I've been struggling for some time with this and that - Alex and his Aspergers, Amber and her teenageritis and work and all of the vulnerable claimants whom I can't help as much as I would like to. My problem is I've been on the other side of the counter - claiming benefits - and I know how hard it is. So I find it hard to switch off from it all.
The upshot of this is that I have been signed off for the past four weeks with anxiety and depression. I'm going to counselling and have doubled my antidepressants and I'm attending a six week course of stress control. The biggest thing is that the Occupational Health people have told me bluntly that I am not suitable for my job !!! The council has a policy of swapping staff into other jobs if there are any available and it is needed. So this may be happening to me soon - if no other jobs then no job !!! So that is a scary thought, although they keep telling me that they are not allowed to do this.
Anyway, I never know what my mood is going to be from one moment to the next. I can be happy and optimistic one moment and then within seconds dip into the pit of doldrums convinced that nothing is ever going to go right again. This is not me.
I'm knitting Bagpuss for a friends daughter, and I have got a knitpicks bag on the needles and a plethora of small projects planned for Christmas presents. I always love Christmas so I'm using that to keep me going.
I know who my swap box pal is for this Christmas but all I can say is - could you all blog and let us know what you cannot have - for instance if you hate chocolate or are allergic to it or anything else for that matter. I know we did this last year but do you think I can find the lists we made?
Anyway, sorry again for the long silence - I have been regularly reading all of your blogs and they have cheered me up - I love reading all of this stories of normal life going on around me. I am now going to watch Kirstie's Homemade Home.
TTFN
XXX
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Thursday, 20 May 2010
I'm still standing ....
Just about :) The last few weeks have whizzed by so fast that I've almost got rope burns from them. I am so busy at the moment - at work and at home.
Having to find holiday childcare for Alex because our first choice let us down badly - basically they don't want him because of his Aspergers. So many people have said that they are discriminating against his disability and I should report them to OFSTED but to be honest I don't want to ruin what there is there. They do provide breakfast club and after school club during term time and I really don't think I should rock the boat too much.
Going to Farnham Maltings on Saturday with my Mum to do a City & Guilds workshop. We are going to be doing the messy arty stuff and I am so looking forward to it. I have a terrible sense of direction so tend not to go too far on my own as you can guarantee I will get lost. Mum is not much better but she has a Tom Tom and is not afraid to use it either. I've printed off the AA route finder - no motorways as they are boring - which adds 2 hours to the journey but it will be so much nicer along the coast roads.
So between Tom Tom and AA hopefully we shouldn't get lost - everything crossed :) My other half is very rude about my ability to drive this distance and says he'll keep an eye out for me going round and round the block - cheeky so and so.
I've got humungous amounts of WIPs but I still felt the need to join the SheKnits Lizbeth KAL on Ravelry. I joined her Autumn bag KAL last year and loved it. This time it's a shawlette and I can't wait to get started.
Having to find holiday childcare for Alex because our first choice let us down badly - basically they don't want him because of his Aspergers. So many people have said that they are discriminating against his disability and I should report them to OFSTED but to be honest I don't want to ruin what there is there. They do provide breakfast club and after school club during term time and I really don't think I should rock the boat too much.
Going to Farnham Maltings on Saturday with my Mum to do a City & Guilds workshop. We are going to be doing the messy arty stuff and I am so looking forward to it. I have a terrible sense of direction so tend not to go too far on my own as you can guarantee I will get lost. Mum is not much better but she has a Tom Tom and is not afraid to use it either. I've printed off the AA route finder - no motorways as they are boring - which adds 2 hours to the journey but it will be so much nicer along the coast roads.
So between Tom Tom and AA hopefully we shouldn't get lost - everything crossed :) My other half is very rude about my ability to drive this distance and says he'll keep an eye out for me going round and round the block - cheeky so and so.
I've got humungous amounts of WIPs but I still felt the need to join the SheKnits Lizbeth KAL on Ravelry. I joined her Autumn bag KAL last year and loved it. This time it's a shawlette and I can't wait to get started.
Monday, 15 March 2010
HipKnits
Well, I thought I'd give HipKnits the benefit of the doubt and order some silk aran yarn from them as I wanted a bright yellow and they had a yellow through to Orange that I loved the look of.
Got the yarn quickly, and indeed it did look good - then I unraveled it to put it on the swift. Immediately I noticed that the yarn was crinkled and tangled - obviously hadn't been hung properly whilst drying. It only had two ties on it and not in figure of eight.
The first skein wound off slowly as I untangled the tangles along the way. But the second sken was appalling. It consisted basically of a lot of short lengths of silk knotted together - I got several very small balls of yarn from that - and it was badly tangled. The last skein was whole but so badly tangled it took me nearly an hour to untangle it and wind it off. I wouldn't have been able to do it without the swift.
I am definitely NOT buying any more yarn from HipKnits - they still haven't learned how to provide good service.
Got the yarn quickly, and indeed it did look good - then I unraveled it to put it on the swift. Immediately I noticed that the yarn was crinkled and tangled - obviously hadn't been hung properly whilst drying. It only had two ties on it and not in figure of eight.
The first skein wound off slowly as I untangled the tangles along the way. But the second sken was appalling. It consisted basically of a lot of short lengths of silk knotted together - I got several very small balls of yarn from that - and it was badly tangled. The last skein was whole but so badly tangled it took me nearly an hour to untangle it and wind it off. I wouldn't have been able to do it without the swift.
I am definitely NOT buying any more yarn from HipKnits - they still haven't learned how to provide good service.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
I found them
Looking through an old cross stitch magazine that I found lurking in a pile in my dresser (really must get that tidied out) I found an advert for the wooden craft boxes I mentioned
http://web.mac.com/johnsonroy/Touchwood/Welcome.html
You really must have a look - if only to admire the workmanship. They are not cheap though. The one I want with the options I need is going to cost me £220. But oh so worth it I think. It will look wonderful on my table and will swallow all my current WIPs sitting on the table at the moment.
http://web.mac.com/johnsonroy/Touchwood/Welcome.html
You really must have a look - if only to admire the workmanship. They are not cheap though. The one I want with the options I need is going to cost me £220. But oh so worth it I think. It will look wonderful on my table and will swallow all my current WIPs sitting on the table at the moment.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Help !!!!!
I've decided to treat myself to a storage chest of drawers for my knitting projects so that they don't overwhelm the table.
I was forever seeing adverts in magazines for a small one man company that handmade these craft chests to the customer's requirements. So I finally decided to treat myself to one of these - only I can't find the advert anymore and I can't remember the name of the company. Does anybody out there know this company or indeed any other company that can produce these craft chests?
I want a nice wooden craft chest that will look nice on display in my living room. Isn't it sods law - when I didn't want one I couldn't open a magazine without seeing the advert !!!!
Huge sigh of frustration
Alex has got to go to Folkestone clinic tomorrow to be assessed as to whether or not he needs a general anaesthetic for his teeth. If he does he will have to go to the hospital. Poor little soul has an abscess under his back teeth and the dentist missed it the first time.
I was forever seeing adverts in magazines for a small one man company that handmade these craft chests to the customer's requirements. So I finally decided to treat myself to one of these - only I can't find the advert anymore and I can't remember the name of the company. Does anybody out there know this company or indeed any other company that can produce these craft chests?
I want a nice wooden craft chest that will look nice on display in my living room. Isn't it sods law - when I didn't want one I couldn't open a magazine without seeing the advert !!!!
Huge sigh of frustration
Alex has got to go to Folkestone clinic tomorrow to be assessed as to whether or not he needs a general anaesthetic for his teeth. If he does he will have to go to the hospital. Poor little soul has an abscess under his back teeth and the dentist missed it the first time.
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Swappsies
I have as shown above, one large 400g ball of Aran Acrylic and 20% wool. It's a marled grey flecked with black fuzzy bits. I made my brother an Aran jumper for Christmas out of it and he loved it.
The other picture is the banana silk. Four 100g skeins of it. It's quite a messy yarn in that it's fairly bitty, not at all smooth, but feels wonderful and is very heavy. Not sure on yardage of these.
I'm currently after a wide range of colours of size 11 beads. The patterns I have are for Delica 11/0 which I'm assuming means they are size 11. Project colours range through black to white and every colour inbetween. Especially blues, pinks and purples for some reason. Also shades of brown and green for 3D lizards, and gold for accents.
I've probably got loads more sitting in my stash but they're hard to get to at the moment :) I need to knit my way to them.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Spring has sprung a leak ...
and the local Napoleonic canal has burst its banks because some twit has forgotten to open the sluice gates to let the excess out. It's really strange seeing the trees at the side standing in the water :)
I've finally plucked up the courage to start a weight loss and healthy eating club at work - and I was amazed at how many people have expressed an interest already. Even more so as some of those who expressed an interest do not have weight problems specifically, but were very interested in the healthy eating part. We are lucky at our council, because they employ an Environmental Educational Officer in the form of a lovely lady called Alison Wood. She runs all sorts of health schemes in the council and out in the district, including cheap vegetable schemes for local schools and what have you. She has been working with me for some time because of my ongoing health problems, and when I mooted the idea of the club she promised to give us a talk on healthy eating along with various leaflets and tools to help us make informed choices. She is really enthusiastic about the subject and manages to enthuse everyone she meets with the same enthusiasm.
I've also found a fitness expert at work, who's agreed to give a talk, and a lady who is a qualified aromatherapist and reflexologist who has agreed to give a talk. And that's all in three days !!!!
I am also hoping to be able to give a talk myself, on the benefits of learning to knit and crochet - as we well know there is nothing more relaxing and stress busting than messing with lovely yarns. And I do think that knitters tend to be the most generous and kind people around.
After my 12 days off work dying of various infections, I feel on top of the world again. The last lot of antibiotics were lump hammer strength and certainly have sorted me and my unwanted bugs out :)
My dining table has disappeared under all the knitting and other projects I've got going at the moment. I've just finished the fourth out of five blanket squares for February and am ready to cast on number five. Have to get a move on with that as the others will be here soon. I've still got my own design scarf sitting there waiting to be finished - think that one is going to get onto etsy or folksy next winter somehow. Somewhere there's a box of blanket squares to be knitted for another project, and a cardigan for me ..... I've also done the back and am on the left front of a dinosaur jacket for Alex - which is knitted in Freedom spirit 100% wool and will be felted before sewing up - so I hope the dratted thing doesn't felt too small or I will cry. By the way does anybody know how to prevent the edges from rolling over and felting to themselves?
I've also got my C&G module 2 work on the table - doing the colour work bit at the moment and loving it - making mess with paints is not just for five year olds :)
Talking of five year olds poor Alex has got four bad teeth - two need to be filled and two pulled - and the dentist has referred him to somewhere else as she says they can't do him in the chair as he needs to be put out for it !!! Then she said it could be up to six months before we get an appointment. I hope not, poor little chap has been having terrible toothache and we have to keep dosing him with Calpol. I feel really guilty as I know I haven't pushed him as hard as I should have to look after his teeth - but his Dad has bad teeth and apparently it's hereditary. On the upside he's a lot more keen to brush his teeth regularly now.
And it's now getting on for 11.20pm and I've got work in the morning - can't burn the candle at both ends like I used to be able to, so night night everyone and let's keep talking :)
I've finally plucked up the courage to start a weight loss and healthy eating club at work - and I was amazed at how many people have expressed an interest already. Even more so as some of those who expressed an interest do not have weight problems specifically, but were very interested in the healthy eating part. We are lucky at our council, because they employ an Environmental Educational Officer in the form of a lovely lady called Alison Wood. She runs all sorts of health schemes in the council and out in the district, including cheap vegetable schemes for local schools and what have you. She has been working with me for some time because of my ongoing health problems, and when I mooted the idea of the club she promised to give us a talk on healthy eating along with various leaflets and tools to help us make informed choices. She is really enthusiastic about the subject and manages to enthuse everyone she meets with the same enthusiasm.
I've also found a fitness expert at work, who's agreed to give a talk, and a lady who is a qualified aromatherapist and reflexologist who has agreed to give a talk. And that's all in three days !!!!
I am also hoping to be able to give a talk myself, on the benefits of learning to knit and crochet - as we well know there is nothing more relaxing and stress busting than messing with lovely yarns. And I do think that knitters tend to be the most generous and kind people around.
After my 12 days off work dying of various infections, I feel on top of the world again. The last lot of antibiotics were lump hammer strength and certainly have sorted me and my unwanted bugs out :)
My dining table has disappeared under all the knitting and other projects I've got going at the moment. I've just finished the fourth out of five blanket squares for February and am ready to cast on number five. Have to get a move on with that as the others will be here soon. I've still got my own design scarf sitting there waiting to be finished - think that one is going to get onto etsy or folksy next winter somehow. Somewhere there's a box of blanket squares to be knitted for another project, and a cardigan for me ..... I've also done the back and am on the left front of a dinosaur jacket for Alex - which is knitted in Freedom spirit 100% wool and will be felted before sewing up - so I hope the dratted thing doesn't felt too small or I will cry. By the way does anybody know how to prevent the edges from rolling over and felting to themselves?
I've also got my C&G module 2 work on the table - doing the colour work bit at the moment and loving it - making mess with paints is not just for five year olds :)
Talking of five year olds poor Alex has got four bad teeth - two need to be filled and two pulled - and the dentist has referred him to somewhere else as she says they can't do him in the chair as he needs to be put out for it !!! Then she said it could be up to six months before we get an appointment. I hope not, poor little chap has been having terrible toothache and we have to keep dosing him with Calpol. I feel really guilty as I know I haven't pushed him as hard as I should have to look after his teeth - but his Dad has bad teeth and apparently it's hereditary. On the upside he's a lot more keen to brush his teeth regularly now.
And it's now getting on for 11.20pm and I've got work in the morning - can't burn the candle at both ends like I used to be able to, so night night everyone and let's keep talking :)
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