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It’s good to have friends

Feb 10th, 2011 Leave a comment

 

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For the last 10 days or so I’ve spent more time horizontal being ill than vertical.  Probably something like 98% horizontal when the sun is up and 100% at night.

Like most people I can usually go a few days with the supplies in the house, but this has been just to much.  Fortunately some great friends have been there to help out.  This has included getting tissues for my streaming nose, painkillers etc and in the case of Mr K, dog food for the ravenous beasts.  It was funny watching Jake the dog’s conflicted loyalties, on the one side he wanted to be with his mummy on the sofa, but, on the other side Uncle K had food.  The food (and Uncle K) eventually won but I don’t mind.  Miss C also brought me flowers to help cheer me up.  Seeing them in the kitchen last night really cheered me up so I decided to take some photos to show you.

Unfortunately a small furry person decided to try and help.

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But was eventually convinced to move out of the way.

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Not my best flower shots but you get the idea…..

Thanks guys….. I owe you one.

Do you ever want to be ill alone…?

Feb 8th, 2011 Leave a comment

As a general rule I don’t.  Of course there are exceptions, when you’re in a state and you don’t want people to see you looking like an extra from Shaun of the Dead.  ‘People’ usually includes anyone you fancy but not people who already love you and long term beloved friends.

Recently I’ve been sick.  No let me rephrase that, I’ve been SICK!  In fact I’m still sick.  For the second time in my life, I’ve got the flu.  Not the type where people stagger into work and pretend they have flu, but are so dedicated they’ve come in anyway (that’s a cold) – the type where you couldn’t get yourself out of bed and dressed if your life depended upon it.  Real flu.  The type where you think you’re going to die but you’re just to sick to care…

Fortunately some of my ‘beloved friends’ came over to visit the horrifying apparition I’ve turned into and make sure I have supplies such as soup and tissues.  I can not stress the importance of the tissues enough.  But these friends have lives of their own and can’t be here 24 hours a day. 

Enter the beasts…

FireThose musical hot water bottles that never go cold have obviously worked out a rota to ensure I’m never alone.

Whenever I wake up(usually from a coughing fit) one of the cats will be there next to me.  When I stagger downstairs to the bathroom I’m accompanied by a dog.  Flops on the sofa, usually because I can’t face the stairs back to bed, involved them all piling on top to form a living fur blanket.

Fortunately I am recovering (if slowly) but even when I was too ill to knit, or care if I was dying, I wasn’t too ill to appreciate a warm furry body next to me, subtly reminding me that I’m not alone…

You know you’re sick when…..

Feb 6th, 2011 Leave a comment
  • You want tea but the effort of moving off the sofa to make it is just to much
  • The dog steals your cup of tea (which took you ages to make) and when you try to tell her off all that comes out is an unintelligible croak followed by a coughing fit
  • The lady who answered the phone when you called the doctors for an appointment tells you to ‘take your time’ because she ‘knows you’re struggling’ but it still takes 5 goes for you to give her your name
  • When you eventually make it to the Doctors he takes one look at you and tells you to ‘sit down before you fall down’
  • It takes you 2 whole days to type even a short blog post
  • You haven’t got the energy to shop online for yarn or yarny things.

and the most serious of all…

  • You know you’re sick when your knitting is beside the bed but picking it up is just way to much effort.

The washing machine is talking about going on strike!

Oct 23rd, 2010 Leave a comment

I have a lovely washing machine which I treasure.  It’s amazing how you can love a household appliance.  My last one flooded the cottage when it died and the replacement took a few weeks to be bought and installed etc…..  It’s amazing how much we rely on these devices.  As a result this one is loved and cherished.  BUT, it’s threatening to go on strike due to over work this week.

Remember how I was whinging about a headache last weekend?  Well by Monday morning I was ill.  That horrible ill where you can move about but only in a zombie like fashion….. the brain is functioning just enough to control your legs on the way to the bathroom but any form of normal reasoning etc is just not happening.  I didn’t make it into work but did drag myself in on Tuesday morning.  By mid-morning though I was heading home as it was obvious to all that if I didn’t I’d probably keel over before the day was out.  Fortunately I woke up on Wednesday feeling fine.  However, (and this is where the washing machine comes in) I have this strange thing when I’m ill.  I wash things.  No I don’t know why…..  I just tend to wash things in my zombie state.

So the washing machine had been working hard during my illness……

Then on Wednesday, Pebbles the mad puppy dog decided it was appropriate to wee all over my bed rather than ask to be let outside.

More washing, duvet, blanket, sheets……..  Oh and don’t forget about the normal washing that a household with two dogs and three cats generates……

You starting to see a pattern here?

So here we are on Saturday morning and….. yes you guessed it….. the washing machine is hard at work yet again.  Another duvet this time as Jake really has hurt himself.  Remember the jumping up and down incident last weekend?  Well it now looks like he’s broken the end off one of the bones in his leg.  The vets aren’t exactly sure at the moment but as a result he’s sleeping in my bedroom so I can keep an eye on him.  I have no problem comforting him at night etc but I simply can’t cope with a duvet covered in dog fur……  So the washing machine has definitely been the hero of the week in this household.

This is Jake on holiday in Scotland earlier this year.  I did wonder about taking a piccy of him with his bright red bandage all up his back leg, but seriously, who wants to look at photos of a sick dog on a blog!

The Best Laid Plans of Beast and Man

Oct 17th, 2010 1 Comment

Well after a hectic week I had mentally slated today (Sunday) to be a day of pottering around the cottage, knitting and relaxing before the work begins all over again.  But surprise surprise it’s not gone quite to plan.  To start with I’ve not been feeling well.  I’ve not been feeling well all week if truth be told, but given the number of people I know who have had full blown colds and man-flu I can’t really complain about a persistent headache and a bit of sneezing.

So yesterday morning after the beasts got me up early I decided to finish off the scarf I’ve been working on.  This is made out of a beautiful 100g ball of Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend which was a birthday present from a friend.  It came with the instructions to knit something nice for myself from it.  The colours are beautiful blues and greens that remind me of the sea.  A couple of years ago I took some photos looking down to the sea from the cliffs near where I grew up in the North East of England.  I remember at the time standing there and wondering why we never appreciate the beauty of where we live while we live there.  The colours of the waters below me looked displaced.  Not the sort of palette you would expect from the north coast of England, more a tropical lagoon.  Casting on I wondered about the stitch to use, eventually deciding on a very simple stitch which is mainly plain knitting which would allow me an easy knit which I could easily do while tired on the sofa.

So Saturday morning I finished off the last few rows and the ends were sown in.  I picked up my beautiful soft, silky scarf and realised I had nothing at all to wear it with…….  I wore it anyway when heading into town for lunch with my friend Maytheweed although I’m not sure a black fleece coat was the best partner to show it off…..

While in town I bought some bamboo 5mm dpn’s to start my next project.  Many months ago I say the beautiful toy elephant Elijah by Ysolda on Ravelry and fell in love with him.  Last week at Ally Pally I bought some variegated blue/white silk yarn and the idea just took hold.  So I quickly did a swatch to check the size of needles I would need and added them to my shopping list. This morning I sorted out the pattern and cast on.  This would be the point where the plan starts to look a little less inspiring.  I was quickly working my way down the head piece and decided that a cuppa tea was in order.  While making this, Jake the dog started to give me the puppy dog look through the door which leads to the conservatory so I opened it to allow him and his manic friend Pebbles into the main part of the cottage.  As usual this involved Pebbles heading straight to the cats food bowls (we you never know what you might find) and Jake jumping up and down in the air like an idiot in front of me to ensure he gets my attention……

And this is where the plan all went wrong again…..

Remember the plan?  A nice relaxing day?  I’m not sure what Jake did but one second he’s jumping up and down like a loon and the next he’s squealing in pain and refusing to put his back right leg on the floor.  My best guess is that he landed awkwardly from one of his bounces and hurt himself.  The noise was horrible…… Pebbles went mad trying to work out what was going on and I couldn’t get near his foot to check it as this placed my head (remember the headache) right next to his head which was still emitting the VERY loud squeals of pain.

Anyway long story short……  Jake is now curled up by me feet and there doesn’t appear to be any breaks or anything like that in his leg.  He’s still not walking on it but he’s no longer crying in pain and has allowed me to check it over.  I’m going to give him a while to have a nap and calm himself down before deciding if we need to disturb the vet.  As for my Elijah?  Well I’ve decided that the swatch may have lied as it seems to be knitting up much looser than I wanted…….

Hmmmm so decisions decisions, do I keep going?  Frog and restart?  If I frog how do I alter it?  Smaller dpn’s or knit on these but double the yarn…..  Oh the best laid plans…..