Emergency Knitting Required

We have been invited to a wedding at the end of next month. I knew the invitation was forthcoming but it had kind of slipped my mind. I have a lovely dress to wear but it's black. The unanimous decision here (Miss Muffett & Mr Earplugs rather than me) is that I should knit something to wear with it and make it a touch less funereal! So, emergency knitting required!

I'm not the fastest, or most accomplished, knitter but when I saw a shrug in Monsoon and it was £40(!) I agreed with the aforementioned unanimous decision. So, Wisp and my second socks are on hold and I have started the Reading-In-Bed-Shrug. I had a look on Ravelry and several people had used Sirdar Blur so I got myself on Ebay quick sharp and bought 2 balls, total £6.50. Much better than £40!

Here it is in all it's glory:

The colour is a bit bright to say the least but it's certainly not funereal! It's a bit of a nightmare to knit with as the furry mohair sticky out bits get caught up. And I did my usual of thinking I was doing it wrong, so changed what I was doing and then discovered I was right after all, and had to pull back 4 rows. (I get mixed up between yo and yfwd, not sure if it's the same thing or not). Not to be recommended with this stuff. I will never doubt myself again!

Here is progress so far. You can just see the beginnings of the pattern. I'm going to make it longer than the pattern says as I want it go down to my elbows:

The person who wrote the pattern refers to it as 'mindless' knitting. It may be a simple pattern but I can't remember it to save my life! I have to have it written right next to me. The only pattern I can remember is K1, P1!

Quick pregnancy update:

I haven't managed to see the doctor yet. If you're at death's door you can usually get an appointment quite quickly but otherwise it can take a while. I've got an appointment for the end of the week. I can't see the midwife when I'm supposed to as they don't have enough appointments available. This always makes me laugh (well, not really) because the government is always banging on about maternity care and it seems to get worse with every pregnancy (and I'm on my 5th now). So that appointment will have to wait till the week after.
I've got the worst sickness I've ever had - many thanks to Kitty for her suggestion of ginger pop ice cubes - and I'm feeling very lightheaded. All because I'm 'manufacturing' as Mr Earplugs so charmingly puts it. I've had a bit of 'spotting' but I know this is quite common so I'm trying not to worry about it. Either way there's not much I can do so we'll just have to see. I'm hoping that the doctor will be able to arrange for an early scan so we can see how things are going.

Quick update on my Mum:

Mum had her MRI scan last week. They scanned her head and neck (to see if she had a brain according to my Dad - very cheeky!) and as she has to wait for 4 - 6 weeks for the results we figure things must be reasonably ok.

Emergency Knitting Required

An Ordinary Week

A while ago I came across a blog project called 'A Week in my Life' where participants were cataloguing their entire week from photos down to bus tickets and till receipts. I thought I might have a go at the photos (I've got enough junk and clutter about the place thanks very much!). I took a few photos but then ditched them as they were all so 'ordinary'. I don't know what else I expected really!

Anyway, a few days ago Lesley posted about her 'ordinary day' and so I decided to resurrect the ordinary week project, and here it is, with a few explanatory notes (Sunday to Saturday of last week):

Our version of 'Simply Breakfast' (ha ha!); Mr Earplugs usually makes bread at the weekend;


Miss Muffet baked a cake (should have been fruit cake but we didn't have all the ingredients, down to me being an 'undomestic goddess!!'); I used to love a cappuccino in the afternoon but now I'm on the peppermint tea (morning sickness); I love these noodles - disgusting really;


Nipper loves 'In the Night Garden'. If he's having a strop this is sure to shut him up (good old electronic babysitter!); He also loves 'Squiglet' - this is included as Nipper decided to colour along with Squiglet, only he did have a crayon and it was all over the tv screen. Mr Earplugs was pretty cool about it because he reckoned it was 'educational' - lol!; We don't get to watch too much tv but sometimes tape stuff to watch later. I love 'Heroes' and I'm a 'Strictly' addict!;


Here's a bit of what Nipper got up to: Every morning he switches on the cd player and we listen to Mr Earplug's blues & soul cd. We have to have Ray Charles' 'What'd I Say' playing with Nipper shouting out 'awright!'; A bit of a strop coming on as Nipper couldn't work out how to get his sandal on; Being 'helpful' with the cotton buds; And generous with his bubbles;



Getting 'up close and personal'; He likes to have his cars all lined up; Fun with playdoh - he's mixed up all the colours now so it looks like something that needs to be scooped up and put in a poop bag; What Nipper likes best - a big mess!;


Trying to get rid of our colds; The poor cat trying to get some shut-eye; Our girls - don't look too close as they need cleaning out (that's a Miss Muffett spending money job but the 'carrot' isn't working); Big beastie who made his web across the windscreen inside the car - Mr Earplugs nearly had a heart attack.


The usual daily stuff; Washing; Ironing - which is usually a mountain before I do anything about it; Nappies!; The epic proportions of our recycling pile (another Miss Muffett 'undone' job);


And what I might be doing once I've dealt with all of the above!; Trying to make some number and letter flash cards - will blog them if they ever get finished; A bit of blogging; And my knitting (Wisp).

And what isn't shown:
- my friends daughter's birthday party - 30 rampant 4 year olds!
- my s-i-l's birthday tea
- Miss Muffet's friend's paintball party - she's covered in bruises and doesn't fancy going again
- our toddler group session (no cameras allowed)
- Nipper's Sunday swim (no cameras allowed)
- the look of horror on my face when Nipper pulled the needles out of my knitting
- and again when he emptied half a bottle of body lotion down his front and all over the bedroom carpet
- my grumpy face when woken by Mr Earplugs alarm clock at 5:15am. He can't hear it because of the earplugs!
- my grumpy face (again) when woken in the middle of the night by Nipper. This happens about 5 nights out of every seven.
- my even grumpier face when we were all woken up at 4:00am with the cat yowling because he fancied a midnight stroll!
Yep, I'm one grumpy Mama!

An Ordinary Week

Now I Know Why........

.......... I've been feeling so under the weather for the last couple of weeks. I'm mostly robust but have had a spate of headaches and dizzy spells, been feeling shattered, and just generally not good. I have indeed got Nipper's cold but that's not the whole story. I have just discovered this:


I really should have twigged! They're the classic symptoms for me. I especially should have guessed when I suddenly started putting lots of pepper on my meals (this always happens when I'm pregnant, the rest of the time I can take it or leave it). I've spent so much time trying to forget the rather abrupt end to my last pregnancy that I haven't really been looking forward too much. That will all have to change now! We are very excited but I'm also very apprehensive. It's early days but fingers crossed for this one!

Edited to add: click here to see the outcome of this pregnancy!

Now I Know Why........

One Of Those Weeks!

It's turning into one of those weeks.

I'm rather under the weather and Nipper has a runny nose (nice!) so I guess that'll be me in a couple of days time. He's desperately chewing his fingers so I think he has more teeth coming, and he has a nasty blister on his finger from making a grab for the hot iron. Miss Muffett slipped down the steps at school and has sprained her ankle and also has a nasty bruise on her knee. Even the usually robust Mr Earplugs was struck down with a migraine (though it might have been just a headache - you know what fella's are like!).

I had to move the car this afternoon and I must have walked through a spider web as there was a big beastie running up my leg. I did a bit of a jig to make him fall off, which he did, but when I moved back he was still attached to me and started up my leg again! I managed not to yelp out loud but goodness knows what the neighbours thought I was doing flinging myself around on the street!

Anyway, I saw this great idea on Mary's blog:


I figured Nipper would love it so I bought a plastic tub and some scoops from the 99p store and a big bag of 'basics' rice (74p). I tried to get a funnel too but could only find expensive ones so we made one from the top of a squash bottle instead. Nipper, and Mr Earplugs, had a great time:

Though when I came back from making a cup of tea this is what they were up to:

It took me ages to hoover it all up again (it ended up all over the living room floor)! And Mr Earplugs excuse was that they were having such a good time. So that's alright then!

Edited to add: This post was submitted to The Carnival of Messy Play - 29th October 2010.

One Of Those Weeks!

A Few Things I Forgot.......

.........when writing the previous post about my Grandparents.

Sadly (or maybe not) I'm not a factory owning magnate as George's factory failed during the depression and the bailiffs came a-knocking. Grandma 'smuggled' as many of their possessions as she could, out of the house and down to her sister's, in the base of a large old fashioned pram, with baby and lots of blankets on the top.
Grandad got a job as a bus driver for the local 'Corporation' and his conductress was the infamous (around our neck of the woods) murderess Maggie Allen. Mum remembers her visiting them quite often and being bounced up and down on her knee. Maggie was hanged in Strangeways in January 1949. You can read all about it here.

A Few Things I Forgot.......

Grandparent's Day

I read somewhere that today is Grandparent's Day, so here is a photo of mine (George and Annie):

I was very close to my grandma but never knew my grandad as he died before I was born. This was taken on their wedding day in 1930. He was 36 and had been married before and had 2 children, but his first wife had died due to an infected insect bite (no antibiotics back then). My grandma was only 21 and her father was not best pleased with this marriage!

I've found out quite a lot about my grandad through my family history research and it really makes you appreciate the times we now live in. He was one of 6 children but only 3 made it to adulthood. He worked for his father who owned a factory which recycled fabric waste. This meant that he avoided being conscripted for WW1 as his job was considered more valuable to the country than shipping him off to France. His brother wasn't so fortunate. He was conscripted in March and was dead by June. His father died of a heart attack whilst they were having a jaunt in a rowing boat and he had to row them back to shore, but it was too late to save him. He had a sister, but she died in childbirth and there was rumour of another sister who was 'sent away' and never returned. His mother died shortly afterwards - perhaps she'd suffered one loss to many?

We have wars but no-one is forcing us to fight. If you're taken ill or have an accident then help is usually only a phone-call away. I had scarlet fever as a child and I wonder if I'd still be here if it had been the 1920's. It really makes you realise how fortunate you are.


Edited: See this post for a bit more info on George and Annie.

Grandparent's Day

Cheating!

I have two more super-duper commenters who just have to have this award. This is cheating, I know, but rules were made to be broken!

Raina and Suzan have been with me from the very start of my blog and I love popping in to see how they are doing. Raina has the most beautiful photographs and was the inspiration for me getting on with my first socks. Suzan grows lovely vegetables which she preserves, hand-weaves on a beautiful loom, and has to deal with bears in her barn! And the super-duperest commenter of all (with 23 comments) is Mel Mel who gave me the award. Check her out, she has a lovely home and is such a sweetie.

Cheating!

An Award, A Tag and Some General Stuff

Apparently it's 'National Old Folks Day' today (or something like that). That's quite fitting as I was up till the early hours of this morning helping my Dad with some computer issues. He's nearly 70 and recently got himself all 'internetted up' and is doing his best to get up to speed, bless him. When you consider that he lives 200+ miles away, and the discussion was going on via instant messaging, well, I guess you get the picture!

When I finally got to bed I couldn't sleep at all. Since Mr Earplugs is away I've got that 'I'm home alone so there must be a monster under the bed' thing happening! It wasn't helped by the fact that we got a leaflet from the local police saying that there were a number of burglars operating in the area. Great - not just the one burglar then? Then Nipper got up, screaming fit to wake the dead. By the time I'd settled him it was 2:30am. On top of all that I was woken at 5:30am by Mr Earplugs alarm clock. If he'd been in the bed next to me I'd have wrung his neck. I'm going to need a lot of tea today I think!

Any road, (as we say up north) last week I had a 'bad trip' here:

And was told I needed one of these:

Sadly mine won't be all sparkly and jewel encrusted! For the princely sum of nearly £200 I can have one on the NHS but the dentist openly admitted I'll likely look like this:

Well, not quite, but he did say that I'd get a better one, and have more time allocated for the work, if I had it done privately. So that'll be £400 thanks very much! Blimey, I think I need a lie-down!

Anyway, the lovely Mel Mel has given me an award and I'm chuffed to bits!

I've also been tagged by Sarah but as I did a similar meme a short while ago I won't make you suffer any more 'random' facts about me. So, now I need to choose people (supposedly seven) for the tag and the award........hmmm.........so difficult. I don't have a huge bloglist and I like all of them for different reasons. Some people have already had this award and done a similar meme. So bearing this in mind the award goes to:

The Diary of a Domestic Competent
Kitty's Bloggy Bits
Remote Treechanger
Notes From My Days
Acorn Collective
Such Things
UK Lass in US

and the tag goes to:

Raining Sheep
Scrub Oak
The Diary of a Domestic Competent
Such Things
Green Jello
Acorn Collective
BeaDangles Jewellery

Hope you'll all join in (but don't feel obliged)!

P.S. All photos from Google.

An Award, A Tag and Some General Stuff