In Which I design my first Knit and contribute to Rachels G.C.S.E art!!

Knitting

well I've done it. Made my first ever design. Now Dont laugh, especially those of you who regularly design stuff. I am no Euny jang!!! Rachel asked if I could knit a dolls size dress for her Art GCSE. so we chose the yarn. some of my home dyed sock stuff which I'd been looking forward to making inot socks for me! Then she drew what she wanted. I knitted a tension square and worked out the maths for the design. It had to have a bottom frill and a different stitch for a waist band. (she doesnt ask for much!). So here it is.... Ta, Da!!! Do you think They'll ask me to design for Rowan next???LOL!!





You cant really see the waist detail on here or the frill but there you go! The start of big things! (I dont think so!!)

I've done some more sock stash enhancing and bought this lot off E-Bay for £8.50!!! -sock yarn BTW




I got them from Forest Greener By the time postage was added it all came to£16 Which for the amount of yarn I've got is amazing. I can knit some Fairisle socks now. I want to try FairIsle and it really isnt for my body shape so I'll stick to socks and Mitts and such like unless I can get it going in Vertical stripes.



FM

Oh Boy! Its another FM whinging time so scroll on if you dont want to be bored!!

Last week actually I had some good days. Tuesday I made it to my art class, wednesday I went swimming. I managed 6 lenghts. Thursday was the pits. My cleaner normally comes at 11 ish so I can sleep in but she wanted to come at 9am. Now as you know, I dont do mornings. I got up at 7.30am and by 1.30pm I was on my knees and went to bed. I slept till 4pm but I was done for for the rest of the day. I spent most of it back in bed. Friday I felt good. The sun was out so decided on a little excursion. I got on my trusty steed (my scooter) and whizzed up to the docs for prescriptions, to the gym for a little swim and hydro pool, to the chemists to collect said prescriptions and to Subway for my lunch. Then home again . Saturday I felt O.K again so Hubby took me up to Holmfirth to the headquarters of the Knitting And crochet Guild of GB. we finally found them in a dark satanic mill (a la Jerusalem) in the back of beyond. it was an old damp mill with wobbly floor boards and wobbly stairs. But I bought some undyed lace yarn and undyed lace weight silk for 1p per gram. It all cost me £2.80!! Then we went into Holmfirth which is a lovely little English village, but very hilly and the shops and pavements are not disabled friendly. still it was a good ride out.

and theres more!



my contribution to Rachels GCSE's and Rachels contributons to my FM!!



Dear darling daughter! i woke up Sunday lunch time absolutely exhausted, aching etc from 2 days excursions. i planned on doing zilch and resting to recover. Enter RAchel. She announces that she has to do some textile designing for her exams and can she dye some white cloth using my acid dyes? O.K. But Mum has to show her what to do and she conveniently keeps dissapearing upstairs leaving someone else-namely me- to stop the stuff boiling dry!!! so I'm up and down to the kitchen like a yo-yo.Then she asks can I knit a doll size skirt for her today? O.K . then the skirt becomes a dress. so Off I went and did a swatch then did the maths. Now I suffer from the Fibrofog at the best of times and thinking is no good for me these days!! Thinking and being tired is def a bad mixture. By the time I'd worked out the rows and measurements for this little dress I was exhausted mentally and in a fog. Then I sat for a few hours and knitted these 2 sides up. Normally I knit a bit and when I get tired I stop and rest. Not with this. It had to be done to meet the deadline!! I was collapsing with exhaustion by the time I'd finished. I went to bed and stayed there all day yesterday too.I felt terrible, absolutely wipped out and in awful pain.

The things we do for our kids!! I was getting shooting pains in my hands and fingers they were so bad. yesterday I was like a boiled lettuce leaf. all Limp and saggy!!!

Anyway today I felt alot brighter and I've been to my art class and for an aromatherapy massage on my scooter again. its sunny and the sun always makes me feel better. I hope I get some credit in these exams!!!
today being wednesday-its taken me 2 days to blog, I'm exhausted again. One day I'd love to wake up not feeling like I've done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. There is hope. anyhow the sun is out , the sky is blue (break into song here) so I'm off to put my i-pod on U2 ofcourse and sit and knit in amongst the weeds-oh, er garden!!



Books

Some musings. I love reading. I measure how well I am by what type of book I can read. When I was very depressed I couldnt read at all. Then I increased bit by bit , fist to trashy magazines like Bella and Best abd even Hello. Blimey I was stooping low! then onto easy reading novels like Emma Blair and lillian Harry. easy romantic novels that dont tax the brain. I slowly made my way up. It varies now what I read as to what mood I'm in. Lately I've been worming my way through a few of Richard and Judy's book list. I loved Notes on an Exhibition by Patrick Gale and have read some more of his since. I also loved The Book Theif by marcus Zusak. But not keen on the Rose of Sebastapool by.. cant remember.. but its in my list at the side!-I've discovered CJ Sansom and the Shardlake misteries. I lvoe these. These are my favourites to date. Not on the R&J book list my dad gave me Winter In Madrid to read. I would never have picked it myself. at the back was a chapter for one of the Shardlake books and I was hooked. again aginst the grain. Whilst I love historical novels. I dont like murder misteries normally. But here was one, like a latter day Cadfael and I cant get enough of them.
unfortunately my reading is very unsatisfactory at the mo. we are broke and so I've turned to the library instead of buying a book a week. But my local library is crap and so I've had to resort to Barbara Erskine. Same old plot same old characters different time, and some others I've never heard of!! I might just have to go and buy a novel again. its like knitting and yarn, good for my well being , therapeutic and so therefore all part of my therapy and needs to be funded!! Thats my argument anyway!! I dont buy full priced novels anyway. Only from Play.com and places like that.