End of Year review 2013

Well it is that time of year again.  I have given up on making anything else before the Christmas Deadline.  If I attempted to squeeze another project in I am pretty sure I would end up dead.  Either due to winding up my spouse, kids or blowing my own top in frustration.  So I got off the crazy bus and now I am so mellowed out it is questionable if I could breath in a lung machine. At least this year I was not so crazy to have a huge list of items or to attempt to knit a jumper in a short period of time.

As I have been slowly recuperating from yet another dose of flu whatever lergy that someone had to share with me given the depressed immune system thanks to the chronic illness status.

This year has been on the whole micro micro minute baby steps to get back into the swing of things.

Apparently there are three shopping days until Christmas and I can honesty say that I haven't done any shopping at all. Ah the bliss of not being abut to go shopping or brave the crowded streets due to my poor mobility. There is a  plus side to being a spoon.  

So  I finally picked up the needles again during the summer and some projects that hadn't been finished have been finished.  The plan was if I could concentrate long enough.  After falling even further down the sink hole of depression with my forced medical retirement last year I ended up needing a stronger dose of meds that resulted in a period dribbling in the corner.    

Spring helped along with a personal decisional decision to cut the meds back.  Quacks didn't quite agree but I did it anyway and was going ok until September.  Minor setback but didn't end up down the drain I just had to work a little harder to stop myself nose diving.

Ry comes home from University tomorrow so we will have a full house again.  It will get noisy again.  You wouldn't think that one child not being here would make so much difference. Not that either would agree with the noise comment or the label of child.  I now have young adults.  All my kids are no longer in school by gads I feel like a fogie now. 

Wishing you all the Seasons greetings to you and yours.  Hope you have lovely break with your family and friends keeping safe and well.

End of Year Review 2012

Well Seasons Greetings all.  May you and yours be safe and well.

This year had been a bit of a dark one but for me the light at the end of the tunnel is that there is a new year starting in a couple of days. 

Ry has come home from University for the Christmas holidays and I have finally moved of the nebuliser every two hours.  I have moved through to four hourly and now to six hourly.  Still have the classic smokers cough even though I have never smoked a day in my life.  

Life has to get better and I keep holding onto that thought.  Given how I have been bitten so many times by this and that in the last couple of years I have decided that 2013 will be the year of micro baby steps.  If I can move a centimetre or a quarter of an inch I will be ecstatic about any achievement.

The goal for next year is to be standing, able to walk ten meters and to be compus menus long enough to cope with returning to university next September.  That gives me nine months to get out my current permanent residence the day bed.

Craft wise I am also taking micro baby steps to finish at least one project and then go from there.  I have so many things on the needles that I just haven't finished. I think if I can work the different project bags down to a manageable size I will start to feel better.   There will be some projects I know I will have to frog as I will not have a hope or a prayer of working out where I am up to or have lost the instructions.  Somethings you can't work out if you lose the resurrection sheet.  There is just no coming back to it if the project sheet is lost.

Next year I will have no trouble going on a cold sheepie or doing a stash down as the only time I ever leave the house now at all seems to be for medical appointments.  2012 will always be remembered as the year I was medically retired but now for 2013 I hope to find a new life were I find ways to enjoy old passions like knitting, spinning and other creative endeavours again.  

Best wishes for all and may you have a great 2013.

We Made it

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

1. she would consider them as looters
2. she was essential staff for reconstruction and recovery 
3. 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.

A welcoming light

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.

Harvest Time

The season is definitely turning. We have had some cool nights and days. Today on the way round town doing that football mum thing I noticed that some of the hedgerow crops are almost ready to harvest. My friend K's Dad has just moved into a new house and he has an apple tree that he can not keep up to.

Apple season

I think I can see apple chutney on the hob in the near future if it lasts that long. K's Dad has promised us a bag of apples and we could be doing Tarte Tatin, Baked Apples with Golden Syrup Dumplings before getting to apple chutney. It all depends on the sprogs and what they feel like eating.

Apple Prep

The apple chutney would be a good thing as it could help with the Christmas present issues that I have.  At the moment I am scratching round for ideas and it looks like more baking and cooking is going to be done this year.

If I had this many jars done
 I would be happy.

Fallout from the Snow

We had a lovely enforced break thanks to the snow during the Christmas period but as a result there has been an absolute panic by students to meet the early January deadlines. One institution I work at provided an automatic one week extension the other did not even consider this option even though all the facilities were closed so students were unable to access their resources on the various campuses.

On the knitting and crafting front I have been waiting and waiting for some yarn and fibre that I ordered so that I could knit J’s version of the R’s Xmas pressie. You remember that moment of insanity I had during Christmas week were I knitted a small mans size jumper in less than 48 hours. I want to get this sweater done for the father of the boy before his birthday in March but it will be a case of holding onto the wool and not starting the project straight away as I have decided that I will use the Winter Olympics to challenge myself to complete this gorilla size project. The Dad size is 4XL and is estimated to take over 30 balls.........

Yes I will need the motivation... This weekend I am really looking forward to a spinning day with the North Cheshire Spinners and Weavers Guild in a little village called CROFT.... Yeap thats the name of the village. I have driven through the CROFT Interchange on the M6 and M62 for years and not had a clue about where the name came from. Well I am going to find this village and undertake my desired next fibre challenge to learn to spin properly.

Yule New Year Review

So we are at the cusp of a new year and a new decade. My challenge for the next year creatively is to knit 10 shawls in 12 months, yes I mean lace shawls. I have avoided lace for years so I am making an effort to overcome my holy terror by facing it. I would like to shout to the world I made 2009's challenge of 52 things in 52 weeks. I am sort of wondering have I bitten off more than I can chew but I am going to give it a good crack.

Other wise we as a family are focusing on making small steps to lesson our impact on the world and this includes planing for a handmade Xmas and birthday celebrations and presents. The technogeeks are starting to have concerns over their ability to achieve this goal but I am hoping the kids will develop a better appreciation of the meaning of the various celebrations.

Knit Camp UK is on the week before Ravelry Weekend 2010 in August and Hubby darling has organised our summer break so I can go. So now I have to workout from the latest schedule of classes which classes I am going to sign up to. I think it is his excuse to vege for a week in a quiet location and have a reason why he wont be running around doing activities. He is not that keen on busy holidays where we drag him round sight seeing.

So have a good 12 months all the best for the New Year may it be happy and healthy for all.

Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings

After knitting like the clappers I managed to finish all the pieces for the darling son's hoodie just in time to wrap it up and placed under the tree. It has to be seamed yet but I did it but never ever ever again will I attempt to knit under so much time pressure.

So it is time to go and do the cooking and all that. I hope all is well and Santa had been good to you.

Santa aka hubby in this household used the various links I provided in my electronic Christmas list and has provided me with a lovely Nameste bag.

Ry's xmas pressie from me to her was the green February Lady Sweater. Rh's pressie was the pieces of his Xmas request. I added the photo when it is seamed a couple of days later

I have cast on a pair of New Years Eve socks for Rh since he picked the yarn.

Xmas Vest Completed

Rh Xmas request has been completely finished except for the damn photo.

I have finished a couple of more wash cloths this week as it I have not been up to a big knit project as I am loosing my brain cells thanks to the dissertation madness which is currently going on at the various university campus which I work on.

I started crocheting another sample for Ryanna's dress in her selected colours from the shopping trip and yeap I am going to be in for the high long haul. She has turned her noise up at the two colours in the correct yarn for this project. :head desk:

The retail therapy has continued as I have ordered 3X Ruby red coloured Buttermilk DK from Ecoknits along with some Strawberries and Cream which is handmade by Kristina aka Wydnwitch.