E stands for ....?

Since it snowed here on Friday night, the temperature has barely been above freezing and we've needed the central heating on quite a bit except for when we get the wood burner going in the evenings. Last night was the coldest of the winter so far and its been feeling decidedly frosty in the house all morning. The central heating didn't seem to be coping, we were still feeling chilly after it had been on for a couple of hours. 

DH set off in investigation mode and started going from room to room bleeding all the radiators as they didn't seem to be getting very hot, turning all the individual thermostats up, shaking his head and looking puzzled.  

Then we looked at the boiler settings and it's on E ... who put it on that (not me!!) So I ask DH, had he been fiddling with the boiler settings and he admitted he had "turned it up" yesterday afternoon. "So what do you think E stands for darling?" "Um .... excellent? Excessively hot ..." he flounders. It stands for ECONOMY Mr Numpty! 

I think he does have a point in thinking that E is hotter than 5 as it is inbetween 5 and Max but there's a reason we keep the manual right beside the boiler ...

Festive fun

Happy Christmas to all my blog readers!

I hope everyone is having as much festive fun as my little dog, Missy, 

here she is with one of her many Christmas presents

xxxx

Spiral rainbow crochet blanket (or afghans as some people call them)

Being stuck with my leg on a cushion for the past week has meant I've had time to get started on a new project. It's going to be a rainbow blanket made up of these crocheted spiral circles each made with three different colours. The above photograph shows the colours that I've picked, I need quite a few more than the ones in the pic!

These colourful circles are going to be turned into hexagons using a couple of rows of shaping in black and then sewn altogether. Piled up like this, I thought they looked like colourful pancakes, DH thinks they look more like poppadoms, he was about to start cooking a fish curry at the time so I guess the imagery is understandable.

I've started a project for it in my Ravelry account, I'll be adding the yarn and colours I've used in there when I get a chance and I'll also write it up as a free pattern. For now, I've been sitting normally for too long and my shin is complaining so I'm going to put my leg up and get going on crocheting some more.

When I started on this, the weather was really grey and dreary and I was fed up of sitting still, the colours really helped lift my mood, I hope these pics do the same for you!

Heart versus head

Since my Consultant appointment earlier in the week, I've been measuring my calf around where the worst bit of my injury is to see if it's getting any bigger. Unfortunately it's been increasing by a couple of millimetres every day but today is the first it has stayed the same as yesterday - I'm taking that as a huge positive. We won't discuss Thursday's negativity, inability to get on with the dining room curtains or do any housework. It hurt when I walked, it hurt when I sat down normally with feet on the floor, it really hurt when I stood still for more than a minute; it seemed that I would never get to the Rival Sons concert on Saturday night. I sat with my leg painfree on a cushion admiring the day's socks, I crocheted a good deal and I sulked alot. 

On Friday, I was walking a little better, I could even stand up for long enough to make a sandwich without my shin screaming at me. Maybe just maybe ...

So last night we talked about skipping the customary pre-concert drinks, skipping the support act and just turning up at around 9pm for the main act. So what if it puts me back a bit .... it's not very rock 'n roll sitting at home with your leg on a cushion whilst one of the best newish rock acts are playing at a great venue less than an hour's drive away.  Call yourself a rock chick? I can stand at the back for an hour and a half with one of Geoff's old crutches from when he had his operation and if it gets too painful, we can admit defeat but at least we tried.

This morning, with the evidence on the tape measure that the bleeding has really stopped and my leg may finally be getting better .... do I want to put that at risk? My heart is telling me go out in a haze of rock and painkiller-induced stupour and hang the consequences - I can always grow a new leg ... oh no, that's newts isn't it ... but my head (and my everloving husband) tells me it isn't worth it, that there will be other concerts and I should look after my health first. I really hate it when my head is right. 

Socks of the day

Still laid up with my leg I'm afraid, I have had lots of messages praising my hand knitted socks and so I've taken another picture of the ones I have on today. Every nurse who has seen a pair of my knitted socks has complimented me on them, maybe I should have a "sock of the day" posting during my recuperation!

I went to have a follow up visit to the Consultant yesterday. It was a really frosty day here in Lincolnshire and the fracture clinic was packed with people who had fallen over on icy pavements so even though I had an appointment, we were late getting in to see him

There's a lump underneath the worst bit, the Consultant says it is internal bleeding, there's no way of knowing if it has stopped apparently; it won't start to get better til it has. For the last week, it's been about the same, pain free when it's on a cushion being elevated by the coffee table but it's sore when I put weight on it. For now, the Consultant advises me to rest it up, wiggle my toes and rotate my foot to keep blood circulating and my body should re-absorb the blood. I'm hoping it will start to improve sometime soon.

So that's the bad news; the good news is that I've been doing lots of crocheting and my ripple blanket is finished. Here it is draped over a chair in the lounge. It's not really the right colours for the lounge, I would've used a more restricted colour pallet (like those I used for the rocking chair cushion covers  which you can see in the background of the photo of my feet). This one is destined to be a picnic blanket and for emergencies to snuggle under if the heating goes kaput!

We've got tickets to go see Rival Sons this coming Saturday. We've had them for months and both of us were really looking forward to going, it's very rare to get to see a big band like Rival Sons at anything other than a stadium these days so to see them in a relatively small venue would be a real treat. The Blues Pills are supporting and by all accounts, they're really good. Another plus is that we're meeting up with an old friend we haven't seen socially for some time and it would be great to catch up with him and his family. The Consultant says it's up to me if I go to it if I think I can manage all the standing. I'm thinking it's a bit doubtful but I'm not giving up It's still three more days til Saturday so ......... COME ON YOU LEG!

Laid up

So, my other half gets lucrative new six month contract starting 1 December but means less home working and more travelling to and from the office and site. What should a supportive wife do ... offers to take on more of the cooking, laundry and dog walking duties? Well sure, I can do that but then I get myself injured on Sunday, unable to walk, thinking it'll be fine in the morning but by bedtime looks so bad we spend Sunday evening in A&E getting x-rays and talking about the possibility of acute compartment sydrome along with blood clots. I had to talk myself out of being admitted by promising to go back during the night if a certain symptom arose and I had to promise to come back for a follow up appointment first thing in the morning no matter what (on day one of said new contract). I spent £34 on taxis taking me back to hospital yesterday morning.

Happily, they told me the injury is now safe from compartmenting but the more I rest it, the quicker it will heal. The photograph shows what I'm doing today ... finishing my crochet blanket whilst watching Dr Who DVDs (first series with Christopher Eccleston).

Just call me supporto-gal!

So so sorry to my wonderful husband who is looking after me by working from home today. Love you loads xx

I'm not exactly sure when I'll be able to get back into the studio to make more beads but it might not be until close to the latest posting date for the USA so if any of you want any of the existing stock from the shop before Christmas, better order now from my Etsy shop. I'm still sending out packages courtesy of my most wonderful husband. So sorry for any inconvenience.