Design mojo back

This is my design mojo coming back.  I still have such a lot of my Regia Sock Yarn and although I said before that I was eager to finish my memories blanket,  I miss working on it.  So the design I am doing now is a kind of design-as-you-go, not quite knowing whether it will be a blanket, cushion cover or just a small throw for my pouffee in the living room.  

I have a few other ideas swimming around in my head and one of them is having a gift box at home so that when I make small items like gloves, socks etc and are not really meant for anyone, I can store them away in a pretty box and go to them should I need a quick gift.  I often see hats and sock patterns that I could do and the thought of having a stock of socks in all colours sounds a good idea.

I got this box out of Homesense in Romford which is part of TK Max stores and was only £5.99.

The next photo is something that we are really excited about and it felt like weeks before it arrived when it was only a few days.  A brand new Smart TV and we are very pleased with it.  We paid for the delivery and installation and did not realise you can connect it up to the internet so the first thing I thought of was watching my podcasts.  Oh boy does it make a difference.  And it is in HD.  I am very happy with that .....

An update on Tipsy, she is doing very well.  She has been back twice for check ups at the vets and got one more check up next week.  Goodness knows what the final vet bill will be but heyho, that is why I pay for insurance.  She does sleep a lot which is no difference and she seems to be mellowing a bit too.  She normally does a runner when we get visitors but when the guys from John Lewis Stores came with the tv, she was hanging around where she normally would run off upstairs.

She does like her cuddles which is great!

The District Line trains are not running from Good Friday through to Bank Holiday Monday evening so that put a kibosh on our plans for Easter so we are having a quiet one at home.  I am glad in a way because we have both been feeling rather exhausted physically and emotionally so a good rest will do just fine.  

I will leave you with a photo of my favourite flower which always reminds me of my Mum who died back in 1976.  I did not know her but I was told many years ago that her favourite flower was a Daffodil so through the year, especially at Easter, I do buy a few bunches to put in the house and have lots of them growing in the garden.  This photo shows what we call a double daffodil.

Have a good Easter to all those who celebrate.

Memories are complete

Yep, it is finally done. Started it in March last year, finished it today.   I had a few months off from doing it last year but I have cracked on with it this year and I just wanted to get it completed.  

If you read back over last years blogposts you will know it was not a good year for me.  Partner left, kids not happy and my depression was at its all time worse.  I spent a lot of nights crying whilst knitting on it and was just  a robot of work, home and bed.

The blanket is 99.9% Regia Sock Yarn however, the green yarn at the tip of in the first photo was Regia sock yarn leftovers that I used to knit a pair of socks for Frank last year.  So there is a few squares of that colour in the blanket.  Just below that green square is a purple square, well that is not Regia.  That is Araucania leftovers from a cowl that I designed and yet to write up a pattern.  So there are a few squares of that in the blanket too.

On the next photo you will see an I-cord bind off that I did to finish the edgeing all the way around. I used a variegated regia top and bottom i-cord and the same red of the corners, on the two edges. Also, if you look to the left of the photo, the second square which is of a beige and cream colour, that is Opal Sock Yarn leftovers so there are a few of them in there too.

I intend to use it as a nap blanket but also will be used when my Grand Daughter is older for her single bed.  The photo below shows you how easy it is to cut away the ends if you weave them in as you go.  

In total I used around 26 colours of Regia Sock Yarn and they were cost from 79p to £5.50 a ball.  Some of the balls were 25g and some were 50g balls.  It is hard to work out what it has cost in money to make and I would never have spent that much money on it.  It was only because Frank was buying me the yarn as treats when it was on offer at John Lewis Store in Oxford Street, Kemps Woolshop was a big purchase because they were doing a lot of it at 79p a ball which is a big bargain.

I am relieved it is done and if anyone who knows what depression is like, you will understand that as much as there were good times and bad times when making it, I shall enjoy curling up under it when I need some comfort.

If it suits...

I had to take today (Monday) as a rest day because this coming Saturday is my day to work plus I had a blood test appointment this morning.  So I devised a plan that on Sunday I would spend it getting all of my household chores done so that after my appointment today, I would go for a little jog and then spend the rest of the day working on my blanket and watching podcasts.     I was not sure whether it was a good thing to start jogging again but last night, made me finally decide that I should.

I went to see my friend last night (Sunday) for just a few hours and when I left I really needed to go to the toilet. So the last 100 yards I had to run home and in those few minutes of running, I took the biggest deep breath I have done in 8 months.  I told Frank that it is something I must start doing again, even if it is only a mile or a ten minute jog because it makes my breathing so much better.  I have not put on lots of weight but what I have put on has gone straight to my hips and bum.  I also have noticed a lot of issues from my knees down with swelling, joint aches and feet hurting.

Anyway, this morning I walked to my appointment in my jogging gear, had the blood test and then started jogging.  It was fantastic and within two minutes I was taking deep wonderful breaths and the freshness of the air was perfect.  Listening to Heart Radio just made the 1.2 miles go really quickly and before I knew it, I was walking off the last few steps and back home.   I set myself a little goal which was to run to the park that I walk through every morning to work and then back again which I did.

So now I have had my cuppa to cure my fasting, I have had my bowl of cereal for breakfast and am now going to spend the rest of the day watching podcasts and knitting on my mitred blanket.  In fact here is a photo of the blanket so far and let me tell you, I have had quite enough of this blanket now.

I have only got 13 squares to finish the final part to get it the width I want it to be and that is my aim for today.  I intend to do an i-cord edging to finish it.   When I say I have had enough of it, it is not meant as a bad comment.  

I do not like having lots of projects on the go at once, to me that is the start of having a lot of Unfinished Projects and could end up being frogged, so I try to have a small project for my bag which I unpicked and lost the plot with it a few days ago.  I just want to get this blanket done now, it has been on the go since March last year and whilst I have not worked on it every day, in fact, probably at one point I had not picked it up for about a month, it just needs to come to an end. 

This is a photo of the basket that I keep some of the yarn in for it and my goodness, it has gone down a lot.  It was a mountain in that thing.

One of the other reasons it needs to be finished is I have been getting some design ideas in my head for other things and I get frustrated that I cannot start them because of this blinking blanket.  I write ideas down to return to later, but just cannot bring myself to start them because I know the blanket would be left and become an ufo. 

So that is my goal today, tea, knit and podcast watching in that order.  

I am now off to enjoy the day, I hope so I will leave you with a photo of my beautiful daffodils that are blooming lovely.

Tipsy update

When Tipsy came home from the vets it was like nothing had happened.  She has been eating, sleeping, taking her medication, wee and pooh fine and generally ok.  When the vet said she was definetely around 18 years old you start noticing that she looks grey around the face and over the past few months she has been doing strange things.  For example, she will fall asleep on the arm of the sofa and all of a sudden she will fall off, she never used to do that.  

Anyway, the update is the urine shows kidney crystals which could turn into stones so she went back yesterday (Thursday) for her check up and he is pleased with her so far.  Took another urine sample and he said she has to stay on the Renal Food which costs £12 for 12 pouches.  She seems to love it!   The kidney infection is common with older cats so all we are doing is trying to keep her happy and free from discomfort.  

As far as the crafting goes, I have lost my mojo for it.  I am still knitting on the memories blanket and trying to get that done, but I was designing a pattern in tunisian crochet but I was not enjoying it so I have put it away.  I have and want to design something that is going to be popular for everyones taste but I just keep drawing a blank so I am backing off a bit and just concentrating on one thing.  I do want to start a project using my more expensive yarn, especially the Unwound Yarn Company yarn in the burnt orange that Frank bought me from Brighton so I may just spend time looking out for a pattern of some sort.

That is it really,  it is Friday 11th March around 0730 and ready for another day of work.  I did take a photo the other day of a very stealth like heron in the stream at Goresbrook Park.

There must be fish in that stream otherwise he would not bother hanging around.

Do you remember me saying I knitted a lot of can can scarves last year, well a lot of them were for Ma who wanted them as gifts for friends and family and also herself.  Look what she does with them for storage.

Its a good idea!

I am off now, hope you all have a good weekend.  I have got my beautiful Grand Daughter tonight and all me and Frank will be doing is giving her lots of cuddles.  

You know I said on Sunday....

that I was going to be good with my eating from Monday....Well, I sort of was but then by Thursday it all went out the window.   I have a good reason why I had to purchase a jam doughnut on the way to work yesterday morning plus a chocolate bar for later in the day.  The reason was this little lady...

This first photo was taken today around 2pm and if you look close enough you can see two new things.  A new rug for my front room costing £40 and my dear old cat Tipsy with a bandage around her right knee.  The story goes like this...

Tipsy has not been poohing or weeing much and on Wednesday she was weeing little bits of blood and every few minutes was trying to wee but not doing anything. She also left a terrible mess all over the house which I took a video of to show the vet just in case it would help with his diagnosis.  I rang the vet and they said to bring her in at 7pm on Thursday evening but after getting up for work and Tipsy trying to urinate at least 12 times, I rang the vet after getting in work and Frank took her.  

She was not a happy cat because she had never been to the vet and at 18 years old nearly, it would have been quite upsetting for her.  Anyway, she had blood tests and two of them came back abnormal.  One showing an allergy of some sort and the other, more serious one is her urea blood count was high.  This apparently means her kidneys may not be functioning well.  They kept her in overnight and it was awful for us to be here, at home, without her.  I had spent the day quite tearful and missing her and was glad that I was off work today.  

The vet rang me today (Friday) to say that she had a comfortable night but had not urinated for them to take a sample and that was all they needed to get a proper diagnosis for her kidney function.  They rang me again at about 1200 noon to say they had tried to syringe some urine from her but she was not having any of it.  So, I brought her home with some special cat litter and then waited till she peed.  

She did, thank God!  At about 5pm we rushed up the vets with the pee and got home about an hour ago.  Now in between the waiting for the wee and going up to the vets Tipsy decides to go and preen herself on my son Ross old bed which is her spot.  You can see by the amount of cat fur on the pillow. (Ross does not actually sleep in that bed anymore).

I think she is glad to be home and we are too. 

Now we are just waiting and praying that the results of her urine test are ok.  I know she is an old cat and has never had anything wrong with her and I understand one day she will leave this world, just like most of us one day.  However, I am not ready for her to go and I am praying harder than ever tonight that the results are just a kidney infection of some sort that she will get over from.  He has put her on a course of Nisomox anti biotics, which is what Tammie is on for her liver shunt, and I hope this is enough to cure her.  

So because of this going on I have had to have a bit of comfort eating and not much relaxing on my day off today.  I am at work tomorrow but at least Frank will be home to keep an eye on her and we just have to wait for the vet to call us in the morning.

I am now sitting in my living room with the tv switched off, Frank has gone up to bed because he is tired and I shall now try and do a bit of Tunisian Crochet and watch a podcast called Knitting Expat on youtube.

Fingers crossed and I will post an update of good news, I hope!!!