Sunday 10 March 2024

A New Arrival

 

Thank you for all the lovely Comments in my last post, it's been a while since I have even been able to visit this little space of mine so some of your comments have just been published I love and appreciate each and every one.๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ˜˜

It's been a very busy few weeks but I'm happy to announce the arrival of Grandson number three little Louis, he was born on the 29th February so he's a leap year baby, his Daddy is a Christmas day baby and his brother little Mikey has his birthday on the same day as my brother. It's strange how things work out and how the same numbers seem to crop up in families time and time again, have you noticed it in yours?

Anyway I digress, little Louis is as sweet as can be but his poor mummy had quite a time of it, three days in labour! she was sent home from the hospital on two consecutive nights and  on the third she delivered right in the middle of them giving her an epidural so no pain relief! I feel so sorry for us woman I really do the things we have to put up with! 

I stayed with them to look after Mikey the days leading up to the birth and we went into the hospital the morning after he was born so that Mikey could say hello to his new little brother, I was struck at how things have changed for the worse in the six years since Mikey was born, it's so obvious that the NHS is under strain with staff shortages in all departments Midwifery being one of the worst area's affected.  I could go on, as a retired midwife/nurse it's very sad to see.

This is really just a short post to let you know that I am still around but quite busy with family stuff.  I have my MRI scan today to see if it sheds any light on the tingling/numb sensations in my head and face and it's bang in the middle of Mother's day so there won't be much celebrating going on haha.

I'll leave you with some photos and hopefully things will get back to normal very soon.๐Ÿ˜Š


Just a Few hours old


First hug from big brother Mikey


First outing big brother Mikey's baby blanket made six years ago by Grandma still looks new



This is baby Julian now five months old, showing off his first two teeth, they have just come through much to the relief of mammy and daddy 



Julian loves playing with his Lovey toy, now grandma is going to have to make one for cousin Louis too.

I have started knitting another pair of socks for my Lip Reading teacher Anne 


The making of Easter Chicks still goes on, these were made with a crochet square so easy to make. 





Progress is very slow but I'm enjoying the process.


Happy Mother's Day to all who are celebrating! ๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ˜˜


Linking with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching









Sunday 18 February 2024

Another Finish , Flowers, Rabbits, Chicks & New Yarn!

 Thank you for all your well wishes last week they are very much appreciated.  Nothing has moved forward regarding the MRI scan. I did pop into the GP surgery to make sure that the referral had gone out and the receptionist assures me that it has, I will give it until next week and then I will call the MRI department and ask there. The tingling  sensation in my head and face continues but mostly when I'm using my phone, I have hardly used it this week and when I do I hold it at arms length, if I have to make a call I will use my hands free and push the phone as far away from me as I can.

I'm pleased to say that my teeth have settled down after their brutal attack at the dentist, I have an appointment to have the new crowns cemented in next Thursday but I think that should be straight forward. ๐Ÿคž๐Ÿคž

Kevin's Socks Ta daa!!!

What can I say, I'm worried in case they will be too big, I hope not.  I didn't enjoy knitting the stripes and won't be knitting anymore stripy socks in the future.  These socks are in no way perfect but then I have yet to knit a perfect sock. I'm just pleased that Kevin will have them in time for his birthday. I will let you know his reaction.

Stats


I used two 50 gram balls of each colour of this yarn and I have still got lots left over. I washed and blocked them and I'm so glad that I did because the colours ran, I rinsed them until the water was clear and I'm hoping that the colour won't run in the second wash. I did use a touch of fabric conditioner in the final rinse and they are lovely and soft and smell divine. ๐Ÿ˜Š

New Yarn!

Can you remember Teds Poncho back here, well as a thank you Ted gave me a gift voucher to use in a yarn store, this one in fact. (wow it's ten years since I wrote that post and the shop will have been there more than 51 years now!) 

I made the journey last Friday and came away with this. Four balls of lovely sock yarn and it only cost me 78p! Thank you Ted. ๐Ÿ˜˜

When the ladies in my LIp Reading class heard I was making socks for Kevin they all said, make me some! and so I made each one of them draw around one of their feet and measure the width, then I asked them to write down their favourite colours. The plan is to make these slowly through the year and present them with them at Christmas. I think I can safely call this the year of the sock. 

Chicks and Such

Now every year at this time, various charities ask for knitted chicks and rabbits to sell to boost funds, in fact my Easter Chick Pattern is usually right at the top of the list from January well past Easter.  I always feel obliged to make some but because I have made so many in the past I find it a bit of a chore.  This is my meagre contribution for Macmillan this year.  I did do a post on our u3a website asking our members to make some if they wanted and I added my pattern along with some others and hopefully the ladies from my crochet group will make some  too, every single one counts right?


I tried to make bunnies this time but I'm not that impressed with my efforts I gave up after three. 

Flowers

As I mentioned in a previous post the lovely Pamela from the u3a Knicky Knack Knitters group is always on a mission to brighten up and add colour and cheer to our Marina and Train station.  This time it's the turn of the station the theme being Spring, as you know I have made a few butterflies here and now have thrown these simple flowers into the mix, a great way to use up scraps and an ideal flower to teach any new members in my crochet group on Monday, I'll take lots of colourful scraps of yarn and we should have a whole heap of flowers at the end of the session.


Year Of Woodland Flowers Embroidery

Stems all finished and I'm looking forward to sewing the daisy this afternoon.


We are patiently awaiting the arrival of grandson number three he's due to arrive on the 19th so it could be anytime now๐Ÿค—

What are you up to today? whatever it is I hope that you have a peaceful Sunday. ๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ˜˜

The sun is shining today and the Spring Bulbs are making an appearance. ๐Ÿ˜Š


Linking with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

Sunday 11 February 2024

Health News and A Finish!

 Two weeks have flown by in the blink of an eye, where does the time go? almost half way through February already.  As usual it's been a busy and quite a stressful two weeks because of family health issues. For regular readers of my blog you will remember I was sent to A&E last October with tingling and numbness down the left side of my head and face, I was told back then that it wasn't stroke related but I needed to see my GP, then I had Covid and I thought it was related to that, but it has never completely gone away and now the symptoms are there all the time.  After several attempts to see a GP I managed to see a Nurse Practitioner and she has referred me for an MRI, that was two weeks ago and I have no idea when I will get an appointment.

I have noticed that the sensation gets markedly worse when I'm using my phone or tablet and decided to do a bit of research on the effects of radiation from mobile phones. There's a lot of material out there and none of it is that reassuring, each mobile phone has it's own SAR rating all of which have to comply with health standards but some of them have quite high ratings even some of the most popular expensive phones. 

I am now limiting my mobile phone use, I admit to using it far too much in the past, I'm always looking things up on google, searching for patterns and anything and everything that takes my fancy and I have to say it's not easy to stop, we get addicted. If I, an old lady can get addicted just think what this is doing to the younger generation, think of how much SAR they will be exposed to over their lifetime.

I'm going to stop there it's a huge subject and it's quite scary when you get into it. I'm hoping that they will find nothing too serious when they eventually do their investigations. 

I had an awful dental experience at the beginning of the week too, the removal of two dental crowns, what an experience! those crowns were stuck down really hard and there was a lot of drilling, prising,pulling and tugging going on. I emerged from that Dental practise after nearly two hours of what I can only call hell๐Ÿ˜ซ  I was a quivering mess, thank goodness a friend took me and was there waiting outside to take me home. It took me ages to recover, I have to go back in two weeks for the new crowns but I'm hoping that will be a straight forward experience. 

That was just me, another younger family member has received some very worrying news which will necessitate some quite serious surgery so we are all very concerned as you can imagine.

ON TO BRIGHTER THINGS

My lovely daughter-in-law is due to have her baby on the 19th of this month so we are all excited about that.  I managed to finish the baby onsie




and made some tiny bits and pieces to go with it


Made in white to go with the toggles on the onsie

and these cute booties in the same colour.



Stats -  the onsie pattern was made with Stylecraft Special Aran colour Duck Egg it took almost 400 grams  and you can find the tutorial here

The hat, mittens and booties were all knitted and the free patterns can be found on the lovely Marianna's Lazy Daisy Days Blog  She has a wealth of patterns on there and it's my to go to place for any baby knitting that I do. 

The Socks


I know they look a mess at the moment but they are nearly done, I will complete them this week and have a lovely photo to show you once they are all washed and blocked.

The Embroidery

Yes there has to be some time set aside for embroidery, it's so soothing to sit there and slowly sew one stitch at a time, I'm really enjoying sewing my love heart and that's what I intend to do today along with some sock knitting of course.


I hope that you all have a peaceful Sunday๐Ÿ˜˜๐Ÿ˜˜


Linking with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching