.001+01:00

Life has been insanely busy the last couple of weeks but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. In my case I still have a couple of weeks looking down the tunnel but I am getting nearer and the light is getting brighter.

The last 6 months were just the cherry on top of a couple tough years health wise. I had the shock of being told you have Cancer and additional new auto-immune issues during the Xmas break, real nice pressies. This body is a bit of a lemon but I don't think I would have it any other way. I have survived the skin cancer treatment so far and it seems to be going well. I am scheduled for more testing but we will take each day as it comes. The lessons of the last 6 months have just reinforced the other lessons that others have taught me through out my life, mainly that you should live each day to the fullest and never live in limbo by waiting for a "someday" or a "one day".

Initially I was not that open about what was going on with the cancer diagnosis at work. I had to sort out my head a bit and I really could not contemplate the parsimonious pity or fake sympathy of certain colleagues who I really can not stand. Some of my colleagues are hypocritical idjiots and that is me being nice about them. I am known for being blunt unit with my habit of calling a spade a spade. My option about keeping the skin issues to myself (and line manager) at work lasted a while but then I started to have rather large lesions on the face. Those who had to guts to ask what was going on got told the truth. Those who did not ask, continued to gossip behind hands which made it pretty damn obvious. You can not hide that something is up when the face looks like full zombie horror movie make up on Halloween.

As part of the treatment kicked my butt I moved to part time roster at work. During that time, between the granny naps, I reviewed the state of play of my industry sector and the long term implications of further degeneration from auto immunity issues. I tend to have lots of plans I normally have a plan A, B, C & D for most days so I developed an action plan for the future for me that had the flexibility to my health needs and issues, desires and family commitments. I did some research, some thinking and some serious discussion with the dearly beloved. So by the 25th of March I had a action plan in motion so I can be "the master of my fate, the captain of my soul".

With the new grand master plan, I ran into some extended family disapproval. "My head is bloody, but unbowed." For a little while I was upset but not for long as I have always had a stubbornness where I walk in my own direction. In the mist of the chaos of the annual end of semester and academic year this week I got my letter confirming my admission, my student support application and an appointment notice of my disability occupational health needs assessment. Like all changes it is a little scary but I can see some calm after the storm and I am excited about what the future may bring. That is why I am not sleeping so well and doing blog posts at 4am in the morning.

May the Fourth be with you.

2011-05-04T00:28:00.000+01:00

The Geeks in our household have been giggling about this add for weeks

Lest we forget

2011-04-25T10:22:00.002+01:00

The Ode of Remembrance
by L. Binyon

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them. Will remember them.

In Flanders Fields
By Dr John McRae

In Flanders the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The Larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce hear amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up the quarrel with the foe;
To you from falling hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall no sleep, though poppies grow
In flanders' fields.

RIP C.D. Coleman (24th Bn. Australian Infantry, A.I.F.)

Light at the end of the tunnel

2011-04-21T07:19:00.000+01:00

Life has been a little chaotic lately and it will continue to be so for the next couple of weeks. Hey ho what is different. A mini break I was planning has now gone up the swanny but another will be organised a little later when the stars and planets are all in alignment.

We actually found the camera a couple of weeks ago before we lost it again but I have a some photos of a couple of projects that have been un-photographed for a while.

ZertaZerta

The ZertaZerta shawl is a Hauri shawl that I knitted back in January. This was some of my own hand spun and I was determined to do a shawl for the 11 in 2011 project with it. I still have not blocked it blame the old time and space issue so I have not moved it from a WIP to finished project on ravelry.

I want to do some more knitting of my hand spun yarn but all things are on hold until mid may with the boring things in life: work, assignments, medical appointments and bills.

Palm Sunday

2011-04-17T19:45:00.001+01:00

Well it is that time again... Time to get organised for Easter. I have to get the ingredients in for yeast items like Tsoureki and hot cross buns. We have to start the preparation of the celebratory feast that spring has arrived properly. It looks like daughter and son are on for the Lundy mass at the cathedral and hubby has had a great time running the adult Wednesday night Lenten study group. We have a new priest on the parish team and he just has not worked out our family yet. Sorry I don't need organised religion to recognise that there is a higher power in this world.

Dublin Bay Socks

2011-04-16T22:06:00.000+01:00

Well I had four different socks on the double pointed needles and I could not face casting on another pattern until I shifted at least one of the half finished socks off the double pointed needles. Also I think the word "Divorce" may have been banded about if I brought even more double pointed needles of the same size. Hubby was a little concerned about the number of hedgehogs that I had laying round the house which he could accidentally stab himself with.

Not the greatest photo but they are done. These socks have been knitted in some ubiquitous Regina that I had knocking around so they are a destashing pair and the pattern is Dublin bay Socks. I would do the pattern again but I think a plain or strip rather than this mottled variegation would have been better. The camera has gone awol again and I am definitely blaming one of the children again. I know who to blame but they are denying it of course. "No Mum I have not seen your camera since I used it for my assignment and I put it back in the cupboard." Yeap right the same sort of put it away like the clothes on your bed room floor. Not well enough in my book.

Ok so I have three other patterns of socks on the needles so I need to get cracking some more so I can catch back up with the A-Z kal. I need to cast the next pattern on by the 22nd so I have to get a shifty on. Lets just say I am a little behind....

It is a quiet day in Liverpool

2011-04-15T23:35:00.002+01:00

Today is that day again in Liverpool when you know their hearts are bleeding. Normally even in the grimmest of weather the Scouser will have a ready crack but not today. Not ever again on the 15th of April. Even though there was dissertation madness on with 900 BSc students handing in, the university was just dead between 2pm and 4pm with hardly anyone around.

Why? Today was the Hillsborough Disaster anniversary it is 22 years since 96 Liverpool fans were killed in a stadium crush. Imagine you said see you later to your love ones as they go off to see their team play and then they don't come home. There was many a Liverpool scarf to be seen today and you could see the tears were close for many as they walked the streets.

There was a Memorial Service 2011 at Ainfield. The university did the traditional minute of silence at 3:06 pm. Even those students who have no connection to football or real understanding of what was going on today just knew that there was something strange about today and it was time for silence. It was quieter than Remembrance day.

"You will never walk alone"

O Frabjous Day!

2011-04-12T19:55:00.001+01:00

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

From the Jabberwocky poem by Lewis Carroll 1871.

Two of my doctorate students have been awarded their PhDs we have even been given which graduation ceremony they will be presented with their bonnets. We are still waiting to hear if the viva recommended alterations of another have been accepted and then watch out it will be party time. Looks like I will have to be going to several awards ceremonies come July again.

I will also have to get knitting for there are a couple of new babies on the horizon and of course the graduation presents for undergraduates and the wives of the PhD students. Damn I am so far behind with the list. Ciao! as I need to get cracking.

Chicken Man or boy

2011-04-09T19:18:00.002+01:00

Rh the boyo had a dress up half day yesterday for school. I did not see him go off and Dad snapped with the daughter's camera but I got to giggle when he came home at lunch time.

The boyo and the dog almost blended together. It is the start of the Easter school holidays will I be sensible at the end of this week or so I don't know but if I can still laugh at the end of it I think I will be doing well. The kids are only in school for a total of 9 days for the whole of March.

Friday

2011-04-08T22:45:00.000+01:00

Thank goodness it is Friday. I have had one of those weeks with work were you wonder why and what you are doing it for. Hello I would like to get paid not these fits and spits in employment pay but that is part of job and the issues with dealing with external funding agencies.

This is a nautilus that was in package one which was sent to me by those lovely people in the Rav Tav. I have been loving the package items. Not much knitting wise has been getting done this week thanks to a PDP assignment which has been done and dusted. I now seem to be getting back into the swing of things knitting wise with some progress on a sock that had been ripped back repeatedly in the last couple of weeks.

Déjà vu - Snit camp raised all over again.

2011-04-07T19:18:00.003+01:00

We seemed to have come back to another time and place again this week in more than one way. Déjà vu SNIT Camp has come back into top of the cesspit again. Again I have tried to ignore it and again I have failed miserably. Some of you know I am not exactly a full deck of cards as I have a couple of inter-related depression illnesses but I think the full disclosure is necessary when someone (JW) on Ravelry reappears. Be warned this is a rant post so if you want to move on do so now.

Think calming thoughts think calming thoughts

Earlier this week I had a routine psychiatric review to confirm my diagnosis and need for medication script. Basically the NHS guidelines recommend that if you have been on these meds for more than 12 months they want to confirm that it was necessary and appropriate for you. My new GPs (about 12 months new) who seem to be a lot more proactive than my old UK GP sent me in for the required full psychiatric assessment to confirm that my perscription was appropriate. So I spent the other day at the local mental health assessment unit and was prodded and poked. Yes I can confirm that I am one brick short of a bbq but don't have another mental health illness than the ones I already knew about. As the psych commented it should be expected with your medical issues that you have pain related depression especially with your long term history of PSTD and SAD. No Shit Sherlock tell me something I don't already know.

Don't worry I was polite cause I was very very conscious how close I was to the secure unit. You can not knit inside the secure unit because knitting needles are considered to be too high a risk. The outcome from this review is that I am getting my anti-Ds script confirmed.

I have been managing PSTD for over 30 years and some years are ok others not so. Christmas is my worst time as my stress trauma event is focused on Christmas Eve. Added to the PSTD is the issue of SAD I am a little (a lot) worse when it comes to a winter and Christmas combined. Throw in a couple of auto immune illnesses such as OA/RA and now ?Fibromyalgia (still waiting for confirmation of the last one), and that explains the pain related depression. But as I am aware of all these issues and I use my light box, medication, exercise, talking therapy and family support to keep my head above the water. I also use a distraction technique of Knitting. Ok so here I am being upfront about my previous mental health history and now starts the rant.

Recently a special snowflake (JW) has been on Ravelry supposedly apologising about having an almost breakdown and how it was not her fault that Snit Camp was a financial disaster. Sorry Honey the buck stops at you as you where the organiser of the Stirling Knit Camp event in 2010. I have just read the most insincere apology ever and OMG she sounds like a petulant teenager. I should know as I have two in the house at the moment.

Falling down the rabbit hole of depression

Claiming that she had an almost breakdown is just something I can not swallow. I have tried to ignore the post for two weeks now but I cant. I am so steamed about it that I wont reply on Ravelry cause I know I wont be polite. I know about a depression breakdown and the effects it can have on an individual as I have been there and done that and never ever ever want to go back there type of experience of it. Not being able to feel, make minor decisions like what clothes to put on, missing chunks of time and the inability to communicate with family let alone the rest of the world. You do not have the ability to function socially or emotionally. So how the hell could you do a uni course and continue to play with your children and everything including a supposed research trip to France??? Don't claim that you have a mental illness when you don't as you undermine those who do and we have enough stigma and crap in our lives already.

I thought JW would at least attempt to pay her creditors before she had the gall to reappear in public. But to come out with an insincere apology and the continued non payment of monies owed just does not help her cause or improve my opinion of her -JW. It has just stirred up the whole drama all over again.

I want to thank the other ones who have continued to challenge the gall of this woman like JaneKAL and her recent efforts to get the word out including this post. Keep up all the good work.

Testing the Hiya Hiya sock circular needles

2011-04-05T00:10:00.002+01:00

Last year in October I picked up some Hiya Hiya 9" circular sock needles from Brownberry yarns stall at Fibre Flurry in Birmingham. I will be going back this year come October as it was well good!!!! (local vernacular a grand day out). I brought two different sizes in the 9" circular sock needles as I wanted to give them a decent go - the 2mm and 2.25mm. I can see how these short circular needles for some knitters would make a brilliant tool but for me I find them a hindrance due to my weird knitting style.

I had read reviews about these needles and though what a great idea. While enhancing my fibre stash with the Krafty Koala aka Gemma I saw her working super fast on a sock with these needles. I want was the plea and she pointed me in the direction of the Brownberry gals what an enabler... Yes she is bad for my bank balance.

But Gemma's knitting action is considerably different to mine as she is what I call an English Flicker. I have some issues with arthritis and I am sort of a wonky gimpy cottage style knitter. Best description of my weird style. Dependant on pain and joint stiffness I adapt my style to suit my circumstances. I also can knit continental and portuguese/greek so I can combo and cross like crazy including backwards for short rows. I have had the pleasure at a John Lewis Rowan class in about 2003 of managing to stop it with everyone distracted by my weird purling technique. What do you mean I dont knit properly? I dont think there is a special style there are lots of different knitting styles. Can you please stop looking at me it works ok?

Back to the needles I think that I would probably like a slightly longer needle tips to the circulars and thus would have the leverage I think I am missing and why I have been so slow on the sock I started with them. I have been looking at longer lengths such as the 11" but the tips appear to be the same length as that on the 9" needles, damn. I really like how the project is easy picked up and put down. Storage of the sock in the handbag was enhanced with the circulars.

Sock being supported by bobbin

Other than my tip issue the needles are well made and the clear plastic cable does not have a join joint which would be likely to catch. I like the weight of the needles as they are very light but they are also a metal needle made out of stainless steel. The finish on the needles are a high shine but they still have some grab for the yarn which helps when using a standard sock yarn like Regina.

The needles also have the size and length marked on the plastic cable which make them easy to sort especially if you are like me you can never find those damn needle gauges that you must have at least 20 of in this house alone. To read the size on the smaller of the needle sizes I had to use the water glass magnifying trick so you could still have some difficult working out what the size of your needles.

Now how am I going to do that toe???

To put them to the test I thought I would do my standard basic sock pattern in the obligatory Regina 4 ply. Well I have really really struggled with these socks. I am still at one sock down and a long way to go to finish the second sock. This is some 5 months later. Normally I can knock out on a pair of the basic pattern of socks on the double pointed needles in a couple of days. I have really struggled with doing the cast off and ended up using two of my dpns to do the kitchener stitch.

Sweet Chariots

2011-04-04T00:30:00.042+01:00

Back in 2003 during the Rugby World Cup I had the pleasure of having the whole of the Preston outdoor market traders and the majority of their customers who knew the song sing unto me Sweet Chariots on the Grand Final day... They even announced over the tannoy that there was an Australian in the fabric section. Yes that would have been moi.

England won that was a surprise - no I am not a bitter Australian, no never... Ever want to dig a hole and sink into it?

Swing low, sweet chariot

Coming for to carry me home,
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.

But this hymn has some key lyrics which is reflecting my life at the moment. It is in about the third verse I think that has the lyrics that best sums up my life at the moment.

Sometimes I'm up, and sometimes I'm down,
(Coming for to carry me home)
But still my soul feels heavenly bound.
(Coming for to carry me home)

Come on Life what else
are you going to throw at me?
... I should have not done or said that...

Life has been a bit of challenge to put it mildly. Do you like the use of the understatement for all the major dramas of the last 12 months? Typical Australian pathos..

Downs:

Yes it is that time again Professional Development Program aka the dreaded PDP. Have to do so many hours and discovered to meet the amount I need another module before the annual deadline. We are in the mist of a mad rush of 20,000 words (report and essay) in less than a ten days. Who planned this date to clash with undergraduate dissertations hand in and the end of academic semester? You would think for an academic pd program the hand in date would be after EASTER break... Not before.
Fibro flares, more auto immune developments and the continuing saga of continuing medical issues including skin cancer. Can we call me a lemon? OMG this body model is so flawed that I want a refund if only I was a car which could be replaced.
One toxic workplace but I am juggling the three workplaces so I am having a total issue with the space time continuum. Damn I need a Tardis.
Reclamation of my birth family's Blacksheep crown as "a totally irresponsible flbbertigibbet". Don't you just love your elders?

Ups:

My wonderful little family - the husband and tiddlywinks.
It is spring and the sun is shining.
Snuggles from the furry members of the family.
Those wonderful friends online and in real life who have encouraged me and recently shown me that they care. I got a wonderful parcel of love last week on a day I really really needed it. It was a second part of the monster hug from the Rav Tav.
Acceptance onto a new course starting in September 2011. It has become the light at the end of the tunnel for all the downs. I am going in a new direction but it is something I have always been interested in - Crafts. Yes, I am going to do a degree in Contemporary Craft.

My light at the end of the tunnel

So I have some good and bad things but if I can just survive the now stuff I have something to look forward to. I really do feel that I am on my way to something wonderful. I just need another round of chemo to remove the last bits of skin cancer but there is only a little bit left. Out, damn'd spot! out, I say! - in my best Lady Macbeth impersonation.

Today's images are from the first parcel of monsters from the Rav Tav Gang. I will have to find the camera to photo the new parcel but I just get this report and essay finished first, 10,000 words down 10,000 to go.

I did not get any knitting done on the weekend cause I was being a goodie two shoes who was doing her PDP homework in the University library. Knitting has been calling but I am not getting much done. But I see a time soon when I can sit and just knit and it will be for a legitimate cause. I am doing my homework for uni. Yeah right my lot are really going to let me get away with that one but I can keep dreaming. Just let me have my delusions.

What is my crafting time?

2011-04-03T00:30:00.000+01:00

Well... anytime I can get a chance. I am known at work for always having a knitting project in my bag.

Sock knitting project bag at work

I have different projects for the range of situations I encounter in my life. I have TV knitting. I have quiet without TV knitting (Lace). I have pick up and put down knitting or lets work like the clappers all out on a large projects.

Sock and coffee waiting for student.

If I want company when I want to knit at home I put on a DVD movie that I do not have to place attention to and work on my project. I may have a companion animal when I am knitting or crocheting. Dependant on the type of project I am working on will be the rationale for how long one of the animals says with me. The dog for some reason seems to think that sock knitting with five needles is just the absolute pits. I sort of understand why if you get a nose full of sharp double pointed needles poking into your face all the time.

What is so wrong with those double points?

I have projects for knit night or movies. I find the long boring stockingette backs for a large gorilla sized man's vest or jumper can just fly by in a good movie. Even in a bad movie my knitting helps stop me from killing the kid who picked the said movie and is loving it immensely.

Miles of stockingette

I used to go to a sewing session once a week and this was where I could cut out my sewing for the week which is great when the kids were little. I still like to make a couple of hours each week were I can potter in the coal shed and this may be just organising yarn for the various project bags for the different creative intervals in my week. I find that without a daily session of crafting time where I am able to use my creative side that I become a difficult person to live with. Crafting helps with stress management and renewal of other parts of the brain so I can do problem solving.

Something to aspire to a wedding ring shawl.

2011-04-02T01:06:00.062+01:00

One day I would like to make a wedding ring shawl. The Heirloom knitters on Ravelry had been reconstructing a pattern and the completed shawl is known as the Queen Susan shawl.

Fleegle's Queen Susan Shetland Lace Shawl

The thing about a wedding shawl is that it is thin enough to be threaded through a wedding ring. That is a 180x180 cm (6x6 foot) shawl that today would cost starting from £2,000 and up. To make this type of shawl you are going to need roughly 8,000 metres of gossamer weight lace yarn. Think about that it is 8 kilometres or 5 miles of yarn. My mind boggles at the sheer dedication of time to make this shawl, the skill and the mastery that this shawl demonstrates.

When I first was learning about the different lace traditions I thought there was no way that I would be ever be able to do lace as I was absolutely craptastic at reading a pattern let alone a chart. Nope I would never ever be able to do a Shetland or Orenburg type Lace shawl. But the more I practice and the more I challenge myself I am coming to see that making this type of shawl will be one day an achievable goal. I have even queued the Queen Susan shawl on my Ravelry queue which is almost at longer than my life expectancy. Though the day I actually do make and finish this type of shawl successfully I think I will shout it from the tree tops. I am pretty sure that the other half will go "That's nice dear" not realising the muggle that he is what a massive achievement that this project will be for me.

I keep calling myself a beginner to intermediate knitter but this is with cough 35+ years cough of knitting experience. I recently went to the work lunch knitting group and someone commented on how fast I can knit but when I compare myself to others I know I am an average knitter. When do you know that you have mastered a skill? Do we ever master a craft? I think that is why so many people continue to knit or crochet as they are ever extending their skill levels.

Alternative perspective the voice of youth.

2011-04-01T01:04:00.054+01:00

Well today's theme is supposed to be an alternative perspective so I thought I would get the perspective of one of the two younger knitters in the family on my and their knitting habits. So I am pleased to present a post from Ry who just might make it to 17 years of age in June.

To most people my age, being in that strange age between childhood and adulthood when you hate everything, and I do mean everything, Knitting is not the most fashionable thing to do.

No, let me rephrase that it is not only one of the least fashionable things to do, it's also considered to be old, odd and something that grandmothers do to give to their children, who they dote on, but their labour of love is soon forgotten and thrown into a pile in the black-holes we call our rooms.

However, being the daughter of a knitter has given me a much different perspective, not that I'm denying that some of my mother's creations have sucked into the perpetual black-hole in my room; along with other things such as odd socks and various pieces of maths homework. While I admit this, I do not have the same perspective that most teenagers do, though this may be because of my naturally 'different' personality anyway.

Knitting is, I believe, something that is rewarding and an amazing thing to do, and in fact I am quite envious when I'm sitting and reading, something which I do a lot, and I see my mother start a project and then by the time I put the book down, only a few hours later, the project is finished.

The fact that I can see my mother start with balls of ordinary looking wool, even though it maybe a beautiful green, and then makes something that I could wear and something that I in fact would be proud to wear is one of the miracles in the world - along with sliced bread and the creation of mass printed books.

And when I wear my mother's creations, which I do often ... especially when they're green, and people comment on how nice it is and asking me where I got it from, I always get that stupid grin on my face and a proud feeling when I say "My Mum made it" and I know that no one else in the world has the same clothes as me, or the nicest mother either.

So while most people my age would probably denounce knitting as something that old people do, I think it is something that everyone could do - I can, if i had the patience to drag myself away from my precious books, and I think that if more teenagers knew the joy, and pride, that came with knitting something, or even just making something for themselves they would not be so disparaging to knitters.

Live Long and Prosper,
Ry

What happens when a item goes off to its intended recipient?

2011-03-31T00:59:00.070+01:00

At times I wonder about becoming a selfish knitter. You see I make a lot of items for my loved ones. It is general a gift from the heart for a seasonal occasion like Christmas or anniversary event such as a birthday.

Ape and George from the
George of the Jungle movie

Dear Hubby, J, was on the no knit list for almost 10 years after a white Aran cabled jumper was made to his precise specifications and then never was worn by him.... I knew when he picked the wool it was too hot and he would not believe me. Heck what did I know I had only been married to him approximately 10 years by that stage and knew that he was my personal hot water bottle system. I relented in 2008/2009/2010 made him 2 vests and 1 jumper. I can honestly say I have not seen him wear any of them more than once or twice.. You wonder why when you consider how big he is that he has been put back on the no knit list. NAH not when you consider he is a silver back gorilla I have had to knit extremely long stretches between neck and waist or shoulder to wrist.

This labour of love has been
seen on the floor frequently.

Daughter, Ry, well where do I start... She should be on the NO knit list thanks to the way she looks after items I have knitted for her. If you want to have an overview of my projects over the last couple of years just look on her bedroom floor. Lately she has scored some items since I am trying to Stash Down and she scored the Reynolds merino/mohair mix that I can not use for my own garments.

An old Billy vest for Rh.

Of the three of them Rh, aka the boyo (the son) is actually the most appreciative of his knitted items. He loves knitted socks and wears his jumpers and vests to a point past where they no longer fit him. That is an interesting crop top vest? I have had to steel old vests off him cause he would keep wearing them when they would not even cover his kidneys. He is almost due for some new items once I get the never ending queue of projects beaten down a bit to a more manageable level.

Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

2011-03-30T00:58:00.074+01:00

Hang on.... I actually subscribe to the philosophy of a tidy desk means a sick mind. So how do I get to a tidy mind equates tidy stitches. Well I find a messy work bench hinders creativity.

I find Ravelry was brilliant for organising my yarn stash theoretically but I am working on dealing with my stash in real life. One of the first things is I am doing is trying to get it under control. I am doing the Stash down in 2011 and so far so good. I have only brought 3 skeins of yarn while there has been over 30 skeins come out of the stash. I have been using large plastic crates for my yarn stash but I am currently in the process of refurbishing an old steamer trunk into my yarn trunk.

Above is a picture of what drawers should be there in my trunk but they are missing. I am wanting to replace the drawers with Palclear UV. This is a clear perspex product that will allow the contents of the drawers to be viewed but has the UV protection in so if the trunk is standing open sunlight does not damage the draw contents. The lining material also needs replacing and the outside of the trunk also needs work. But I estimate that this option will provide approximately 4 plastic crates worth of storage but also provide me with beautiful display piece.

As part of the fit out of the trunk will also creating storage space for the various Nameste bags and other accessories that I have. I just love my nameste bags and I will be acquiring a couple more.

Skill + 1UP

2011-03-29T00:57:00.053+01:00

Last year I took the challenge of working on my Lace skills. It was about 18 months ago after many many attempts and a bit of determination did I finally get how to read lace charts. I have become so familiar and comfortable with the charts in the last 12 months that I now find looking at written instructions to be a pain in the arse and sometime confusing. Who woulda thunk for this dyslexic bunny?? I just needed the hand holding and support from the ravelry beginner lace knitters group!

To think I struggled the first time I knitted this pattern.

This year I am working on developing my technique knowledge and skills through the use of socks. This is where I using sock projects to work on alternative construction techniques and approaches such as toe up, two at a time and different heels construction.

One of the recent completed sock patterns.

I am also trying to improve my colour work and design skills and the sock projects are giving just enough practice for each. I am doing the lace challenge again but this year all the patterns are more advanced and this is a reflection that I am advancing in my skills. I am also working on my spinning I am determined to get better at lace weight.

A Tale of Two or Three Yarns: lessons yarn addicts learn

2011-03-28T08:00:00.120+01:00

As a yarn addict there are some lessons we all have to learn. Each yarn addict may have to learn that sometimes even though you love the colour or feel or texture of the yarn it is just not going to work for you in the project you are working on. I have found out that through hard and painful experience that I can not knit with mohair not even a small percentage of mohair mixture. After many years in wilderness of the tropical climate of Northern Australia where I got to knit in lots of cotton and the very very rare wool yarn I thought I would be able to knit with these other wonderful yarns like wool, angora and mohair when we moved to UK.

So like a good rowan knitter who gets her magazine subscription each year (about 2006/7) I was given was given a couple of balls of Kid Silk Haze, (70% mohair, 30% silk). The Kid Silk Haze is also known as yarn crack in many a yarnie's stash. When I got these balls it was summer and I thought that it was just my normal summertime hay fever issues were interrupting me when I was playing with yarn. I didnot even think that it might have been the yarn but it must be the high pollen count for the day. I was sneezing and sniffiling aware to the point were I did not feel well enough to knit. I ended up putting the project and therefore the yarn away for a couple of days and low and behold my nose stopped dripping like a tap. Who had changed the washer? Picked up the yarn and within 20 minutes my nose is like a river and I am ready to rip the eyes out of head. Mohair is not my friend.

I have even tried lower percentage count mixes such as 14% mix that I accidentally brought for myself. I had done the colour choice and not read the ball details too closely, as it was online special price on closeout sale from Webs. Webs is a very bad place for bank balances but great for developing and extending the size of a knitter's stash. Imagine the chagrin in this household when the cause that I was sniffling so much was the 14% mix. But But I love this colour and it was going to be something for MEEEEEEE!!!!!! I had to rip out that cardigan I was working on as there was no way I would be able to wear it. Imagine having 20 balls in a pretty yarn in your stash and not being able to use it. Stuff that for a monkey's! Where are the antihistamines and one new carnaby skirt for the daughter since she like the colour as well and has absolutely no problems with the mohair content. Damn! that is so not fair. Of course since there was no reason for me to use the left over balls Daughter had to put the request in for a matching jacket. This yarn was the one I used for the MIA 1 & 2 projects for the daughter. I still have to finish the sleeves but I have to find another packet of antihistamines first.

Like any yarn junkie there are some yarns I just have to due their colour. I had been drooling over Zauberballs for a while and I finally got my mitts on some. I was a joy to play with. However, even though I am a yarn junkie there are some yarns that I can never see myself using such as jelly yarns. When I first learnt about this yarn a number of years ago it was an adamant no sodding way, Hell could freeze over first before I would ever use it. But now I can see the possible potential in this yarn but it is still a case of not for me. I am not being a yarn snob but I just don't enjoy knitting with 100% acrylics. I have used them and not liked them. What is the point with knitting with something you don't like using and therefore decrease your enjoyment to the point that you absolutely hate the project? There are times when I have to use acrylics but they tend to be acrylic mixed with a natural product so it is a case of choosing a yarn for the purpose.

Clocks turning jumping forward

2011-03-27T02:06:00.001+01:00

Today we lost an hour and now we are on Summer time. So we are heading into more light per day does that mean I will get more time to do things in a day.

This week I am participating in the knitting and crochet blog week and I hope you all enjoy the various posts that have been prepared.

So I would like to do a big shout out to eskiminiknits who is organising this event again.

Earth Hour 2011 / Stop the cuts March

2011-03-26T19:27:00.002Z

Tonight is Earth hour were we the world needs think about how our resources are being used and what we can do to use them wisely and thoughtfully. Today has also seen a largely peaceful crowd of 250,000 marching in London protesting the cuts to services. These people in social services such a libraries and healthcare are also resources we need to think about how we are using or wasting.

What do we as a society want to value? What can we do to improve our resource usage and the impact we create in the environment and communities we live in.

Is rapid consumption really necessary? Do you really need the latest and greatest gadget? What about your community and fellow man?

MIA project update

2011-03-23T00:19:00.000Z

In the end neither MIA1 the Carnaby skirt and the MIA 2 Hunting Jacket got to go with the daughter on her trip to Greece. The finishing of MIA1 did not happen before she walked out the door to get on the plane at an ungodly hour of the night (2 am) and we are still at that point in time on the projects. The complexities of real life has got in the way. I did not get any further with the sleeves while she was away but she had a great time and is even keener on doing History at Uni. Funny how kids change their minds about University as until 18 months ago she was all Science gun ho now she has the humanities bent. I think this the better option because I feel she can engage in the subject better and she appears to have a real flair in an associated subject (Creative Writing) ala her Nanowrimo and other story telling activities. History and Creative Writing can be done as double major so she has some job prospects even if she goes into teaching. Shock Horror the thought of another generation containing a teacher. We have 4 or 5 generations depending on which side of the family you look.

I have managed to cast on another couple of projects but I am way behind cause I am not getting much done as I have had to stop basically most projects to do a urgent project or two to expand my interview portfolio for the Creative Crafts Degree. Some days I doubt myself about this change in direction but I then remind myself what have I got to loose and is it really that important to maintain the existing status quo.

Point	Current Status	Do the Creative Crafts
Pay Check.	Existing pay check but it we are pretty sure it will be smaller in the next academic year thanks to systematic changes to HE Funding.	Scholarship to cover the fees available Bursary for 3 years equals 1/2 existing pay check. Private support students only need a couple and will match existing pay check.
Job.	Love the 1:1 student interaction But hate the complex politics and management stress	Getting out of the rat race and being able to develop a further area. Stop stressing about workplace which is making miserable. Potential to develop a design enterprise
Health	Developing more issues with auto immunities the ability to work full time reduced. So would I really want to do this many hours and not have a home life to using all my spoons for work.	Why not work part time in something you love How much longer will you have the functioning to do the course.
Life Style	A little bit bored in the job Lack of workplace intellectual stimulation and no possible future opportunities for promotion.	Learning new things Have a long term interest in the area. Opening up another teaching subject area and thus future career options

There are other reasons why I jumped at this opportunity

I needed a change as I felt I was in a rut
Cancer opened the eyes to consider that not putting creative side of life on hold any longer
Life is too short to be doing something cause it pays the bills.
Need to enjoy more life with the family rather than always be recovering for spending the hours at work. Cancer provided a wake up to how much life can be effected by running out of spoons.

So the point of this post. To remind myself to stop being a wuzz and having the collywobbles over the whole decision to apply for a new undergraduate degree.

Spring is definitely here now.

2011-03-19T22:03:00.001Z

I really don't trust the crocuses and daffodils to be a sign of spring. For me spring is definitely here when the cherry trees blossom. The yellow of the broom is a sign of Spring is almost established but when the cherries bud and bloom is Spring most definitely here to stay and we are on our way to warmer weather. Should I say relatively warmer weather as we are talking about England here.

On Monday I saw the pink buds of the cherry tree and it seems it was a symbolic sign for me. Chemo ended this week whoo hoo! and I have an opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for many years but did not have the access to do. On Monday I saw that new undergraduate course is being offered starting in September 2011 at one of the local universities and applications were to be in for this week. The fastest ever UCAS application was done and submitted. A phone call later from the admissions tutor and it appears that I am in provisional dependant on my interview on Monday Two weeks time. I just have to pass the interview process.

Its not that I am giving up the Dyslexia support and other work I do but the uncertainty factor is getting higher and higher and the pressure in the institutions is squeezing tighter and tighter. Life is just too short for this sort of hassle YKWIM?? Added to the hassle of working full time in the HE sector, the part time PhD has been on hold for almost 12 months thanks to the ConDem government and it is apparent that it is not worth continuing as the classroom will be a completely different when ever they finally announce all their plans. With the recent bout of chemo and the navel gazing that it induced I feel with all the change happening in the HE sector it was time for me to change again. I have changed career on more than one occasion it looks like right now is the perfect opportunity. I had been toying with going back and getting a new engineering degree for a few years but hubby had threatened divorce as he felt that it was not the course what I was looking for. He was right but I could not find what I was looking for course wise. I did not want to do structural engineering as I was more enamoured with product design and the limited production of handcraft items. I did not want a single craft program like ceramics but one which allowed me to participate in multiple design sectors.

So for the next week or so I have to develop a portfolio and prepare a number of samples for the interview so I can be a full time student in Creative Crafts. Imagine being able to knit for a University class assignment. It will be a novel experience for me to be a full time uni student and half time part time work. I have always done Uni as an add on to Full time work and everything else. So I am going to be flat out like a headless chook for the next week or so getting ready for my interview cause I really really want to do this course. Keep all your bits crossed for me.

Rav Taver's surprise parcel BOO.

2011-03-13T20:28:00.004Z

The RAVTAV or Ravelry Tavern is a online thread were a bunch silly ravelry members play regularly with great frivolity and virtual booze. We have a Gorilla as a barkeep and the cleaning crew are bunch of fairies and elves. The standard drink measure is a bucket of rum. Note a bucket not a glass we dont believe in half measures.

A gang of regulars in the tav recently sent me a care package. Finally I have had some sunlight today so photography was possible but I had work and therefore I delegated this to the boys ie Hubby and son.

The unpacked box in sunlight

As you can see I scored a bevy of monsters that each make me laugh great guffaws and chuckles. I was laughing so hard in the post depot car park when I got the box that I had streams of hysterical tears down my face. Even my normal house postie (who nipped out the back of the depot to the delivery van car park for a ciggie) laughed when he came over to see if I was all right. I must have looked a sight sitting in the car as I always go blotchy when I cry even when it is due to laughter.

The disabled parking for the local post depot is actually in the main depot van delivery area and you have a special little buzzer and the person manning the parcel desk comes out to see you. The special parking arrangements are so you don't have to get out the car and attempt to get in the building via the most un-disabled friendly entrance to a building I have ever encountered for a public service agency. I had already done the buzzer and the parcel desk postie had collected the card and brought the box back to me. I could not wait to home so it was lets break into the interesting red parcel in the car.

Patience is a virtue which I just don't have when it comes to parcels. I prod and poke mail parcels to the nth degree. I totally know I get this from my mother who as nefarious for investigating christmas pressies in the same manner. So I creating complete chaos in the front seat while roaring with laughter over each item. Of course when when my house postie asked I told him all about ravelry and the silly gang while showing him everything that had come out of the box. Postie had that look when I had finished raving about every item which said "I will just agree with the deranged woman and she will eventually leave me alone"

So my house postie wants a copy of any photos for his bit of the wall in the depot. I think it was going to go up with a comment of the weirdest and wackiest parcel he has ever been involved in with the delivery (he did the card slippy thing in the door). I already have a reputation for mugging the postie who is on whenever I am waiting for a yarn parcel.

Give me my wool now !!! pretty please!

So here is another big thanks to gang who did this box for me and a heads up of who made what:

a Yip Yip Alien from hishummingbird
Fur monster from dawnmc71
a Pirate duck from maggiesocks
a Captain Jack Sparrow and pirate theme-d sweatshirt from Jlwiemelt
a sock monster who are holding onto a pair of socks and some heavenly fibre from wonkyknitter
a grumpasuraus who could have been me for the last couple of months from bzzymom29
a slug family from Lissaplus2
A lovely little bag and green Cyclops alien monster from Twirlymom
large green slug from sishogan
a nautilus by geneticsgirl
a Little Alien and mini monster from Samiad
a couple of cards and a joint letter from the gang.

Also a big thank you to all the other co-conspirators who managed to keep it a secret for so long while being in on it.

With much loves and thanks,

Kotaatok

Running out of time

2011-03-09T20:04:00.000Z

I am running out of time on MIA 2 we have T minus 6 hours until she jets off to Greece on the school trip. I have half of two sleeves left to do along with sewing it up, doing the neck band and blocking it. I also have to finish sewing the lining into the skirt. With this shockingly short time frame before she walks out the door I just don't think it is going to happen so I am activating plan C for contingency. I am slightly delusional but not totally.

Two fronts done.

As per normal when you have a deadline life has interrupted and having the great effect of dumping me on my arse. I should have taken this project with me when I spent the 8 hours + waiting round the Southport hospital last week but I grabbed the easy grab my sock in progress bag. I am also pretty sure the hubby would have spat the dummy at me knitting a jumper while in A&E. Sock is acceptable but full-sized large project in public a little embarrassing for him in most places.

Blocking of the MIA 1 project, Carnaby Skirt

Plan C.

Finish inserting the lining into the skirt and making sure buttons are firmly attached.
Step out of the way and let hubby and daughter do the packing of her bags. Homicide is not an option but could be on the cards if I am involved in packing bags with daughter.
Knit on sleeves but don't try and kill self to complete them tonight.
Find an ice pack and bottle of rum for after daughter leaves at 2am tomorrow.
Send text message to daughter tomorrow and remind her I want a decent photo of her in the skirt in Greece.

Plodding along

2011-03-04T08:57:00.001Z

Sodds

Like many I find the balancing of life sometimes a little difficult to do. Yesterday I got knitting time the hard way, definitely not the recommended way. I was doing the routine things that everyone does when getting ready for work or start of day such as having a Shower and I managed to fall out of it. Not just a mini trip or knocking my toes on the bathtub rim but a lets plant the face first onto the bathroom floor as I attempted to step out of the bathtub. Our shower is over one end of the bathtub.

After rearranging self for decency and attempting to get a look at the damage I found that I would not be getting up off the floor without assistance. A pitiful cry of help went out and the youngest came to rescue me. I got given my glasses so I could look in focus at the damage not just blurr. A winnie the pooh band aid was applied to my broken skin on the foot to stop bleeding and a small dose of sympathy in "That was a silly thing to do" handed back to his mother. It was a funny to hear my own and my mother's commentary and phraseology coming out of the mouth of babes. He got me off the floor and downstairs, a bag of frozen peas and looked again at the bruise when he commented "Can I stay home and look after you cause you wont be able to go to work". Thank you that is a lovely offer but now tell me why you dont want to go to school. It turns out he had to do a class presentation and the thought of standing up to speak was giving him the hebie jebies. He went to school and presentation went well.

Last pair of socks which were worn to keep tooties from freezing.

He was right I was not able to go to work. I could not even put the foot on the floor to do any weight baring. Dad (J) had done the train run and gone into work early as Thursday is his early start. I managed to call him before he started teaching at 9am and we decided that he would drop by in a couple of hours to review if I needed to do a hospital trip after his morning class. We have a local hospital but it does not do Adult A&E or minor injuries. So I was thinking it would be lunch time and was getting settled to do some knitting after contacting all the students whom I was standing up or sitting up when Hubby came home early due to a flat tyre in the wheel chair.

People are fascinated with 4 dpn hedgehog

So I ended sitting a round a lot today and waiting. Thus I was sock knitting in public a lot of hours today. Drive to bike shop 10 mins. The two attempts to get wheelchair wheel sorted equalled 50 minutes sitting in car park. Getting to adult minor injuries 30 min drive. 1 hour after checking in with reception I got seen by triage nurse, sent round to minor injuries section to spend 2 hours before doctor confirmed in 3 minutes it needed xraying. 2.5 hours in xray waiting room. Xrays done in 10 minutes. Sent back round to minors waiting room another hour to be seen in 10 minutes flat to confirm diagnosis and be given treatment (RICE & current orthotic shoes). Drive home 30mins. Both J and I at this stage were going urrrgh about feeding the household so we picked the kids up and went out to a pub tea. Daughter of course managed to have her favourite dessert.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

All in all today can be summarised as

Bad points

metatarsal damage ie Footballer break to 2nd and 3rd tarsal.
missing students sessions and therefore the pay from seeing students = less yarn
waiting around a lot

Good points

I got to knit a LOT
I got some lovely comments for the possum socks, Wangi's, from the various nurses, doctor and radiographer.
I got some serious advancement on my Dublin bay socks
Taught a couple of other patients in radiography to knit and convinced some others to join Ravelry
Got a pub tea

Mission Impossible 2

2011-02-28T21:13:00.002Z

I managed to get the first mission impossible knitting project completed fairly rapidly (Saturday to Wednesday). I started to look round at jackets to go with the skirts. The skirt is almost finished but I basically have to have some daylight hours with the blocked skirt, my sewing room and with myself together at the same time to put the skirt lining that daughter has requested into the finished knitted skirt. She actually took the skirt up to the fabric shop without mother to get the lining and choose the buttons by herself. So now it is just a case of doing this finishing and then she will be set for Greece in less than three weeks actually almost two weeks.

Mission Impossible 2 is the creation of a matching jacket to go with this skirt. For a while there I did not think I would get there but daughter finally made a decision on a pattern. Thanks to all those who suggested patterns but she has gone with a Kim Hargraves pattern called Darcy which I will have to do major adaptations to make sure I fit her almost Amazonian body. Well at 6'2", its Amazonian to me and now it is most definitely a knit down to the wire job.

In between the pattern decision making process I also managed to finish the possum yarn socks that I started earlier in the month. Said daughter has done that thing she does with all things that I knit which are green. She has gone "I Want" "Can I have please MOMMY!!!!!!! Pretty Please??? When Zoec sent me the yarn I warned her that daughter would do this. Zoec also suggested the pattern as well which is Cachoeira by Kristi Geraci.

Wangi - dont they look like waterfalls

I am halfway through the d pair of my a-z kal socks and want to get them finished before my yarn for the e pair arrives. I am only a couple of days behind but I think the MI2 knit the peplum moss stitch jacket also known as Darcy will cause the next pair of socks to run late as well. I think the name had something to do with the selection as Pride and Prejudice is also a well loved novel. She even has the good taste to prefer the Colin Firth production.

Undertaking another mission impossible

2011-02-23T18:30:00.001Z

On Saturday evening when I got home from work the daughter, Ry, pointed out that she has less than three weeks before she is off on a history trip to Greece with college. She had been reviewing her wardrobe and as a result I had a new mission impossible.

Good evening, Kotaatok.

You mission Kota, should you decide to accept it is to knit your daughter a Carnaby Skirt by Nickiol Lohr. As always, should you or any of your knitting team be caught up in life or be swapped by work demands, the Knitting Collective aka Ravelry will disavow any knowledge of your actions.

This message will self-destruct when you have less than 10 rows to complete on the button bands.

Good luck Kota.

So around work for the last couple of days I have been knitting panels of this skirt for her. I should of finished it last night but the mission impossible of the deadline and a sudden upswing in work demands has meant that I have been delayed a day. It is a quick knit and I am tempted to make more items like this possibly for me but not this pattern as I have an arse and womanly hips. Daughter also thought to throw some wrinkles into the pot when she worked out that I had another bag of yarn and wants something else to go with the skirt.

The issue is what else? Even though some really good suggestions have been made by other Ravelers (Ravelry website users) Ry has not been that enthusiastic. Her responses have been classic teenage understatement of "That's nice". For those who don't remember the exact teenage tone and linguistic meaning it translates to "Fine mother but Never in Holy Hell will I wear it". Head desk moment before I revert to violence. I have a circular needle in my hands so I could garrotte her very very easily.

Remembering the past.

2011-02-19T00:27:00.004Z

Today the 19th of February is the 69th anniversary for the Bombing of Darwin. For many years the rest of Australia did not even know that people had been killed and Darwin had been bombed repeatedly.

Damage to defence buildings following a Japanese bombing raid of Darwin in 1942.
(Australian War Memorial : 012699 )

It was not until 1992 did it get into the main stream press down south (Eastern sea board of Australia) even though each year there is a remembrance service on the anniversary which was always covered by the local office of the national broadcasting service the ABC. My grandmother and father sheltered in a gutter in the main street during the first air raid as the bombs and planes strafed the street. An uncle luckily escaped death in the Post Office since the post master had sent him out to get his hair cut as it was on his collar.

I remember getting in trouble when we did the Australian home front in History in high school because I corrected Mr Wright about the Japanese bombings and incursions in Northern Australia. When you personally know a Methodist missionary whose first husband was decapitated by the Japanese you know about it, it did happen. At the time our history school texts only had the midget subs in Sydney Harbour. I also got into trouble for mentioning that Changi Prison in Singapore also held women and children not just not military prisoners.

I don't know what type of memorial will be happening this year as again Darwin is battling. Tropical Cyclone Carlos hit earlier this week and there has been further major flooding. It really looks like that La Nina has continued to wreak her vengeance on Northern Australia this Summer.

Spring has sprung!

2011-02-16T15:37:00.001Z

Now that I have said that we will get a dumping of snow. Oh what a cynical cow that I am. The crocuses have been out for a week or so in odd places. Now the patch in the front border has suddenly gone bang with their bright yellow colour. I swear they were not there like this yesterday.

I love the count down from Xmas towards spring as with the Equinox we start to see the light come into the days and things not be so bleak. Since Xmas the weather here has been that dark damp drizzle that says winter but on Monday we had patches of Sunlight. Today it was what I call an early Spring day. The singing birds are returning and the cherry trees are budding. All the signs that spring is really and truly on its way. Normally I don't say spring is here until the first daffodil appears. But I think we can say that it almost going to appear. The flowers are forming and they will burst open any day now.

Early daffs forming flowers.

Spring does a lot for us as a family as we seem to come alive with activities. The kids after hankering down during the winter are now seeming to be busy little bees with heaps of events that mum's taxi service has been in high speed dispatch lately. Tonight is parent teacher evening and I am looking forward to speaking to his teacher about issues that I have with them not paying attention to his records. Yet again I expect to get told by one of his subject teachers that they did not know he is a dyslexic or that he is a registered young carer. At least I will have my C sock toe of my A-Z KAL project to finish so I can wait patiently without killing one of the teachers in the disorganised chaos that is a high school parent teacher evening.

Warning she knits so she does not kill!

I had finished off the first sock but since daughter is doing a hankering for it I have ripped it back and will redo the toe so that it fits her foot. It will be a little bit wide on her cause I was doing them for me but it really is case the possum content in this yarn has it in for me. I am not going to reknit both socks from scratch just the toes cause that was were it was too dangerously baggy. She has not reacted to it so it looks like she is getting another pair of green socks for her collection.

Getting little things done

2011-02-16T02:45:00.000Z

The last couple of weeks have been a series of little steps followed by more little steps. I have finished of my third shawl for the year but still not blocked any of them. The weather here has been that dank and damp I am sure they would never dry and unfortunately my laundry monsters keep growing so I have no space in my tiny galley kitchen cum laundry to have a couple shawls blocking. Let alone one on blocking pads. I have also had issues which the camera ie a number of individuals have borrowed it an not returned it to the kitchen cupboard. I only got it back today when I threatened to cut off the food supply chain. Remember teenagers like to almost inhale food.

Dishcloth wise I had my arse kicked by a couple of dish cloths but I am restocking our supplies of these and general tea towels. I need to get some more linen so I can make some more tea towels for glasses but that will be for another day. It must be the start of spring cause I have the urge to do some major spring cleaning.

KAL = Knit along. The status update on what is going on this sock project wise. I had gotten a little behind on the A-Z kal but in the last week I have finished off my B pair of socks. The pattern is Blackrose sock by Suzi Anvin. I called my project on ravelry Róisín Dubh. I thought it was appropriate for this project in oh so many ways. For those who can not work out Róisín Dubh = Dark or Black Rose in Gaelic and is a famous political song from about the 16th century. The song in lyrical form talks about the trials and tribulations of the English rule. For the song in English see further below.

Slightly too big.

I had a slight gauge issue because I did not do a gauge calculations so the socks are slightly large but leave it to J. He will shrink them for me the first time he accidentally washes them in the laundry as he has not got the whole idea of colour and temperature sorting after over 20 years of doing laundry. I think he just gets frustrated and tries to shove everything into the one load. It is at least one thing a week that he manages to shrink. Son is complaining about a t-shirt that has suddenly gone short on him.

All those years of ballet are paying off mother
I can point my toes for photos.

This Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball Stärke 6 that I also did the last shawl in. The wool is one of those long colour repeats and it moves from white to pink to green as you can see on the right foot heel in the picture above. I have also completed sock one of the C socks in the possum wool that Zoec sent me last year and I am even doing it in the pattern she suggested Cachoeiva. Daughter is already eyeing them off to the point she tried it the first sock on before I had even knitted the toes. The second sock has been cast on and I hope to get rid of this sock project this week. For my next sock pattern for the D which was supposed to be started last weekend I have chosen a fairly simple one. I need something which will let me catch up.

Róisín Dubh

Little Rose, be not sad for all that hath behapped thee:
The friars are coming across the sea, they march on the main.
From the Pope shall come thy pardon, and from Rome, from the East
And stint not Spanish wine to my Little Dark Rose.

Long the journey that I made with her from yesterday till today,
Over mountains did I go with her, under the sails upon the sea,
The Erne I passed by leaping, though wide the flood,
And there was string music on each side of me and my Little Dark Rose!

Thou hast slain me, O my bride, and may it serve thee no whit,
For the soul within me loveth thee, not since yesterday nor today,
Thou has left me weak and broken in mien and in shape,
Betray me not who love thee, my Little Dark Rose!

I would walk the dew with thee and the meadowy wastes,
In hope of getting love from thee, or part of my will,
Frangrant branch, thou didst promise me that thou hadst for me love-
And sure the flower of all Munster is Little Dark Rose!

Had I a yoke of horses I would plough against the hills,
In middle-Mass I'd make a gospel of my Little Dark Rose,
I'd give a kiss to the young girl that would give her mouth to me,
And behind the liss would lie embracing my Little Dark Rose!

The Erne shall rise in rude torrents, hills shall be rent,
The sea shall roll in red waves, and blood be poured out,
Every mountain glen in Ireland, and the bogs shall quake
Some day ere shall perish my Little Dark Rose!

Invictus by William Ernest Henley 1875

2011-01-29T23:49:00.003Z

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

This poem to me has always meant taking control or having responsibility for one's own destiny. As some may already know I recently received a new diagnosis this month to challenge me with my other health issues. This new challenge while not totally unexpected with my history has created a new impact on my life and is currently imposing itself on me. The upside to this new diagnosis is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel as I am fully treatable and expected to make a full recovery. Not a bad prognosis.

The two side effects of the treatment include the interaction of the chemotherapy (oral and topical) drugs and my still not sure which one of the auto immunes ?fibromyalgia? plus those I have already added to my collection of rheumatoid issues, and the unpleasantness of the topical chemo on my face. I can put up with a countenance which will terrify children as I know it is temporary and I keep saying to self that is a free cosmetic treatment. My skin after this will be so young looking due to the dermal peel effect from the chemo creme. My line manager could not understand my attitude when I described it as positive side effect while showing her the patient information leaflet and its oh so graphic photos. Just because I will look like an ugly muttly does not mean I can not come into work. Some of the students are scared of me already due to my lack of tolerance for fools so this will just make me even more of the office fire breathing dragon.

So beside the mug only a mother could love, the other downside is that the chemo has a greater impact on me (knocks me about up and down the stairs) due to the rheumatoid issues. Due to trouncing that this manifestation of maladies is having on me I have reduced my working hours to a half time load. Even though I have more time to knit or create I am not getting this opportunity since I am frequently finding myself having a very quiet interlude where I drift off for forty winks or more. My propensity to nod off on a extended granny nap has caused a total knitting hiatus.

So a final word of caution that everyone can do from my experience please check your skin if you notice any changes in shape, colour, texture, an itch or bleeding get your butt down to the GP's and get it checked out that means everyone even if you have a darker skin pigment. If I had left it a couple of months I would have radically different prognosis. Thanks for all the supporters and well wishers you have been wonderful in more ways than you can know and we will keep ticking along.

Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!

2011-01-25T19:44:00.002Z

No Burns night celebration would be with the traditional address to the haggis the Great chieftain o' the pudding-race according to the poet Rabbie Burns (Robert Burns for those who speak English). Today being the 25th January we will all have a wee dram to celebrate this poet. Below is the poem which is normally recieted on this night called Address To A Haggis which was written by Burns in 1786.

The poem is normally recited when the haggis is brought out to the table. The full meal should have Haggis, Neeps, Tatties, Cock-a-Leekie or Cullen Skink, Bannocks, Cranachan and a Clootie for dessert. Since we were not organised and it was school night we had the Cock-a-Leekie, neeps and tatties, bacon and sausages, bannock and Cartmel sticky toffee pudding.

A Cartmel Sticky Toffee pudding

------------------------------------------------------------

Address to A Hagis by R. Burns 1786

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Aboon them a' yet tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o'a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin was help to mend a mill
In time o'need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin', rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
Bethankit! hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad make her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckles as wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;
His nieve a nit;
Thro' blody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned,
Like taps o' trissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer
Gie her a haggis!

'Clancy, of The Overflow' by AB "Banjo" Paterson 1889

2011-01-22T17:12:00.000Z

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan years ago;
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just on spec, addressed as follows, "Clancy, of The Overflow."

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)
'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
"Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."

In my wild erratic fancy, visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plain extended,
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city,
Through the open window floating, spreads it foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street;
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me,and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go
While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal
But I doubt he's suit the office, Clancy, of The Overflow.

So I am a yarn snob...

2011-01-15T18:51:00.004Z

I here by admit that I have a favouritism for natural yarns and in particular wool. Mohair I like to look at it but it has a problem with me it makes me sneeze and wheeze.

My snobbish in relation to natural fibres has increased with my collection of spinning wheels. It just makes sense to spin and therefore use a natural product. I also find spinning to be a very very relaxing activity and it can help bring me down from an almost full blown panic attack meltdown. Wool has some exceptional properties and there are hundreds of varieties. Add to that in addition we also have silk, quivit, alpaca, chasmere angora, yak, hemp, flax, banana and cotton to play with among others. Then add to the various mixes and we can then talk about the properties that they give to possible projects such as stretch or fall of the finished garment or item. There are other man made fibres which are based on plant sources but it is necessary to consider the processing it takes to get it and the benefits the final product yarn gives to the knitter or crocheter.

I do like some non natural products but the acrylic content has to be low. Yes I suffered through having to use poor quaility 100% acrylics in the 1970s and 1980s which were incredibly hash on your hands while leaving you with a garment that was uncomfortable to wear. It makes sense to have some nylon in sock wool especially when you are actually knitting socks.

Sock wise I have to start pair number 2 out of 26 for 2011 as it is now the second half of the month. I was going to knit a pair of Bee socks for Ry but she was a super stroppy teenager in the middle of the week and I decided I was going to be a selfish knitter for the next pair of socks. I have finished the stump sock but we have had a very overcast and dark day and therefore no photos. I got up late at 10am cause it was that dark I still did not feel like the sun was up. I have my new pattern for me as supposed to cast on a new pair being the 15th but I can not find the yarn I want to knit it in. Must do some stash diving.

A Cat observing the Zauberball in 2010.

Currently I am working on a shawl called the Garden of Alla Shawl by Suzy Crancer, my version of this pattern I am calling Masha'allah. I am using Zauberball Starke 6 that I got last year. I had been saving it for another shawl project but I am also a member the Village of the hopeless over committed group on Ravelry. The January event for the group is to do the long colour repeat project or using handspun. Well I have already used some handspun in my first shawl for 2011 and now I just wanted to use some of the Zauberball and this pattern looks good in a long colour repeat. Hopefully we will get some sunlight soon as I want to get a stack of photos done.

OOOOh where did you get those?

2011-01-13T15:30:00.003Z

This morning I was wearing the new socks and I visited someone who has new cream carpet down. Being a typical Territorian I took my shoes off at the door - habit you just dont wear shoes indoors. And all of a sudden there was a Ooh where did you get those? from one of the others who was visiting our friend. After asking for clarification that she was referring to my socks I explained to Visitor H that I knitted them. She just could not believe that someone could knit socks.

I could of have been a bit sarkie but I realised that she was secretly lusting after a pair for herself. So I suggested that she knit herself a pair. But I don’t know how to knit socks was her reply. After going through her recent projects, such as the MIL Christmas cardigan. I pointed out to Visitor H she could do this pattern no problems at all once she got the handle of using DPNs or a Circular Needle. Both tools she has not before as she has always knitted on long straights like her Nan. So I think I will be setting her up with the pattern and providing the coaching on this we next meet up to talk about the CSR organisation we are all involved with.

I also introduced a couple of the others to Ravelry and I think I may have caused a conversion or two to the dark side of lots of knitting thanks to the various ohhs and arhhhs about Ravelry. So if I get knitters knitting more this month and possibly another sock knitter or two I will be well happy......

PS the stump sock is going well but I just have to stay awake enough to finish it. I better get a wiggle on cause it will be late if I don’t.

We dont know where he are???

2011-01-13T02:01:00.002Z

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better knowledge,
sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,
He was shearing when I knew him,
so I sent the letter to him,
Just on spec, addressed as follows, "Clancy, of The Overflow"

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)
Twas his shearing mate who wrote it,
and verbatim I will quote it:
"Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."
except for A.B 'Banjo' Patterson's "Clancy of the Overflow" 1889

In the recent floods there are still people missing. Have a thought and if you can please support the QLD Premier's Disaster relief fund. We have been missing our sleep since we have been online and on the phones trying to get all the details of the extended family in SE QLD. Knitting this week was forgotten about especially when my cousin called and was letting me in on the gossip about what was happening in her neck of the woods including how much water. I am still also searching from some yarn which was supposed to be in my stash box but has seemed to disappeared. I need more time in my day as I have to finish a couple of items before the next week so I will be knitting like the clappers.

"Said Hanrahan" by John O'Brien, 1921.

2011-01-11T16:42:00.002Z

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.

The congregation stood about,
Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
As it had done for years.

"It's looking crook," said Daniel Croke;
"Bedad, it's cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad."

"It's dry, all right," said young O'Neil,
With which astute remark
He squatted down upon his heel
And chewed a piece of bark.

And so around the chorus ran
"It's keepin' dry, no doubt."
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."

"The crops are done; ye'll have your work
To save one bag of grain;
From here way out to Back-o'-Bourke
They're singin' out for rain."

"They're singin' out for rain," he said,
"And all the tanks are dry."
The congregation scratched its head,
And gazed around the sky.

"There won't be grass, in any case,
Enough to feed an ass;
There's not a blade on Casey's place
As I came down to Mass."

"If rain don't come this month," said Dan,
And cleared his throat to speak -
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If rain don't come this week."

A heavy silence seemed to steal
On all at this remark;
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.

"We want an inch of rain, we do,"
O'Neil observed at last;
But Croke "maintained" we wanted two
To put the danger past.

"If we don't get three inches, man,
Or four to break this drought,
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."

In God's good time down came the rain;
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.

And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.

It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o'-Bourke.

And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If this rain doesn't stop."

And stop it did, in God's good time;

And spring came in to fold

A mantle o'er the hills sublime

Of green and pink and gold.

And days went by on dancing feet,

With harvest-hopes immense,

And laughing eyes beheld the wheat

Nid-nodding o'er the fence.

And, oh, the smiles on every face,

As happy lad and lass

Through grass knee-deep on Casey's place

Went riding down to Mass.

While round the church in clothes genteel

Discoursed the men of mark,

And each man squatted on his heel,

And chewed his piece of bark.

"There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man,

There will, without a doubt;

We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"Before the year is out."

As a child I was made to learn Said Hanrahan and other poems that talked about the bush life as part of my cultural development. Everyone had to have a speaking party piece - Hanrahan was mine from about age 5 to 8 years. The flooding in Queensland has matched this poem in oh so many ways than I can count. There has been a drought for the last 10 years or so in some parts of the state like Toowoomba. This garden city of the hinterland area is not expected to experience flooding and severe drought as the climate is cooler than down on Brisbane plains.

Many may not know that Toowoomba is built on extinct volcanic caldera which forms part of the Darling Downs. The Downs area is the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Toowoomba should not flood so easily due to it height above sea level. The current flooding is due to the land being so dry that the heavy downpours experienced yesterday and the last week had no where to go but to run off the hard parched ground. Thus causing the flash flooding which has been observed on tv and youtube screens around the world. There is more to come in the next days, weeks and months. The rain is not expected to stop until March.

If you get a chance make a donation to the QLD's Premiers appeal or the other international appeals. If you are on Ravelry drop by the various groups who are developing assistance parcels for those who have been affected by the flooding. As a knitter or crafter you may want to make a washcloth or two or three and send it in with a bar of soap which will help individuals overcome the smell of the mud when they are cleaning up after the floods.

Spinning my little heart out

2011-01-10T12:46:00.002Z

I have been spinning my little heart out over the weekend between working on the stump sock for the hubby. So far I have spun 300gms of Blue Faced Leicestershire [BFL] and I have another 200gms to go in this lovely mocha colour. I then have to workout how I am going to work out the meterage since my scales have decided to go kaput. Working out what I can knit with this handspun has been interesting contemplation while I have been treadling away.

Example of Broomstick Lace from Romansock 2007

When I dropped daughter off at the train station this morning I noticed that mags in the news stand had a lot of broomstick lace in their pictures along with a higher ratio of crochet to knitting. It was cold in the car park and I was in the station waiting with her and picking up the Metro paper for her Dad. Could crochet be the new knitted item for 2011? Then getting home in the ads between the news bulletins the there were more items with broomstick lace. I have a feeling that this Spring we will be seeing a lot of broomstick lace in the shops.

An evil sock thought

2011-01-08T13:14:00.002Z

I have in the past made stump socks for my husband and I have even darned them for him - ah the price of love. These socks have been natural and neutral colours like light brown, beige, cream and white. I have even knitted and handled wool during the tropical moonsoon season for him. Just thinking about it almost makes me break out with prickly heat. I have even managed to get suitable materials in the middle of the Never Never before the start up of the internet shopping for his sodding stump socks. I must love the bugger cause I have even driven excessive amounts of miles.

The Todd River in Alice Springs

I am reminded of one ocassion where I did a road trip of over a 2000 miles (3000kms) under a tight time frame to visit the prosthetic clinic to collect his socks for him. He had ripped his silicone stump sock and I drove from Alice Springs to Darwin to collect a new one from the Royal Darwin Hospital Prosthetic clinic, organised an express international parcel delivery to Malaysia where he was doing a short visit to another university and then drove the return journey back to work and the kids in Alice Springs in less than 36 hours. While I visited the clinic I also picked up another 10 pairs of various types of knitted stump socks for him which I dropped off at our home in Darwin on my way past. He was on a jolly to KL and I had to do a short work trip to Alice at the same time. I had taken the kids down to visiting the extended family while I worked or else we would have been cooked. I was wise enough to leave them with the Greats (several of my aunts, uncles and of course my gran) in Alice rather than do the road trip with me as they were only very young. I think Ry was three-ish and Rh was only about one.

Last pair of boyish sock that I knitted for Rh.

But his recent ribbing about my handknitted socks being stolen by my 14 year old boy, Rh, has made me think of a slightly evil thought. I wonder if I could make him a stump sock out of some of the feminine coloured left over sock yarn that I have hanging about. Previously I have used these tail ends for little projects such as easter eggs, Amigurumi projects and minor timmings when required. We have an anniversary coming up next week as it will be 20 years since we got engaged on the 12th of January. I just wonder if I have enough left of my Yarn Yard Cairn skein in Lavender to make him a matching stump sock to my new pair of artichoke socks. I could then give to him as an anniversary gift... He would have to wear it then.... hee hee an evil witch like cackle that goes on and on...

Pair A of the A to Z sock Kal done!

2011-01-07T16:45:00.002Z

Well I managed to do the first pair of this challenge in about five days (four and a bit). The bit was finishing the toe this morning before work. I had to Kitchener the toe on the last sock before I could promptly put them on my feet. Hubby, J, was laughing his arse off at me because it was "Yes I know you want to leave for work but I can’t until I finish this sock as I have to wear this sock today". J does not have the sock issue that I have such as the requirement of clean fresh socks on a regular basis. I am lucky if he changes his sock on his short false leg once in a month. So here are the new pair of Artichokes in Lavender Cairn from the Yarn Yard that are currently blocking on my feet. Ta Da!

Of course the Dawg had to get in the picture

Excuse the teal pants I know I have a greater number of colours on today (over 5) which the fashionistas would be horrified about but sod it. It is snowing again and I am going to be warm. Yes, I have red shoes in winter and I wear these shoes to death. I may have to get a new pair of shoes from Kumfs (aka Ziera shoes) soon as these poor buggers have been worn now for almost three winters, so they are starting to get a little old. The teal pants are my fleece lined pants so on snow days I find them to be obligatory. Photo wise we have been struggling to get light to support the taking of photos.

Dusk hits us at about 3:15 pm

I did have one clean pair of socks in the sock draw for me this morning but between getting the daughter, Ry, to the train station so she could get to college and getting home to see my son, Rh, leave for school they magically appeared on his feet rather than mine..... Hello!! I ridiculously thought that my colourful socks which in no shape or form meet the uniform code of either black or grey socks would be safe from the nortious sock thief. Rh has gone to school wearing a pair of teal and yellow variegated handknit socks in the standard vanilla sock pattern. I had been certain that his burgeoning teenage masculine identity as a 14yr old would ensure that I did not have the sock thief problem anymore with this type of handknit sock. Plainly I was wrong but heyho that is part of motherhood according to my teenagers - "You are always wrong".

More details of the Artichoke socks

I am concerned about the state that this pair of vanilla socks will be in when I get them back because he most definitely has the male issue of smelly feet. What is it about adult and or almost adult male feet that makes them smell so much? It has been a bit of shock that he has developed this trait and it is just another reminder that he is no longer the cherubic baby I used to carry in my arms. That smell, the antisocial behaviour and the communicating with grunts. Smelly feet is just something I have not had to live with over the last twenty odd years with his father since he has not had his own feet since he was slightly younger than the boyo.

J with his short leg on.

There are some advantages being married to a bilateral leg amputee as rubber feet don’t tend to sweat and smell horribly along with the need for only about five pairs of socks for the whole year. The only reason for the five pairs is so that he can have two socks in five different colours as he only wears the one leg now. He used to be a two leg man when he was young and vain but he finds it easier to swing walk (short leg and under arm crutches). Since he is only ever wearing one sock at any one time he always has a spare in the draw when it wears out. His socks are more likely to wear out and be composted before they ever get into the washing pile. It is the stump socks which you have to look after carefully just like hand knitted socks.

Knitting madness

2011-01-02T22:26:00.000Z

It appears that I am not the only one in several of my Ravelry groups that I regularly hang out in who are doing the 52 in 52 weeks project. Some of my fellow rum drinkers in the RavTav are doing similar things.... Must be all the virtual rum we drink in this tavern. God help us if we actually met up in person we would need someone with the bail money to get us out of the local clink.

So I now have 2 items from Xmas knitting finished:

the Limoncello shawl from before New Years
and I have just blocked out my latest shawl, Zertzeta, which was started at midnight on New Years Eve.

I am sort of excited about the little shawlette Zertzeta as it used my first ever attempt at lace weight hand spun. Spinning of this BFL Fibre took about a week and I tried very hard to be consistent. However, I did not manage that very well so the fibre ranges between fingering weight and cobweb. When I attempted to work out my meterage of course the kitchen scales then decided to go kaput so I can only do a visual estimate that I had about 300m from 100 gms of fibre. I have made a little shawlette out of the same pattern that I did last year, the Hurani, but this time it went so much quicker because it appears that I actually enjoyed the pattern since I was hanging on a thread to see if I could make it to the end. Was it the thrill from wondering if I would have to make it to the end of the chart with my available yarn. It was a bit touch and go even with the crochet bind off. My new version of the Hurani is not as big as the one I did last year but it looks pretty all stretched out on the blocking boards. Unblocked it was the size of a headscarf and it did not stretch that much more when I blocked it out.

Pictures of the latest shawls will come about as soon as we get enough daylight. It has been very very overcast here this week and we hopefully will see some light soon...... I am starting to count down the days to spring. So have a picture of the last Hurani that I did last year.

Hi Ho this little Xmas elf has to go and do some more Xmas knitting so I am going to start one of A-Z KAL (knit along) socks.

Have I fallen off the deepend?

2010-12-30T14:36:00.001Z

Save Meeee

This is the question I am asking myself. Jess the cat from Postman Pat has it right someone save me from myself. I was going meh about doing socks but still wanted to do at least one pair a month to sort myself out with socks. As my good friend MMMC recently observed with knickers you always seem to be short of them. Well in my household I have some sock thieves and the main offender is about 14 and has a real thing for stealing his mother's socks. I am so glad that neither kid fits my knickers or they would be at risk as well. I lose enough clothing to both of them that it is not funny. Hello daughter that was my new ~~coat etc~~ fill the blank (YKWIM). I even started to get organised to set myself up a self imposed sock club knitting project ala yarnharlot with a bunch of other ravellers.

Pattern: Haruni

In the mean time, I resigned up for 11 shawls in 2011 group who are continuing the 10 in 2010 shawl challenge cause I have so many shawl patterns in my knitting pattern queue and yes now that I have conquered lace I have been bitten by the lace bug. My knitting queue is longer that my estimated life span but hey ho that is the breaks. I am hoping that shawl projects will help my pressie stash and to get some of my yarn stash back under control. It would also help with the odd job issues and the need to do some xmas pressies (member of the xmas list knitters as well). I was even a good little knitter and finished up a new citron shawl, Limoncello, that I started on Boxing day for the next year which is currently blocking so I will get photos when I get the combo of light and model in the same place and time.

A Belfry

But then then some insane idiot known as Puddytatpurr mentioned something about the A to Z KAL. After a bit of fishing on Ravelry I found that there were a bunch of insane individuals in the UK sock knitters group who are going to attempt to knit 26 patterns matching the alphabet over the period of a year. Yes that is a pair of socks every two weeks. While I have the 26 patterns, I am full aware that I have absolutely nope hope in the time space continuum that is my life to do all of them. This KAL recognises that life happens so you can dip in and out. I know that there some other insane fools like Wyndwitch who are also attempting this one so I am not alone in my insanity.

So the plan challenge wise for 2011 is:

11 shawls in 2011
Self imposed sock club
Stash down - get that stash down to a manageable size
A-Z sock KAL
Xmas List knitting
Odds and ends clean up including finishing up some outstanding creative projects

So it appears that somehow I have managed to create my own 52 projects in 52 weeks and I am totally insane because my projects are not small scale easy to complete tasks. I admit that there are several brick short in my bbq and I have bats flying round in my belfry.

End of Year Review looking for ideas

2010-12-28T02:25:00.091Z

Each year I like to challenge myself creatively and it is that time of year again to identify the challenge for the next year. In 2009, I did the 52 things in 52 weeks challenge. This year I did the 10 shawls in 12 months challenge. I sort of did all of the lace shawls in about 6 months. I learnt to spin and I now have two wheels so that long held challenge has been done and dusted in 2010. All in all I would say that this year has been very successful and I have certainly developed in my skills and knowledge. I still have a long way to go but I am not scared of lace anymore. I even competed in my first Tour de Fleece and of course the Winter knitting Olympics in February.

I am looking for ideas for 2011 as I am sort of wondering where do I go next challenge-wise? Hubby suggested that I do a small project a week or a pair of socks per month and I sort of went been there done that. I can see why he said socks as I need some but I am sort not a regular sock knitter as they are filler projects for me between others a bit like that book you have in bag that you have read several times but keep it there to be occupied when you have a long wait. In November, I brought "The Knitter's Year" by Debbie Bliss which while a lovely pattern book there are several projects in there I would never knit cause it just ain't me and I have already done the 52 projects in 52 weeks before in 2009. I am also a bit of a flippy giblet who has the attention span of a gnat so doing one project per week out of this book would just be too constraining for me.

One thing I would like to do is reduce my stash a bit as I like to keep it to one plastic container. I also want to spend more time in my coal shed / bunker. I have some fabric stash that I want to use up. I also want to be more prepared and get some spare pressies in the cupboard for emergencies cause my backups have all been used this Christmas. I have already started to address this with some shawl knitting for Xmas next year. I think no matter what I will be doing I will have to do a Xmas pressie per month so I have enough pressies in the cupboard but hopefully spacing them out with other items will help relieve some of the xmas knitting boredom that could occur. This year may be the year of the Odd Jobs ie finishing up a load of Odd Jobs round the house to help make the place more homey.

Any Suggestions out there?

We Made it

2010-12-27T21:23:00.000Z

Well we made it through Xmas. As some may know the Hubby & I survived Cyclone Tracy in 1974. J was evacuated out and I was kept in the rubble with my Mum. Mum was very persuasive with the army when she fired a warning shot announcing that

she would consider them as looters
she was essential staff for reconstruction and recovery
she was armed and therefore was not going to be forcibly evacuated.

Christmas while a great family holiday for many; for us as parents can be very very stressful not only with the demands of children, extended families, work and other commitments. Please take the time to remember those who do not have their families and are less fortunate than you.

If you have a chance remember others who still need our help at this time of year. The 2004 Tsunami survivors still need help and so do the 2010 Haiti Earthquake victims please give something to the various charities such as MSF who are trying to assist with the on going issues these locations. It took Darwin almost 20 years to recover after Tracy the Tsunami countries still have missing infrastructure such as water supplies.

If you are a knitter please consider Knitters without Borders / Tricoteuses Sans Frontières or if you are in the UK please consider Pennies per hour of pleasure (P/HOP).

Wishing you all safe and well.

‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

2010-12-24T00:01:00.001Z

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all around me
Was unfinished knitting not under the tree.
The stockings weren’t hung by the chimney with care
‘cause the heels and the toes had not a stitch there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds
but I had not finished the caps for their heads.
Dad was asleep; he was no help at all,
And the sweater for him was six inches too small.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I put down my needles to see what was the matter.
Away to the window, I flew like a flash,
Tripped over my yarn and fell down with a crash.

The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow
Reminded me how much I still had to go.
Out on my lawn, I heard such a noise,
I thought it would wake both dad and the boys.

And though I was tired, my brain was a bit thick,
I knew in a moment, it must be Saint Nick.
But what I heard then left me perplexed-ed,
For not a name I heard was what I had expected

“move, Ashford; move, Lopi; move, Addie and Clover Move, Reynolds;
move, Starmore; move, Fraylic--move over”
“Paton, don’t circle round; stand in line.
Come now, you sheep wool work just fine!
I know this is hard semi, it’s just your first year,
I’d hate to go back to eight tiny reindeer.”

I peered over the sill; what I saw was amazing,
Eight woolly sheep on my lawn all a’grazing.
And then, in a twinkle, I heard at the door
Santa’s feet coming across the porch floor.

I rose from my knees and got back on my feet,
And as I turned round, Saint Nick, I did meet.
He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe
And his clothes were handknit from above to below.

A bright Fairisle sweater he wore on his back,
and his toys were all stuffed in an Aran knit sack.
His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace,
A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.

The scarf round his neck could have stretched for a mile,
And the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle.
The back of his mittens bore an intricate cable,
And suddenly on one I spied a small label.

SC was duplicate stitched on the cuff,
and I asked “Hey Nick, did you knit all this stuff?”
He proudly replied “Ho-ho-ho, yes I did, I learned how to knit when I was a kid.”

He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man,
And I laughed to myself for I’d thought up a plan,.
I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,
And the next thing he knew he was tied to a chair.

He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap
Where I’d laid my needles and yarn for a cap.
He quickly began knitting, first one cap then two;
For the first time I thought I’d really get through.

He put heels on the stockings and toes in some socks
While I sat back drinking Scotch on the rocks!!
So quickly like magic, his needles they flew,
That he was all finished by quarter to two.
He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free,
And over his shoulder he looked back at me.
And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon
“Next year start your knitting sometime around June!”

Author unknown

Lunar Eclipse

2010-12-21T15:33:00.002Z

Start of Lunar Eclipse last night

Well we have had some very hard winter weather here in Lancashire starting with almost 2 foot of snow on Friday night. Normally we are sheltered by the Irish Sea but we got some of the spin off what hit Ireland and landed 30 inches of snow in some places. We have had some snow here before in the last couple of years but generally it is just a quick splash and that is it. This time we has 12 continuous hours of snow fall. Over the weekend we got daytime temperatures topping out at -10C. Such lovely weather. It has been the perfect weather for sitting at home and knitting but unfortunately I have had to do some university work and paid work so I have been tap tap tapping away on the keyboard.

I trudged into LJMU today taking 2 hours to do the normal 45 minute commute to have student after student cancel after I had got in there. At least the hubby and I had lunch together in peace for the first time in ages before we turned around to make the 2 hour commute home.

The downside of the weather has been the effect on my sleep pattern but the upside has been I got a lovely view of the lunar eclipse this morning.

So take care all, may you all have a lovely Christmas and Yule time and I will probably not be posting again until the new year.

Happy St Nickolaos the Wonderworker

2010-12-06T06:00:00.001Z

St Nicholas or St Nickolaos day is the 6th of December and many around the world celebrate this in conjunction with Christmas. I have some Germanic or Northern European ancestors in the family so I was brought up with St Nicholas and Zwarte Piet. While it is not a politically correct story I do like the idea of leaving sticks for the beating of bad children. We used to get given a bag of gold chocolate coins if we were good on this day. We could of got the tradition from the Scottish part of the family as there is an association with St Nicholas on the North East coast due to the fishing industry.

Now living in Liverpool I am surprised about the lack of recognition that they make for their patron saint, yeap he is the patron saint for the city. St Nick is the patron of sailors and with Liverpool's history as a maritime town you think there would be more of a hoopla.

So today we will be having ginger biscuits with our coffee and I will sending a little prayer his way cause I certainly need it. St Nick is also the patron of students and this student most certainly needs some divine help with the amount of writing she has to do in the next week or so. I also need his help with getting some of the Christmas stuff done. Knitting wise I am so behind it is just not funny so I just dont want some sticks for a beating from Zwarte Piet rather some extra help with everything I need to get done this week. I need St Nick the wonderworker badly. I hope you all get gifts you want rather than piece of coal and swatch of sticks.

You know it is cold when

2010-12-03T08:47:00.001Z

Your milk delivery is frozen solid in the glass bottle. We have only have had a light dusting of snow much to the chagrin of the children who have been plugging for a snow day. We have had temps in the range of -8C to -10C on a couple of nights and some of the day time temps have been below 0C. It made it to 1C yesterday. At the moment we are hovering at about -2.54C and I am feeling particularly sorry for the milk man who is dropping off bottles of milk from his electric milk float. He would not be able to deliveries if we were getting the snow that Kent and Surrey is.

Another Dear Santa

2010-12-01T21:13:00.004Z

Dear Santa

Yet another late Christmas letter cause I am a totally disorganised bugger who has failed at Motherhood 101 yet again. I failed last year when I sent the begging letter and you could of helped out more cause many of the same requests are on this year's letter.

Could you lend me a team of your elves for the next 12 months as I still have a long list which are very similar to last year's request?

If the elves come they can help me with the following:

Find the floor of my children’s bed rooms
Do the house work that I am so behind with
Help me to clean up the house and put everything away in an organised manner so I can find things when I am looking for them.
Select, shop or make and then wrap the Christmas presents
Make the Christmas cake and plum pudding that I normally do in the October half term and for the second year in a row did not do cause I was totally disorganised in this case too busy earning dosh to pay the household bills which was better than last year with the lergy.
I still need the attitude adjustment from last year cause I yet again giving the Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge a run for their money in the Bah humbug stakes.
Let the family understand that I am going to decorate with yarn on Xmas Eve cause I can not ~~find~~ be arsed to locate the Christmas ornaments (again) and no I wont be putting our tree up on Xmas Eve. See I am a little bit of traditionalist and I do maintain the 12 days of Christmas. No I am not going to change my mind I have not in the last 20+ years we have been living together J so it aint going to be happening this year.
Give me enough breathing room so I can actually retain some of brain functions or is that a semi balanced mental state and not keep losing personal items such as car keys, work passes, purses, eye glasses and diary due to being stressed out to the max which causes a complete loop failure in my working memory.
I need a time turner gadget like Hermione has in the Harry Potter books cause I am so behind in my xmas knitting that I need to distort the time continuum. If not Hermione's gadget the Tardus would do.
Can we have some peace in our world but I would settle for some calm in our household were we are not lurching from one crisis to another.

Yes I have started to turning into that deranged mother and wife, who is terrorising her family and the rest of the community with her continual emotional meltdowns which are now on looped repeat. Yes I am doing my role play as an inpatient at the local maximum security psychiatric hospital and I am sure people are starting to talk about my tick.

Bah humbug

Kotaatok

Oh it is shiney.

2010-11-30T23:42:00.019Z

When I finally came through the front door this evening after leaving the house some 18 hours earlier I reminded my dearly beloved that it was a bad bad thing to let me loose any where near a yarn provider when I had craptastic work day when he commented on the additional parcels I had under my arm. The instinct to comfort shop hits me especially when the yarn pusher has something in one of my favourite jewel colours in one of my favourite yarn brands and at half price.

I can not say what this yarn is for but... but ... but I just had to have the soft pretty 50% silk and 50% merino wool yarn. It is soft and slinky and I have enough meterage for a garment. I was good in one way cause I could have come home with another three packets but naughty in another as I have enough yarn in my stash to last me at least a year not including the amount of fibre I have to spin into yarn. I really don't like having my stash box over flowing as I try to be reasonable about my addiction. This year since I have taken up spinning I have had to add another plastic box to store my fibre and fleece issues (4 fleeces from Scotland) so I have been trying to maintain my stash addiction at a semi-reasonable level. Well what I consider reasonable for me. I have tried to limit my yarn to one plastic crate since I have completely failed in the past with fabric.

The coal bunker stash

My failure of managing the fabric stash can be seen in the picture above of the coal bunker stash cupboard. Two large plastic crates live in that space behind the chair is normally where I keep my yarn and fibre stashes. I probably should not have told you that considering some of the yarnies I know who know where I live.

Mini NaNoWriMo in academic writing

2010-11-29T23:19:00.000Z

The weather has got colder and since Friday I have done over 27,000 words in academic writing. I am now knackered out. Daughter you have well and truly been supported and I just have to get through one more day of NaNoWriMo. I have just got to survive tomorrow and a couple of tough gigs at work and then we can say this month has been done and dusted.

Mini NaNoWriMo

2010-11-28T00:10:00.001Z

Daughter made her word count and is heading towards 70,000 words again this year. At least this year it was not 70,000 words over a weekend. I have been doing NaBloPoMo this month to support her. This weekend though I have been very busy with work and assignments. I have had to do some assignment work. This weekend I have a goal of 14,000 words. After 7 hours work on Saturday I am at the 8,000 word mark. I have to get cracking today. 6,000 on assignment plus probably another 4,000 in other work tasks. So it will be definitely be a day of head down and typing at a great speed of knots.

Running like a duck swimming

With all this work on I am bit like a duck swimming at full pelt. My little feet will be going like the clappers as I glide through the assignment and work tasks.

All hale our Hero

2010-11-27T21:25:00.001Z

Tyson the wonderful mouser

We have had a suspicion for a while that we had some vermin who had joined us in the kitchen. A couple of traps were laid but no luck. During the last week the dog kept going on alert in the kitchen and today he struck. One mouse became cactus and he duly trotted out and presented it to us. Nice and neat with a clean break to the neck. It looks he has been learning from the old girl Furzy the cat was very proud of him.

Frosty Friday

2010-11-26T07:16:00.002Z

Frosty footpath and road (last year)

We have had a very cold night last night and this morning it is a balmy -4C at 5am. There as been a light dusting of snow but I expect that to melt as soon as the sun actually hits it but that will sometime after 9am long after I have gone to work. The kids are still hoping for snow day sorry that is not going to happen today.

Knitting wise the Ruby Ruby is sitting and looking at me with pleading brown eyes saying "pick me up, you know you want to knit". Sorry I have to do a couple of thousand words first.

It is the start of the Christmas manic panic

2010-11-25T19:42:00.002Z

You know it is almost Christmas when the kids start doing the count down and the number of days is under 40 to be specific. Happy Thanksgiving for those in the USA. Both the Ry and Rh have started their campaigns for Christmas. Ry reminded me that it is exactly a month today to Christmas, typical girl. I was just looking at the work load, study assignments, parent tasks like parent teacher evening, the knitting present list, Christmas task list and making the conclusion that sleep will be an optional extra for the next couple of weeks.

Wish I was driving this little car.

I have to write a 4,000 word assignment in the next couple of days in between supporting someone who has to write about 10,000 words on the PhD discussion before they fly home to visit their family. So while I am driving a keyboard I wish I was doing a road trip in the little classic citron like the photo above which was taken on a Driving holiday through Belgium. I will be glad when this month is over but I have several tight deadlines before the end of the month. Daughter has passed the 50,000 word count for her NaNoWriMo and I have been a goody two shoes for the last couple of weeks with my daily posts. See yah I am off to read a couple of articles and write my first five hundred words. See how I do it I break it down into manageable chunks.

A chance of snow

2010-11-24T08:05:00.001Z

This week we have a chance of snow. Driving home from knit night last night there was ice on the roads to the point there was a serious accident and a police redirection. The gritters were out in one district so their roads were covered but my local district has only sent the gritters out this morning. Not much help to those who have to go to work early.

Kids are hoping for a snow day
like last year.

From the various weather reports we could have a deep flurry come Thursday through to Sunday. Both the kids are watching the sky and the weather reports with the thrilling hope of another snow day like last year. It is cold enough for everyone to be looking for all their hand knit items. Daughter it is probably on your floor. Yeap she is doing that teenage thing at the moment where her floor is her cupboard. The downside is the son is now replicating his sister's habit. We officially have two teenagers and I just don't go into their rooms so I don't freak out at the mess.

The Road to Scotland

2010-11-23T22:15:00.000Z

A dear member of our Tuesday knit night is leaving Liverpool and heading back north to Scotland. Hubby has won a great job there and they needed to go as it was an oppertunity for them. So tonight we said bye bye to Scottish Anne.

You take the road to Scotland...

We will see her when she comes down to visit the hubby's family and I am pretty sure she will have visitors up in Scotland.

A welcoming light

2010-11-22T18:02:00.002Z

When it is dark when you leave for work and dark when you get home it is so nice to see a welcoming light.

St Margen Nativity Scene 2007

The wood carvers of the Black Forest region create wonderful items. I have admired the various Nativity sets that I saw when we visited there but we are not made of funds. Tonight I was the first home so there was no light on. It is now and hopefully as the rest of the family comes home the light welcomes them home on this cold blustery night.

At the moment knitting wise I am working on the Ruby Ruby while the elbow protector is still in the time out ~~corner~~ work basket. I ended up swapping the pattern of the Ruby Ruby Ruby project to a sideways gilet by La Droguerie. Hopefully this gilet will give me a little je ne sais quoi.

Sunday

2010-11-21T21:16:00.000Z

A peaceful scene

A peaceful scene is not something that we have had in the last couple of weeks due to the drama of life, work commitments and a lack of ability to distort time and space. Unlike Doctor Who I do not have the ability to bend temporal continuum or the time space vortex. Today was a case of knuckling down to do all the boring chores so I will leave you with a peaceful scene which we have not had for quiet a while in this household.

Rerun Saturday

2010-11-20T15:50:00.001Z

Today was one of those days were you watch reruns and snuggle up in the doona (Australian for duvet) to avoid the cold, foggy day. DH had to work today so I was home with the kids. The boyo went out with his friends to the pictures while daughter stayed home NaNoWriMo-ing. Since it was just us girlies we watched a couple of chick flick reruns.

Ruby Ruby Yarn

I love the colour and feel of this yarn but I have not had much success with this Ruby Red version that I have in my stash. I have made a Komon cardigan by Vicki Square in it and frogged it back twice cause I just was not happy with the final garment. Loved the pattern texture but the garment just did not work for me. I had blocked it and still I felt very disappointed in it so the last attempt was tossed into the time out zone while I worked out what I was going to do.

Since I was watching rerun movies I frogged it again back into skeins, dampened then to relax the knitting kinks out of it. This time I decided that while keeping the work cardi idea in my head I would look for another pattern and use it. Part of the problem I have had and why it sat in time out for so long is that I have only so many skeins of the dye lot and I would not have enough to do a long sleeved version.

The elbow protector may become an actual elbow protector. I have started the toe decreases twice and stuffed it up twice. I have had to rip it back twice so you can see I am seriously having a rerun day. The elbow protector is in the time out basket so I don't do a serious hissy fit with it.

Thank God/ Goddess or Sacred Spirits it is Friday

2010-11-19T00:01:00.003Z

What ever divine being/s there is in this world I am thanking her/him/it/whatever cause it is Friday. It has been another one of those weeks for so many with the inclement weather and the dramas of our individual lives.

Life has been a bit of a sinking ship.

But the thought of the weekend and getting some space has made me think about the bright side of life and the fact it wont be that long to spring and summer. Yes I am starting to count the days to the warmer weather.

Summer Calm

I am using positive thinking here we only have to get through the next 6 weeks and then the day light will start to be longer. The elbow protector from the Quacks is almost up to the toe section but I just need some concentration enough for straight stockinette.

Mainstream media making foobars

2010-11-18T00:10:00.001Z

In the last couple of weeks we have had some mainstream media foobars. The NY Times decided to run an editorial which insulted participants in NaNoWriMo and then decided to have a sideswipe at knitting and knitters in particular those who participate in NaKniSweMo. Excuse me this event is encouraging people to write and then dripping your disdain you poke at the participants. Reality check without a writing gig the author of this editorial would not have a pay check.

The tone of the editor indicates that participants in NaNoWriMo are laughable. Excuse me my daughter participates in NaNoWriMo she has been quiet successful in fan fiction and she is only 16. This is not her first NaNoWriMo and she wants to go on an be a writer when she leaves education but she acknowledges that she will have to find another job to fund her writing. She has already flicked journalism to the side lines cause of hacks like this editorial. Check your facts. I would suggest they visit Shannon aka knitgrrl blog for some details and the response from knitters and writers to this editorial.

Then The Huffington Post in an article on the 9th November decided to class Ravelry which has 1,000,000, yes 1 million, users as one of the strangest Social Networks. To add salt to the wound Rob Fishman from this site goes on MSNBC to again throw his disdain about again about handcrafting as being a bizarre act. Think about 1,000,000 knitters armed with knitting needles getting a chance to express their disdain for the attitudes expressed.

A day at the Quacks and is that an elbow protector?

2010-11-17T12:43:00.002Z

Doing this NaBloPoMo blog post thing every day for a month is very hard as I look at our life and think it is very very mundane. We get up, we go to work and we come home. So I am going to do a boring post today about the trip to the Quacks also known in non Australian English as the Doctors Surgery.

Every so often, about every six months, I get to spend the day at the Quacks. There are some days that you want to stay at home in the warm and dry, and today is one of those days it has certainly been a lovely day for the ducks puddle wise but even they are hiding away due to the cold blustery wind that cuts through you. I thought since I have had real problems with the knitting for the last couple of months that I would take my boring don't need to think sock knitting with me.

Didn't I manage to create a stir while waiting between the various appointments with the vampire (phlebotomy nurse), asthma nurse and GP. Even the student docs were surprised about someone knitting a sock. Dont you just love being the entertainment in the doctors' surgery Ok I admit that I am using a small circular (9" long Hiya Hiya which I scored at fibre flurry) and knitting is not the norm for someone of my age according to the general population but when I can quote the age of the magazines in the waiting room and the potential number of germs that they may have collected you can understand why I needed something as I waited the 30+ minutes between each appointment. The youngest magazine was 2004 and I won't gross you out with the potential number of germ infections. Is knitting really that odd an activity when you are waiting around?

I was asked was I knitting for a new arrival and when was I due. Sorry I know I am plus sized but I did not know knitting was a special social marker that indicated I was expecting. Plus my fat does not even make me look like I am preggers. It got me thinking as I was listening to the same CD of music for the fourth time (they had some delays) that thank god I do knit or I could have been going nuts in the waiting room to the point that they ship me down the road to the local high secure unit.

The best comment of the day came from an about four year old who asked if I was knitting an elbow protector. Considering how active this little one was and the number of tumbles he had while mum and new sibling were waiting for the district nurse appointment I could see how he could need one or two elbow protectors, shin guards and a crash helmet for his noggin. So my sock could be an elbow protector which makes it slightly more interesting than a standard stockingette stitch sock in size 9 for the boof (buffalo sized) foot.

The complete gall

2010-11-16T12:55:00.004Z

It appears that the knit camp dis-organiser has recovered. Some miracle there who has done a cure for you. Would you like to share the name of your miracle worker? I am sure suklycat and I would be most appreciative of a miracle cure.

I am absolutely spitting chips this woman who has screwed staff and tutors over a large amount of money is back in business. We are talking tens of thousands. Hello how can she still be operating?? What planet are we on if this sort of bad trader is still getting away this crap? Get your pitch forks out cause I most certainly be protesting about this. Guess what ebay complaints about this trader will be made? Paypal?

What about an apology to all people and organisations you have screwed over then? Are you going to pay them from your sales on ebay??? Do the people on Ebay realise that they have been very fortunate to have a "nice smooth transaction"? So many of us, yarnies, have experienced transactions which were definitely not smooth or super fast.

I am so galled that she even thinks that she can continue to trade and use her website which was off line for a while with a please note the mobile phone number is no longer in use message. How can this woman even think she can continue on her merry way and not do any sort of restitution?

Come on Karma! It is time we stop being polite and nice brits and bite back hard.

Gossip!!! New Flash

2010-11-16T11:14:00.003Z

There is going to be royal wedding next year. Prince William and Kate Middleton are finally going to get hitched. I can see all the collectors tat coming out and I am already sick of the news coverage.

Some cheery news while it is a very horrible cold day here in Lancashire.

Feminism is not a dirty word

2010-11-15T22:11:00.002Z

Ok I am admitting that I am a Feminist but that does not mean all those stereotypes. I don't burn a bra unless it is an excoriating uncomfortable instrument of torture.

For me Feminism is about the fight for equality for all. My Great Gran and Gran won the right to vote in 1901 when SA gave women the vote. They received their franchise then and yet almost were disenfranchised in the very next year with the Federation of Australia. The NT was a part of SA at this stage. My mother fought for the right to stay in the public service after she married and when she had children. Mum held the first executive position equivalent to being the Under Secretary of a government department in the independent NT civil service during the late 1970s. Yeap, she broke through the glass ceiling before the glass ceiling was a common term.

Men and women have been knitting for generations but why is it seen today as a feminine trait or a unmasculine activity? Hello Nelson's Navy knitted most of their uniforms and where do you think the soldiers/sailors of this world got their socks before cheap mass production. At one stage men were master craft men who knitted. When knitting was a profession it was man's work. When it was no longer valued it became women's work.

So what is Feminism - it is really about creating fairness between all genders including trans-gender individuals. Should we relabel it an call it Equality-ism.

PS. Doing these NaBloPoMo blog posts each day is actually quiet hard. Daughter is past 26,000 in NaNoWriMo so she is still on track for her writing plan.

Making Pasta

2010-11-14T20:38:00.001Z

Well it was not yarn, spinning or knitting but we gathered together in the kitchen to make fetticcuine di zucca this evening. It was funny and of course we made a mess with three cooks, flour and pasta machine in our galley kitchen.

Ours was more orange cause it had
pumpkin in the dough mix

We had a lovely time but I kept looking at the pasta and thinking it looks like tangled yarn. A couple of my online friends like to de-tangle yarn but sorry we were eating this yarn.

It is Saturday it is Saturday!!!

2010-11-13T11:21:00.001Z

Do you ever have one of those weeks which you can not wait for it to end? This week it was one of those for me with lots very over long days. I swear the poison dwarf has attacked me again and I can not see a clear surface for miles. Even doing a blog post in the NaBloPoMo to support daughters' Namowrimo effort has been very hard. She is ahead of her writing plan on about 20,000 words.

Chores to be done first.

Today I have had a haircut, visited the parcel postal centre to pick up my packages and set the family a chore list. So we will be doing everything on the list while we can to clear the surfaces in this house. Once that is done I fully intend to play in some yarn or wool.

Peace and relaxation in wool fumes.

Don't call me stupid!!!

2010-11-12T10:03:00.000Z

Last night we as the family watched the Kara Tointon documentary on BBC3 called "Don't call me stupid". It was certainly a bonding moment for the kids as it made all the stuff I had been saying about the various "dys-es" we have in our household more believable. Daughter who is dyspraxic finally understood some of the things about her mum and brother that she had never got and actually asked some very good questions. We had tried to explain it but probably because it came from a close relative it did not gel in her comprehension.

Hopefully some of the things we talked about afterwards will stick in their brains and we can do the things to make our lives easier. My kids in the past and some of my friends have described some of my habits as OCD. Sorry no, it is how I cope with my brain wiring and the weak processing links that I have.

Now I can not change my teenagers' pre-programming to use the floor as a filing cabinet but I might get some more tolerance from them when I go off the deep end about it. I need order and organisation cause I have a shocking short term memory and I would not find anything at all.

The more disorganised or chaotic my life and environment is the more stress it creates for me. We plan this weekend to have a bit of a clean up so that we can sort out the tip that is this house at the moment.

Daughter is recovering really well from her attempt to be Mr Wobblyman from Noddy or a road bollard according to her father. When looking at some yarn tonight that I was considering for a project she made an observation - "You can see all of these colours in the black of my bruises."

You can see all these colours
in the black of my bruises.

I thought it was strange that she did not mention that in some places there is also a hint of green. It could be due to her favouritism for green she was not going to mention this. The ice has been working really well in getting her to colour up and to ease some of her pain.

White poppies on Remembrance Day PHOP Birthday post

2010-11-11T11:57:00.000Z