sewing

Managing.

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Writing is supposed to be cathartic so I thought I’d jot down a few notes about how I manage the depression and M.E.

Went to the osteopath today because I was in some pain. It’s part of the maintenance and upkeep. As usual after the osteopath I’m pretty low tonight and on the verge of tears. Taking regular painkillers. Can’t take Brufen because of my asthma. Big old bummer, because they are such effective painkillers. I can take Cocodamol though, and am at the doctor’s next week so might mention it then.

However I re-arranged the pedicure, which was going to be tomorrow, and have cried off the knitting get together tonight. Will see if I am able to get to the sewing course on Saturday – I’d really like to go, because it’s making a Japanese Knot Bag and matching purse, but if I’m not up to it, then I’m just not.

Such decisions sound a bit sad, but in fact once I’ve decided that I need to cancel stuff, I actually feel a bit better about things. Not exactly in control of my health, just managing it better. I don’t like to feel that it’s managing me. Even though it probably is. Mm.

I’ve been sleeping a lot. Most of Tuesday. Managed to have a shower and wash my hair on Wednesday. Then had a half hour sit down, and did my ironing. I do it every week, and hubby does his own, so it only takes about 25 minutes maximum. Then lunch, and then did the online shop. So quite a lot achieved yesterday. But the afternoon sleeps are long. At least three hours, sometimes four. Then I sleep all night too.

Might consider a bath and face pack tomorrow. Will see how I wake up. I very, very rarely have a bath. We have some nice bubble bath though and it does help relax my back.

I have two go-to authors whose books I read when I feel like this. Bill Bryson, who is just one of my favourite writers, and Tom Cox. Ditto. Can’t help smiling as I read their stuff.

Retail therapy always helps too, so have ordered a couple of tops (reduced) from Warehouse. Two different colours, and two different sizes, so we shall see if I like the colours and if they fit.

Hubby is off to a meeting tonight so I shall watch some crappy tv. No knitting mojo at all at the moment, and booked in for steroid injections into the knuckles of my right hand on Monday. Will see how things go after that.

Christmas almost organised. Thank goodness for the internet. A bit of baking to do, but nothing major. Last year I did a Yule Log which is fat free, therefore dairy free. It was delicious and both hubby and I liked it, which is a bonus. He doesn’t like fruit cake so if I made a proper Christmas cake I’d just eat it all and put on loads of weight. And am going to do some mince pies only in filo pastry as I have some in the freezer. Everybody else can eat normal ones from the shop, but the dairy free ones from the shop tend to be cheap and nasty.

This and that.

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I did my ironing today. Nothing remarkable about that, you might think. However, there didn’t seem to be very much. I have promised myself I won’t leave it longer than one week, or else it just piles up so much I can’t face it. But there were four tops and one pair of trousers. Hmm. Odd, I thought. When I packed everything away, I’d dropped a serviette, so thought I’d do that next time. As I popped it into the basket in the utility room, I saw the rest of my ironing. Yeah. What a doofus. Ah well. I did half of my ironing today.

Also re-made the home-made sleep masks, as they were too tight and crunched my ears. That was quite satisfying.

Waiting for quotes for leylandii trimming, willow tree polling and a further leylandii hedge (full of ivy, tree saplings and generally a pain to maintain) digging up at the front (to be replaced with a photinia Red Robin hedge).

Very windy and rainy today. Apparently it’s storm Callum. What a ridiculous name for a storm. It’s like calling it Colin, or Henry, or something nice and kind. Ho hum.

Knitting is going ok. All the Christmas stuff is done (not doing very much Christmas knitting this year, it can be too stressful). Here’s a couple of gnomes, aka wizards. Am now doing myself a “mistake rib” scarf in coral coloured cotton. Mm. Easy to do and looks quite complicated. That’s my kind of knitting. Also here’s a photo of the puffin I knitted.

 

Had my flu jab on Monday. Sore arm is all, much better than the flu. Also need blood test for potential polymyalgia, but will do that next week so that the results are not skewed by the flu jab.

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Have any of you heard of Lillian Bilocca? I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t until I watched the tv programme with Maxine Peake. She was a brave, difficult woman, who managed to get enough support to make trawlermen’s lives at sea much safer 50 years ago. Here‘s a link to her Wikipedia page. I feel so sad that she had such a dreadful time after she’d achieved her aims (working radio on board, qualified radio operator, full crew on every trawler, proper training for crew, and mother-ship with medical supplies and staff on board). Good for her, say I. The zeitgeist at the time was testosterone-fuelled machismo, domestic violence was the norm, and women didn’t “interfere” with men’s work. Until 58 men in 3 trawlers were lost at sea in a matter of weeks, one January and February. Then Lillian (Big Lil) did interfere. Mm. And made a huge difference. Trawlermen were safer, presumably insurers didn’t have to pay out so much, so often, and the owners , despite the extra expense involved in the “charter”, were better off too (I assume).

 

 

 

 

Recent Projects

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From top left: small triceratops to replace lost one, little owl, second little owl, dk cabled hoodie in Bergère De France Ecoton and a clown cushion.

The clown cushion is to help little ones learn fastenings – velcro, press stud, button, buckles, bow and zip. I’ve made four altogether over the past 30 odd years. They are a bit of a faff, but well-loved. The pattern is from a very old women’s magazine, and I have a pdf of it now.

Currently about half way through a shawl called “Worth The Fuss” in Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball Cotton. I’ve knitted through red, orange, yellow and green. I am enjoying doing it. There’s something interesting to do on each row, but it does mean I can’t watch the World Cup football and knit! (much too exciting). A knitty friend said she missed a goal – I messed up the knitting big time! so am taking the opportunity to do a few rows here and there during the day. That’s very unusual for me, but by the time the 7 pm kick off match has finished, at about 9 pm, I’m just too tired to risk making any more mistakes.

Next up is a toy puffin for a grandson who lives in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

And then something a bit challenging – the pattern is called “Ari” and is intended for Aran yarn, but I’m knitting it up in dark smokey grey cotton (Erika Knight Gossypium) DK. I got the calculator and worked it all out, and have decided that knitting the size which involves casting 90 stitches should work. 90 stitches in Aran yarn would be quite big for me, but 90 stitches in DK yarn should be just over 16″ wide, which is just about right. The other thing I will need to be careful about when marking it up with my highlighter pen is the garment and sleeve lengths.

The weather here is hot and humid (well, hot for the UK!) and I hate it. Desk fans all over the place, ceiling fan in the bedroom, and I’m languishing with cold drinks. My favourite seasons are spring and autumn. Autumn for the colours. Spring for the growth.

Time to blog.

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Not a lot has been happening, really, but I thought I’d have a little blurt on the blog.

I have finally managed to plant the tulips – found a huge pot which took all 14 of them. They’re apricot and I can’t wait for them to grow. I’ve wanted to plant apricot tulips for a long time, but there’s just no space in the garden beds! The garden is actually lovely at the moment, the rudbeckias are really cheerful, and I’ve managed to plant the daffodil bulbs as well as some – lots and lots – of annual poppies too. Fingers crossed they grow.

Last thing I’m going to plant are winter pansies. Dark purple ones look wonderful on the front of the house as it’s cream-coloured. Just need to pop to the garden centre and buy some. I have everything else I need to plant them.

The pain in my hand is still there. Not all the time, but when I try to straighten my hand out, to pick up a glass of water, say, or something like that, I can feel it grinding and it cracks very painfully. But I’ve seen the doctor, told her I’m no longer on the Tramadol, and she’s prescribed Co-codamol. That’s ok and helps with the pain, but makes me very sleepy, so I’m only taking them at lunchtime and bedtime, or else I’m asleep all day long.

Knitting is going well. Have finished two Christmas presents, am on a third, and plans for more. Each project takes a week or two, and I’m not planning to knit as many presents this year, so I won’t feel I’ve failed if I don’t get round to them for whatever reason. Is it just me, or do we all (women) set ourselves impossible targets then beat ourselves up when we don’t achieve them?

Made a new sewing needle case today. The old one was very old and boring and falling apart, so I found a scrap of fabric and made myself a pretty new one.

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Also set up another Christmas present – a sewing project this time. All ready to go now, but enough is enough for one day.

We have fixed the kitchen sinks and taps this week. The sinks have “basket waste strainers” or some such technical term, and although the washers are detachable, you can’t get the replacements. So we went to B&Q and found something that will do, and instead of buying new “basket waste strainers” for £12.50 each, we spent £2.50 on two new washers that will fit. The taps needed new “insides” – don’t know the technical term for that – you can’t get just washers for the sort of taps we have – but we fitted those ourselves and they’re wonderful now. It’s like having a new sink!

I’m about halfway through Christmas presents. Some are hand-made, some I’m buying, but I don’t have plans for all of them. Need to check Amazon wish-lists (yes, mine is all up to date) and contact parents. Children’s wish lists are a false friend – they don’t update them, so you end up buying them something you think they’ll love, and they already have it. Yes, it’s happened to me.

The cat has completely recovered from her abscess under the eye and the fur has all grown back. You’d never know she’d had anything wrong with her. Bless her little heart.

I’ve been reading a lot of Bill Bryson books lately. They always cheer me up, no matter how dreadful I’m feeling, and I frequently laugh out loud. As a result, I have been thinking about what would constitute a perfect small town for me, and mostly it’s where I live, although I would be very happy to do without the McDonalds. There are bookshops, several libraries, a local yarn shop (7 minutes walk for me, yay!) a pleasant shopping area, but a few too many chain stores. More independents would be nice. But hey, you can’t have everything. I always go to an independent shop whenever I can – Woolmans rather than Notcutts, Stitch Solihull rather than anywhere on line or Hobbycraft, and so on.

Can’t wait to cast on part 2 of my current knitting project tonight. Always exciting. And the yarn is fabulous – Opal Sweet and Spicy – you just never know what’s going to come up next colour-wise!

Update on This and That.

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Fetched car from the garage today. It’s 14 years old now, and needed some welding done to it. But I love it, it’s just perfect for me. It’s an old Ford Ka, in very dark purple.

The alarm system has finally been fixed, with a further visit (this was the third) from the alarm company.

Finally managed to sort out a keyboard for our Tivo box – it’s an Apple app called Peanut Plus (why?). It replicates the remote control configuration and provides a proper QWERTY keyboard. For £1.50. Excellent. So the £12 wireless keyboard which didn’t work has gone back. Result, I’d say.

Had a brief but rewarding conversation with The Husband about the socks I was knitting him. He wasn’t that keen and I was hating knitting a boring rib in a boring colour. So that project has hit the dust and has been unravelled. I’ve started another project, for a Christmas present, so no photos yet. But it’s in a fabulous colour, called Sunset on the Horizon and has cheered me up no end.

However, I’m in the middle of a small M.E. crash, which isn’t good. I’m sleeping until lunchtime and then slobbing around all afternoon. Hm. It’ll pass, when I’ve had enough rest.

The Christmas sewing project went so well I’ve extended it a bit, and bought some more fat quarters. But now have no energy to actually do anything with them. Yet.

Still haven’t been able to plant any bulbs yet – maybe next week.

That’s it for now.

This and that.

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We had our alarm system serviced on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon it went off, all by itself. The man came back and sorted it out. Or so we thought. This morning it went off again, at 6 am. It wasn’t set, hubby was awake and out for a walk. I dragged myself out of bed, down the stairs, and put in the code, and it stopped. Harrumph. So they are coming out again with a special “thing” to stop it doing that on Monday. Fingers crossed for the next three nights . . .

Today my car has gone to the garage for a service and MoT test.  I take it to Westley Garage, on Station Road, in Acocks Green, and have done for several years, on the recommendation of a friend. They’re good, trustworthy, friendly, and know me by name. The only thing that’s complicated about it is that this garage was my Dad’s. Walking up the forecourt, going into the office, all of it, brings back childhood memories, not all (or even many) of which are happy. In fact, today I got quite tearful as hubby drove me home in his car.

The staff working for my Dad were lovely, kind and funny and nice to my sister and to me. Just the smell of the cars being fixed brings it all back. The guy in charge now remembers when my Dad used to run it. Mm.

Knitting – going well. Have finished Antarktis and am absolutely delighted with it. May well knit another one in the Sweet Georgia Cashluxe turquoise I have. Currently knitting a sock as an experiment for hubby. He wanted plain brown or black, but I just said no, that’s too boring to knit. It’s grey-blue and self-striping, very muted and sombre. If he likes this sock, I will knit him the pair, but am not knitting two socks before he tells me he doesn’t like them. I’ve also bought some Sirdar Chunky yarn to knit him another slipover top. Also fancy knitting another Pimpelliese shawlette.

Sewing – Christmas project all finished now.  I am pleased with it. I don’t sew clothes, just curtains, cushion covers, and oblong or square things.

This morning I’ve baked some chocolate chip cookies (dairy free of course). Hubby is off to do some leafletting – about keeping our NHS public.

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Gardening – I’ve dug up all the aquilegias from one of the beds. I do love them, but they’d gone absolutely bonkers and were trying to take over the world. They’re a pain to dig up, though, they have long tap roots just like dandelions. Now there’s room to plant some daffodils, and when those are in, I have some annual poppy seeds to sprinkle on top. There’s a lovely red ornamental grass with lovely fluffy-looking seed heads which is going in a pot, and I have two pots ready for some miniature daffodils, which, when they start to sprout, can go each side of the front door.

The rudbeckias are lovely. I used to think they were gaudy and horrible, but they really, really cheer up an autumn garden.

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I also pruned two of the buddleias really hard back, and the wisteria which, despite being cut back to its trunk, is going wild again. There’s another buddleia in the front garden which is going to get the treatment next time I’m outside with a pair of freshly cleaned and WD40’d secateurs. And it’s not actually raining.

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Love these Michaelmas Daisies too.

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There are two hydrangeas here, but one of them has flowers in both blue and pink. Love it.

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And love these sedums too.

Just booked the train for a weekend in mid-November to go and stay with ED and her chappie. Can’t wait. They’ve decorated their lounge this year and I really want to see it, and them of course, and their crazy cat JR. I’ll take knitting to do on the train, but can’t knit in their house because JR just can’t cope with it. “what’re you doing? what’s that? why is that stringy stuff wriggling about? what are those sticks doing? can I play?” No. Just no.

More projects and stuff.

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The cat needed to go to the vet today. She had an abscess under one eye. It looked like she’d been bitten. The abscess had already burst (on Saturday night while I was wiping it with a tissue!) but she’s had an antibiotic injection and an anti-inflammatory injection too. She doesn’t mind the vet at all, ignores the injection, and is quite keen to explore the surgery. But she hates the car and howls the whole time. Today I sang loudly to drown it out. Worked to an extent . .

I was so excited by the men’s final at Wimbledon, when Andy Murray won, I cried and cried. Wonderful, wonderful match.

The weather is hot, sunny and humid. Mm. Good for drying washing, not so good for people. So we sit inside with the fans blowing cool, and the cat sits in the shade outside.

I’ve done another couple of crocheted granny squares. I try to do one round of crochet each day, and discovered quite early on that I was making a mistake in the treble crochet stitch. So I looked it up in two different sources and am now doing it properly.2013-07-08 11.57.12

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I also made a new project bag – a smaller one.

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This one is for socks. I’m going to learn how to knit socks on Thursday. Exciting.

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It’s reversible, and this is the inside.

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Today I’ve made two carrot cakes – both to freeze. One for Friday when we have family coming over, one just to keep for now.

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Various projects

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I am feeling very pleased with myself. Mostly because I have learned to crochet. I used to crochet, when I was a teenager, so many many years ago now. I made lots of little cloche hats, which really didn’t suit me. I haven’t done any since then. On Friday I went to Stitch Solihull’s Beginner’s Crochet and learned all over again. I’m absolutely delighted.

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Here is my first attempt at a “granny square”. The intention is to crochet several and then join them together to make a doll’s blanket. My tension is rather uneven and wobbly, but I’m doing some every day so that I improve.

Then I decided I need a project bag to put it in, as my knitting project bag is full of the short-sleeved cardigan I’m doing. So I found a tutorial on this website.

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I’m delighted. It’s completely reversible, and I’ve made a reasonably good job of it as well. Very neat and tidy. One lot of fabric is from the Ikea curtains I cut down for the craft room, the other lot is also Ikea fabric which I used to line my denim project bag. I also happened to have the “dressing gown” cord which I’ve used to fasten it.