Walk of Shame

Housewives Tarot

No, not that kind of walk of shame - not only am I married, I'm too old for that now: I would take pride in it rather than shame.

I was at the dentist today, having slinked out of an appointment on Friday 13th (are they KIDDING me ?!) You'll recall my morbid irrational fear. Today I was there for a filling, which involved a needle for anaesthetic being put into my pre-numbed back of my mouth. I cried. Silently, of course, since after all, I am an adult. 

During my stay, tears continued to leak out in spite of my best efforts, the dentist's words of advice on how to calm down, and the death-grip I had on the dental assistant's hand - a very talented person who could handle all kinds of tasks with her remaining hand, as we found out.

I have to go back next week for either a triple trip for a root canal, or one single trip for an extraction. I have opted for an extraction - fortunately the affected tooth is in a place that will not leave me looking like I'm some kind of Appalachian hillbilly.
 

As I drooped and drooled home (the anaesthetic took 4 hours instead of 2 to wear off) I pondered my father, Belo, who regularly falls asleep during root canals and other dental nastiness.

I considered Titch, whose arm had to swell almost to bursting point with pus-filled yuck before he would consent to A&E.

I considered my Good Twin, whose pain threshold meant she thought a burst appendix was a particularly feisty bout of trapped wind. On the other hand, she thought her gall bladder packing up was agony, so please all my gods don't let that happen to me.

I considered my friend Dianne, among whose symptoms of Behcets is sweating blood. Literally.

And I considered my sister, Auntie Fashion, who has been in Addenbrooke's for just about 2 weeks so far while they work out what they can do about the PML without poking the Behcets back into action.

And I was ashamed.

WIP Wednesday 198: Carousel

Whimsical Tarot

The sun has been out all week so far, and June is just bustin' out all over - and I don't mean only me. Look at my gorgeous marguerite, planted in a nook in the patio wall thing:

And her big sister, leucanthemum 'Snow Queen' in the front garden:

And I am slowly but surely making progress on the Yalinka Shawl - but I must say, it does seem super-slow  ... like treacle on a cold day:

If you're bored, look really closely and see if you can spot the beads that are dotted about. Or else, pop to Tami's Amis for other lovely projects ...... I think I must look around for another blog linky party thing, as Tami often forgets to host in a timely manner: if you know of any good ones, please let me know.





Don't be deceived - this is one of the most saddest films ever in the world. You're welcome.

Mystery Monday

Spiral Tarot Deck

Having survived both the torrential downpours and thunderstorms of Saturday, and the scorching heat of Sunday (endured while watching Mini Diva play cricket at a rather picturesque location), today is somewhat humid and overcast - but, ever optimistic, I have washing out on the line to dry anyway. We must hope that it holds off until after Mini Diva's Quad Kids competition (for which I could not find one single solitary updated link) this afternoon.

All the rain and sunshine has been excellent for the gardens this year - the last remaining rose we inherited on our move to this house has finally showed not only it's colors, but that it, too, is scented:

So it is only the scentless red rose on death row. He may be joined later by the incredibly boring columnar cypress ....

The Wild Flower MKAL continues - here is mine at the end of Clue 1:

Yep, looks like a ruffly sparkly nothing, and probably will until it's finished and blocked.

That's your lot for now, just a little update while I remembered; I feel the urge to go raid the kitchen for red velvet cupcakes. 

What diet ?

WIP Wednesday 197: A Bit More Grumping

Tarot of Durer

It's looking very similar to this card outside my house right now. Except for the Cups and the dove. So far it is the kind of summer that England is famous for. But actually, the card is here to describe my mood - I started the Yalinka Shawl by Alina Appasov: her designs are quite lovely (I've made the Lale Lace Shawl but have neglected to post photos yet). 

However, owing to a serious error I made at the beginning of the lace section, which I couldn't find and therefore couldn't fix, I had to rip it back to the start. No, don't talk to me of lifelines, thank you all the same. Having made it through 4 repeats of the stockinette section, I pulled the work off my needles and chucked it hard into a corner when for the 6th time, this happened:

It's Austermann Merino Lace which has been in my stash for a couple of years; in addition to the breaks, there were also a few places where 1 strand had come apart, leaving only 1 strand to be knitted. Not only do I plan to bead this shawl, it is a special commission with a complex pattern: there is no point trying to attempt it with such sub-standard materials - how awful would it feel if on blocking, washing or wearing it suddenly disintegrated ? I have started for the 3rd time, and so far the other ball seems OK:

Auntie Fashion also dumped on gifted me her remaining yarns (more about which another time), and amongst the melee was this:

A hand-made child's sweater from somewhere or other which she was frogging in order to re-use the yarn - but she doesn't know what the yarn is. I would love to find out, as it's such a fabulous color - I also love the texture and very slight fuzz; it feels like a DK. If anyone has any ideas, PLEASE let me know.

While you ponder that problem, pop over to Tami's Amis to see what else is going on ....

Random Roundup

Fantastic Menagerie Tarot

I'm feeling a little low today, mainly because the half-term holiday is over - Mini Diva is back at school, Titch is back at work. I have only Destructo Boy to console me, and he is welded to his tablet and 'Clash of Clans'.

Wilhelmina passed her MOT, the kids' cousin D. came to stay, we went to the beach, the kids went swimming a couple of times (different leisure centres), there was a sleepover, they went to the funfair with my friend K. - it was Destructo Boy's first time as he is finally old/tall enough, and it turns out he is as fearless as Mini Diva. There has been cricket and tennis.

It was a week of weatherly contrasts, too. There was this:

And there was this:

Noah, Noah - what is a cubit ??

 But there was no football. The team Destructo Boy played for has fallen apart owing to adults behaving like toddlers - I am told there has been lots of stirring and back-biting, resulting in the main coach flouncing off resigning having cherry-picked the boys from his clique of favored parents. The squad has collapsed: what is left is being run by a couple of fathers who have some innovative ideas for training, but who lack experience and the ability to impose any kind of discipline. 

If I sound annoyed, it is because I am - Titch and I, as openly confessed non-football types, were not amongst the clique, and so Destructo Boy now has no team - we withdrew him from the ruins of the squad as he will have no opportunity to grow his skills.

I think what has amazed me the most is the behavior of the adults involved: parents of kids on the A team sneering at parents of kids on the B team, committee politics, lack of support from the main club - I am hoping that it is a football thing as opposed to a sport thing. On the plus side, now we have Friday evenings and Saturday mornings free to try other things which might actually set a good example for their youth sections.

Sorry about that - I am apparently not as over the whole thing as I thought I was.

So anyway. Our potatoes are planted, along with some peas, beans, sweetcorn, tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries and one solitary pumpkin plant. There had been 6 pepper plants, but snails reduced them to 0 overnight. I am awaiting delivery on 48 lavender plants ( a deal where they were free if you paid for delivery) which will form a nice scented hedgey thing in the front garden. All that I am on the look-out for now is a plum tree for planting in autumn. I need to mention that Titch has done most of the planting, nearly all of the watering, and all of the weeding. Yes, I know !

There has been knitting - I am taking part in a new MKAL by Kitman Figueroa, which should be even more interesting since I got the name muddled in my head, so I've been thinking of it as 'Summer Flowers'. When it should be, 'Wild Flowers'. So I may have chosen a totally inappropriate yarn .... but I am looking at that as part of the mystery: will it work, or not.

And now I must away, today's chore is to order Mini Diva's high school sweater and blouses so I can collect them at her 'Transition Day' in a month's time .... and hope they might still fit come September.

WIP Wednesday: Bagatelle

Tarot of Durer

I know ! I know ! I keep meaning  to post ... and then I blink,and even more days have passed by post-less. But we have been out and about with the kids' various sports things, and also bouncing on sofas and buying a suite. It is orange and I love it. I shall love it even more when it arrives and I no longer have to sit on the old sofa and sink slowly through the cushions to come to rest on the floor.

Yes, I had a little windfall thanks to the PPI refund thing, and je suis désolée, désolée, désolée au fond de mon coeur to have to tell you I was totally adult and grown-up about it all, and wasted frittered alloacted nearly the whole blimmin' amount on bills and paying down debt. Man, I don't like being sensible, it's just no fun whatsoever.

Also summer arrived last weekend (and left today). But it meant the roses whooshed into bloom, and of the 3 roses in the front of the house, two are showing their colors:

This one can stay: it is scented, I like the color, and although it's a hybrid tea (SO passé)   it is generous with its blooms.

This one ? Will have to work much harder to merit being kept: the color is fine, the flower shape is 'meh', but by far its worst sin is to have no fragrance. Destructo Boy claims there is a faint scent, but he may be full of pity for it:

  
And in spite of feeling like I've been out all the time, and outside, I am managing to knit a little:

An arty shot. A rubbish arty shot.

It is a baby pattern, 'Star Jumper' from Woman's Weekly Knitting & Crochet Spring 2010. Of course, we sniggered when we read that it demands 3 balls of Rowan Cashsoft DK,(rrp £5.75/$9.69 per 50g ball) and substituted it with the far more practical and inexpensive Cygnet Kiddies Supersoft DK in 'Lemon' at £1.79/$3.02 per 100g ball.

I can no longer maintain this light and airy manner, any nonchalance (and more French vocabulary) is on the verge of deserting me in the subsuming panic I feel at heading off to the dentist for a check-up momentarily. While I trickle down the road in a river of my own fear-driven sweat, why not pop over to Tami's Amis to see what normal people are up to ? 

 

5KCBWDAY2: Dating Profile

Fantastic Menagerie Tarot

Well, yes, I missed yesterday's 5th Annual KnitCroBlo Week topic because it was Monday - not as bad a day as some were having, but by the time I had time to sit down and draft something, and also had thought of something to write about, I was just too wiped out - Destructo Boy was having a major malfunction, and the mothership had neglected to include the user manual or secret code when they dropped him off.

Destructo Boy's mind is as much of a mystery to me as Data's

Anyway, I am attempting to shake off the frazzled-ness of yesterday by joining in with today's Knit & Crochet Blog Week topic:

5KCBWDAY2: Dating Profile
 Write a dating profile for one your your past finished projects.

Kind of an interesting idea, but I'm too scared of what I might find if I Google 'dating profiles' so I shall make it up as I go along. I think a Lonely Hearts type thing might be more straightforward. And instead of a past project - none of which need to advertize for a home - I think we will try to find a match for some of my stash. We don't even insist that it has to be a perfect match, anything in the generally overgrown and abandoned companionship ball-park will do .....



385m/420yds of 100% synthetic ball of soft fluffy sparkle WLTM knitter (preferably novice) with no taste, or sense of style but lots of pity & GSOH.

To sample more knitterly dating profiles, pour yourself a large glass of wine, and pop the tag 5KCBWDAY2 into Google ....