Making hay while the sun shines

It was one of those

 March days when the 

sun shines hot and

 the wind blows cold:

 when it is Summer in the light, 

and Winter in the shade 

(Charles Dickens, Great Expectations)

After all the rain and damp weather of January and February we can be tricked into thinking that Spring and better weather are here, but we have to make the most of the nice days so It's been nice to get outside and start some of those jobs that need doing.

I spent all day Saturday at the allotment, I was down there by 10am intending to stay until lunchtime, but once I got started I thought I might as well carry on and get it all cleared, I left at 4.30pm.  I slept well that night!

At least It's all tidy and ready to grow again.

Today has been spent starting to tidy my own garden up.  The shed has been sorted the Summerhouse cleaned and I've made a start on clearing the rest of the leaves.  The grass is still a little wet at the top end of the garden but some sand and re-seeding again should sort that out in the next couple weeks.  I'm always surprised how quickly it drys up once the weather starts to get better.

I bought some pots out from the side of the shed that had some Spring bulbs in from last year, they will add a bit of colour in the next couple weeks.  I'm glad now that I didn't empty them last year, I'll do the same again this time when they are finished.

I've sowed my sweet-peas and my potato's are chitting, we are going to take the potato bags down to the allotment this year and grow them there, some of the sweet-peas will be taken down there too.

I cleaned out my greenhouse last week and potted on some geranium and petunia plug plants I got at  garden centre.

I'm considering buying a small raised bed for the top of the garden, my thoughts are that it would be good to grow tomatoes in, my greenhouse isn't really big enough to grow them in and I don't want pots in various places.  That's another thing on my list to do this week, sow the tomato seeds and also buy some onion sets for the allotment.

I'm not one to wish time away and get one season over and on to the next, but it has been lovely to see some brighter weather and think about what we can have a go at growing this year.

Enjoy the rest of the week

-X-

 

February Makes and other goings on

Another month gone by so quickly!  It's been a month of appointments for both Mark and me, but more about that later.  I still haven't picked up any stitching but I have been knitting.  Another pair of socks have been finished and also a cowl.`

These were knit using Rico sock yarn I bought when we visited Shrewsbury just before Christmas.  I'd definitely use it again, i'ts a nice plump yarn, and soft too.  I always take the time to make matching socks if I can, I did what I usually do to make them match and It worked on the leg, then the colour sequence changed. No matter, I still like them.

The cowl I've knitted I've seen quite a lot of others make, It's the Simon Cowl by Twin Set and Purl.

It uses a simple slip stitch to create the effect which was what drew me to it and I only used two 50g skeins of yarn, from stash.  The blue is Drops Nord and the cream is a sock yarn, can't remember the make as the ball band is missing.  The pattern comes with instructions for both the cowl and the shawl, and now I've got the hang of the pattern I can see me making the shawl too at some point.

As I mentioned there have been appointments.  Mark has been suffering with sciatica since the middle of January, he never visits the doctor but his leg was going numb so he made an appointment and was sent for an MRI and it turns out he has a slipped disc, possibly two.  He has an appointment to be examined further but that's not until May.  While he was at the doctors it was noticed that he had never had any blood tests so he was sent to get some done and had a phone call the day after to go to the surgery, turns out his vitamin D levels were really low and he was prescribed some very high strength capsules for six weeks.  The annoying thing about that is we always have Vitamin D in the house because I've taken it for years and have often said he should take them too, but he never does.  The tests also came back that his PSA test was high, a hospital appointment didn't give much more information just another MRI scan to determine if a biopsy is necessary.  He had the MRI last Saturday and a hospital appointment has come through for Monday.  Finger crossed things are ok.

I also had my MRI on my hip last Sunday, nothing come back through to the doctors regarding that yet.

So yes February has been a short month but lots going.

Before I go I wanted to share something strange that happened to my daughter Stevie. See what you think.

I've mentioned before that she teaches young children with behavioural issues and when she got the positive pregnancy test in November she hadn't yet told anyone in school when one of the little girls in her class came and placed her hand on Stevie's belly and said, "Oh Mrs Bourne you have a baby in your belly"  Obviously Stevie was a little surprised and replied, "a baby?"  "yes" said the girl, "she is so cute"

That was strange enough don't you think?  

But this week Stevie went back into work and the same little girl came to her.

 "Did you push your baby out?" said the girl,  "No darling" Stevie said "You lost your baby at home" said the little girl.  Stevie didn't respond and tried to distract her but then the girl said: "You want an alive baby".

I know children pick up on and sense things, but don't you think that's a little weird?  Have you ever come across anything similar?  I do believe that we can sense things if we tune in.  Mark always says I'm a witch, (ha ha).  Years ago, well about 37 years ago actually, Marks sister was standing by the door at his parents house and I just thought, she's pregnant. There was no indication she was pregnant, she is a larger woman and you would not know she was.  Later I asked Mark if she was, he didn't think so, but it turned out she was, she told no one until she was about seven months.  She would have been around three months at the time I mentioned it to Mark, so I guess I'm weird too😁

  On that note I'll say have a lovely weekend and enjoy the month of March.

-X-

This week

 Last Saturday myself and my middle daughter, Joanne, headed off to Manchester to see James Blunt.  It's the second time Joanne has see him live, both Joanne and Stevie came with me last year to see him in Birmingham, It was the fifth time of seeing him for me.  This was his Back To Bedlam tour, in celebration of the release of his first album of the same name.  He preformed all the songs from that album, including the one that is equally loved and hated by many, Your'e Beautiful, along with more recent songs.  He was absolutely brilliant, as he has been the previous times I've seen him.  His unique voice is easily recognisable and his voice is partly why I like him, that and the fact that all of his songs, if you listen to the lyrics, are a story.  We had a brilliant night.

We stayed in Manchester overnight, the hotel, The Maldron, was much nicer than I was expecting and only a few minutes walk from the AO Arena and the center of town.  We spent some time on the Sunday looking around the town and the Cathedral. The town has a great variety of shops, all the big name stores and quite a lot of designer shops, It was nice to look around somewhere different, although the inside of the Cathedral was a little disappointing I thought.  We stopped off on the way home to have a late Sunday lunch to round off the weekend.

This week has been half term and I had all four of the children on Tuesday, I needed to go to Ikea to pick some shelving up, not the best idea I've had, four children at half term in Ikea was a recipe for disaster, lol.  I wasn't going to stop there for lunch but they wanted Ikea meatballs and it kept them quiet and all in one place for a while at least.

Joanne had booked Bonnie and Jacob on a sow and grow activity at a garden centre at 3pm, luckily they let me add Arty and Oliver when I got there, they all decorated a terracotta pot and two of them sowed poached egg seeds and two tomato seeds.

Joanne had to go into the office again this morning so Bonnie and Jacob have been here, Jacob loves baking so we have made some brownies, Bonnie is happy to raid the re-cycling bin and fashion little houses and dolls beds from boxes and paper, she's a right little Womble 😂 

We've got Jacob overnight tomorrow, Bonnie and Joanne are at Beaver camp, he's never slept over before so that should be interesting.

Enjoy the weekend

-X-

The finishing post

 I had a steroid injection in my knee last Friday morning, hopefully it will be as successful and give relief for as long as the previous ones have.  Surprisingly It also gave me two full days free of pain in my hip, sadly that was temporary and it was back again on Monday, but I have persuaded the doctor to send me for an MRI to see whats going on so that any exercises can be targeted and not guessed at, that might be a few weeks away yet though.

Orders were to rest for two or three days, no walking and nothing strenuous for five days so I took the opportunity to sit and finish off some projects that had been lingering.

A half completed dishcloth was an easy finish.  I'd forgotten that I'd made dishcloths in-between projects last year, I found them when I was having a sort out, and I now have eight new ones to use, and I can move some of my more worn ones to the cleaning cupboard.

Just before Christmas last year my eldest daughter, Jenny, decided to tell me how much my son in law loves the socks I've knitted him previously.  It was too late then for me to get a pair knitted in time for Christmas so I thought this year I would get ahead of myself.  These will go in the gift box for James ready for Christmas 2025.

These are knitted in Stylecraft Head over Heels yarn from their Walking In Nature collection, the colourway is Saunter.  

I haven't got sock blockers large enough for these so excuse the baggy look.

 The yarn was a fairly recent purchase when I went for a day out to Cirencester but when I got home I realised I had already got a ball exactly the same in stash!  Obviously I liked it, lol.  Not to worry though, Stevie said she liked the colourway so I can knit her a pair too.

And I have a cross stitch finish, yay.  

Since Christmas this is the only stitching I've picked up, and I'm glad it's finally done!

Winterbourne Farm by Derwentwater Designs

Not what I usually stitch, but something about it appealed to me, I think maybe it was that cottage with the red door, and who wouldn't want to live in a cute cottage with a red door :-)

It was a kit I bought on a visit to Nimble Thimble a good few years ago so I'm glad it's out of stash at last.  I enjoyed stitching on it to begin with but as time went on it became a bit of a chore, it's not my best work but I'm happy enough, I doubt anyone but me would look at it closely enough to pick faults.  I must remember that I'm not someone who likes lots of colour changes, blended threads and back stitching when I'm tempted by a kit again!

Happy Valentines Day, if you celebrate it, we don't, lol but I do like to put out some Valentine stitching.  I haven't added any new ones this year, these were all made last year apart from the Lizzie Kate February ornament which is old finish.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment last time and for sending well wishes for Stevie and Darren, your words were very much appreciated.

She is doing ok, after half term next week she will go back to work, although they have said she can have more time if she needs it she feels ready to go back.  She has accepted an offer for counselling through work, I think It will do her good to talk through things with someone who isn't family as she does suffer with anxiety and It will hopefully help her.

Hope you have a good weekend, I have a lovely one planned, which I'll tell you about next time 😉

-X-

About January

 January wasn't a very good month, especially the latter part, but a little bit about that later.  I haven't been in the mood to do a lot but right after Christmas I started a little crochet blanket for Bonnies new dolly that Santa left, she also requested a hat with pompoms.  Both were easy to pick up and work on and I also found a little dress in a charity shop that fitted her dolly perfectly.  She was happy, especially with the hat. 

One of my birthday gifts from Jo in December was a skein of Yarnsmiths merino sock yarn.

I'd seen lots of people saying how lovely it was to work with and had been wanting to try it out for myself, so I was really happy when I unwrapped a skein, I cast on a pair of socks on right away.

The yarn is so lovely and soft, really nice to kit with and I can see me buying of it in the future. Thank you again Jo.

***********

So, about the bad start to the year, and why Christmas was not the joyous one we were looking forward to.  It started back in the Summer, my youngest daughter, Stevie-Leigh and her husband Darren have been trying for a baby for around seven years.  Last Summer they were finally able to have their one round of IVF that our NHS offer.  Sadly this failed, obviously they, and we, were very disappointed.  It did however result in one remaining frozen embryo.  

The NHS in our area only offer one free round of IVF, some areas may offer more rounds but that depends on many things, basically it's a postcode lottery.  They were ready to try again in the Autumn and transferred their one remaining embryo to a private clinic.  All went well with the visits, Stevie didn't have any problems with the drugs and the transfer went really well, it was a much better experience than the one she had in the Summer.  Three weeks later they got that longed for positive pregnancy result.

An early scan is given at six weeks for IVF pregnancies and it was at this scan, the day before Christmas Eve, that they found out that although there was an amniotic sac the baby had stopped growing.  It's called a silent miscarriage.  You can imagine how we all felt, Stevie and Darren were devastated.

Of course things have to be double checked and another scan was booked for New Years Eve but sadly they were given the same answer.  They were given options, wait for a natural miscarriage, which could take up to three weeks, a tablet could be given and the third option was surgery.  Stevie opted for the natural way, not liking the thought of surgery and thinking the tablet would be more painful.  

Things didn't go to plan, it was right at the end of the three weeks that things began and it was on the fourth day that things got worse.  In brief she was admitted to hospital because she was hemorrhaging and ended up having surgery anyway.  She was discharged the next day but ended up back at the hospital in the early hours and was admitted again, her HB levels had dropped and she ended up being given two units of blood.  While she was on the ward she started to feel like she had a fever but was told there was no infection detected and discharged the next day, still not feeling quite right.  On the Monday she had a pain in her shoulder and called her GP who saw her right away and said considering what she had been through wanted to rule out a blood clot.  Darren was at work at this point so I took her to hospital.  Fourteen hours we were sat in A&E!  Thankfully after blood tests and a CT scan she was told that she did not have a blood clot, but she did have an infection!    

It's all been very stressful, on top of everything there have been many sleepless nights spent in the hospital and A&E but things are settling down now.  She is on the mend, antibiotics for seven days should sort the infection out and she is taking iron tablets for two months before another check on that, and has been signed off work for another couple of weeks yet.   Of course there are emotional scars and it will take time for them both to heal from this.  Life is very unfair at times isn't it and it's hard to see your children suffer when you know that the one thing they have always wanted seems out of their reach.  It's all still very raw at the moment but sometime in the future I'm sure they will be ready to talk about trying again.

I did worry and keep putting off talking about this on my blog but I felt as though I needed to say something. Posting about days out and what I've been making didn't feel right somehow until I'd talked about why Christmas and New Year were not so full of festive cheer for us, I hope you don't mind.

-X-

My year in books

I've used Goodreads for keeping track of the books I read for years and at the start of each New Year I set myself a reading challenge.  I set the challenge for 50 books last year and achieved that, some books were better than others, but that's the way it goes.  This year I've set my challenge to read 60 books over the year, If I make it, great, If I don't that's ok too.  

I know some people see the Goodreads reading challenge as competition, people trying to read more than someone else.  Well that might be the case for some but for me It's a bit of fun, I set myself challenges and goals for many things in life so why should reading be any different.

My challenge, my rules. Some might choose not to include short stories or Audible books in their challenge, I include both, If I listen to an audio book I'm as invested as I would be holding the book version, in fact I would argue that there are certain books that are better in audio, of course it helps if you get a good narrator.

  

I love the stats that Goodreads give you at the end of the year, this is my year in Books 2024.

My 50 books equates to 18,428 pages

My shortest book was When We Were Friends by Jane Green (44 pages)

My longest book was 11.22.63 by Steven King (740 pages)

Average book length was 368 pages

Of the books I read -

Reminders of Him by Coleen Hover was the most shelved book, 2,730,722 people also shelved it.

Glide by Alison Jean Lester was the least shelved book, 61 also people shelved it

My average star rating was 3.2

The Women, by Kristin Hannah was the highest rated book (4.60) 

I've been a member of a book group held at our local library for the past couple of years and the books are really very hit and miss.  This year I only read five of our choices, the best one by far was Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson, everyone enjoyed it and there was a good discussion afterwards.  Everyone agreed that Glide was an awful book, started off well and then went nowhere.  I inwardly groaned when we were given the Dawn French book, I've only ever read one of her's before and it was terrible, Because of You was very slightly better but so unbelievable and forced, we were in agreement that it was full of holes. 

In Memoriam, A Terrible Kindness, That Bonesetter Woman and The Women were by far the best books I read in 2024 and well worth reading if you haven't already.

Some years ago I started to read Jodi Taylor's The Chronicles of St Mary's series, she has added more books since then so this year I decided I wanted to re-read the series so I ended my year of reading with the short story of how it all began.

I've already picked a few titles to start my reading year off and in the latter months of 2024 I re-discovered my kindle so some of my reading will be books I've downloaded, although my preference is still for a physical book.  

What about you?  how did your reading year look?  Do you set yourself challenges or is that not your thing.

-X-

My year in projects 2024

 As we wait to ring in the New Year I thought I'd look back and see what I made during 2024, I'm always surprised at the number of things I finish, It never feel that many until I see them all together.

  My last two makes of December were my Christmas socks knitted using the Fairy Lights colourway from West Yorkshire Spinners.  I used the Crunkled pattern by Kay Jones.

The second finish in December was the Arne & Carlos Christmas stocking.

This was offered as a free pattern during November, I didn't join in until the middle of November but it was easy to catch up as once the toe was knit you were only required to knit six rows per day.

There were a few first for me while knitting this, first time trying toe up, first time putting in a forethought heel and first time knitting colourway!  There were some things I didn't/don't like, I found picking up the stitches for the heel from the waste yarn easier than I thought it would be, but I don't like how the heel looks when it's knitted, that could well be my fault, but I think it looks messy.  I didn't like starting at the toe, I found it very fiddly so won't be trying that again anytime soon.  The colourwork I found easier than I imagined it would be, my tension might be off in parts but for a first attempt I'm happy 😀 I used Sirdar Country Classic yarn in place of the recommended and found it lovely to knit with.

So here are all my finishes, knitted and stitched for 2024

There should have been one more stitched finish on this last day of the month, my Stick6 piece.  Unfortunately I just didn't have the time to get it finished but I'm hoping that it will be finished in a week or two, It's my own fault for choosing a larger project for the last two months of the year!!

As I mentioned before, this Christmas hasn't been the best and I haven't got much pleasure from our decorations like I usually do, I didn't even put everything out this time and everything apart from the tree has been put away this afternoon, the tree will come down on Sunday as we are still enjoying the lights on these darker days.  We have also had the pleasure of seeing my Christmas cactus putting on it's best show in years.

I also have a smaller plant, a cutting from this one, which is in bud at the moment.  Looks like the information I read about putting them in a cooler place and in darkness for 6-8 hours a day for around eight weeks was spot on😁

*************

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on my blog this past year, It means a lot to know that there are still people out there who take the time to do that when life is so busy.

Oh, before I forget, Jules asked if the stollen I made was difficult, no Jules, it's really easy.  I will share the recipe on the ' Recipes' tab under my header photo in the next few days so you can pick it up from there if you want to give it a go.

Happy New Year to you all, let's hope it's a good one.

-X-