Bye Bye We're moving

Just to say for the new year I have swapped blog servers to word press to see if I get on any better with it so you can find me here

http://nickerjac.wordpress.com/

Hopefully I'll see you over there

hi 3

I also got some other lovely gifts, Andys son got me a meditation set (he knows me far to well) and Jacinta sent me some beautiful fibre to spin from the Fiber Factoryhttp://www.fiberfactory.com I did attempt to take a picture of it but the light here has been so dull it doesn't show up very well but it is a beautiful mix of Merino and Silk in tones of Charcol, hopefully when I have had a chance to spin some up it will photograph better.
And finallt my best present ever ever, this is a picture if the scrapbook journal that Andy made for me, it shows our relationship frpm the begiining to know with pictures an everything, I am not going to share whats inside as its personal but I will say that it made me cry on Christmas morning no just because of what it depicts but because how much it must of taken Andy to do as he is always telling me craft isn't his thing but this proved hime very wrong, I can now answer the questions what would you rescue if the house was burning after all the animals and people are out :)

Hi 2

In the end we had a nice peaceful Christmas as in the end Dad was only released for 24hrs this took most of Christmas Eve to resolve which meant Christmas Eve itself was a bit mad and in the end my brother came up trumps and got a lot of my fresh food shopping whilst he brought his which he brought to the hospital for me. Dad finally got released on Christmas morning so I couldn't help my brother even if I wanted to so I spent Christmas Eve up at the hospital before returning home and spending two peaceful days at home with Andy and Womble. And yes I didn't get dressed all day it was great. We slept late and got up and had a full English breakfast at about half ten ( real treat for us) and then ate our christmas dinner around 6pm with us sharing the cooking duties, womble even had a little Turkey.
The flower cube in the picture is one of my brothers presents that he manages to find each year this one is solar powered and sways backwards and forwards (you may remember the singing cubes last year).

Hi 1

Ok I am sorry this is going to be a very bitty entry as I don't want to write yet another long entry and lose it.
So I am starting with this wonderful Parcel from SP that arrived this morning she has been a great SP in this Christmas themed selection. We have a copy of Knit It which not only has some real cute baby patterns in them but also a Cat Bohrdi Interview and a pattern for one of her mobieous bags. There are two types of 'Peanuts' Hot Choclate, some fun tissues, a cute ornament for our tree next year, some sweeties not all of which survived for the photo shoot and a really cute family pic :)

survived

I have just spent two hours updating Picasa and Blogger to put up an entry which it seems to have eaten so just a quick note to say Christmas was good if a little strange and I will try and put up another entry later.
Oh and the pic is of my fav present

Thanks and Good Wishes

I am doing a little better today as have spent a restful day at work not to busy so just had a chance to sit and knit for a while and just pretend for two minutes I had a normal life.
Things are slightly better, my brother has managed to borrow a wheelchair from work and the hospital has said it will leave a cammod in his room for us to take with him, I have decided all I can do is go over tomorrow afternoon and stay at home with him for a couple of hours whilst Andrew goes out to something he had already arranged, I have to head back by about five to make sure I get that last train. I am trying not to feel guilty about it and really appreciate all the support people who read have given me. I am going to try and spend at least a guilt free day at home on Christmas day, I have to say spending the whole day in my nghtie sounds like luxury at the moment. I still have to finish the shopping, nothing is wrapped I need to clean the kitchen (in the dark as the light switch broke) so I feel a late night coming on.
I have also decided for the christmas week I am going to cast on something new not sure what yet maybe something from the Happy Hooker which Michelle and Nathelie gave me for Christmas we will see, that is going to be my present for myself.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and a fantastic New Year

Warning Rant and Rave

I am sorry that this post won't have a single piece of knitting in it and I can't even put up a pretty picture but that is another whole subject.
What has got you so wound up you ask yourself well where to start. I have been feeling really crappy over the last couple of days which has made all the christmas things i was behind on doing even further behind but this morning even though I don't feel great I felt a little better so was going to get a few things done and go off and visit dad. Doesn't matter too much about the germs there as he is in isolation gloves aprons and everything . So I just called dad to let him know but also to check out what the doctor had said that morning about him coming out for christmas dinner. We had it all worked out, we had found someone who would come and get him and return him with a car that is high enough that he won't have any problem to get in and out of. We had checked the resturant for wheelchair access and disabled toilet, all fine no problem.
So when dad rang me back. he never hears the phone first time, to tell me they are letting him out from Christmas eve to Boxing day, now he is very excited, and yes it is wonderful there are just one or two problems. The furthest my Dad has walked in the last six weeks is about two metres, they won't supply us with a wheelchair, not even if we leave a deposit, they have given us a list of rental places but it is two days before christmas, Andrew is at work all day and I am in Romford and the closest place is brentford which is closing early for the holidays. The best bit is Dads home is a house and the bathroom is upstairs, the hospital has offered to lend us a Kamod (not sure how to spell this) but may not be able to drop it off before christmas.
I have to say that I am just so angry, if they had even hinted that this was a possibility we would have been more organised about it, in fact the doctor at the beginning of the week said that there was no chance of this happening.
I guess part if the anger is that I am torn in two a bit as I can't get there christmas and there isn't really the option of us staying over with the dog with the cats and I am not sure I could do that to Andy anyway as it is also his grand daughters birthday and obviousley our first christmas together, but I alsoo remember what it is like looking after someone that way as it was just what I was doing two years ago with Robin and feel bad that Andrew is being left to it.
I think I am just having one of those weeks where it is one thing after another and I don't seem to be able to ever get on top of everything.

Sorry more doggie Pics

I could just about get blogger to accept these two pics before it stopeed so no lovely picture of the lovely handmade card that Liz sent me or the little giftie from Jan but you do get to see more of womble, this was earlier in the week when we couldn't get her further that the front gate but the good news tonight is that she managed to get all the way down to the park.
Besides the wonderful womble we have had a bit of a stressful week not helped by me not feeling the best just a bit of a cold I think. Dad has also had to have another couple of Ops and I have to say that christmas cards have gone completely out of the window in fact trying to work out when I am going to go and do the food shopping.
To answer a few more questions about womble, no she wasn't a early christmas present, we have had our name down at a local animal rescue centre for a while as we knew that when we got a house one of the things we wanted was a dog. We were kind of expecting either a dog after christmas , an unwanted gift say or an older dog so it was at very short notice that we had the call from Sarah as Womble had been staying in a foster home with her sister but was starting to misbehave due to lack of attention as there were a couple of other dogs in the house so they wanted to stop that before it even started. The only problem that the original owners seemed to have caused is that she was overfed so is now on a very strict diet.
She is wonderful but very active and the only traits she seems to have of a staff is a very powerful jaw as she goes through dog toys and bones at a rate of knots.
Knitting wise very little going on at the moment, have been eying up a few things on the new Knitty and have just recieved my Proud to be Crafty zine from Lixie and might tackle some crochet flowers tonight. 

And Then There Was Three

Let me introduce you to the newest member of our household this is Womble, she is just sixteen weeks old and is a cross between a staff and a collie and is absolutely adorable. 

I have good friends

Aren't these wonderful Lixie sent me a present of an ATC file with holders (my latest addiction) but best of all it included these ATC's, they are so much better than anything I could produce they are a series of three called Nic and they are wonderful. It really helped to cheer me up as we found out yesterday that dad has tohave another operation today, I tink that makes it number five in less than a month, he has now been in hospital for at least six weeks and is quite depressed which is quite hard going for me to, I am managing to restrict my visiting to about three times a week but it does wipe out whole days as it is a six hour round journey straight across london so it is also the worst journey I can imagine with thousands of people squashed into all the public transport no matter what time of day I go. I also think I am going to miss the secret santa this week at Liberty as I just can't face going into town another day.
House wise we are still desperatley trying to unpack but it seems to be taking forever and I think our christmas isn't going to be quite the one I had imagined this year as of yet not a single christmas deceration and not a card written, so apologies now in advance about cards am going to do my best but I wouldn't hold my breathe, this is of course not helpes bythe fact that I have lost my address book!!!!
Knitting wise, the dish cloth craze continues but that is about it, although very tempted by several patterns on the new Knitty as well as the colours in the mission falls wool that has just arrived at stash. 

One Word Meme

No Exceptions and no cheating I borrowed this from over at Annarellas Blog

Your Boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse):- Andy
Your hair :- Knotty
Your Mother:- Challenging
Your Father :- Ill
Your favourite item :- memories
Your dream last night:- unmemorable
Your favourite drink :- Tea
Your dream car :- Jeep
The room you are in :- Living room
Your Ex :- lost
Your fear :- heights
What do you want to be in 10 years? :- Happy
Who you hung out with last night?:- Andy
What you're not :- Thin
Muffins :- Apple
One of your wish list items :- Dog
Time :- Flying
The last thing you did :- Blog
What you are wearing:- Nightdress
Your favorite weather :- Crisp
Your favourite book :- Pride and Prejudice
The last thing you ate:- Chewit
Your Life:- Complicated
Your Mood :- Up
Your best friend :-fantastic
What are you thinking about right now? :- lunch
Your car:- Nonexistent
What are you doing at this moment :- Freezing
Your summer:- Transmogrifying
Your relationship status :- Taken
What is on your TV :- NTL box
What is the weather like? :- disgusting
When is the last time you laughed ? :- This Morning
Who do you tag?:- You

Secret Santa

A little late I know but we had a wonderful time on Wednesday with the knitting group at Stash when we had our christmas secret santa meeting, I got these wonderful Serendipity Needles with the beautiful daisy pattern on the end.

And the wonderful Leslie knitted us the most wonderful knitted flower brooches, they came in all different colours, I think I am going to follow Diane's example and wear them in my hair so they don't get crushed.

A lot of laughter was heard and christmas food
was eaten.

I managed to do a little christmas shopping yesterday but ended the day feeling very unwell, I think I must have eaten Nuts in something haven't quite narrowed down the suspects yet but did have a chance to pick up some more lovely tea plates this time but two of the other Meakin brothers, it is the forum pattern, can't quite work out the date from the stamp but they are a beautiful addition to my growing collection.

And finally on the knitting side I have been struck with the dishcloth bug and am half way through the third one, I have also been working
on the green jay walkers and a couple of other gift things. 

Ta-Dah

An actual finished piece of knitting, yes I know it is only a dishcloth but at the moment that is quite a thing with my lack of concentration. I have to just sew in the ends and it is already to grace my new bathroom and if nothing else makes me smile in the morning the wonderful colours in this will.

Had a great day yesterday in the shop, I got a chance to work with Diane again and the place was full of friends in the afternoon, Polly, Dawn, Jill, Zoe,Lisa popped in briefly, Lucy came in for more yarn for her clapotis and many more it is always so much fun on a Saturday. 

Look What I got

Here you go as I promised are the pictures of the wonderful parcel I got this morning.
First up here are Some of my favourite Susan Bates needles and if you look closely at the packet of needles they are all decorated like candy canes aren't they fantastic, you will see the reason for the single pair in a minute.




Underneath is The Mason Dixon Knitting book, I have been tempted for a while by this book especially with everyone knitting baby Kimonos and I know I am going to spend many happy hours reading this book.

Now if that wasn't enough there was more, there were 9 balls of Sugar'n'Cream now since I signed up for the monthly dishcloth KAL I have been coveting Sugar'n'Cream yarn and now I have
enough to make a good supply of clothes this was all topped off with a wonderful Tim Burton Card and as you can see in the final picture I have already cast on the ball band dishcloth from the book :)









A couple of links that I have been meaning to put up for a while firstly this useful Christmas Present for knitters list from Lime and Violet and the tatoo from the pic in my earlier post is from here
 

I love my SP

This is just a sneak peak of the wonderful parcel I got from my SP9 this morning I promise more pics later when I get back from the hospital but I just wanted to say a big thank you to my SP. 

And on it goes

Ok all I can say about this week is that I thought
it was as bad as it could get and then it just got
worse, so I apologise for my lack of blogging and
uncheerful entrys .

To answer the questions about the sock yarn it is Sox 4 Colour Twister from Inox the only link I can find for it is here, it has grown a little since the last post and the secret pressie has grown a little further too.

Did manage to have some fun this week when Robin taught me how to cement a stain glass window and I hope I get a chance to do some more, it was messy but very satisfying to see the final clean. No pictures of course because I forgot the camera next time I promise 

Actual Knitting Content

Look at this wonderful Lornas Laces Sock Yarn in the Cedar colour way, the picture doesn't quite show the subtelty of colour within the yarn but it has beautiful bronzes and greens and golds, I swapped this with Jan for a knitting book that I decided that although had some wonderful patterns in I was never going to knit any of them. I can't wait to work out what pattern I am going to use this for. 

She also gave me a little gift this perfect sock
yarn in greens I hadn't actually taken any
knitting with me when I went to stay at dads as I haven't felt like knitting or had the concentration levels for it but this yarn inspired me my long awaited Jay walkers for myself, I really enjoyed knitting them for my sockpalozza pal this year but I knew I had to alter the pattern slightly to make them big enough for my swollen feet and this gave me the push to cast them on, so I managed to find five needles of the right size in three different lengths but here they are so far. The yarn has a really long repeat pattern so can't wait to see what happens on the foot.
I also managed to get to the knitting group at Stash on Wenesday, ot was a nice break to catch up with everybody and went out to have lunch with them all to :) 

And finally a sneek peek at what I have just cast on, and that is all I am saying as it is a gift. 

Home sweet home

We are back at home back to a comfy bed, so dad is now on his fifth
proceedure, three under a general anesthetic, the last being this morning, and of course now he has an infection but all the doctors are quite positive.
So moving on from that, the picture is a photo of a Peter Blake piece, did anyone see the South Bank Show last Sunday wasn't it fantastic he is my kind of artist, it inspired me so much I so understand his thinking, it was wonderful to be allowed this insight. I have to admit I have seen him several times in Person where I used to work but never got up the nerve to speak to him.
I have actually done some knitting this week, more pics tomorrow and further info about some lovely things I have gained this week.
Just thought I would say that we are back and thank you for all your kind thoughts

Update

Thanks to everybody for their wonderful thoughts, just a
quick update. Not a lot of knitting I'm afraid, concentration levels not so great have cast on a couple of things but my mind is just not in the right frame for it.
Had a bit of a bad week but coming out the other side have stuck to my guns and haven't visited my Dad every day just a couple of times but unfortunately my brother has a holiday booked for next week so me and Andy are moving back to my old house to look after the cats and keep an eye on Dad so maybe off line for a little bit. We'll also be packing up the studio so anybody up for a bit of box packing is welcome:)
Unfortunately my experience so far has not made my feelings about hospitals any better, more details when I am feeling a little more objective but all I will say is that most of the problems can be traced back to money or lack of in certain parts of the NHS.
Will be at Stash on Saturday for a wonderful time of renewal. it is always great to go there and just talk about knitting and have a giggle with friends and I get the chance to caress some of the most beautiful yarns what more can anybody ask from a job :)

Hello

Another week seemed to have flown by in a blur, unfortunately most of this week has been spent either worrying or travelling to visit dad in hospital, trust me I have no sympathy for him it is all self inflicted but I do feel for my brother who is left to deal with most oof it and who had to call the ambulance this time, they will eventually stop picking him up, this time he has left a blister on his foot to become so infected they are going to have to remove a toe and part of the bone from his foot, firstly apparently my brother has been nagging him for two weeks to see a doctor and not to leave it till he couldn't stand and Andrew (my brother) couldn't get him up from the sofa on his own, plus he is a diabetic with a heart condition who doesn't look after either condition which complicates everything, so going in with a blood sugar level of an average of 17 isn't the way to go, so he is now hooked up to a drip which combines saline and insulin twenty four hours a day and on mega antibiotics being fussed over left right and centre.

If I was a little more paranoid I would say he did it on purpose as it is two weeks almost to the day when I moved out but he is out of luck I am trying really hard not to feel guilty and I am not going to visit him everyday (its a six round journey) and the only reason I am visiting so often as because I think my brrother is taking a lot of crap from him.

Don't get me wrong I love my Dad but I am not his guardian which is where I think when my nan died and he was sole carer of us the lines got a little blurred as to who was looking after who.

So I am off to visit him this afternoon and rather than come all the way back here to get back to Putney in the morning I am going to sleep over at my Dad's place so will be off line for a couple of days. 

Some proper blogging

Ok now for some proper blogging, A lot has been happening over the last couple of weeks beside the move firstly as you can tell from the picture we had Louisa Harding visiting the shop on Saturday and we had a great turn out, check out the pic on Michelles blog to see how crowded the store gets, I also finally got to meet Diane as we got to work together for the first time.
It was a great day, I love working there on the saturday, especially now that I found a better route to get there, I get to see a lot of friends who love to knit its fantastic. I am teaching again this Saturday which is always fun, this time its is the beginners and the beyond the basics class.
We have also been to see Andy's son in laws bands, yes I do mean bands, play at The Cheery Tree back near where we used to live, it was a great night A13 played first followed by Black tooth a covers band, it was a long smokey night but great fun.
Unfortunately I heard from my brother last night that dad had gone into hospital with some sort of foot infection, apparently my brother has been nagging him for a couple of weeks to go and get his foot checked out until basically he couldn't walk. I am waiting to hear further news this morning. 

Just a quick meme

I loved this over on Spitting Yarn as its a little different

1. Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?
"A keen fan of Hank Marvin & The Shadows, Iommi, who has held down a variety of jobs whilst trying to pursue his musical career, had once worked on a cutting machine at a sheet metal factory. On his last day in the job, just three years earlier, an accident had left him without the tips to two fingers on his right hand........" from Rat Salad Black Sabbath the Classic Years 1969 to 1975 by Paul Wilkinson

2. If you stretch out your left arm - as far as possible, what are you touching?
The door to the kitchen if I really leant out to the left

3. What’s the last program you watched on tv?
Unfortunately have to admit have just caught some of This Morning

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
About 11am I think - Not bad its 11:12

5. Except the computer, what can you hear right now?
An airiplane, Andy's foot tapping up and down whilst he is on the phone to the council tax people

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?
We went out to Romford town centre yesterday to try and sort out some moving stuff

7. What are you wearing?
Black skirt a vest and a purple shirt

8. Did you dream last night? If you did, what about?
No which is unusual for me I think I must have sleept really soundly

9. When was the last time you laughed?
A few minutes ago when we found out that our water meter is somewhere in our front pavement, I know it doesn't sound funny but hey

10. What’s on the walls, in the room you’re in right now?
In front of me is one of my paitongs/sculptures which really needs some work on it as it didn't survive the move to well,A rather attaractive border thingy (not) and there is a mirror leaning over the fire place.

11. Have you seen anything strange lately?.
Please I live in Romford with Andy I see a lot of strange things

12. What do you think about this meme?
Its a little different

13. What’s the last film you saw?
Haven't watched may films lately so difficult to say.

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money?

Well I would pay of all my bills to start with and then find a nice place to live with room for a recording studio for Andy And a workshop for me, we'd buy Chris a place of his own not to far away and obviousley help out some friends and family but mostly I think we would put the money away, invested wisley and live on the interest. I think I would also like to give some money to the hospice that helped me with Robin and the after school club in Chiswick which is in desperate need of funds.

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know.

I think anyone who reads my blog pretty much knows most things about me

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt - what would it be?
I don't think I could just change one thing in fact I think the choice would kill me as there are so many things that are so wrong.


17. Do you like dancing?

I love it, but only do in private by myself as I have two left feet and look ridiculous but there is nothing better to cheer one self up than by putting on some loud music and dancing around.

18. George Bush?
Mad man

19. What do you want your children’s names to be, girl/boy?
Although I don't plan to have any childre I alway liked the name Hope for a girl maybe with Francais (my grandmothers firt name) as a muddle name, mind you I also like Mfanwey but the poor child would be teased so much that I couldn't inflict them with such a thing. As for a boy thats a difficult one I like the traditional names like John and Matthew haven't really thought about it too much

20. Would you ever consider living abroad?

Yes I very much wanted to live and work in the states at one point but getting one of those green cards is impossible to get

21. What do you want God to tell you, when you come to heaven?
That everyone I loved and lost were there waiting for me

22. Who should do this meme?
Anyone who wants to its good fun. 

Just a quick note

Please go and check out the appeal on Knittiotherapy, as many of you know about the long illness of my previous boyfriend all I can say is with out places and people like this those last few weeks would have been impossible , so please see if you have anything that is suitable. Many thanks

Oh the picture is inspired by Wibbo, this is the sunset last week over the field at the end of my road.

A longer entry tomorrow 

Wow

Look what a wonderful gift arrived on Saturday morning, my first parcel/letter in the new house.
It included 200g of Fibrespates sock yarn in the colour way Heather Mist which is this wonderful oatmeal colour that runs into lilac and purlpe. a wonderful large mug which contains all you need for a wonderful luxurious cup of Hot Choclate including marshmallows and choclate, with grater to create the sprinkles for the top and two boxes of wonderful Lindt choclates which are disappearing as we speak. Finished off with a beautiful hand made card all I can say is thank you Helen and I hope you were as spoiled as I was. 

Pictures at last.

So Finally I get my act together and let you see some
pictures of the new place, to start with this a quick photo
of Andy and his mate Chris (who we owe tons to as we
couldn't have moved without him plus Andy's Son Scott who worked so hard) in the middle of the
move planning the next load.
I have to say that it was exhausting and I have no idea how the boys felt as they dropped me off in Putney on the Saturday Morning when they came to Barnes to pick up my stuff from home and studio. I did have fun getting me home for the first time as most of the tube was down and enede up trying not to have a panic attack at Bank. You see I have a small problem with heights and I have never been to bank before and didn't realise how steep their escalators were, but knowing my options were limited I just closed my eyes and got on, now I managed to do the first step and got to the second step to find that they weren't working, now I knew from experience that there was no way I was going to be able to walk down as I have tried it on a smaller escaletor before and I have to stop every second step because I get dizzy, now this isn't very practical in a busy station, so I satrt to get myself worked up because I am now worried that the up escaltor isn't going to work and I am going to get trapped, and there are no members of staff here and I am too far down to use my mobile phone. Thankfully The up escalator is working but I was sweating and shaking bu the time I got back to the main station. Not a great start to my new commuting route. I know from reading it back it sounds stupid but its just one of those things I guess. But on with pictures of the new place.