Dogs Like Knitting Too

I know I've been so very tardy about posting lately, but I have been busy knitting for the dogs.

I know **grins** but I don't have small people to knit for anymore and as most of you know my dogs are my babies.

I mentioned a few weeks ago I was knitting Badger Boo a jumper, he's been feeling the cold indoors due to hair loss from his medication. I love this pattern so much, as it uses my two favourite stitches Cables and Moss Stitch. 

Badger Boo was having a shy day when I took these photos and refused point blank to look at the camera, luckily it's the jumper I was photographing not him LOL.

Found My Mojo

It seems like an age since I last felt up to doing any serious knitting. 
The damp weather we've been having in the UK at the moment plays havoc with the Arthritis in my hands, so knitting is very painful.

I really enjoy knitting Tea Cosies, no longer are they just a functional item, they can be ornamental too. My particular favourites to knit are the style I always remember my beloved granny making and using back in the 60's and 70's, it looks a lot more complicated to make than it is, once you get the hang of it.

I love making fun Tea Cosies too and Owls are another favourite of mine, mainly because I enjoy knitting cables and in the round.

When a friend recently asked me to knit them an Owl Tea Cosy I was happy to oblige but not sure if my hands were up to it. 

I did a little each day and within a week it was done, I was very happy with the result although not entirely convinced I liked the colour, it didn't look quite right on my white tea pot when I photographed it.

I knew Lesley had a Navy Blue tea pot and asked her to send me a picture so I could see what it looked like.

Photo Credit: Lesley Beeton

I loved it.

It's amazing how much better it looks on her pot than on mine

 I'm now on the look out in charity shops for different coloured tea pots, I'd assumed white would be best for photographs, how wrong I was.

In puppy news Little Boris has finally got the hang of house training, it took him a while but we got there in the end. I'd seriously forgotten how demanding young puppies are, Badger Boo was 13 years old last Friday so it's been a very long time since I'd last had a puppy in the house.

Little Boris has completed his Puppy Pre-School classes at The Company of Animals in Chertsey, I opted to go to classes with him as I'm so out of touch with people on the Dog Show circuit, I couldn't find any local Ring craft classes to take him to for socialisation. He's a very bold and outgoing pup and a joy to live with, can't wait to start his next phase of training.

On the last day of the course I found out the other Cocker in the class was actually his litter sister Jessie, so a quick photo opportunity was had.
Little Boris is the big one on the right.

What a small world it is.

There's no allotment news, I've not been down for a few weeks due to the wet weather and it being almost the end of my growing season, I'm not a fan of winter vegetables so don't grow them. In a week or two the never ending digging will begin again.

Hope everyone is keeping well and I'll see you next week.
xxx

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A Painfully Slow Week

As todays title suggests it's been a painful week here in the Stone Pit Cave, my right hand has been very numb, swollen and stiff due to the Arthritis plus my left shoulder, which I dislocated a few years ago has also been very stiff and painful, therefore it's been a slow week for crafting.

 

I've had to put the Mitred Baby Blanket to one side for the time being, until the flexibility comes back, so for now I'm knitting with a thicker yarn and larger needles because they're easier for me to hold and it's been very slow going.

 

I found this pattern for an Owl Tea Cosy in one of my knitting magazines, although I can't remember which one, as it was a while ago.

 I think it's great fun, I just adore Owls and knitting with my favourite Aran yarn, normally I could have knitted this in a couple of days but with all the stopping and starting it's been a slow make.

 

 

It was my mums birthday on Saturday so I made her a Butterfly Card, painted with water colours then  clear embossed the darker colours to make them really stand out. So many people commented on it as it really stood out in the hall where mum had a massive Party.

 

 

In allotment news Himself has erected a large gazebo, which we are going to net  and use as a fruit cage once the ground has been dug **groan**

It didn't look nearly so large in the garden centre when we first saw it. It'll certainly be interesting trying to get the scaffold netting over the top of it.

 



 

All I can do at the moment is a little light weeding until I've had my six week check up with the surgeon, it's so frustrating as I want to get going again and get the Raspberries planted, but it's best not to rush these things I suppose.

The Physio said I can drive again, I can now bend my knee 125 degrees, the first thing I did was I head down to the allotment  to do some harvesting. My Cauliflower's and Broccoli have been brilliant this year, I'm so pleased as I grew them from seed and they tasted delicious. 
 

 



I'm also really pleased with my first harvest of Peas, I grew these from seed too, they nearly filled this 4ltr flower pot, plus there's lots more to come as they mature.

The Sweet Corn is starting to grow rapidly now after a difficult start, sadly only approx a  third of them survived the slugs, I then cheated and brought the rest as seedlings from Homebase. The taller ones are the ones I grew from seed but I'm sure the others will catch up soon.

The Sweet Peas are doing brilliantly well, every time we go down to do the watering I bring a large bunch of them home, the scent of them in the house is delicious.

 







I had a lovely email from Jill at Christmas Pie Crafts asking to use some of my photos for her Friday Review  of my Knitted Collectibles which was a lovely surprise.
Thank you so much for your kind words Jill.

As is usual on a Monday I'll be linking this post to Creative Mondays and Handmade Monday.

I hope you all have a great week crafting.
xxx

 

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Project #365grateful and #Project365

I recently started doing the Project #365grateful on facebook and love the idea of posting a picture each day for a year, but decided I wanted to carry on with it on my blog instead as I spend more time blogging than I do on facebook.

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This post is the first three pictures I posted and wrote on facebook for my regular blog followers.

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Day 1 of Project #365grateful Thankful for modern medicine and being able to have a brand new knee joint to replace the knackered one.

Day 2 of Project #365grateful Planted some beautiful flowers in my garden today, to make it feel as loved as much as my allotment is.

  

Day 3 of Project #365grateful I love my Wool Winder, which turns a tangled mess of yarn into a nice neat ball of yarn that you can knit from both the centre and the outside edge. I couldn't live without it.

It's a bit of a commitment I know, I really hope I'm up to the challenge, time will tell on that one though.

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Crutch Cosies and Wonderful Friends

If you've ever had to use crutches for any period of time, you'll know just how uncomfortable they can be. 

Because I have Carpel Tunnel in both hands I find the ergonomic hand grips more comfortable, but the worst thing about crutches, is the constant rubbing on your forearms.

In the past I've had some really ugly rashes, knowing that I'd be on crutches for some time after my Knee Replacement Surgery, I decided to try and knit myself some Cotton Crutch Cosies as I couldn't find anything in the shops or online to help with this rubbing issue.
 

The first pair I made worked but were unsuccessful, they stretched and kept moving and I was constantly having to adjust them. 

Using them as a template for the next pair, I used two strands of yarn to make it more chunky and this time I knitted in the round.

The result was these beauties:-

They work a treat and even though we're having a mini heatwave in the UK there's no sign of any rash and the rubbing has stopped altogether.

I took them into hospital with me, I received many compliments from the nurse's, physio's and other patient's about what a great idea they are.

They still need a little tweaking ref sewing the ends up for me to be totally happy with them, and I'm currently working on my third pair in electric blue as its such a beautiful colour.

I'll let you know how I get on very soon.

 

Last week I promised you a look at the Thank You card I made for my good friend Lesley.

 I really enjoyed making this card. 

 

I got to know Lesley when I stumbled across her blog Mad Dog Woman of Shackleford and we've become very good friends.
Lesley has been an amazing support through Himself' s illness and my own surgery.

We were invited for Supper at Lesley's house recently along with Jill and her husband from Christmas Pie Crafts who is also another good friend I met through blogging, and we had a fantastic evening and the food was amazing.

When I started my blogging adventure, it never occurred to me that I would be meeting and making such amazing friends.
I've also made many other friends through blogging, some I've yet to meet and others I will sadly never meet in person due to distance, but each and every one of you deserves a massive Thank You for the love and support you've shown us, it means a lot.

At the moment I still can't drive, only another four weeks to go, and have at lot of time on my hands to fill.
Most of the ladies at the Wednesday Knitting Group have knitted a beautiful Mitred Baby Blanket, although I've had the pattern for ages, I've not been brave enough to take it on, as my pick up and knit isn't the best.
Last week I dug out the pattern and some King Cole yarn from my stash and I've made a start on it. 

I love the way the variegated colours are coming out and hope it continues like this until the end, also my pick up and knit has improved greatly. 

When it's finished I'll be donating it to the SCBU at the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

A slightly longer post than usual and I'll be linking it to My Sunday Photo, Handmade Monday and Creative Mondays.

Hope you all have a great week crafting and I'll see you next week.

xxx

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Silent Sunday

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I've Been a Tardy Blogger Lately

Firstly I must apologise for my tardiness and hardly posting news here in the last couple of months. Things have been totally manic since I launched Stone Pit Crafts which I'm really happy about, but it has taken up a lot of my time, hopefully now things have quietened down a bit I can get back on an even keel keeping up with everyone again.



Although I am very pleased to see, each week another person joins the blog hop "Smile it's Friday" and last week was the most entries so far. If you want to join in just add your link to the post, it runs from Friday to Sunday so plenty of time to join in.

The Arthritis in my hands has been playing up a fair bit lately, as I've been over doing the knitting and finger physio to get the orders out. My good friend Lesley sent me a picture of the Welly Toppers I made for her as I forgot to take a picture **slaps own wrist** more about them will be written on Stone Pit Crafts  Handmade Monday post next week.

I got an awsome new PDF Scanner app thing on my mobile and it works really well at scanning the cards I make, for some reason I was having real problems taking pictures of them, they always looked like they were taken with a fairground mirror.

Badger Boo is well, but I fear his advanced years may be catching up with him. He's sleeping an awful lot theses days, although he's his usual mad self when awake and not slowed down at all, he'll be 12 in October, hardly seems any time ago he was such a cheeky young pup.

Next week Himself goes back into hospital for another operation, neither of us are looking forward to it, but we really hope it sorts out his ongoing problems. It's hard to see such an active and fit person reduced to a shell of his former self, in so much pain and so unhappy.

 I'm hoping to get my little car back soon, my son has been borrowing it for the last year to get to his collage course. It's been really tough without a car, but his needs were greater than mine at the time.

I hope you're all keeping well and life is being kind to you?

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Enjoying Retirement at Last

We have got a new allotment at last. We've been waiting a couple of years to get one on the site about five minutes walk from our house with no luck. Then Himself had a chance meeting with the Chair Woman of the local Allotment Association, who told him that there were some free ones in Farncombe, which is a five minute drive from our house. A phone call later to the steward and I had an appointment to view the next day. 

I had the choice between a 10 rod and two 5 rods, I opted for the 10 rod as I have big plans for growing this year, plus we are allowed to put chickens on the plot, I would like too, but not going to rush into it at the moment, need to be sure I can spare the time for livestock.

Last week my Silent Sunday was the state of our new allotment, then my Photo of the Week was of Himself turning the soil over. As you can see the first bed is now finished and the potatoes are planted, the second be has been turned over and will soon be ready for planting.



Happy days, we have a lot more digging to do but first we need to get some fleece to cover the potatoes, as the lovely weather we had over Easter has now turned back to snow and it's freezing cold again. I think those four days may have been Spring and Summer wrapped into one!

Since I moved my PC upstairs, I'm not spending so much time on it now and getting on with the things that I had planned for my Retirement. I'm really disappointed that I didn't complete #BlogFash2013 last month, if you want to see the posts I did manage to complete, they can be found in the archives.

I went with my son to an open day at Winchester University as it's one of the five universities he's been accepted at to check out the accommodation, what an amazing place and the rooms are all new and modern. The biggest surprise was seeing the sheep up on the roof, I thought they were real ones and felt concerned they may fall off the roof as there is no fencing, but turns out they are only models lol, think they caught a lot of people out with them.

I'm now so glad I retired when I did, I'm really struggling in this cold weather and it would have been a nightmare having to work outside in it. Although still no luck finding a local part time job, I can't even seem to get an interview. I'm sure it's because I need a stick to walk, they must think I'm not up to it so don't bother to call back.

I've been knitting away and recently started Giant Knitting. I'm making a rug for the kitchen, that's right a rug, using tee-shirt yarn. It's pretty heavy so it's a bit of a slow process at the moment. This picture is my first attempt but I've since frogged it and started again as this one was too small, it's now twice this width.

I'm also knitting one of those retro pleated tea cosies my granny used to make and were all the rage when I was a kid, I have an awesome new china tea pot just crying out for one.

I recently went to a card making workshop run be Jill Spain of Christmas Pie Crafts which you can read all about here, and made a great card of an Art Deco train, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it I think I may have a natural flair for card making.

If you are interested in a card making workshop or booking Jill for a session then drop her an email christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com 
It was a lot of fun and she is a great teacher.

So that concludes what I've been up to the last couple of months, seems like an absolute age since I last wrote a proper blog post, instead of cheating and posting pictures with a few words.

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Where Has The Time Gone?

It seems like an age since I last updated here, although I have managed to keep up with my photography posts and Badger Boo's posts The time is flying by and Retirement is good, I'm getting loads done, I've even caught up with the dreaded pile of ironing that has been bugging me for the last 18 months.

 I've come to realise that it was my job that was causing me the most of the problems in my life. So in fact they have done me a huge favour. I really miss the people and interaction, but the freedom I have now is amazing!

My house is now reasonably tidy, I've done a huge amount of de-cluttering and cleaning. I walk Badger Boo every most days now, and we have been having some great fun in the snow. Boy was I glad that I didn't have to drive to work in that this year.

I have completed several knitting projects and have started some new ones. The best one is:-  Himself's daughter  asked me to knit a little cardigan for her daughter, which is turning out to be quite a challenge as it's so small, I'm used to knitting stuff for myself the size of a 12x12 tent! The stitch is so pretty, personally I think it would look nicer in a cream or white, but she asked for pink so pink it is.

I now volunteer twice a week at The British Heart Foundation Charity shop which is great fun but jolly hard work, I have been sorting out the donations and it is pretty manual work, so by the time I leave I'm shattered but in a good way.

I've started a lunchtime knitting/social group in my local area, meeting weekly on a Wednesday from 1130 until 1430 details can be found here, and there is also a facebook group for it too. The numbers are small at the moment, but hopefully as time passes and word gets around we will grow.

So now, instead of there just being chinks of light in my life, it feels like somebody has ripped open the curtains, and the light is flooding in. I'm still in a lot of pain, but at least now I can take it easy when I need too, and get up and go when I want too. 

Life is good now, the diet has slipped a bit lately and I daren't stand on the scales, but who cares? I don't at the moment, maybe next week I'll knuckle down to it again, watch this space...

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Now Panic and Freak Out

Only two and a half more shifts to go at work and next Wednesday I officially become a retired person Eekk!

 I'm only 47 years old, but they say I'm not fit enough to work there anymore so that will be that.

It has been quite an emotional week.

 Because of the way the shift system works I had to start saying my goodbyes this week, as I won't get to say my goodbyes to some of the wonderful people I have worked with over the last 13 years as they will be on rest days next week. 

Mind you there are some people I'm so glad I will never have to set eyes on or make polite conversation with ever again. Luckily they are only a small percentage of the workforce, most of the people there are brilliant and have been great to work with. Several I consider to be very good friends and I really hope we keep in contact after I leave.

So what will I do with myself?

I have absolutely no chuffin' idea!

Regular readers of this blog will know how much I have fought against this retirement decision, but to be honest I have got to the point now where I'm actually starting to look forward to it.

Love the title of this little book of quotations and thought it very apt lol

My job has kept me clean and sober for 13 of the 15 years since I cleaned up my act and stopped wasting my life. It's not always been easy, I deeply regret the years I wasted staring into the bottom of a Whiskey bottle and being estranged from my son, but I stuck with it and now we have a proper relationship again, and just because I will have time on my hands soon I intend to continue to remain clean and sober.

I love my job but as one door closes another one opens, well hopefully it will after Christmas as I will need to find myself a part time job to support myself **gulp**

A couple of weeks ago I knuckled back down to a healthy eating plan again, I really hate the word diet, I had worked so hard to lose over 7 even stone in 2010/11 and although I haven't put any weight back on, I am still a fatty with rubbish knees who needs to lose another 80 pounds. You can check out my weight loss story here, but I warn you the first picture is truly horrendous!

I've put a weight lose tracker on the left hand side of my blog under the Archive, because if I do it publicly I'm hoping it will keep me on track.  This is what it looks like (see little dog below) and as you can see I have lost 8lbs already, only another 72 to go.

I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time with my family, friends and of course my little dog Badger Boo plus spending time doing things that I enjoy, as for the last couple of years my life has just been work and sleep as I'm always so exhausted.

Through this blog I have had some wonderful support from people I have never even met, plus made some really good friends. I don't know what the future holds but rest assured I will be keeping you  all updated.

Vets, Vets, Physio and Jumpers

Last week we thought Badger Boo had a stroke which was our Vets diagnosis, he was very ill and it resulted in a referral trip to Fitzpatricks, better known as the Bionic Vet. 

What an amazing place, luckily for us it is quite near to where we live, but people travel across the country to attend this amazing practice.

We were told by our vet he would need an MRI scan to determine whether or not he had had a stroke, luckily for my purse after the most in depth examination it was decided it wasn't a stroke as he was showing none of the usual signs.

We saw Dr Tim, and after checking Badgers reflexes and bending him in all sorts of directions **none of which he minded I might add** a quick look in his ear found the source of the problem. 

It was a GRASS SEED! It  had caused a middle ear infection affecting his balance. To say that was an expensive and embarrassing experience is an understatement, thankfully we didn't have to have the humiliation of the MRI too.

My Brain is Mush

I'm so behind on my blogging it's driving me crazy, I want to write  more in-depth individual reviews about the places we visited on the Isle of Wight on our holiday, as I have some amazing pictures and videos.

I had plans to do an ongoing post about the allotment and how it's growing, I've not even started that one yet and it's nearly Autumn now, so that will have to wait for next year.

I really want to do a review of the Sculpture Park in Churt as it's an amazing place, again I have some amazing pictures of the sculptures. Badger Boo has written his, which can be viewed here although his view of the world is slightly different from the rest of us.

Finger Physio Overload

I've been knitting like a mad thing over the last few weeks to try and get my jumper finished.

I took up knitting again as I was in serious need of some finger physio as I have Arthrits in my hands. To say things didn't go well at the start is an understatement and you can read about that little trauma here.

The pattern was simple enough knit four purl two, then the next row was purl four knit two, these two little stitches made quite an impressive pattern I thought.

Looks a lot more complicated than it is...

Cabin Fever

As I enter week two of being signed off work I am totally bored to tears! Being off work is not good for me, my back feels worse and I can feel my knee's seizing up a bit more as each day pass's.

I need to keep active both mentally and physically, and I'm so frustrated with my restrictions at the moment. Went food shopping with Himself yesterday, which was the first time I'd set foot out of the house since last Monday when I bumped into Lesley aka the  Mad Dog Woman of Shackleford.

Luckily I'm the sort of person that is happy with the peace and quite of my own company, I'm usually fairly adept at keeping myself occupied, plus I also had the delightful Badger Boo to keep me entertained, although he's still going out with his Dog Walker daily, as I think it would be unfair to keep him confined as well.

The Jumper Update

Things are going well with the jumper at the moment I'm happy to report, although it is a very slow process as I can only do it when my hands feel up to it.

Getting somewhere at last

As you can see the pattern is finally taking shape, I'm very please with it I have to say.

It's amazing what you can achieve with two simple little stitches,

and when I put them in the right places lol!

I've had to stop knitting the front, as it has the odd mistake, and it will now become the back of my jumper.

I have started the front again, hopefully this will be perfect, I can live with mistakes on the back, but not on the front when I will be able to see them all the time. They are only very small mistakes, but they will bug me if I can see them.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder  (O.C.D.) is a bugger like that!!!

I won't let it beat me I will get this Jumper finished...

A Strange Week

I have had the strangest week.

Monday:-  I made what has become the normal round of phone calls, trying to find out what the heck is going on with my job!

Tuesday:-  My back and neck were agony, so had to come home from work early and go to the Doctors, she thinks I may have a spur on my  neck trapping the nerves and making my hands feel all numb and tingly, so need an x-ray doing for that. In fact just remembered, I've still not phoned to make an appointment.

Wednesday:-  What a grotty day at work, with my back still playing up and I was trying to keep my temper as best I could, as a

So Not Impressed

Finally decided I was brave enough to start knitting myself a jumper. Found a pattern I liked, purchased the wool and needles, now I  had everything I needed and was ready for the off.

End of One, Start of Another

Today I finished the small bag I've been knitting, not sure of it's use yet, but I saw it in a magazine, and wanted to try out the bows on the front, I'm very pleased with the result.

It's slightly smaller than I thought it would be, but I'm sure I'll find a use for it, you can never have too many bags!

I then went to Hobbycraft in Woking to get myself some new wool
for my next project. I'm actually going to try knit myself a jumper at last. I think I've had enough practice at learning to understand how to read a pattern now.

Badger Boo's 'kerchief

I brought several magazines this week to see if I could find a simple pattern to knit. In one I found a lovely shawl/scarf in two colours and decided this project was for me.

Of course me being me, decided to do it in three colours, as red, blue and yellow are the R.E.M.E colours. Himself was in the R.E.M.E for 22 years so thought he appreciate my efforts.

I've never had to knit with two balls of wool, let alone three and I was getting into a terrible tangle!

I'd been at it for about two hours and was pleased with how the colours were working out, but getting very frustrated by this time, having to untangle the wool every few minutes. There is probably
an easier way to do it than I was doing, but I don't know about it!

So I decided to have a break and update Badgers facebook group, I was reading a comment from one of his good friends Finnegan who is a Service Dog in America, he has a very trendy and extensive wardrobe. 

My First Project

Didn't know what to make for my first project as I'm not very good at reading the patterns yet, so I wanted to do something easy.

Found a pattern for some simple gloves, had enough wool, but oh I didn't have the right needles.

Surely using 6mm needles instead of 5mm wont make that much difference, will it? 

Worked out the tension, but didn't really understand it, and I got started.

A few hours later I was sewing up my right glove to finish it, feeling  very proud of myself, and then I tried it on.

Only to find it would have fitted Goliath, it was massive!