What do you do when you're not tired of the yarn?

You knit matching gloves:

Matching the jacket that is, not matching each other…

Pattern: Urban Rustic gloves from Knitty
Yarn: More yummy Noro Silk Garden
Needles: 5mm Denises (Hmmm – this was part of the problem with my whole gauge denial thing that I had going on with these – the pattern says 5.5mm – what’s half a mm between friends? Huh?! But the 5.5mm tips weren’t in the case… )

Verdict – they’re a bit small (see gauge denial above), but I still love them. They’re very fiddly, but not so fiddly that I gave up, and each one was the work of about 2 indolent poorly-feeling evenings.

Oh, and I still can’t do a proper crochet cast-on. I’m saw Heather make it look soooooooo easy at Skip North, but, although what I did worked, it also involved a lot of cutting little tiny bits of wool.

Ta-da!!

Updated to use MUCH better pics!

Bettna:

(because nothing works better with a silly pose than a slightly confused small girl… )

Pattern: Bettna from Noro Revisited
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden – colourway 248 from Coldspring Mill
Mods: I knit the bottom back in two pieces to make the stripes the same width across the bottom portion.

Thoughts: I love it. As ever I have a couple of reservations – the sleeves are a little long, and it doesn’t close across the front (but since it doesn’t have any buttons that’s fine – I’ll just blame those hips that turned out to be useless for childbirth). But I still love it. I’m very chuffed with myself that I managed to get the colours more or less symmetrical for the top (I’m not a control freak, honest).

The colours are perfect, and I think I’ll probably wear this a lot. Which leads me to ponder – do I treat it as an under-ten-pounds item (which is what the wool cost me), or do I treat it as an about-one-hundred-pounds-worth item (which is what it would have cost me had I bought it anywhere other than Coldspring Mill)? I think I’ll treat it as a much-loved handknit, but not be too neurotic about it.

Oooh – and a tip for sewing up – Silk Garden can be a bit of pain for collapsing – it was fine when I was knitting it, but when I was sewing it up, the yarn kept drifting apart. Eventually I woke up and chided myself – it was drifting apart because it needed more twist, so I added twist – problem solved. (Call myself a spinner?! I really should have spotted that sooner!)

And a final point to ponder – why is seaming such a grim activity? I’ve come up with the following list:

• The knitting is finished, why do I still have to do stuff?
• I’m a knitter, not a sewer. (No, I’m not a sewer either!)
• Seaming takes much more concentration than knitting.
• Seaming always takes longer.

Which is one of the reasons I love mattress stitch – somehow the seaming is easier when you can get it as neat as this:

Whining

I am sooooo ticked off. A fortnight ago tomorrow I went down with sinusitis. Not badly, enough to feel really rough at times, and to make me shoutier with the children, but not enough to merit time off work. This lasted about a week. Just as that finally started wending it’s merry way away, I started with a stomach thing that left me waking up in pain, and feeling nauseous. Again, enough to make me feel rough, but not enough to stop me getting on with life.

Then yesterday I had a GOOD day. I felt fine, I discovered that I knew stuff (like the difference between an abscissa and an ordinate – go look them up – they’re mathsy things) that some of my colleagues didn’t know (Hi Gary – Mwah!), and I taught a student to knit.

Then today I woke up with the stomach thing back with a vengeance. And again I didn’t take any time off – tbh I should have done, but I hate missing lessons, especially this early on in the academic year.

It’s been two whole weeks – I want good health! And tomorrow is Friday, and although I don’t have to go into work, I’ve offered my services to listen to Adam’s classmates reading. I may cry off this, I’ll see how I’m feeling.

But I am having a lot of fun with Ravelry.

Oooh! Ooohh!

You signed up on July 4, 2007

You are #13646 on the list.
380 people are ahead of you in line.
19440 people are behind you in line.
40% of the list has been invited so far

Not long now…

Update First thing this morning there were 94 people ahead of me – 2 min later my invitation arrived. I’m MrsNiddyNoddy. (But the children still need to be organised to go to school and there’s a mountain of ironing to be done, and I really need to watch White from the Three Colours Trilogy, so it can be sent back to LoveFilm, and apparently people still expect to eat around here… Hmmm…. ironing can wait, right?)

Who's the grown-up?

This afternoon Ruth decided that she was going to be the mummy, and I was going to be her darling. And it was my bedtime, so she put me to bed. We went through her whole bedtime ritual (well, without the bath and night-time nappy) I was given the full allocation of kisses and hugs. She pulled the blind down and closed the curtains. She put ‘string’ on the door to stop the monsters getting in (Huh? You mean this isn’t part of your bedtime routine?) and pretended to put music on for me to go to sleep to.

I wasn’t arguing – I’ve been fighting sinusitis for the last week (never quite bad enough to justify time off work) and it’s been a stressful time recently, so a lie down was very welcome. What I didn’t expect to do was to fall sound asleep. I must have had a good 30 min+.

Bliss

On being brave...

Adam had to have a tooth out today. (Not it’s not deja vu – it’s the same tooth on the other side.) And he did just as well as last time – he’s been very ‘fragile’ for the last few days (just nerves I think), but this morning, once we were in the process, he was fine. Me? Maybe less so – I did sleep last night (no nightmares about getting hit by trains this time), but I did weep a little once he’d gone under. I’d hate not to be there for him, but I do hate seeing him being put to sleep. There was a ginormous hole in the tooth, so I’m very very much hoping that once the wound has healed up he’ll be a much calmer boy than he’s been for a while. He’s generally pretty cheerful, but recently any tiny thing has sent him over the edge. I’m guessing that constant low-level pain can do that sort of thing…

And Ruth? Well, she’s started pre-school, and she’s loving it. I’m finding it a bit harder. Much as I love having a couple of mornings a week to myself (so I can do decadent things like vacuuming and sorting laundry) I do miss having a little person at home with me. She finds my attitude somewhat exasperating – every time I pick her up she asks me if I’ve missed her. I say “Yes, a little bit.” and she gets very frustrated with me, gives me a big kiss and says “Now that’s a kiss for not missing me. You WON’T miss me tomorrow.” And when I ask if she missed me, she says “No, not even a little bit. Not at all.” Which is all good, and I’m delighted for her that she’s enjoying it so much, but Oh.

And I think I had more I was going to say, but I’m being chivvied off the ‘puter, so I’d better go and make broccoli risotto…

Catching up...

I done been doing some knitting. And some sewing up…

First of all – thank you for voting on the buttons. It’s funny – my first choice came out with the most votes, and John’s came out with the least… So I went with the majority:

Pattern: Kate Gilbert’s Peapod Baby Jacket
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere
Needles: Denises
Modifications: I misread the pattern, but rather than frogging back simply carried on – so the buttons are not as offset as in the original. I think it looks OK though. Maybe as a result of that I did find that I needed to pick up a lot more stitches round the neck than the pattern called for.

Comments: I’m still not sure about knitting with Cotton Cashmere. I love the feel of the finished jacket, and I can live with the splittiness (yes, that is a word – you know perfectly well what it means), but I found it very difficult to get my tension even – there is some very obvious rowing out. Nona had something to say on that very topic.

That wasn’t even completed (well, I had to wait for the results of the voting didn’t I? – Although Baby S has now been born – it needs hastening on its way… ) when I started on this:

I’ve tried to get the colours right, but since they look very different depending on the light (much more colourful in natural light than artificial, when some of the purples become grey), this is the best I could do. It’s the Noro I picked up when I Skipped North in March. (And then I was coy about the price – now I’ll just say (cough) penny a gram (cough)!!!!!!! Bargain or what!!! I’m making Bettna, except that instead of making one wide panel across the back, I’ve opted for more seaming (!?) and made two narrower panels, so that the stripes are the same width as the front panels. It’s so lovely to knit that it’s almost knitting itself. Real instant gratification stuff!

And you’re not chasing me about that running are you?! Well I’ve had to stop for now. My last run was about 10 days ago – my shins were sore and hurty enough that I took them to my doctor. She wasn’t totally helpful – “Your circulation is fine. You’ve probably just done too much. Why don’t you go for a walk instead of running?” We..ell… I didn’t just barge straight into it, I had been following a fairly sensible plan and walking ain’t gonna get my BMI down like running does. (For the record my BMI is fine – 24.5, but it’s at the very top end of fine, and it was creeping up – I want to get it under control sooner rather than later. So I’ve cut out snacks, and reduced my portion size. It’s working.) So when a friend told me about a drop-in physio session that’s held every Wednesday early evening on the other side of town, I jumped on my bike and went. (Which gave me a grand cycling distance of 11 miles for that day – that’ll do!) The physio I saw was excellent – made me take my shoes and socks off and roll my trousers up while I walked backwards and forwards. She was somewhat bemused that my right leg is more painful as my left foot looks more problematic. But basically I have flat feet and need to rest for 3 weeks, then get new running shoes with proper orthotic support. Oh, and she gave me some better stretching exercises. So we’ll see – I have the nasty feeling that in 3 weeks time I’ll be totally out of the habit…

On being a Coeliac

As most people reading this already know, I’m Coeliac (Celiac in the US – pronouced “Seel-eeack” ). This means that I am on a gluten-free diet, and will remain on a gluten-free diet forever. (Gluten is the protein component of wheat, barley, rye and oats. The particular proteins are slightly different in each one, and some Coeliacs can tolerate very pure oats. I tried once, and had the worst migraine ever afterwards – never again!) Different Coeliacs seem to have different levels of sensitivity, and differing severity of reaction. In a Coeliac gluten attacks the gut lining and makes it unable to absorb food properly. This can manifest itself in all sorts of different ways – which is one of the problems with diagnosis – since symptoms are very varied and can be very vague, GPs do not always pick up on it as they should. These days the inital test is a blood test, which, if positive, will be followed up with an endoscopy. (Small sample removed from the gut lining by swallowing a tube – not pleasant, but I was sedated – good drugs!) If anyone reading is wondering whether they may be Coeliac, GO AND TALK TO YOUR GP. (I know I’m shouting, but this is important.) DO NOT put yourself on a gluten-free diet first. A Coeliac will have negative test results if they are on a gluten-free diet. The gut will start to repair itself, and antibody levels will fall. A gluten-free diet is quite a difficult one to start, it really needs the advice of a dietician (gluten can be hidden in places you’d never imagine), and it is important to have regular follow-up for the various associated conditions. (It is an autoimmune condition – there are links with diabetes, thyroid issues and rheumatoid conditions. And because it is a malabsorption condition it is associated with osteoporosis and osteopoenia (aka – ‘almost osteoporosis’ ).)

OK, enough of the general stuff and on to the more personal part.

I was diagnosed when I was 14. My mother and my father’s sister had both been diagnosed about a year or so previously (yes, it has a genetic component, yes that’s both sides of the family… ) and I was simply not coping terribly well with school. In a typical week I would go to school on Monday, survive the morning, then end up in the medical room by mid-afternoon. On Tuesday I’d make it to early afternoon, and on Wednesday I’d end up being sent home at lunchtime. Thursday and Friday I’d spend at home. (Since my first French lesson of the week was on Wednesday afternoon, my teacher was beginning to take it personally.) Senior staff at the school were convinced I was malingering – I even remember there being a school assembly on that very topic which felt distinctly pointed. TBH I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was malingering or not. (Which surely means I wasn’t.) I felt headachy, vaguely nauseous and lacking in energy. Anyway, my mother’s consultant gave her the all clear to bring me with her to her next appointment. (I could be unfair and say that he couldn’t wait to get his hands on me – he was doing research into this very topic, and as a potential patient with it coming to me from both sides of the family I was fascinating to him. But that is unfair – he was very much ‘old school’ and didn’t believe in letting out any information to his patients, but whenever my mother was really ill he was the one who sorted her out.) So I had a raft of blood tests (the current IgA antibody test wasn’t available then (or maybe it was, but he just didn’t tell us… )) and an endoscopy. The endoscopy came back normal and the blood tests … I quote (as he riffled through the pages) “Normal, normal, normal” (pause) “just about normal, normal.” On that basis, along with medical and family histories, he diagnosed me Coeliac and put me on a gluten-free diet.

It would be nice to say I haven’t looked back. But you know, that rather dubious-sounding diagnosis still bothers me. Am I really Coeliac? Or am I simply attention-seeking? (Stop shouting at me John, I’m just trying to get this clear in my own head.) But I know that when I eat anything containing gluten I feel ill. Really ill, not just “I think I ought to feel ill because I ate something by mistake”. I’m lucky in that I don’t get terribly severe reactions (I generally get fatigue, brain fog, nausea, stomach ache, headache – but mostly am able to continue working). I am fairly sensitive however, and have discovered that I can’t tolerate wheat starch (it is possible to get codex wheat starch which only contains a tiny trace of gluten – products made with this are generally much more palatable than those without, but I feel grotty after eating it – not worth it!) or malt vinegar.

But even though my diet is as strict as it can possibly be when living in a household with 3 wheaties, I still get days when I have absolutely no energy, and simply need to slob on the sofa. I’d love to know if this is just life, a mild gluten reaction, or simply that even strict Coeliacs have days like that sometimes.

I went to my first Coeliac Society ‘bash’ on Saturday (well, it’s been 26 years, it’s probably about time… ) and I won the raffle! £40 voucher at a local Chinese restaurant that will cater gf . And Adam has been begging for Chinese food – I can see a Sunday lunch out coming up. I have very mixed feelings about attending such groups. I know that they are invaluable for people who are newly diagnosed. And that for such a group to be available people who’ve got their heads around it need to be there. But I don’t want to be defined by a medical condition. As it is it’s desperately tiresome when going out for a meal with a new group of people – I have to go through the whole thing again. I know they are simply being interested and making conversation, but after 26 years of it, it’s really NOT that interesting any more. (I’m whinging, I know – it’s my blog, I’m allowed.)

I’m sorry – this isn’t terribly interesting to most readers, I know (there’ll be knitting in the next post, I promise – I’ve had an attack of Noro-startitis – yummy!), but I’m finding it useful. That diagnosis sounds right doesn’t it?!

Having waded your way through all that – if anyone does have any questions, please do ask – I may be churlish about making small talk about it, but I’m more than happy to help if anyone is struggling with it. I know there are a number of “Silly Yaks” in blogland. I’m more than happy to swap recipes, give advice (the main one being the thing I’ve already said – go and talk to a doctor before trying to put yourself on a gf diet, please. )