Thursday 30 June 2011

Grumpy day!

Do you ever have days when you feel grumpy but don't know why? Hmm today is one of those days. Ted and I went to the V E T's again today and he had some tests to check his progress and they have upped the dose on his heart tablets but other than that we are doing ok. At this point they can't say how long we will have with him most likely months rather than years but I am just seeing everyday as a bonus in the hope that they pass along quietly for a while before things get too bad. Ted has cheered up a lot since last week so he must be feeling better for now.

Tomorrow I am teaching 3 classes for the 'Holiday at home' week that the churches in our village are running for the elderly. Not sure how they are going to enjoy button bracelets and easy beading but we shall see. Am off to pack all of the bits I will need to do this and grump around a bit more, hopefully I will be back to 'normal' soon.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Daisy daisy!

I am all done with Daisy - she is blocked and finished.
I am back to knitting on the orbit and blossom shawls again so hopefully more progress soon. Tomorrow we are off to the V E T 's for a scan and progress check hopefully all will be moving in the right direction - no brekkie for us in the morning though! More soon....

Friday 24 June 2011

Ho hum!

Its Friday again and it has been a bit of a week here to say the least.

Poor Ted has spent most of the week at the vets as he has a problem with the right side of his heart not working correctly. He will be on tablets from now on and we will be visiting the cardiologist regularly. Poor thing now has shaved bits again where they have been scanning him and a swollen tummy due to fluid retention. Hopefully we should have more news next week.

So knitting has been a bit hit and miss and I have just made a mistake on 'blooming' shawl - grr that usually only happens when something is amiss in life! Daisy is plodding along nicely and the weekend is upon us so hopefully plenty of knitting should do the trick.

Also my dishwasher has started to make a very odd noise - hope that isn't about to go pop as well? Back soon, Sx


Friday 17 June 2011

Blooming shawls!

This week saw me cast on for the daisy shawl from Yarn Addict and I have had the yarn (a previous sock club one) and beads picked out for this for a while and was just waiting for the pattern to be released. I have had to undo this 3 times this week!!!!! Normally I don't have to do a lot of unravelling and it is not that the pattern is too hard either it is just that I can't seem to get my yarn overs at the ends of the rows correct, I keep missing them out and I have no idea why. At one point I did make a monumental mistake and had twice as many stitches as I should have had, so I have kept undoing and redoing things and the stitch count is now correct.

Also waiting to get going is the 'Blooming shawl' as pointed out by Allison. It is so pretty and I have a wonderful skein of lace weight alpaca that Allison dyed for me to do the Spriteling with but then we found out you needed sock weight so plans had to change. This wound ball has sat near me for weeks waiting to be knitted and when I read that the pattern was inspired by peonies and I had just cut mine and brought them in so they didn't get spoiled by the rain then I had found my answer!
I am not sure how you knew Allison but I don't think it could be a closer match.


I am waiting for my new addi lace needle to arrive so I can get knitting properly but it looks like it is going to be so soft and warm - another amazing yarn base from the sugarhippo! More soon once I have something to show you! In the meantime happy knitting.

Monday 13 June 2011

Testing testing

Last week turned a bit mad again as Lottie was on 'study leave' but her exams had finished so I was busy ferrying her around and taking the opportunity to do a bit of shopping with her as well.

Along the way I also cast on for a pattern I have been testing for 'Yarn addict' and I managed to finish it in a week which I was pleased about. This pattern will feature in her forthcoming lace ebook and I can recommend it as an enjoyable pattern.

Later on today her Daisy shawl pattern will be released for the knit along so I will be casting on for that I hope.

Lottie is back to college this week and starting A2 work so hopefully 'normality' should return soon - haha! More on knitting along and pattern testing soon I hope!

Friday 3 June 2011

Quiet here!

It has been a funny sort of week this week - it spent all day holiday Monday raining so it was at least an opportunity to enjoy a bit of happy knitting time followed by weigh in day on Tuesday - lost a lb this week (6 1/2lbs total). On Wednesday Lottie and I had a trip to Chester - more clothes needed for college!!! I also managed to get an extra couple of 4mm needles for 2 projects which are on the horizon soon. Thursday was just taxi day as Lottie had revision sessions at college for the last of the AS exams and today I have just delivered her to her boyfriends house for the day! I expect she will have her head back in the books again over the weekend as well. I also managed to spray all of my horrid 'mares tails' that have sprung up in my garden since the grass was sprayed to kill it off - apparently 'roundup' doesn't work on them so a more vile concoction was required - not something my garden man wanted to do for me!

So what have I been amusing myself with this week? It is the Sushi shawl along 6 - orbit shawl. It is a Pi shawl which I seem very drawn to at the moment and I have been quietly knitting my way through the dreaded 'Britain's' got talent?' this week not paying attention to the rubbish I have been subjected to (can you tell I am not a fan?) in between all of the other nonsense that seems to be going on around me in my crazy world. So here is my progress so far:
Ha you will not believe what has just happened here - the tyre on Dave's car has just burst while it was sitting on the drive! I made an excellent start to swapping the tyres over but try as I might the wheel nuts were immovable - Green Flag came to the rescue and swapped it in a few minutes! From this:

To this:

Thank you Green Flag man!