aarrrgggghhhh!!!

I decided in my limited wisdom to shift all the very heavy furniture in my very tiny bedroom. I loathe my bedroom furniture (IKEA Malm range - very roomy drawers - oo er madam - but I hate modern angular stuff, loathe the bed with a vengeance), absolutely hate it - and by hell it's a sod to shift.
Especially if you are 4ft 11 and not terribly healthy.

Anyway, it rapidly reached that 'can't stop now I can't get out the door and there's nowhere to sit never mind lie down' stage - and then the sodding bed broke.

arrrrrggggghhhh

It is now propped up on one side with a large mount of books, and more books propping up the slats in the middle, it is like being an art student all over again but without the vomit. Or without the singing of hymns up scaffolding in the early hours of the morning, but that's a different tale entirely ...

New bed arrives next Monday, and my daughter is going to help me get this one down the stairs next Sunday, in return I have promised to fill her with food. Meanwhile, I can just about get in my bed and have hoovered half the room - I can't bear another minute of tidying it tonight. I needed food, comfort food - Slimming World skinny chips were nice, but I really really want a bloody great bar of chunky chocolate to bite into.

(new bed is pretty much my dream bed, big white metal Victorian style, lovely)

Stress and my missing mojo

I half plan to make something like this gorgeous jacket, for the spring, If we ever get a spring ...

And this lovely photo (taken from one of the upcoming Louisa Harding pattern books, which I love) is my incentive to keep growing this damned fringe out. It's driving me mad at the moment - doesn't help that a lot of my hair at the front has been falling out (due to stress), can't bear to think about it. (insert sad face here)

And I love this skirt - in black, with big blousy pink and red flowers, lovely! Can you tell I am trying to get my sewing mojo back? I think being off work so long has made me become a bit too lazy ...


I am off work with stress (work related) at the moment, and have been since November - I have not been off work for such a long amount of time in ages (0nly once, after having my wrist broken by one of the lads at work), and it's a very odd space to be mentally.

Had a major meeting at work this morning, and without going into too much personal detail , it went better than expected (I was utterly dreading it, dreading going back through the doors, the whole thing) and people were very kind and supportive. The biggest shock was the assumption and acceptance - by those in the meeting - that I might not return for several months.

So ...

Pondering ...

... what to do. This blog is strange - it isn't very 'me'. I don't write or talk anything like this in reality - nowhere near as sane or as controlled! I babble, I meander down lanes of thought and often forget what the hell I was on about.
I am creative - I knit and sew and paint and make jewellery and I write and and and - there's very little evidence of it on here!

Hmmm ... I am toying with a photo tutorial off and on, a sort of beginner's guide to sewing - I don't want to do video as I loathe hearing my own voice and certainly don't want my ugly mug on screen! And neither do you, take my word for it.

I had planned to keep a journal (sounds rather pretentious doesn't it, journal. A posh diary. With an excuse for forgetting to write in it - 'but it's a journal dahling, not a diary!'). Haven't written a sodding word. I love my nana's old diaries, my mum and I can curl up (with a large lagnifying glass for some of them) and read them back to back, they are wonderful - I would have loved to have been my nan's friend, I bet they had such a giggle!

Maybe tonight I will get my arse into gear and get started ...
Talking of arses - mines too big, And I didn't lose a single solitary pound last week - it was Fat Club weight in night last night and I was gutted. I ignored the box of After Eights and the Pringles and the crisps and only succumbed to the tempting whispers of one Bueno bar all week - for what! Sweet fek all.

So from me and my fat arse, bye for now.

The view from the door (again).

Looks good, but really - snow, we are bored with you now. Begone!

(My garden looks so so manky, I didn't get round to planting any new bulbs in the Autumn (that was the time of Dooooom at work), will have to fill it will colour as soon as the snow vanishes)

This is the latest spinnery - finished this ages ago but only got round to taking piccies today. The one bonus of the snow is that the days have been sunnier than ever!
Quite like this - I ususually spin much finer, but thought I would see if I could manage anything thicker and still consistent, and this is OK - not brilliant, but definitely OK. The white is silk, it was a bugger to spin but it's very soft.
Probably destined to become the striped band (with black) on a http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/candy cardi.


And this is next - merino (I think), hussar silk and hemp, nice pinks.

It's so cold! I thought I had overdone it on the shopping yesterday - Tesco delivery, then a quick wizz round Sainsbury's to get the things I forgot, and I also have a veg box being delivered Thursday. But two things - I started fat club last night (eeeeek) so glad I have oodles of veggies now, and little in the way of chocolate temptation. Plus I woke up to loads of snow, and it hasn't stopped all morning.

Nipped out to feed the birdies, and it's pretty deep out there, so I plan on staying put all day today (am going to curl up with some knitting and a film when I finish this), and I don't have to go out until my course tomorrow evening (but that might not be on if the weather gets any worse).

Hibernation, good plan ... keep warm people!

Happy New Year

And I hope it is going to be a good one for all of us.
Looking back, 2009 certainly wasn't the best of years -nobody died, nobody was seriously ill, nothing disastrous, just not the best of times, and ended with me being off with work related stress, and pondering what to do and where to go next ... time to move on, both for my physical and emotional health I think. Teaching still maybe, but not necessarily, and ideally by the coast somewhere, or in the country. NOT the city. Uh huh.

There were good parts - some great parts - work was fun, until things all changed and went belly up (long story)(ok, not long, just probably dull), had a lot of laughs with the usual bunch of reprobates and ne'er do wells (staff) and as usual, when these children work they REALLY work. Tough getting there, but inspirational when they do.

Had my first flight that I can remember (I was 6 last time, can't remember a thing), and it was bonkers - the tiniest plane, I spent both flights crammed against the window with my camera, grinning like a loon, especially on the return flight when we hit spectacular turbulance - I ended up wearing most of my drink, loved every single second. I could be a pilot! Sod teaching, fly planes!
Went to Orkney for an interview (went to Orkney twice, again a long dull tale), didn't get the job and didn't feel it was quite the right one for me, its been a long time since I taught in a primary school and I felt a touch out of my depth, but had a fabulous time (NOT the second time, that has been consigned to some of the Craptastic Events of 2009).

Rediscovered my sewing mojo, had fun making this for a Christmas Stocking swap on Ravelry, crammed it with 25 goodies of assorted worth, and was lucky enough to receive a fabulous stocking in return, full of beautiful hand crafted loveliness. This was a good swap, one of those where it just all goes right.

And managed to make some knitty things I am not at all shamed of, this was a present for a friend's birthday and I loved it.

This was only a month or so ago, seems like ages - as for the summer, well - I know we had one because I spent plenty of it on the beach soaking up the sun (yes, here, in Yorkshire, we DID have sun!). And I know the bulbs will start sprouting soon, and spring will - er - spring. And then it will be summer, truly it will. But it all seems too far away! It's fairly bright outside today, and the birdies are all clammering as they attack the feeders, but bright sunny days and a bit of warmth that's not from the fire would be nice!

Happy 2010.

No piccies at the moment, one of my cameras (my favourite) is poorly, the other (work one) takes pretty crappy photos, not keen on it at all. Will pop mine into a shop and see if they know what's wrong with it, but I suspect it is dead.

Lots of knitting going on, I started Kim Hargreave's Ward on Christmas Day and am aiming to finish it tomorrow, its boooooorrrrrrrring as anything but it's not too far from being finito. And it's good infront of the telly knitting, no brain required.

And a lot of sewing to get on with, had a mini material buying spree with the plan of making up several project bags for etsy - and said material is still sitting on the table. The table that was tidy for one day ...

Mr Parcel Postie has just been with my New Lanark Mill wool, its nice but too many flecks of colour for me to be totally happy, but it should knit up OK, am planning on making Perfect Paula with it (a cabled cardi, wil find out how to add Ravelry links someday!).
But now it is time to slap some lippy on, do something with my hair (any ideas on how to grow out a fringe without getting cross and chopping the lot off anyone??) and brave M&S food hall. Again. I have my eye on their party food / fizz for a tenner offer, all for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Bye for now, keep warm, keep knitting, you know it makes sense!

Hurrah! I am pleased with these - originally knit whilst sitting on the beach at Scapa Bay in Orkney, after the Interview.From.Hell, then realised they were toooooo small, as I was using the wrong needles, Anyway, reknit, haven't blocked them as she has slim hands and I think they will be a hit. Very fast easy knit, might have to make myself a pair.

The squiggle photos are in the wrong order, thank you blogger.
Cheeky little thing was hanging on by his back legs and hugging the net of nuts to his chest to chomp off the top - the blurry photo was through my net curtains, when I went out and said 'Oi! They aren't for you!' he sat on the gatepost and laughed at me, Cheeky blighter.

Well.
One more sleep, lorra food, lorra plonk, lorra laughs, then relative normality should be resumed.


My daughter is due here in a couple of hours, not cooking anything for tea, we are hitting the cheese and assorted nibbles instead of holding off until tomorrow afternoon.
Lazy? Moi? Damned right.


Finished the last bit of the last present - is this a thing that crafters the world over do, finish assorted projects off last minute? I suspect so.All wrapped, all hidden in the bomsite that is my bedroom - all the crap from downstairs now seems to be in my room. Yippee. Three guesses what I am doing Boxing Day ...


I had also knit the owls jumper, but as a cardi, for a present, but it looks vile - have left it unwrapped, and she is going to try it on, see if it is salvageable, and if not will let her have a plough through patterns on Ravelry for something else. Sheesh.

Have a warm, lovely Christmas. Toodles
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