WMDs lauched!!!

(Weapons of Mel's Destruction!!!)

Coincidentally it turned out that Mel was my victim for Sock Wars!! I finished the socks and mailed them off this morning so she will probably be dead (Royal Mail willing) by the morning.

Sheepies for Mel

Here are some little sheepie stitch markers for Mel (woolydoodles). Four for her and four for her Secret Pal. Apparently purple and green are her pal's favourite colours. I have to make a batch for the LYS before the weekend too, better get on with those!!

So yesterday we went over to Manchester to Christies. The consultant was very nice and explained all about what was going to happen. The radiotherapy will be 5 days a week for 6 weeks starting on 31st October. There are a couple of appointments before that where they mark out the area they are going to treat and have to make a plastic thingiemajig for the area. The treatments themselves are about 15 minutes, its just a pity it takes an hour each way to get there. It took longer yesterday because it was peak time and the traffic was heavy but hopefully we can arrange more convenient times.

It was hard to imagine that a large number of the people wandering around the corridors had some type of cancer. They all looked so "normal". Of course there were the ones that had lost their hair due to chemo, but it was lovely to see some of these people with smiles, as though they hadn't a care in the world. Good luck to them all.

On the way back we went to Borders (didn't buy anything) and had panini and cappucinos for lunch in Starbucks. Yummy.

3 days to SOCK WARS!!!

belated thanks, ravelling in it, and foodie friends.

I just wanted to say a belated thanks to my step-dad Bill, who came up to visit with my mum last weekend and washed both our cars and cut the grass. I am ashamed to say that mine hadn't been done since he did it last visit in May. Gulp!

I am having fun on ravelry. I now have 17 "friends" and have uploaded several of my finished projects, books, stashed yarns and queued some patterns I would like to make. AND, a friend and I have started a group called The Coconut Lodge, for all things Booshy, and we have 7 members! One thing I have noticed from putting up pics of my stash is that there is a lot of blue/green there. I need to add some colour desperately.

Less than a week until Sock Wars now. I have 3 possible yarns now. If my victim is female I'm sticking with the Natural Dye Studio BFL sock yarn

If my victim is male, I'm going with garnstudio Fabel
And if either of them are allergic to wool, I have some Rowan Bamboo Soft.
I have 3.25cm DPNs AND Addi circulars, so I'm all set. Let battle commence!!!

I have given up on The Angel Makers. When I bought it I thought it was going to be witchy and a bit supernatural but it has turned into a saga of a woman who gets beaten up by her fiance. No thanks! So I have abandoned it and gone for something I know I will like, Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. Its the 5th in the Vampire Chronicles.

Last night we had a couple of friends round for dinner. We hadn't seen them since January. A very nice evening was had by all and my tuna fish pie went down very well. Heather brought some runner beans picked from her garden that day, and they were lovely with it. Colin bought some Stinking Bishop cheese, and I'm afraid it tasted to me like a cowpat, (not that I've ever tasted a cowpat! I came close once but that's another story) so I had some of the goat's cheese and the smoked Lancashire. Colin did a fancy starter of Ciabatta with Asparagus and Poached Egg, mmmm, delish!

On Tuesday we go to Manchester to see the radiotherapy team at Christie's. We should find out when Colin's treatment starts and for how long. Wish us luck.

Ravelry name

Hooray, I got on ravelry yesterday!!!

My username is ElectroGirl

Wow, that is one scary black hole of a place, several hours have just vanished without a trace!! I think I shall have to limit myself, but at the moment it is a HUGE novelty. There are some great resources for seeing what other people have made with yarns you may have in your stash, and also pics of things people have made from patterns you have made. 'Citin'!!!

Oh, and we need people for a Mighty Boosh ravelry group, so leave me a comment with your ravelry name if you are interested.

Podcasts

Oooo, two posts today!!

You may remember I treated myself to a little iPod nano a couple of weeks ago. I'm not a big music listener, but one thing I have discovered is PODCASTS. I really like listening to Jonathan Ross on a Saturday morning but as we usually go into town then, I only catch bits of it in the car on the way there and back. By downloading the podcast i can listen to it whenever I like and each new episode is automatically downloaded when I open iTunes. I have done the same with Russell Brand. You don't get any of the music (this is probably something to do with copyright laws and stuff) but you get all the chat in between. Russell has about 1hr 15min a week of him rambling on about a load of old twaddle. I think I might give the Chris Moyles one a whirl too.

Apart from radio shows there is a world of ordinary people doing their own free podcast recordings. You can search for anything and find someone has done a podcast on it, knitting, diabetes, reiki, anything you want. I can't vouch for the quality of any of this stuff though. You don't need to have an iPod to listen either, you can just download iTunes (which is free) and listen through your computer. Give it a whirl!

Can you tell what it is yet?

This is (was) my secret project. (Click to enlarge) I have confessed to the "victim" what i was doing and that it won't be in time for her birthday. (And that is despite the postal strike). It is going to take me a lot longer than I thought, and will be interrupted by Sock Wars anyway. So I'm going to send an alternative gift, and keep hold of this myself for now. Phew, I didn't realise you needed 18 stitch markers either. Luckily, thanks to Blossom who sent me 6 in my birthday surprise package, I did have enough in the right size. They are a bit of a mixture though. (BTW if anyone is still trying to figure it out, it is a Clapotis.)

I have just got gauge for Sock Wars in Garnstudio Fabel too, so if my victim is a man I will use that because it is blues/greens and greys. Not sure a man would want Shades of Grapefruit to be honest!

519 ahead of me for ravelry, I reckon I might just get on this evening!!! Now I just have to think of a cool name. A friend is going to start a Mighty Boosh group on there, so if you are interested leave me a comment, we need a couple more people to be able to set it up.

Secret projects

The secret project is a little bit ambitious. It would mean knitting like a demon for a few days, and that is not the best idea with my hands. So a little reassessment is in order. I will complete what I have started but not for the deadline I had intended. A new (smaller) secret project will be underway tomorrow. Watch this space.

1167 ahead of me now, that's about 2 days away!!!!

Swatching for Sock Wars!, sheep and secret projects

Woohoo, a week and a half to Sock Wars, and I'm in!! The artillery has been posted and the tools of the trade are 3.25mm DPNs and yarn to get a gauge of 25st x 34rows over 10cm. I swatched this this morning and guess what, got gauge first go, brilliant. I have had this yarn for about a year and never got round to using it, so it is perfect. I got it from Natural Dye Studio on ebay. It is their BFL sock yarn if anyone is struggling to find yarn for Sock Wars. I think this was called Sunbeam or Sunrise or something but i think I would call it Fruit Salad (after the chewy sweets) or Shades of Grapefruit. (The darker orange is quite pinky really like in a pink grapefruit.)

I just hope i can part with them when the time comes!

Another woohoo..........only 1876 people ahead of me for ravelry now! I could be on within the week at this rate.

I am working on a secret project too but there are tight time considerations so I'll see how i go, I don't want to overdo it with the hands.

I also have an order for some sheep stitch markers so I'm off to have lunch and get on with those this afternoon.

New socks & good news

Just a quick post to show off my finished Widdershins. They've only taken about 4 months to do !!!! (Click pics for HUGE close-ups!)

A bit tight to get on cos i cast off a bit too tightly, but they are lovely and fluffy to wear. So that's another one off the WIP list, I shall have to find something to fill the gaps!!

Also great news for Colin on Friday. We went to see the consultant and he confirmed that the tumour was completely removed with a good margin around it. He will still have the radiotherapy but that is "just in case". Hopefully after that is done, it will just be check-ups on a regular basis. Fingers crossed we can be relaxing in time for Christmas.

FLIC is finished!!!!

Woweee, I have a Finished Object, the first one in months. I started the Fabulous Lace Cardigan months ago before my enforced knitting ban, and it only needed a sleeve finished, sewing up and then the collar doing. So because my thumb and finger haven't been too bad lately i decided to do a little bit of knitting and finish it. Here is the result........... It still needs to be blocked, to make it a little longer, and uncurl the back of the collar, but I think its fab. If i had perfect fingers I'd make loads of these in different colours, but alas, I need to keep it nice and slow. What I'm really pleased about too is that I took my time over the sewing up and managed to do invisible joins! And its the first time I have done set-in sleeves which took a bit of working out to sew in, but once i got it, they turned out great.

I can now take this off my WIPs and plans list, hurrah!! I have Widdershins from knitty.com on the go, to keep me occupied until Sock Wars.

Oh, the details............
Pattern - Fabulous Lace Inset Cardigan from sweaterbabe.com
Yarn - Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Lipstick Red, an absolute bargain at £2 a skein from ebay seller Oregon Trail , as it was a colour that they weren't happy with!!! I love it!
Needles - 8mm (and 7mm for part of collar)
Buttons - from ebay

Kites aloft! & FLIC

Today we went down to the Chester Kite Festival. When we got there it was blowing a gale and there were loads of kites flying like mad. This isn't a great picture, but the big orange one is a giant octopus. (Click to enlarge)
I particularly liked this dinosaur one
We had a bacon roll and decided to get a new kite, so we bought a stunt kite. However, you have to set it up with the right length lines before you can fly it and because it was so windy we decided to do that at home later. I wanted to get a kite into the air though so I got one of those little pocket ones that don't have any sticks, and managed to get flying briefly. There was going to be a display of stunt kiting, but suddenly the wind completely dropped and the kites could hardly get up off the ground so it was a bit disappointing. Ah well, we can have a bit of fun at the park one day this week.

On the knitting front, I have decided to do a little bit here and there, and test out my thumb. If it gets sore I will stop. So this evening I have done a bit more on my Fabulous Lace Inset Cardigan. I have sewed the shoulder seams and made a start on the collar. After that is done it is just a case of sewing the rest up, blocking, and its finished. Shouldn't take too long. I think I may need it as the weather has turned a bit chilly over the past week.

Nano, and a short update

Thank you to everyone who has sent their best wishes for Colin, it is very much appreciated. We have both been blown away by the messages we have received from friends and aquaintances far and wide. Colin's arm seems to be recovering well, we have to go back to the consultant next Friday for the results and a check-up. But he is not in any pain and is his usual self, apart from not doing any work. We have been into the offices a couple of times this week but nothing too strenuous. I have postponed my op for the time being until after Christmas, it just doesn't seem important under the circumstances.

Looky what I treated myself to today. Of course it is for my Reiki buiness - ahem!! Luckily it can run off the speakers that Colin has for his Creative Zen so i can use it during Reiki treatments rather than lug a CD player around all the time. That's my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it! Its tiny!! So far I have 2 albums on it, hee hee.

Here is a card I made this week for a friend's 50th, notice the subtle use of the number 50!! He is an Everton fan obviously and I used the name of his own business as the sponsor on the shirt. (Click pic to enlarge) And here is my poor old doggie looking a bit old these days. He is struggling to stay on his feet and seems to trip over fresh air.

My ravelry invite is getting nearer, this is the state of play at the moment.

You signed up on August 4, 2007
You are #22998 on the list.
6756 people are ahead of you in line.
11832 people are behind you in line.
46% of the list has been invited so far.

a difficult post to write

This is a difficult post to write, not least because my husband, family & some of my friends read this blog. However, everyone who needs to know the following in person has been told, so hopefully there will be no surprises.........

Last Wednesday we went for an appointment to get some results on a biopsy that my husband Colin had taken from a lump on his forearm. Unfortunately it wasn't the news we wanted and it was confirmed as a soft tissue sarcoma. We couldn't believe it, and the consultant couldn't believe it as he said that most of these lumps turn out to be nothing but a fatty deposit.

However, Colin went in to hospital on Thursday morning and the offending article was removed that afternoon. We are waiting on the results of what it actually was and whether they managed to completly remove it, although they were very confident that they had. He will still require 6 weeks of daily radiotherapy for "mopping up" any cells that may have been left behind. That doesn't start until the wound has healed though as they don't want the new healthy cells destroyed in the process.

I would like to thank 2 people in particular........firstly Colin's elder brother Niall who flew over from Ireland and arrived at the hospital on Thursday unexpectedly. We had no idea he was coming but it was lovely because I think I would have been a bit lost otherwise. We do not have any family locally and just to have him around and staying at the house with me while Colin was in hospital was a great help. Also as the hospital was 25 miles away, he drove which gave me a break from driving myself.

Secondly I'd like to thank my mum who spent a total of 16 hours on a coach here and back in the space of 56 hours just to support us after Niall left. Thanks Mum, especially for doing ALL my ironing!!

I'd also like to say thanks to all the friends who have sent us best wishes and offers of help, it is all very much appreciated.

The state of play is that we get the results of the pathology next Friday (28th). And possibly the stitches come out then too. In about 6 weeks time the radiotherapy starts at Christie's in Manchester and if all goes well that should be over by Christmas. As far as it goes, there is no chemotherapy involved, but there will be lots of follow up appointments to keep an eye on things for the foreseeable future.

Colin is absolutely fine in himself. He didn't feel ill before and he doesn't feel ill now. He is not even in any pain from the op. And he has a really positive attitude which can only help. But he IS going to slow down a bit. He has cancelled any work he had on (he is a self employed psychologist) and is just going to finish a couple of reports which need writing up over the next month or so. But hopefully all will be back to normal in the new year.

I am doing my best too, but I have the odd "moment"!! I think you have to let these things out now and again, its best not to keep them completely bottled up. But as far as it goes, things are looking good.

It was hard to know whether to blog about this or not, but Colin was fine with it, he hasn't held back from telling everyone the full story, he says its best to just get it all out in the open. I was going to try to write some arty post about dark clouds and light on the horizon, but that's not my style, so this is what you get. I know you will all wish us the best, and I thank you in advance.

Knitting fun.

This is the book I ordered from greenmetropolis. It still had its original price of £8.99 on it and was in perfect condition for £3.75! Looks like fun! I also got my two Reiki books but they are over on my other blog . Not a lot else to report today.

Sock wars, reiki & vampires.

Well it is happening again........SOCK WARS!!! I missed out last year but have signed up for this year, hopefully my hands will be healed by then. I'll have a good 2 weeks recovery time. The details are here and you sign up here. Come on you lot, you know you want to!!!

Boo hiss, bad postie!! No amazon books yet, and no business cards either. I did get a copy of Reiki news magazine on Saturday though. I have been wondering whether to get a subscription from the USA but wanted to see a copy first. Someone on ebay was selling a copy from 2005 so I bought it. Coincidentally there was an article in it called Reiki and knitting!! Anyway it was pretty good so I think I will probably get a subscription. There are a couple of back issues I wouldn't mind reading too.

I eventually finished Sandstorm last night. It was a good read, a bit of a supernatural slant and supposition about the city under the sand protected by the queen of Sheba. I have just started Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan. Yeah, yeah, I know its a kid's book but who cares as long as you enjoy it! And its got vampires in it.

Hooked on Art

As much as I enjoy getting emails, there is nothing like the anticipation of waiting for the postman, especially when you know there are things on their way. My postman comes around about the time I leave for work. Sometimes he gets to the house and posts the stuff through the door, sometimes I catch him in the street and he hands me the post through the car window, and sometimes I don't see him at all and I have to wait all day until I get home. And sometimes he just doesn't come at all.

This morning he managed to beat me to it and two packages landed on the mat. The first contained a set of pretty crochet hooks that I ordered from eBay a couple of days ago. Aren't they nice? I think they will encourage me to have another go at the crochet. The sizes range from 2mm to 8mm so something for every thickness of yarn there.

I was nosing through etsy the other day for pictures of ATCs (artist trading cards) because I thought I might have a go at making some. However, the standard is very high, and I'm not very artistic. Anyway during my search I found this seller who had listings for ACEOs ('Art Cards, Editions and Originals') which are the same size as ATCs - 3.5in x 2.5in, but are miniature prints of larger art works. I thought that her work was beautiful and decided to order one of her pictures. I chose this one:

It is called Night Ride. It is #15 of a limited edition of 50. The colours are more vibrant in real life. Anyway, enclosed with it was this one as a free gift!! It is a new design of hers called Dream by the River and it is #1! How lucky am I? I'm just trying to work out how to leave feedback on etsy as I want to say how pleased I am with them.

I forgot to post a picture of my final set of bookmarks from the swapbot swap, here they are, from SweetJewels. The moon one is lovely and colourful.

I am now waiting for the lovely postie to bring me some Reiki business cards from Vistaprint, some books from Amazon and another book from greenmetropolis.

Last night we went to the pub quiz with Mel & Stu (who are so loved up, ahhh cute) and Phil. These are all people I used to work with in the bookshop about 5 years ago. In the shop we had a mediaeval crypt, so we were going to call ourselves Tales from the Crypt, but then Stu suggested Snails from the Crypt because it used to be REALLY slow in the shop on a Sunday. So that was our team name. We got 35 out of 50 which was joint 4th and we won a box of Jaffa Cakes!!

Crochet - away!!!!!!

My attempt at crochet. The first row is a real bu**er, I don't think I like it. And it takes AGES! I was using very thin wool (sock wool) and a small hook (3.5mm) I suppose. And it still made my finger hurt, the thumb wasn't too bad. The instructions are hard to understand too. I don't know, I can't decide. I'll give it another go later.

I have gone over to the Dark Side!!!

I just wondered if it would be easier to do, what with my thumb and finger. I'm having a read through at the moment, it only arrived yesterday. I have a couple of hooks already from doing a bit of edging on my knitting, and I'm sure I can find a few odds and ends of yarn around somewhere - ahem! I have crocheted some granny squares in the past, but that is about my limit really, oh and the flap on my mum's felted bag.
Ulgh, I've got so many things i want to do, and I'm not getting round to any of them, sigh!!

Dee Reiki

Check out my other blog here

I am The Master

On Friday morning the two books we ordered from the Book Depository arrived. Colin has already started his but I am still getting through Sandstorm, so I can't read mine yet. We also bought another 4 between us today. We were in town, and because it is a Sunday there is a small market in the townhall square. The paperback bookstall does 2 for £5, so a tenner later we happily walked away with two Stephen Kings for himself, and two Phil Rickmans for me. What is it about the allure of books for us? We have LOADS already and yet the chance of going to Borders or Waterstone's or anywhere that sells books is just irresistable. It's like an addiction to cigarettes or something. But why??

I also had my Reader's Delight exchange book arrive Saturday morning. It is not a book I would choose at all. I am going to try it, but I'm wondering if perhaps it might be something my mum would like, even though she is not a big reader and prefers biographies. I'll see. It came with some cute sheepie notepaper, and was from GrannySmith.
Yesterday I became a Reiki Master! I went off for my training, and am now qualified to practice as a Reiki Master and also attune others. That is going to take some practice though as the attunements are quite complicated. I'll have to follow the manual for a bit. I don't envisage that I will do a lot of that side of it, but i do now feel qualified to offer treatments on a more professional basis. We'll see how it goes. I'll maybe get some business cards done with the address of the offices on them. I will need to get insurance first though, don't want anyone falling off my couch and suing me!!!

Last night we arranged to meet a couple of friend's in the local pub. When we got there we found them at the back shouting at each other. Not having a row, but trying to be heard over the noise. The pub had some really old footage of horse racing on the big screen and customers were betting on the horses for 50p a go. It was all very loud so we stayed for one, and i went back and got my car (don't panic, I don't drink - ever!)and we went a bit further afield to the pub where my knitting club meet. It was much quieter and more civilised. We are going to get together again on Thursday and do the pub quiz, which should be fun. Haven't been to the quiz for ages. We'll have to think up a good team name in the meantime, any suggestions?

So Big Brother came to an end on Friday night. I was kind of leaning towards Ziggy or Liam near the end but it was always going to be either the twins or Brian. And the show wasn't even over before Davina was gining details of next years auditions. Will it never end???

Thanks for all the encouragement about the writing BTW. Much appreciated. I just hope I can pull it off!