Where did November go?

Oh dear, December already! Havent blogged much this last month, have I been that busy? I must have been, or incredibly lazy! A bit of both at times I think! What have I achieved in November though? Well, a lot of christmas presents have been knitted, and these past few weeks a lot of presents have been bought as well! I have had a hospital appointment where I was told the pain I had in October was most likely a very small kidney stone, I told the consultant it felt like a bloody breeze block! That gave him a laugh, so am now discharged from the hospital, but it could come back at any time, and without warning, just like the first time, ho hum, can't spend my life waiting and wondering when/if it will happen, if it does, well, it got better eventually so it will do again! And on the plus side if I have to go back in hospital, I will get waited on again, now that is a change! Even while in pain I still had to do most things!
Have been out with my friend to Stevenage last week, we went Christmas shopping on the train, I have a free pass so might as well use it! Used it today as well, went to Huntingdon, only one stop up the line from Peterborough, ran round like a loony getting stuff for lots of people, probably going to Peterborough with my friend tomorrow, and have planned to go to Stevenage again on Wednesday! Will be dead on my feet by Thursday, which is unfortunate, as I have to waltz around delivering Avon, roll on Friday when I shall sit on my bum all day and knit! Us on the Lets Knit forum have been Christmas Swap knitting, mine is just about ready, should have really been posted today, but I will send it First Class registered, if I can afford it, don't want it to get lost after all that work, the finishing off was the thing that took the most time, lots of fiddling about, but all done and ready to wrap now and be sent on it's merry way! Fell asleep at the laptop earlier, so I should really be thinking about going to bed, felt a bit flu like earlier, not so bad now, comes and goes, had all sorts these past few days, hopefully not to return at Christmas, shouldn't have said that!!!!!!!!

Busy Weekend!

It has been a busy week, followed by an extremely busy Saturday, at least! I have been moving lots of stuff from one place to another, in readiness for my daughter's 13th birthday on the 1st of November, we had a family party and there were 15 of us there! We had it at home, cheaper than hiring the local club or village hall, but more work for me, I don't mind for my girl! Spent all Saturday cooking, and at 6pm everyone arrived, from nearer and a bit further away! We were having fireworks, so of course it piddled it down the entire night, but we soldiered on and tried to have a go, in the end my hubby was out there, Tescos carrier bag on his head, trying to light the biggest firework with a blowtorch! Highly unrecommended, but the silly so and so had left it out the entire night, so it was (to say the least) a bit damp! Poor thing never did light, and it got so wet there are a few fireworks left over for Wednesday! We all went in and dried out a bit, and made one hell of a mess with my daughter's pinata! It was full of sweets and Halloween things, and TONS of little paper circles, which went over the entire room, and stuck to anything wet, i.e all of us, so they got walked round the house! Hoovered up before going to bed, but am still finding them today!
Sunday:- Mum and Dad invited us round for lunch and tea today, as my Dad's computer is playing up, and hubby is quite good with them, so I had a bit of a lie in for a change, and dug out some knitting to take with me, a good excuse to sit and knit for the afternoon, which I did, resulting in some of the Christmas Swap I am in on the Lets Knit forum, so won't be saying what I knitted, you never know who's watching!! Was a nice relaxful day, and not having to cook made it even better, what with spending most of the day yesterday with my head in the oven!! What made it all the more worthwhile was when my daughter said after the party "Thanks for a lovely day and a great party, you're the best Mum in the world!!" Made my day!!

Ribbit!!

Had to frog the scarf I had been making for my sister for Christmas, hadn't done any of it for a while, so picked it up yesterday, did a few rows, and noticed a dropped stitch which had run almost 3 quarters of the way to the bottom! Was very cross! So decided to rip it all back to the start, and find another pattern. I found a nice one on Knitting Pattern Central, its called Latte Scarf, and is coming along nicely, mainly because it is easier that the pattern I was doing before, and isn't so wide! Should get this one done in fairly good time, which is good as I have lots of other things planned for presents, whether I get them done is another thing! My scarf is being knitted in 4 ply, as my sister works in a warehouse office, so it gets a bit cold sometimes, but not cold enough for a really thick scarf like the aran ones I have been doing, so this will be lighter, but still warm! I got the wool on holiday for a bargain £1.99! Will knit up to quite a long scarf too.
Update: Scarf in a ball again, will this flaming yarn knit like it's supposed to??? Am going to make a quick neckwarmer instead, soooooooo fed up of this yarn I may let the cat have it! She will probably look at it and walk away!

Been A While!

It has been a while since I last posted, not alot has happened really, I had a hospital appointment for an ultrasound scan on my kidneys, the water bottle carrier came in handy then, as I had to drink a litre of water before I got there! That was bloomin hard, I usually drink that much in a day! And supposed to drink more too...........
The person who did the scan said she couldn't see any problems, which is good, so at the end of November I have to go see the consultant who will look at the scan and see how it all is, haven't had much pain since the last time, tempting fate, aren't I?!!
On the knitting front, I have 3 Christmas scarves finished, and another 3 on the needles, 1 and a half socks done and a long list of everything else I would like to do for family and friends, I have lots of wool so if I could get them all done, it would mean a lot less spending on other things! Not that I mind buying things, but with the economical climate as poor as it is, the less I spend the better!

Water good idea!!

Made myself a great (if I say so myself) water bottle carrier, having just been thought to have a kidney stone or two, so I need to get more water down my neck! So, this is just the thing to be able to do just that! Sat down on Tues night with a ball of Rowan Soft Lux, cast on and was off! Finished today around 11am with the strap, and took piccys, so no excuses for not having a drink when I am out, be it near shops or not! I have an Avon round, and can sometimes get quite thirsty, specially when it's hot, so I should always have a great supply of water!!

Not so Ughh!

Spent from 3.30pm Saturday to 12 lunchtime Sunday lounging in a hospital bed! Had a gallon of dye poured through a vein to see whether I had a kidney stone or not, seems there wasnt, unless it was a very small one, how could something so small cause so much pain?? If not that, then a kidney infection, so am armed with some foul smelling (and tasting) antibiotics, and made the mistake of Googling the name of them, there was a page full of horror stories of how ill they have made people after only one tablet, well so far I have had 5 and am still standing, so either I am made of sterner stuff or the rest of them are wusses! Someone said that they were woozy, but they had taken co-codamol with the pills, I had some of them Saturday morning and laughed at non-funny things! Wooziness to the max! Am having a rest today, going to mooch around at my own pace and try not to sit down too much, and have to drain at least three reservoirs of water a day I think! OK when I am downstairs, but not so good when upstairs, only loo on ground floor!!
Nice to be home and get a good sleep, although laying around on what was a very comfortable bed and knitting when I felt like it was quite enjoyable, made better when the pains subsided! Got a fair few rows of a Christmas scarf knitted, didnt want a pattern that required concentration so asked for the scarf to be brought in, am going to plug away at that today in between drinking water!

Ughhh!

So its 1am Wednesday October 1st, why am I still up?? My girl finally going back to school tomorrow, went to do the highlight of my week tonight, Tescos!!!! What an exciting life I lead! Had tea when we got back, did a few jobs etc, then a full on cold with all the aches and pains came out of nowhere! Caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror, it's a wonder the flaming thing is still in one piece after that shock, eurghhhh! Look like the living dead! Hope it goes as fast as it arrived, have so much I have to get done, no one else will !
There may be an update later in the day!!
Well, this is later, but the next day now, as its 12.32am! Events took a turn for the worst around 11am, when I thought 'toilet time!'. Experienced a bit of stinging, took no notice, made a mental thought to drink plenty of water. Half an hour later while on the laptop, a horrendous pain shot through my left side, and got progressively worse, so I got the phone and called NHS Direct, they advised to take paracetamol and ibuprofen straight away, and call the doctor if it worsened. Well, it did! Was hopping round the room like a maniac, was too bad to sit down, so paced around as I called the docs. Around 12 noon ish I got a call from the duty doctor, told her how I felt, then she said that the earliest I could be seen was 2pm! I just agreed, hung up and swore loudly! How was I supposed to get there?? Don't drive and hubby at work in London. As luck would have it, my friend was off that day, sick herself with a viral cold, and she happened to call by, so I begged her to take me to the docs, she owed me one anyway for dog sitting a while ago! The time dragged by until 2pm, got to the surgery, pacing around the waiting room! Luckily there wasn't anyone else in there at that time, they would have thought I was mad! Got called in, explained what was amiss, apparently I looked awful at that point! Had an examination, lots of tummy prodding, and was told I could have renal colic, with there possibly being a stone of whatever size in there, felt more like a boulder to me at that point! Spent a fortune on 2 packs of pills, extra strong ibuprofen and some antibiotics just in case, as blood in my sample! Managed to squeeze a few drops out for testing! On returning to my friends house, I saw the ibuprofen had to be taken with food, I hadn't eaten anything all day, so wasn't feling like eating, but my friend made me eat some toast, so I could have the tablet, vast pink thing that it was! Soon felt a bit better, so went home, hubby having returned from work. About half an hour later, great pain again, and the urge to visit the 'little room' again! A bigger burning, a bigger output, a bit of blood, then that was it! It seemed the tiny bit of grit (as they said it might be) had shifted, and have had no bad pains again all night, plenty of trips to the loo though! If that was a tiny stone, heaven only knows how painful a bigger one would have been, I seriously sympathise with anyone who has had one, you have my utmost respect if it was a bigger one than mine, not that there was anything to see! My intake of water is going to reach new proportions from now, I never want this pain again, I wouldn't wish it on my worstest enemy ever!!!!!!!!! To knit a water bottle carrier, methinks, never forget to drink then!

Sooooo tired!

Have had a crap sort of week really! My daughter was off last Tuesday, went back to school, but felt ill again that Thursday night, a bad earache and headache, so got up early on Friday and got a doctors apppointment for later that day. Got to the town near our village, hardly any time on the bus, and waited to be called in. Not long later we went in, and the doctor had a quick look in R's ears, gave us a prescription for olive oil drops to get rid of wax, and said goodbye, seemed like she wanted to get to the next patient, which I found annoying, but didn't say anything!! Got on with dropping olive oil down R's earhole, and went out shopping the next morning, we all went out as a family later in the afternoon, and R seemed fine. Later that night, she started to complain of a bad head and ear ache, which ended in her crying a lot around 1.30am, so I called the local NHS drop in centre. The male nurse who called me back was very helpful, telling me how much medicine I could give her without causing any harm, but that there wasn't a doctor actually in the building til 6am, so eventually she fell asleep around 4, and later in the day seemed to pick up a bit, that is until 6am this morning, crying and in pain again! Rang the drop in centre again, they said give whole dose of paracetamol and ibuprofen together, and call the doctor again for another appointment, so waited til 8am, when the surgery started taking appointments, and had to wait a good ten minutes before there was a line free to take my call! Lots of people sick over the weekend, always is around here! Eventually got through, and got an apppointment for 11.30am! Off we went back again to the doctors, but got a different one this time, so much better than the last one, she LISTENED to us!! It seems my poor babby's lug is full of wax, but really deep down, so it's pressing on the eardrum, the doctor could see a wee hole in the wax, and it looked like the drum was a bit bulgy, so she said to keep on with the oil and meds every 4 hours, do steam inhalations, and she wants to see my girl next Weds for a follow up check, just to make sure her eardrum is not damaged! Came out feeling much better then Friday's visit, hope I don't get that doctor again, maybe she was having an off day, but so were we!! Ohhhh, that's better, getting it all on here has helped loads, even if no-one ever sees it, it's helped me tons!! The upside of not getting alot of sleep these past few days is that 2 Christmas scarves have been finished, and 3 on the needles! Would still rather have had some sleep though!

Yuck!

Rotten day today, peeing it down with rain, my girl is ill in bed and I think I have a cold coming! Was up around 3am with my girl this morning, she had very bad headache but is asleep now, lucky thing! Thought I would get on with some Xmas knitting, but keep almost falling asleep over it! Time to give up for now, go do some jobs to wake myself up a bit, then maybe some more knitting later, was supposed to be at my friends for our usual crafty day, but maybe Thursday instead, my girl should be ok to go to school tomorrow unless she gets the cold I have coming, they usually hit her quite badly, here's hoping not though! A short post today, may do another one later, although it is the weekly pootle round Tescos later, highlight of the week!!

Back from the shop!

Home again! Good job too, feel rotten now! Got 4 balls of Sirdar Countrystyle that will be used for easy socks for Christmas, and 4x400g balls of aran wool by Stylecraft, all different colours, and for all different things too. I think I may have an illness about to hit me, I ache and have a sore throat and runny nose, just what I dont need! Never mind though, it will go when its ready to, and theres plenty of knitting work to be done for the festive period!

Wool shopping again!!

Going to town today to get yet more wool! Hubby will say "What about all that stuff you have in your 5 large storage boxes, not to mention large carrier bags?" To which the reply will be "Yes, thats as maybe, but the wool I am getting today is for more Christmas presents, so will save money as I wont have to buy so many!" The yarn I am getting will be some Stylecraft Aran, which I am using for scarves and hats, and as the balls are 400g and only cost £4.50, they will be realy good value for money presents! I am making my own design for the scarves, just a variation on different ribs, nothing spectacular, I was following a pattern but kept on having to frog it, was an easy pattern as well, but I just kept going wrong on it, so gave it up as a bad job! I am also going to get some Sirdar Countrystyle, this is for easy 2 needle socks for Christmas too, like slipper socks but without the bits on the bottom, so no walking on tiles, laminate etc!!
I also did a moss stitch and stocking stitch washcloth last night, using more All Seasons Cotton that I had in my stash, alot of the other stuff I have is for me, got in the sales too, I wouldnt have had it otherwise, so want to do something for me for a change! I also have a pattern for a small bag that is knitted in aran, wouldnt take long so may get one or two of those out of the yarn as well, could always do a variegated one!

All Seasons Washcloth

Was sorting through my stash yesterday, looking for a specific yarn, when I came across some Rowan All Seasons Cotton that I had got in the John Lewis sale earlier in the year. Hmmmmm, now what can I do with that, I thought. Well, I have been wanting to make a few washcloths for Chritstmas presents, quick and not too expensive, especially if I use yarn that was around 90p a ball instead of how much it should have been, whatever that was now! I have made a cloth in Patons 100% Cotton, but found this a little rough, so this may be better used as a dishcloth. The All Seasons is quick thick, so maybe this would make for a softer more luxurious cloth, and on larger needles be really quick to knit up. This was not so, as I decided to make up a pattern of my own, so cast on some stitches and off I went! Three froggings later, I had the beginning of what could be a good pattern, for this yarn at least, so persevered and ended up with the pink square you can see in my slideshow, OK so its not brilliant, but its all mine! Might just do some really simple ones in stocking stitch with a moss stitch border, plain but quick, and soft! Heaven only knows what they will feel like after having a wash, even softer I hope!

Hello!

My first blog! Cool, what fun computers are!