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Friday 29 August 2014

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will have that wisdom tooth out, possibly the one next to it too, with a general anaesthetic. Thursday  afternoon bought a letter from the hospital admissions department giving me the date of 24th October, felt so worried I would have another 2 months of discomfort and pain. After many attempts reached Emma in appointments, she was so sympathetic, asked me if I could come in this Saturday as extra clinics are being held then. I agreed, she told me she would send the letter out first class, i asked if it could be emailed as our post rarely arrives till late in the day, and emailed it was. The letter has been retrieved from my junk mail, printed out saving the NHS money for the paper, stamp and time. 

I am packed, a dressing gown, slippers, and as the operation will be anytime from 8.30 am till 12.30 I have my knitting and reading group book. Knitting is the half hexis to fill in the gaps at the edges to ensure the throw has straight sides. 

To distract us from tomorrow (Ian is worrying about this too) we went to view Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid this evening. It was an open air production in the grounds of Whitton's parish church, the film was powered by pedal power, cyclists were as young as seven ensured there were no breaks in transmission. It was all in aid of Bikes for Africa, a charity supported by Action Bikes, a London cycle chain who collect old bikes, both adults and children's models,  ship them to African countries, establish small businesses where the bikes are repaired and parts made. In some places the bicycles are the only form of transport.

Of course like any cinema there were drinks available, beer, wine and soft drinks, hot dogs and pop corn. Am sure I have seen the film before but couldn't remember it, Ian ensured I knew what was happening as I am not good at 'reading' films.  

Anyway, ready for tomorrow, no more food now, only water and last drink by 6am, no food until all the anaesthetic has worn off, no hot drinks. The instructions for before and after are scary. 

Saturday 23 August 2014

Tooth some

The saga of my crooked wisdom tooth started way back in March, that was when the dentist took the X-Ray, last Thursday a very pleasant consultant looked at at it, commented that I had been troubled by this wayward tooth for some time. There may be loss of the adjoining tooth as the infection had spread, the extent of extraction will be known in two to six weeks. That is how long I have to wait before the treatment, maybe sooner I have opted for being called at short notice. 

Slightly more concerned about the  Post-operative instructions following oral surgery leaflet, especially swelling and bruising afterwards. Quite a few activities booked up for September. For example the tickets for the double header at the Twickenham Stadium have arrived, I do want to be in a fit state for that, there are knitting groups to attend. Details of appointments are sent by post so plenty of warning but we won't be able to fix anything up long term in case of clashes.

Also in September I have signed up for the Yarn in the City: the Greater London Yarn Crawl, in aid of Refuge but fun in that a group of knitters use public transport to visit 4 London yarn shops, knitting on the way if possible. I have chosen shops in North London in areas unfamiliar to me so I can see other parts of my home city. 

 Martha joined us for the weekend, whilst she was here finally finished the socks I started making for her whilst swanning around Sicily.  (Sorry for bad pun). They were taken home a bit damp, when I washed them the colour galloped out, trust that was just the initial wash. 



Next project is to make about 60+ half hexis to straighten the sides of the Beekeeper's Quilt, have made a start and this will be a portable and TV watching project alongside joining up the quilt. Have just three months to complete it, year end is my target. 







Friday 15 August 2014

Cotswold threads


My cousins invited us to join them for a few days in their Cotswold holiday cottage, so last Monday we left Pixie Towers at the incredibly early time of 8.50am so we would have plenty of chance to have a Flavour of the Cotswolds tour. This tour was planned by cousins, knowing,my interest in knitting they managed to arrange a tour that included three brilliant yarn shops, also when visiting Cotswold Woollen Weavers I discovered some British alpaca yarn. 




It was fun seeing these shops, one thing I have learnt is that I should carry details of patterns I wish to knit, the quantity and type of yarn required so I can snap up bargains. A non yarn purchase at Wool in Broadway was a KnitPro clicky row,counter, it's pink so I can wear it round my neck. a Ro-tally doesn't work for me with magic loop needles so it has been back to five bar gates and pencils. 



On Tuesday we were taken to Gloucester, Ian and I were impressed with the manner in which the docks area has been enhanced for tourism, a good blend of the old and new. Our itinary included a very quick visit to Miju Wools, a knitting group was there, I would liked to have spent longer looking around this shop and talking to the other knitters but felt it unfair to cousins. The visit to the cathedral was not rushed, I had hoped to return to Miju Wools but we were taken to Newent, a small market town with another gem, The Wool Garden where I purchased buttons made by women in South Africa. Now, what shall I make that requires buttons with cats on them! 

Ian managed to find a couple of second hand books when we went around the antique shops in the various towns, one was a The boy's book of the Navy published in 1953 for Adam, and a maths book Mathematics for the Million published in 1928. We were very restrained, we should be decluttering, well we are decluttering so didn't buy anything else. Of course food from a Thursday farmers market doesn't count, we were fascinated by blueberry salami. Need to cook the beetroot, but have eaten much of the salad as well as bread and broad beans. 

On the drive home we broke the journey at Nuffield Place, the home of the motor manufacturer, William Morris, a National Trust property for the last three years. I rather like the smaller NT houses, there is more a link with ordinary people especially as in the case of Nuffield Place furnishings and items that had been in use when I was growing up were on display. We were unable to go around the garden as the rain had started, it continued for most of the journey home. 

For once I drove both to and from the Cotswolds, Ian has a trapped nerve/sciatica, last Saturday we visited Teddington hospital our excellent, efficient walk in centre and were fortunate to be seen by our own GP who was on duty.  As he knew, and remembered Ian's medical history, it wasn't long before we were collecting drugs including strong painkillers and gel to rub in. GP gave strict instructions that Ian was not to drive until the course of tablets is finished and he is no longer in pain. In one way it was good practice for me, I had let Ian drive more, often so I could knit and it is so easy to get out of practice, especially when driving in unfamiliar districts. 

Friday 8 August 2014

Just a blog on books and knitting

 
The last few blogs haven't mentioned knitting very much, so here a couple of pictures showing progress, or lack of it. Still plenty of tail ends to hide inside the puffs. 


This is the Beekeeper's Quilt, I have sewn about two thirds of the puffs together using mattress stitch whilst trying to show the sewing doesn't show on either side so the quilt can be reversible. According to the instructions one needed 384 puffs but I have made 402, the extra have been whilst travelling or in company. I will need to make half puffs to fill in at the edges and make them straight, I have more than enough Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply in white to do this. After the random manner in which I have joined the puffs together this will bring a little discipline to the design. 


Completely different are the socks I'm making for Martha, the second one is at the heel, I was meticulous about recording the number of rows and stitches on the first sock so the second has been faster. However, having to watch the notes, record each row has meant the work has been less portable for after each row I marked progress on paper and on the Ro-Tally. Perfection and attention to detail are so important to me, a disadvantage is that I fail often to see the wider picture. 



For some reason I don't appear to mention books very much apart occasionally the reading group book, present one is the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Haven't started it yet, with all the books it is a toss up between knitting, crochet, newspaper and reading plus TV. With TV I can sew hexipuffs together or knit uncomplicated designs. 

The other books to be read or dipped into are A Very British Revolution: 150 years of John Lewis, bought a few months ago. then in the last two weeks a flood, Ian bought me Lucinda Hawksley's The Mystery of Princess Louise, then the 5th edition of iPad in Easy Steps went into my basket in Maplins. Didn't think I would be buying books in an electrical shop but this is a better manual than my old one, for a start it has an index so much easier to use. Last Monday we went to U3A monthly meeting, I picked up a copy of Who do you think they were? A miscellany of lives in South-West London. It is a shared learning project, covering four London boroughs, my main criticisms is that the pen portraits or snapshots were arranged first by borough then an A-Z sequence by person. In my opinion the division by borough was not needed. 

Finally a charity bookshop yielded Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker: the Stitch'n'Bitch crochet, bought to match her knitting book. Silly me, I forgot the stitch names in the US are different from those in this country. The book reminds readers of this but I think I will be using other crochet books when pattern searching, can't have too many books. The other charity shop buy was In the Summer Time by Judy Astley, a local author, sometimes local places are mentioned in her lightweight reads. 




Monday 4 August 2014

Vigil.




These are a few of the candles, each bearing a name of men from Whitton who served in the First World War. As the village war memorial is in the church a 24 hour vigil is being held to remember and to pray for peace and reconciliation. 

Ian and I spent an hour yesterday evening and half an hour this morning trying to do that. My father's eldest brother served and survived the war, only to die whilst on military manoeuvres with the TA on August Bank holiday in 1925. 

This evening our son will be in Westminster Abbey when the lights go out. Our lights will go out at home at 10pm, trust this will be so country wide.