Cardi done

Just finished off baby cardigan in double knit RY cashsoft baby...it took 2 balls so under £9.00.
The yarn is lovely to knit with only sometimes there is a slight unravelling of the ply but nothing to worry about. Apple green in colour and size 0-3 months. I love the picot edging I always think it gives a neat finish.




Also am in the process of making this knitting bunny.....would you believe there are 22 pieces to knit and sew together. Decided to sew each part as I go along, not one for enjoying the making up bit at the end. So the yarn is Debbie Bliss cotton double knit and the colour is stone, it does look a rather grey drab colour on here, but its not in reality. Will do the clothes in some brighter child friendly colours.

Menopause and knitting

So as my heading says mainly knitting blog but also at times about life itself.

Well "da menopause" is at the present still part of my life and a darn pain at times. Had all the baby making equipment taken away 17 years ago at the tender age of 35....am sure loads of ladies out there going through and having gone through this at whatever age can emphasize.
So within 24 hours of op the first "flush" arrived, well I thought I would tackle it head on without help i.e. hrt. Managed for a year poor DH used to find me on the floor, out of the bed, in the middle of the night, as I used to find it cooler down there. Honestly talk about daft, the things I used to do, walking around the house all times of the night through the "night sweats" think they were about every hour on the hour. In the end succumbed to the HRT and was on it until about 5 years ago....came off at age 47, now there is a train of thought that one could possibly have gone through the menopause whilst on HRT. Not so, came back with avengeance, but thankfully over the last year or so gradually whittling down to maybe 1/3 flushes a day...so this is where we come onto last night.

Went to bed fell straight asleep, woke up with a start looked at clock 1.47am...legs restless...put them in the bed.... out the bed.... on top of the covers...then got a flush. DH soundoo, nearly decided at about 3ish to come and write this then...but the thought of me in my dishelleved state at that time of the morning. I mean whats a girl to do, no war paint on. Nowadays as DH says jokingly "whats the mix 2/1"...no more like 3/1...got to fill those cracks in you know. I would have sat at the puter dreary eyed looking witch like with my curly hair. So I persevered and stayed in bed tossed and turned humphed and harded until when I last looked at the clock 3.38am. Now was feeling so totally tired...had put my legs on every cold spot I could find in the bed thankfully we have a kingside bed...DH is always like a radaitor, which is great for my cold footsies in the winter. So this morning 7am having a shower...Dh walks in "Oh! you didn't have too bad a night did you"? I nearly bopped him one. But he is a darling and very supportive.

So where does the menopause and knitting come in...well even though it is restful and relaxing most of the time...it can and does start me off on a flush. I will be sitting there happily click clacking away and look down and all hells broken loose with the pattern...its gone Pete Tong....wrong...and then it starts...for ones that know... you feel that creeping sensation of your body starting to heat up and the more it heats up with a flush the more aggavated you get...the more aggravated you get...the more you try to put the knitting correct...the more it goes wrong.
The worse the flush gets the longer it lasts. Now I am learning just to dump the knitting down and walk away.

Calm and calmness is the word of the day.......oh thats two words...ops!! he he.

So to all the ladies out there going through this...deep breathe, stay calm, stay happy, find time for yourself above all treat yourself and know that there is an end to the menopause. I think mine should be finishing soon. ttfn now hugs to all xx

Postie cometh!

Don't you just love the excitement of knowing that the order you placed 1/2/3 days ago could be in the posties sack. I'm like an excited schoolgirl, he always comes about 10-10.30 ish and I have to stop myself going to open the front door before he's rang the bell. This morning I had these



Couture Knits, a lovely book with some gorgeous knits in it...have earmarked a few to do's later on. Quite fancy this one.




The Baby and Toddler book I decided on after reading reviews on Book Depository. A lovely book well worth the money at £6.71, there are about 25 patterns in there...ok about 3 of them maybe a bit dated (the knitted coat jackets) ...but still look nice...funnily enough there is a pattern for a square baby shawl in there which is the same Wild Flower freebie pattern from Posh Yarns (which is the one I am making with the yarn on previous post).
The yarn tangerine one Debbie Bliss am going to make a two tone knit later on the baby knit hat and jacket from March issue of Simply Knitting and the Debbie Bliss cotton is going to be used for the body of this....isn't it sweet. Will maybe do the clothes in something nicer. This pattern is from Baby and Toddler Book.



A couple of other piccys from book for people who like FairIsle or Intarsia both really nice. lots of other plain knits colour knits as well.










Opsy...

This is annoying...

Decided to start on a shawl WildFlower....quite an easy pattern...not too thought provoking...the yarn I purchased from a on line store who are really good on delivery times and most purchases before..nho probs with the yarn but this one.
Well theres me happily knitting along tra lalallalala 9oh and singing) have done about 11" bearing in mind this shawl is trangular. THEN all of a sudden the thickness of the yarn changes, it is Marion Sock Yarn and look...aaahhhhh!



This pm was really nice DD and I went to a big M&S near us, and mosed around looking at all things yummyness but we were good girls. (just) and spent nought except for dinner this evening. Was chatting to her about being preggies and what is nice now is that there is so much more information andf literature around than I ever had. Mind you we were both sitting at the puter later on and laughing at all the must haves (that every Mother in the 21st century apparently needs) ..some of the things she even chuckled at. How us Mums in the 70's ever managed I don't know...we couldn't have managed without a heated bottle warmer would we? lol even my DD said whats wrong with a jug of hot water. Honestly thank goodness she has a level head on her, could spend a small fortune.

So back to the knitting have finished the back and right side of the little green jumper...done two pairs of bootees....done 11" of the aforementioned shawl...and also done a few inches of a baby blanket in a lovely soft cream aran. I suspect I am going to become a baby bore.....sorrrrreeeee! (smiles sweetly).

Oh yes and theres just the small thing of the extention that we are building with SIL so they can change their kitchen to the extention and the old kitchen into a bedroom....DD says she is going to sit their with a little trowel....hehe

If you go down to the woods today...you'll find...

Teddy.....honest to goodness, for a few weeks its taken me ages to finish off things and now (sshhh! only whisper it in case others are listening) these blogs have ears you know!! lol
here am I steam rolling ahead. Made this pram/cot/bouncing cradle cover in my own yes own (pleased as punch that I managed to find something else to use it for other than a hat) handspun yarn. BFL in oatmeal and cream...bears body dark brown duh! rolls eyes obviously...yes I know am trying to do 3 things at once. Just put rice pud in simmer oven of rayburn...then we have chili chicken for dinner and sweet potatoes and erm not sure yet....anyway I digress.........his jumper is in Noro Kureyon and made up the pattern for him adhock.
Its lumpy in places but hey then am still quite a virgin spinner, well thats my excuse. So meet
Bear...dadaaaaaa!




and the close up.....no don't look too close...I SAID ...oh go on then if you must...the nobbly bits on the yarn add character. Well thats my excuse...see ya x

oh ah so sweet!!!

Now do you think that there was the remotest possibility that I could wait to get the needles out to start knitting for preggie DD....Nooooooooo!!!!!...had sat patiently and cast on other things, a pair of socks...a small top for me but my heart wasn't it it.. I wanted and need to knit ickle things...so have started a baby cardi in Rown Cashsoft double knit in the most subtle apple green. Also brought some light cream Jaeger and postie came this morning with Marion yarn in palest lemon and peach from Peak Wool. Its very strange but the colours that I used when I knit when I had babies, you know the basic baby colours. White/lemon/pale blue/pinks don't interest me at all..I just love the muted colours of Debbie Bliss and Rowan etc... Mind you DH said this is going to be one expensively dressed baby in knitwear.....and!!!....so heres first picture of WIP.

%*^@?~# seagulls!!!!

The audacity of this particular seagull.....well there was I last week, just finished the ironing...looks out of the window and sees this huge I mean it was a big mother!!!!! brazenly standing in the middle of our garden path with this orange thing poking out either side of its beak. On first look I thought it had some fibre in its mouth, you see I had put some in the tree for the birds to take for their nests...Ahhhhh. Looked closed it was one of our goldfish from our pond. So dumped washing and ran outside, of course it flew off with its lunch. Looked into the pond nienty, nil, zero, nought....all gone..and there was a gaping hole in the netting and he had over how long had all the goldfish. All 12 of them talk about gourmet breakfast dinner tea and supper. Now this might seem nothing but we have had them for a few years and had trained them with tapping of stick on side of pond to come up and be fed.
So anyways we've now restocked the pond with 17 new ones and brought some extra secure knitting. (Ops see what our hobby does for us) netting I mean.!!
hehe.





But anyways on a happier note, don't you just love the blooming and bursting out of spring. Everything single thing is so vibrant, especially first thing in the morning just as the sun is coming up the greens are so green. All different hues, no wonder artists take such inspiration from natures colours and fibre/yarn dyers as well...just look at these.




One of my beautiful Japanese maples...against the green....ooohh!!!!




The fringes so delicate...plus my doopy eyed dog Megan.

Beautiful mini corkscrew willow.

Branching out done!

Must admit very pleased with this scarf, the pattern repeat is easy once you get going and it tends to knit up very quickly.....so all blocked etc. The Posh yarn lucia has worked well and I have loads left enough for a pair of socks. Tried the scarf drapped around my neck and offset to the side as it is so dainty... will wear it over jumpers as an accessory for autumn/winter. Decided on a arty/farty type piccy so draped it over my lovely blossomed pear tree.





and a close up....

Pregnant!

Ha ha! bet that caught your attention...no not be, grief that would be a medical revelation...past it. No my darling beautiful..... married only 18 months youngest daughter. Theres me in the shower couple of days ago, hubby walks in with phone in his hand a rather sullen look on his face (now bearing in mind that my Mum is very very poorly) I looks at him my stomach drops. So turn the shower off, take the phone. Hello!...."Mum its me...guess what I'm pregnant".....me I just went oohh oohh like a stupid ruddy pidgeon. My throat constricted and my voice stuck...a lump in emotion as big as a golf ball. "Mum you there".....found my voice Oh my goodness...oh my goodness I shieked. " You little sweetheart"....Speak to you later Mummy byeeeee. So going to be a Nanny again due in December a Christmas baba.
DH and I are both very lucky with youngest daughter, for some reason we are very very close, in fact friends. We have such fun and laugh together alot and DH and I go out with both of them regularly. She is very family orientated and so is SIL. Mind you also could be the fact they lived with us for 18 months whilst saving for a property.

Eldest daughter not so, they have two children plus third due any moment but sadly she does not like the family thing with us, so tends to go their own way, which is fine but sometimes I do find it a tad sad as time goes so quickly and we don't get to see the grandchildren. BUT nonetheless that is their wish and being a honourable Mum and Dad we must abide.

So back to youngest, well spent an hour on the telephone this evening doing baby talk, loved it brought it all back to me but I must remember to let her find her own way with things. So funny she was chatting away about babies and pregnancy and all that, then said to me "Oh of course, you know all this anyway Mum...duh!" she goes. "No carry on sweetheart its your turn now and you and your DH deserve all the excitement and all that goes with it. I just love listening to you".
Its the most wonderful feeling as even though shes 27 I feel so protective of her now shes pregnant, shes a very gentle kind person, who has a lovely nature. So anyways HERES TO ALL THE KNITTING I'VE TO DO OVER THE COMING MONTHS....WOO HOOO!!!!!!!
Now calm down Mum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! night night.x

Phew another week!

Had a relaxing easter break, unfortunately I was getting over this darn lumpy throat cold virus thingy..DH came down with it but it went to bronchitus...so he's been on antibiotics. Mind you gave him the excuse to sit in the sun without sunscreen on first of all...did I nag him....of course withit it by the evening the sun had got hold of his cheeks and they were puffed up.

Anyway on the knitting front, decided to start this pattern "Branching Out" done in Posh Socks Lucia. Notice the freebie knitting bag from Simply Knitting. Think this will look nice when its blocked.Tried to start a lace pattern from my Victorian Lace Book but keep getting confused with right and wrong sides.




Then on the spinning front we have this...actually sat on the sofa doing this last night...took about 3 hours which for me isn't bad going....its merino and am doing it in this gorgeous rose pink and then I have a equally gorgeous turquoise which when spun will ply together.

Favourite things....

Whilst doing housework this morning at home...was looking around and thinking about the things I love and make me smile and one of them is by Rayburn/Aga cooker....she is in a beautiful red and she does the central heating as well. When people used to say to me Oh get a aga rayburn etc...they're like a friend in your kitchen I could never understand why...but now I do. I love cooking in and on it my food seems to almost look after itself and its lovely using the simmer oven for steaming veg and as for rice puddings and overnight porridge ..I love the clank of the solid doors.....I've always got my back against the rail, with a coffee in hand pondering...I find I do a lot of that at times ...ponder...that is...





Later that day I was in the snug and in there is a small window that looks out onto a side fence...the sun somehow always manages to find its way into the room through this small window...so one day I was sitting pondering and had a brainwave....paint the glass with special paints to make it look like stained glass. Spoke to hubby when he came home, he was quite sceptical...just let me go, leave me to it....trust me. Fortunately it turned out ok and now the sun shines brightly through the little birdie.

Monkey Socks.

Hooray, these darn socks are at last finished. Honestly they seem to have gone on for ages. Anyway the yarn is Colinette Jitterbug in Sahara. Its strange at times with knitting how you you can cast something on and then halfway through your attitude towards it can strange...you can hardly put it down or it starts to become a bore and then you struggle to finish it...or sometimes you wonder why you started in the first place.

Cuteness or what?

My sweetest friend Megan, worn out after her long walk earlier on...had to share this with you....cuddling up to her teddy.

I'm spinning around....

Well more spinnyness.....what I didn't realize is how patient you have to be in spinning...it takes soo long...well it does for me. But then I suppose thats the relaxing side of it, the ladies at the guild where I go said to me "wait until you doze off at the wheel".
So anyway heres a couple of pictures of my latest the BFL in oatmeal and cream as you can see I still have LOADS to spin up..I have spun about 118 metres so far and I think by the time I have finished with what is left in the basket should have about say 500/600 metres. On the plying side of things have been reading how to's etc and hope that I am doing it correctly it says "for plying use half the amount of twists per inch for plying as to what was used for the original spinning. I find as a novice that I count the rotation of the wheel etc for the build up of twist before I let it go to be plyed (hope your following this?) and then let the appropriate amount of spun yarn go. Any help/comments good/bad indifferent or otherwise would be great.






Heres a close up...have managed to spin worsted...so am getting nearer to double knit..I must try to slow down a bit I get all excited when it goes right and then guess what......it goes...pete tong....wrong!!!

I take my hat off to my darling Father...

If per chance you are feeling down read no further....if you carry on I apologise for the content of this post but it is something that I feel I must put in writing.

SENILE DEMENTIA...VASCULAR DEMENTIA.....ALTZSHEIMERS DISEASE.

Call it what you will but they are all forms. You see I am writing this as I personally have first hand experience of this terrible disease with my darling Mum (and I would not wish this on my worst enemy or anybody saying that). She was diagnozed approximately 5 years ago with this...she was then 79 Mum and Dad had had a good life together and maybe there were hints of this beforehand...but we all put it down to becoming elderly. Things progressed slowly at first....then over the last 3 years she gradually lost the use of everything.
First of all it was the mental things, she couldn't remember names places where when how why, she forgot how to cook so my Father toke over...she would jokingly say to me well I've cooked for him for 50 odd years now its his turn. Then he toke over the housework. I would go over to theirs and do my bit as and when....then unfortunately Mum lost control of her bowels..it was then decided that the bed be moved downstairs into the lounge etc...this was a mega upheaval fitting everything in....as she very quickly lost the use of her legs so she couldn't walk. Then we had to arrange for 2 carers to come in three times a day to dress/bath/change her. My Father would walk into the lounge and would find his wife with mess!!! in her hair/fingernails on her face etc. (Sorry I did warn you that this was graphic) ...he has just silently cleaned her up etc.
Then she lost the use of her arms and hands and her hands are now bent at right angles.
Then she lost the power of speech and can only babble but strange to relate their is just one word she could until a couple of months ago say ...."bastard"....who knows why.
I had to ask my Father if he wanted his wife to go into respite for a week or two...the drain on him has been enormous...well after much persuasion she went last November but he fretted soo much I had to arrange for early homecoming. He never moans/complains he just continues to love her as his wife...he feeds her daily. She doesn't know anymore that it is food she just opens her mouth automatically...the other day when I rang my Father put the telephone to her ear so I could speak to her...she tried to eat it. She doesn't know who I am anymore that went altogether about a year ago, though intermitently when holding her hand and chatting about my childhood etc you could at times see the glimpse of some sort of memory recall.
Her weight is now about 4 half stone her body from her hips are stuck at right angles.

Two weeks ago she had a massive btm haemorrage, she lost two pints of blood, she was taken into hospital (Dad was and still is in denial). I went to see her and they toke me into a side room and I asked the question...they were very sweet with me and said they will try everything...which they did. They transfused 4 pints of blood into her and 4 again came out...they wanted to do a colopstomy but said she wouldn't survive the op. I did inside get a bit cross as my darling oh so thin Mum was being prodded and poked here there any everywhere..but the hospitals have to do it. Anyway I couldn't believe it she survived and was sent home after a week. My Father was overjoyed he had his wife back....but now last week her tummy is now swelling up I went to see her yesterday and her tummy is bad, her belly button is sticking out...her mess now is black! My darling Dad said Oh am giving her extra juice etc maybe that will help. I'm sure the carers are advising my Father, they have to report back everything. But tomorrow Monday he is ringing the Doctors...he says he quite expects for her to
be taken into hospital....so there we have it....she is 84...she is very frail......skeletal.....but above all she is and will forever be my Darling Mummy. I don't know if/when...maybe the angels will come this time...maybe not. I know I find it extremely painful to see her as she is.... I think I will close now as am near to tears...once again sorry for any upset...I just wanted to write it down and as the heading of this goes.

I salute my wonderful Father for this love/care/devotion to his darling wife......and as he has always said to me "for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health."