Socks done!!

I have finished the waving not drowning socks and they are lovely! I love Opal yarn and I love how it softens up after a wash, this colour is fantastic, the name Neon really suits it. So now I have my bright and cheerful socks for grey days.

D is still in hospital, he was hoping to be home tomorrow but it looks like he will have to stay over the weekend. He is eating soft food now so things are definately on the up, the only problem is his blood pressure is low so they are trying to sort that out. E is off to brownie camp this weekend so it will just be R and me on our own. We will have to have a real girly weekend and make the most of it.

Last night i had a precious night off, the kids are at Mums, D in hospital so I was all alone and didn't have to go and visit him either as he already had visitors. It was the first time in ages that I have sat down and relaxed!! I poured a glass of wine and planned an evening starting a new project. First I tried winding a skein of Lana Borgoesia cashwool into a ball, that took ages and I got in a tangle near the end so decided the ball was big enough! Then I tried casting on for a beaded shawl but it is the first time I have used anything that fine and I found it really hard so after a few attempts I gave up for the moment. Next I decided to start E's blur bolero, only to find I haven't got any 6.5mm needles. Eventually I started a lacy cardigan in cotton 4ply, after casting on 189 stitches I got in a muddle trying to k4tog tbl and dropped a load of stitches off the needles!! At this point I put it all away and gave up! Sometimes its best to just watch telly!!

A bit of beadwork

I was going back over the blog and realised that I haven't got any pictures of my bead work. So here are a few. These are not recent bits but they are ones I am particularly proud of. This is going to be image heavy!!

This one is a brooch I made for a secret pal swap on a beading forum. It was sent to Hawaii .

This is a necklace made with art glass beads from an american seller on Ebay. They are so gorgeous, my favourite colour (teal) and up close they look like little galaxys with swirls of stars in deep blue.

This was a challenge piece on the Bead and Button forum, the theme was Bollywood, so I went for lots of bling in red and gold. The little hearts tinkle when you move so it is a lovely piece to wear.

This is a choker made to a traditional American Indian pattern, as a commission piece for a friend who is really into that culture. It took 17 hours to make!! Each seed bead was added individually as the pattern was for a loom but I did it in square stitch!

This was a set in goldstone that a friend at work asked me to make for her daughter. It is beautifully sparkly as the goldstone is filled with lots of twinkly bits.

Last but not least this is the one I am probably most proud of, I made it at a workshop with Lyn Firth from Stitch'n'craft. It is simply stunning and I remember walking into that workshop and Lyn showing us what we would be making and I just thought "No way am I going to be able to do that!" But I did!!

At last the op is over!!

D has had the operation and is recovering nicely!! Hoorah! He is covered in tubes and feeling very sore today but otherwise is doing ok. I am so relieved it is over at last. This has been hanging over us for so long now, I know he still has a lot of recovery to get through and it may not even solve the problems completely but it has to mean some improvement surely!?!

The girls are coping really well, I have had a few tears but I took them to see him this evening and that helped, they are so used to having him at home all the time that they miss him a lot.

I wish I was coping as well, but I am so tired, what with all the animals to sort out and the kids to keep amused as well as work and visiting the hospital I just can't keep up!

We spent yesterday dyeing our sock yarn, it was fabulous messy fun! Just what the doctor ordered! E did hers bright blue and red, she wants a hat. R did bright orange and pink and wants trainer socks. I tried to do some more pastel shades, one is peach and pink and the other a light blue, I got a bit experimental and added some red to the blue to try and make a bit of purple but I'm not madly happy with the result. Maybe it will look better when it is wound and knitted.

Aaarrggh!!

Sorry, another getting it off my chest post! The trouble is that I am having to be the strong one here and all I want to do is lean on someone else and let them worry about everything, but there isn't anyone! The kids need me to be strong, D needs me to be strong and his Mum is relying on me too. He has his op on Tuesday, and he is so scared and stressed. I am bad enough but he really is convinced it is all going to go pear shaped and he will get an infection or something. Neither of us are sleeping, he is grumpy because of the stress and he is in a lot of pain too at the moment. Its lovely here.....not!!
What doesn't help is the fact that we have finally, after much soul searching, decided that Rusty is going to have be rehomed. :-( We have gone through the finances and just don't have the money to pay for the intensive training he needs in order to be a controllable dog. We have had him a good couple of months now and tried so many things to sort out his problems but it isn't working. I hated having to make that decision, but it had to be done. The kids will hate me for it, not to mention other people who have been very vocal about thier disapproval of me even thinking about it! The thing is we never went looking for a dog, he just needed a home and we said we would give him a try. Well we have and it didn't work, now we just have to live with the fall out. Hopefully the kids will be ok and at least the cats will come out of hiding now.
Well I'd better go and be the strong one again! I'll update on the op next week.

Crochet shrug done!

I finished the crochet shrug! It has worked very well except I am not sure about the front, I may need to put an edging on it as it is a bit gappy around the armholes.

My undyed sock yarn has arrived too! We have the food colours all ready so will do that one day soon, I am thinking of doing it on the day D has his op, that way I can keep mine and the girls mind off it!! We won't be able to visit him on that day anyway, just phone for updates. I was only £2 away from the free postage at Violet Green so a skein of lovely plum, pink and purple sock yarn fell into my basket too. Pretty isn't it?

Good news and bad news

Good news first, the alpaca sock is coming along nicely. The yarn is so soft, this sock will be like walking on kittens! I also received my all seasons cotton so I can finish the crochet shrug, hurrah!

Now the bad news! Before I can carry on with the sock I have a bit of a mess to sort out, due to my dog deciding he liked the alpaca too and unwinding the ball for me!!

We had doggy trainers in yesterday and Rusty will be going to school in a couple of weeks. I am at the end of my tether with him, he is not badly behaved indoors but a nightmare outside! We tried a group training class but he was so stressed about the other dogs that is was a total disaster! So now he is going to have one to one training, its very expensive but if it means I can walk him without major dramas then it has to be worth it. Also they said he is very attached to D and suffers seperation anxiety when he isn't here, which is going to be a major problem when he goes into hospital. They have told us what to do and we have 10 days to sort that problem out before D goes in. Hopefully it will be ok, I am going to be anxious enough myself and trying to stop the kids from worrying about thier Dad, I don't know that I could cope with a stressed out dog too!!!

Busy weekend

We have a busy weekend ahead, guests coming to stay and tomorrow we are going to Brands Hatch for the World Superbikes. So I am in the middle of a housework frenzy! I don't know why I am bothering as I know I am the only one who will notice that its tidy and there will be crash helmets and leathers all over the place once they get here, but at least I can relax once its done!

I decided to cast on the alpaca socks as Bronte suggested, I am using Artesano Hummingbird and it is so squishy and soft! I have ordered some non slip paws for the bottoms of them so they will be house socks. Since I don't have a picture of them yet here is one of Tilly relaxing on my bed.

Oh well, tea break over, back to the house work!

A finished item!

I have finished the primrose shawl!! It is so light and lovely and I am thrilled with it. Here is R doing her model bit!

I have made sixteen squares for my shrug so far and run out of yarn! So I have ordered more and will carry on with that when it arrives. In the meantime I will try and finish the neon socks and then I need to decide what to start on next. I am torn between a lacy cardigan in 4ply cotton, some Regia bamboo socks, some alpaca slouch socks or a lace scarf.

I have found out that my Aunt is having a mastectomy in a couple of weeks time, they removed the lump at the beginning of July but think they may have missed a bit, so she made the decision to get the whole breast removed. I think I would have made the same decision. So fingers crossed that this will get rid of the cancer for once and all and she can get on with her life again.