Wednesday 24 December 2008

Happy Christmas wishes (and reads)


Well I've got my Christmas Eve reading all planned out nicely!
Comfy seat with a cup of tea and mince pie later this morning and a copy of Yarn Forward, picked up at WHSmiths two days ago and my subscribers copy of Simply Knitting arrived in the post this morning.
In it, a special subscription offer for new knitting magazine, The Knitter. Wondering whether to subscribe? I've been thinking about dropping my subscription for Sewing World magazine for some time now (and usually give in and write my cheque at the annual Sewing for Pleasure show where they have a main stand each year!) but really I've not found much of interest within its covers for a few years and I'm thinking of dropping this one.
My subscription to Threads is also due. Not sure what to do about this one? I enjoy it the most of all sewing magazines, but I can pick it up easily now its available in Borders. hmm .. shall have to think about that one!

There is nothing to do today! except enjoy Christmas Eve! the lads are getting restless and I need to find something to do or rather something for THEM to do! (I'm sorting of thinking: tidy their bedroom! do you think this will go down well as a suggestion?) DH will be home early today, we hope! In past years they've usually left around lunch time but they have a new site Manager and he's not letting on whether this will continue.

We've caught up with family and wished everyone a Happy Christmas. We don't generally do anything over the festive period (mostly because we're usually working and only "off" on the bank holidays, this year is different for me, I'm off "on the sick" so Christmas has been an extended time at home, in fact I'm not due back until Feb at least) except stay home and enjoy watching the lads with their presents. As they get older this changes, and dh is muttering about going "away", perhaps, one year - who knows! maybe we will! SIL and her family are off on Boxing Day to Tenerife for a week - that would be nice!

Craft wise, not a lot happening, my alpaca glove is still OTN's and I'm deciding which sock pattern for my next project and I've got two lavender lace bra's cut out and just waiting for the opportunity to buy underwires. Meanwhile I'm looking at patterns and thinking "cables" - I fancy "cables"! just the right project for over Christmas to keep my mind off all things sweet and generally bad for the dodgy gallbladder that I hope NOT to annoy!

Which leaves me just to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas! and hope its a peaceful one and a happy time. My thoughts are also with those that are not with us any longer, MIL who died on Christmas Day '92 and my parents too.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! XXX

Saturday 20 December 2008

Embroidered towels and finished socks!

For my brother (and his partner) a set of towels simply embroidered with their names.
Nice and quick project, I managed this easily yesterday evening.
These are wrapped and ready to deliver when we visit tomorrow afternoon.

I finished my Jaywalker socks a day or so ago, quite pleased with them as it happens! not my favourite pattern but it definitely suits the super yarn and I'm just about to update my ravelry projects page and flickr account in an attempt to be super organised!

This afternoon my youngest brother and my stepfather came round for a pre Christmas get together, we're starting to feel a bit more festive now, although being off work and out of the usual run up to Christmas with colleagues and the meal/drinks out and general rushing about to get everything done, it feels quite different! I'm going to try and get in on Monday to deliver cards and see my colleagues.

My shoulder is giving me masses of bother this last day or two, I think I may have overdone it with the PT and it might have been a mistake in persuading no.2.son to "force" my arm upwards and outwards and backwards in an attempt to "work it in" as I was up this morning around 4am with terrible pains again. To make matters worse, my stomach has been giving me bother with sharpER pains to the left under my ribs than of late, so I didn't dare risk taking any pain killers. Instead I've opened a lovely bottle of red wine and am feeling quite mellow and nearly don't mind about the aches and pains!

All the Christmas gifts are wrapped and with just one bag left to distribute, tomorrow, plus all the groceries and meats are bought, am feeling quite relaxed about it all. The lads broke up on Thursday and dh hopes to finish early afternoon on Christmas Eve. I hope everyone else is enjoying a stressfree time too.

Friday 12 December 2008

Our Christmas Gift


DH decided to splash out and buy one of these!
We set it up last night and had it on slideshow which was fun. It comes with a remote control too and can be wall mounted. We've not decided where to site it - yet - but we thought its such a shame we have all these lovely yummy photo's of my yarny crafty things I mean we have lots of family photo's just sitting on the PC and not being properly appreciated and this would be a way to enjoy them.
I'll let you know!

My foot section on sock.2 is coming along nicely after a 15min wait for my physio appointment yesterday morning which reveals I now have a "frozen shoulder"! There doesn't appear to be much in the way of resolving this, but I've come home with a sheet of several exercises to do each day and next week I return for some "mechanical manipulation" (what ever that is! they didn't say!)

My gallbladder, apparently, is filled with "sludge" and small gallstones, what with the pain in the shoulder and the pain in my stomach about the only good thing to come out of this awful unhealthy and painful period is that I've lost 22lbs in weight! I should, of course, be pleased with this! and indeed I am, but considering I've not actually done anything its rather hard to explain how I feel it might all be a mistake, somehow, or at least only temporary and I might possibly find in a fortnight the pain has all gone and I'm fat again! ..

Craft wise, due in most part to the above painful conditions, things have been very slow - I decided that I wouldn't make any cards as I felt the pressure to do so was too much on top of everything else and I'm reading more books now from the library instead!

Currently reading = The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
Waiting to be read = Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Waiting to be picked up = Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I looked to see what knitty-bookclubs were currently reading and found one on Ravelry which I've joined for the January book (must check which of the three I'm SUPPOSED to be reading!!) and picked the remaining two from IKnit.
(yes. I'm right. the book I'm SUPPOSED to be reading is the one I've yet to pick up from the library. oh well. three books isn't that much when I've got all day and it might be a bit more effective at ignoring the pain than the somewhat useless painkilling tablets I'm not now actually taking due to lack of usefulness!)

Yesterday the cats went off to the vets for their annual check up and injections. Lilly is lying about the shelf on the radiator looking all sorry for herself and making us feel guilty with "poorly cat" eyes following us and much sucking in of her skinny ribs to look all pitiful, while Bertie just got his revenge by LEAPING onto my painful middle and thrashing about on top of me last night while I attempted to unfreeze my shoulder sufficiently to move to release the other arm to knock him off all while sucking in my own ribs to avoid screeching with pain and waking up dh who is still suffering with his bad cold and had only just got to sleep!

cough/cold wise, no.2.son is getting better and is back to school as of yesterday, no.1.son doesn't appear to be coming down with it yet and with only one week left of his mock exams and school end of term I'm certain he's going to be the one to ruin Christmas with a bout of seasonal sickness! (my cough/cold is just nothing compared to the shoulder/stomach I'm almost glad to have the additional inconvenience just by way of a relief from the tedium of PAIN through the coughing and sneezing!).

Hoping that 2009 is a better year health wise! already I'm starting to think of exciting New Year Resolutions!

Tuesday 9 December 2008

its Christmas!!

Well it certainly "feels like Christmas" in our house now!
First off we managed to buy all the kids' gifts bar one last Saturday with the technical assistance of my brother, Martin, who also managed to get his bought too - which - he said - was a first! for us! (not to mention a break with usual tradition ie many large gins in the pub!!)



Next we get the tree and decorations down from the loft. Lilly, above, sits inside the bin liner that housed the tree and watches us carefully.



Not a terribly inspiring photograph, I know, OF the tree! but I promise you it looks a lot more exciting, glittery and not as gappy in real life! (especially in the dark). We wake each morning to find baubles and glittery stuff on the floor - we suspect Bertie!

And then! today! my works' Christmas gift hamper arrived this morning! hurrah! traditionally we receive a hamper as thanks for our commitment to work each year and though steadily each year they have become smaller it is STILL a welcome and gratefully received GIFT to us.

(I'm still using the last two year's worth of hampers to house various things in and actually being a nice small size and useful shape with a lid, THIS one will, I'm sure, be very useful in a crafty storage sort of way!)


Above is the hamper as it arrived and upon opening, below is Bertie inspecting it ..


And finally - the contents!
Happy Christmas to me!!

School has just telephoned to advise that no.2.son is really not feeling at all well and they don't want him in school! (well. I don't want him at home, either!) joke! so I suppose it really IS getting close to Christmas - one sure sign is all the sickness we traditionally get here in our household! Oh well. dh has just the remains of his streaming cold and my nose is a bit prickly and throat a little tickly, perhaps we've time to be ill and then better for Christmas?

No.1.son is in the midst of mock GCSE's and I hope that he can keep fit and healthy for the duration and then we can all collapse as a family and chew on paracetamol!

Is it too early for a festive sherry, do you think? sigh ..

Thursday 4 December 2008

Knitting Update

Staying OTN's as it is for the time being, my sock.2.Jaywalker.
I've got three hospital/Dr's appointments next week and the "foot" will be a nice easy to knit project to take along with me just in case I have to do any waiting around!
The last appointment at the Cardiology clinic was terribly efficient (as usual) and they get you IN and OUT very quickly indeed (possibly because they don't actually TALK to you, or rather they don't let ME talk to them!!. the last one was particularly terrifying and I didn't actually want to talk to him, which was just as well, really!!)



Newly OTN's is a left over from my Rowan baby alpaca (tunic, Viv knitted recently) and I'm knitting another pair of gloves from the lovely Noro Designer Mini Knits book as I just love the original pair using the Secret Garden Lite.

Shopping Treats (non knitty/crafty)

M&S had one of their seasonal 20% sale days today and as one can never have too many M&S undies I decided to trot into town to stock up on the families requirements! Spent far too much on usual things for the lads, dh and myself including a pair of comfy flat shoes .. which led me to visit Clarks .. for MORE shoes! and a pair of little boots!




I'm not sure HOW it happened, but pretty soon I was adding a selection of Clinique facial washes and free gift pack followed swiftly by a gift box set of Estee Lauder's Private Collection perfume and body creme set which is my all time ever ever FAVE perfume of ALL time since about .. ohhhh .. I don't know? 20yrs I suppose. I've tried others, but I just seem to like this one the most. No.2.son commented that its a bit "overwhelming" as a fragrance and muttered "oh no! not THAT one again .."

Well. thats me all spent out!