New Year Sale - 15% off at Sooz Beads

Just a quick posting to let my bead customers know that I'm having a sale in my Sooz Beads Etsy shop, there's 15% off for two or more bead sets. Use voucher NEWYEAR15 at check out to get your discount.

It's only for this weekend though, the offer expires on Monday so you need to be quick!

A Happy New Year to all my blog readers, I wish you, peace, health, happiness and prosperity.

xxxx

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.