Christmas Niddy Noddy

Yesterday when I got home I had one of those cards on the floor in the hall – ‘We Tried to Deliver but….’  So today I trotted down to the local sorting office in the hopes of having my new Niddy Noddy for Christmas.  Yet the parcel was something else……  Yummy yarn.  Obviously yarn is never something to be grumpy so I set off to do my last minute jobs and head home.

But guess what….. when I got home I found my shinny new Niddy Noddy waiting for me.  What a wonderful double whammy in time for Christmas.

Now naturally I need to cook up some of that nice new yarn (a merino silk blend) but perhaps a cuppa tea first hehe……

Yay for Jakey…..

Today was another in a long line of vets visits.  You may remember that Jake the dog busted his leg way back in October.  Well it turned out that he had popped his ligaments and snapped off the bottom of his femur.

Now anyone who has had a similar injury will tell you the bone healing is easy compared to the ligaments.  The vets wanted to operate and put a metal framework in but I wasn’t keen.  I don’t believe in surgery as a first resort.  Don’t get me wrong I have no problem with surgery the way I know some people are against it….. I just believe that Mother Nature is amazing at repairing things and we often don’t give her the chance.

Of course it’s a lot easier when you’re making the decision for yourself.  But in this case, it was for my dog.  I basically had three choices :

1. Surgery to rebuild the ligaments and put a metal frame on the leg, pins etc….
2. Strap up his leg with a splint and see if it heals
3. Amputate the bottom of his leg

Not a nice list of options.  However I decided to go for option number 2.  I had a similar injury many years ago and that was the option I chose for myself, so I felt it was ok to choose this for him.

That’s when the on going visits started.  Since the end of October he has been going in to the vets roughly twice a week to have his ‘cast’ changed.  This was basically a splint bound onto his leg with lots and lots of bandages.  It also had to be kept dry as once wet you couldn’t dry it off.  Of course getting Jake to understand this wasn’t easy.  So no walkies, especially in the snow.  Well, 8 weeks later it was time to see if his leg was able to support him without the splint (I might add that he had broken 3 splints bounding about on it while it was bandaged up).

My heart was in my mouth as we got him down off the table and tentatively allowed him to put his foot down on the floor.  Then disaster!  He immediately tried to jump up and down, squealed in pain and hopped over to ‘mummy’ and refused to leave my side again.

Hoping it was just the initial shock I brought him home and flopped on the sofa feeling sick to my stomach.  However slowly he started using his leg again and now 4 days later he’s happily bounding about on it.  Phew!  Obviously he’s not out of the wood yet and walkies are a long way off (I know how he runs about)…..  but it’s looking like he’ll be able to enjoy a lovely holiday next summer exploring somewhere new…..  All of these shots were taken on our trip to Bonny Scotland in August this year.  Jake thought it was brilliant……

Winter on the Stour

Well after once again being the last part of the country to be hit by snow it finally arrived last night.  This afternoon I braved the white stuff to pop into Manningtree to get a few supplies for the beasties just in case it decides to get worse.  I’ve given up on checking the weather forecast as it never seams to bear much relation to what goes on outside my window.

As I drove along the River Stour I couldn’t believe it when I saw the the ‘mud flats’ which flood at high tide were completely frozen over.

Those grey bits aren’t water but huge sheets of ice.  I pulled up at the side of the road and snapped these quick shots with the camera on my phone.  It would have been nice to take some proper shots with my ‘real’ camera but given how bad the roads are I’m not going back just to take some photographs!  I’m going to stay inside in the warm, drink tea and knit….

Hanuri Shawl

A little while ago I started my second shawl.  My first was a gift which I gave to my mother for Christmas (even though I gave it to her in October).

The second is the Hanuri Shawl by Emily Ross which I found on Ravelry.  This is a lovely knit and I have to admit I’m finding it much more enjoyable than the shawl I made my mother.  I’m not sure why but I’m not going to argue the point.

The pattern is really clear and contains both written instructions and charts.  I’m most of the way through the first section.

I tried to stretch it out to photograph on my desk but I don’t think I was very successful.  Can’t wait to see it blocked.

That said I’m also starting to get the desire to sew again.  Do you find your crafting mojo moves through your different crafts?  Recently I’ve started to yearn to get my sewing machine out again.  Now I just need to build up the energy to clear my sewing table off. . . . .

 

 

 

Ridley McPiddley

A few years ago I met a lovely lady while mooching around a Open Garden near here.  She was painting the most beautiful pictures of animals.  Since then I have commissioned some of my own little beasties and this evening I picked up the latest.

This is Ridley my beloved Seal Point Siamese.  He passed away a few years ago but his legacy lives on in the way my kitchen is designed.  He liked to sit on the kitchen counter and watch everything that was going on, so when the kitchen was redesigned this was taken into account.  Ridley was the sweetest cat you could ever hope to meet except when stressed – then he turned into a feline hose pipe.  You can see where his nickname of Ridley McPiddley came from.    He will always live on in my heart and now I have this wonderful painting to help bring a smile to my face.

Some Newly Dyed Yarns

Well today I’ve been able to get my camera out and take some photos of the yarns I’ve dyed this week.  Hope you like them.  I’ll be adding them to the Folksy shop later today.

 

 

It’s been a strange week…..

and I’m very glad to have reached the weekend.  Some weeks you slide through smoothly and can gaze out the bus window at all the wonderful things passing by.  Other weeks you have to fasten your seat belt and hold on tight while praying you don’t loose your dinner.  I’m sure you can guess which type of week this one has been.

However if all you do is dwell on the rocky bits you’re going to turn into a pretty miserable so-and-so, so lets not do that but look for some nice things instead.

 

Nice thing number 1)

My yarn delivery arrived.  This is a combination of Blue Faced Leicester and Alpaca sock weight yarns.  I’ve had the BFL before but this is the first time I’ve tried the alpaca.  I’ve cooked up a few skeins of the BFL but wanted to keep the alpaca for the weekend when I’ve had a bit more sleep.  Besides I keep fondling it in it’s bag in the lounge.

2 Skeins of dyed yarn rinsing in the sink

 

Nice thing number 2)

Jakes leg appears to be healing well and with luck the vets are going to try him without the splint this weekend and see how he goes.  Taking him in twice a week for treatment has been a drain financially but also emotionally / time wise.  Each visit takes an hour out of the day and when all you want to do is curl up and ignore the world for a while……

Jake lying on the floor beside my chair while I type.  Note his leg all bandaged up.

 

Nice thing number 3)

Ok I’ll admit it, I’m a bit stuck for something to write here.  I could go on about how lucky I am to have a job, nice home, friends blah blah…..  and don’t get me wrong I am well aware of how lucky I am compared to some people.  But if I’m just talking about things for this week and you rule out things like – ‘Well I didn’t fall over yesterday’ I’m struggling…. That said I’m sure things will start looking up as soon as I get some sleep and the sun starts shining (so I can play with my camera)….  Hmm maybe that can be nice thing number 3….. Looking forward to a couple of days off.