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.

Here ... have a kiss!

After days and days of cloudy dull and damp, drizzly rain, heavier rain and mizzle, finally we awake to a lovely clear autumn day. I had my breakfast this morning looking through the kitchen window and smiling at this lovely kiss in the sky that travellers to far away places left for me.

However, winter's breath is not far away ...

This was the first time frost has reached the roof of my beadmaking studio.

Seven degrees on my kiln as I turned it on is the coldest we've seen so far this season but the compensations are the lovely colour the beech has gone.

The willow hasn't quite finished shedding yet ... that's my excuse for not raking up the leaves and I'm sticking to it!

Little crochet project and hall update

I like to have a few projects on the go at a time when I'm in a manic knitting or crochet streak (crochet at the moment!) The blanket is still continuing to grow but I just finished this little tablecloth and doily for my partly redecorated hallway.

I still have to rub down and undercoat the doors and there's some filling to be done around one of the light switches, two light individual switches have been converted to a single with two switches so I'm having to build that up in layers. I'll do a photograph of the other end of the hallway when that's finished!

At the moment, finishing the hallway decoration is having to wait because we have ordered a carpet for the dining room. It's being fitted on Friday so we're all hands to the deck to get everything as finished as we can before then!

To do list:

• Rub down the door
• Undercoat door
• Gloss architrave and door
• Tiling to fireplace
• Put up curtain pelmet
• Make curtains
• Shelf over fireplace
• Wiring up new sockets
• Fix telephone socket to wall
• Buy new light fitting and get it fixed
• Touch up ceiling where masking tape to get a nice clean line has pulled some paint off
• Fix pre-made bookcases into alcoves (not arrived yet but ordered)
• Clear all the furniture out before fitter arrives

Some of these like making curtains and the shelf over the fireplace and probably some of the others are definitely not going to get done by Friday but those can be done after the carpet ... I'd better get on with the rest of the jobs I'm down for!

Dusty Springfield has made me breathless

I'm a music lover, I really like music, my favourite kinds are rock and blues but I listen to other kinds as well (not rap, NEVER rap). I listen to Planet Rock quite a bit when I'm beadmaking and have it on when I'm in the kitchen cooking. On Thursday nights at 7pm, they have a brilliant show called Blues Power hosted by the urbane, stylish and most wonderful Bernard Doherty. It's only an hour and we listen in every week. He's always asking for suggestions from listeneners and so Geoff and I sent some in. We were thrilled last night when he played some Shuggi Otis as we asked for and mentioned our names!

Well obviously, after such a momentous occasion, we had to celebrate and both of us drank rather too much red wine. Later, I put the TV on because there was a programme I wanted to see (which I cannot recall now) and soon afterwards fell asleep. I awoke to see Dusty Springfield on, she has such a wonderful voice, I was transfixed and had to watch the rest of the programme. I remember really liking Son of a Preacher Man and was hoping she would sing it but perhaps it was on earlier (before I woke up!)

First thing this morning, I downloaded it onto my MP3 player along wth 5 other of her songs. Whilst I was working in my studio, I played them 4 times straight one after the other other singing along at the top of my voice. There's not much of a musical interlude in any of the songs and they're all quite short but she sings practically all of the time. I suddenly felt dizzy and I realised this was because I wasn't breathing properly.

"Dusty Springfield has made me breathless" is a phrase I never thought I would mutter to my husband when he asked me why I was so pale. A cup of tea made me feel better but perhaps I'd better stick to listening to rock and blues from now on!