My Ramblings

I'm back enjoying my knitting, although the warmer weather is creating havoc at times.  Since finishing my HRB I have knitted this.............
a halter top for one of my granddaughters, knitted in Lily Sugar 'n' Creme.

I have also received some goodies from Amazon;
and 
  both of which I have wanted for a while.

I have a book on Folk Socks, sent by my lovely SP10 Pal  and she also sent me the yarn and needles to knit one of the socks.  In Favourite socks I have found another pair, so now I want to knit both of these;
I think both will look best in white or cream.

Some time ago, Gina  sent me 3 skeins of Knit Picks Bare 4 ply yarn, too loosely woven for socks but perfect for this
a half circle shawl I found in my new lace book.  It's knitting up really nicely, and will be a lovely light shawl, but will give some warmth on a cooler night.

All is going well with my Dad.  He is at a rehab facility now, but so far doesn't seem to be getting much in the way of therapy.  He is improving though and is now permitted to  walk around the ward assisted only by his walking frame.  He's still not permitted to go into the shower on his own, and still needs thickened fluids and pureed foods, but hopefully that will change soon.

I loaned Dad my lap top  so that he could excercise his brain by playing some games, and it has certainly been good for him.  The other day though, a very careless member of the cleaning staff knocked it off the table and onto the floor.  All she said was "ooops".  Yeah, oops is right, the bloody thing is broken.  It turns on, and will run on the battery, but when you put the power cord in, the bracket is obviously bent and the computer doesn't recognise that it on mains power, so I am unable to recharge  the battery.  I have informed the hospital that I expect them to pay for repairs to the computer as it was the negligence of one of their staff that has caused the problem.  We'll see what happens.

Take care folks, and happy knitting.

HRB

Just  a quickie...........................
Having its first bath, I'm sure it enjoyed it as much as I always enjoy my baths, though it didn't get to stay in as long as I do, and it didn't get a good book or a glass of wine.

Out in the sunshine having a good stretch (or on the torture rack if you like). I'm rather pleased with the way it has stretched out, just a few little rucks, but all in all it's ok. It's very warm today, and it was drying as I was pinning it out, so it shouldn't be too long before I'm able to unpin it and bring it inside.

Addendum:

Just after writing this post I went and checked the blanket, and sure enough it was dry so I brought it in and threw it on my sofa.  Guess who has fallen in love with it????......................

That's it for today.  No other news at this stage. Happy knitting everyone.

Things are much better.

My back only gives me pain now when I move suddenly or wrong, or when I hiccup (yes, true).  I'm able to walk, drive and knit with little or no pain which is a relief.

My HRB has progressed well too................................

Binding off is in progress, but still a long way to go.

Finally off the needles, and a sad and sorry sight much in need of blocking.

Off today to Spotlight to buy some blocking pins and dressmaking pins............

.............then I saw this and couldn't resist.  So much for going to ONLY buy the pins.

I will be blocking the blanket tomorrow hopefully as it's been a bit wet today and the only place I could really do it is outside on the lawn.  I will definitely get photo's to show you.

Now for my Dad.  He is doing superbly well, but he is being typically him and not listening to the nurses. He wants to do it all NOW thankyou very much.  Since the strokes, he has had to have a minced diet and thickened fluids, so even tea and coffee have to have a thickening agent put in, and if any of you have ever had to drink thick tea, coffee and water you will know how unpleasant that can be.  Yesterday Mum tried him with ordinary tea, and told him to sip it slowly.  He did, and didn't choke or cough.  Brilliant.  He later enjoyed a cup of unthickened coffee too, so things are looking up.  Next we will try him on food that he actually has to chew, so hopefully he'll soon be able to eat normal foods and not have to have everything vitamised.  He is walking well too...............perhaps not quite as well as he believes though.  Yesterday he rang Mum while she was home to tell her that he couldn't use his bedside phone as the company mistakenly thought his time was up.  Mum then spoke to the company and they re-connected it for him.  Mum thought he had gone to the nurses station to phone her, but when we got back to the hospital we found out that he had actually gone to the receptionist at the front door of the hospital, some 300 metres away.  THAT is a seriously long way for him at the moment, and no doubt he would have been very tired before he got back, and of course that is when he can have falls etc.  Luckily no harm was done, but the nursing staff hadn't even realised he'd done it.  We will have to keep an eagle eye on him.  Hopefully a rehabilitation bed will become available very soon, and they will keep him busy.  I'm sure he will work extremely hard to get back to a state where he will be permitted to return home.  Perhaps he will even make it home before Christmas, what a great present for both he and Mum.

left to right, Mum, Dad, youngest sister Janet and me.  Middle sister Dianne is in front. 

Take care everyone, and happy knitting.

Another Tough Week.

Things HAVE to start getting better now, surely.  It's been a hard few weeks that is for sure.

While I was still trying to get my back our of spasm I had a phone call from my mother saying that my dad was in hospital.  The news was that he had collapsed that morning, Monday 5th Nov.  From what she told me, it sounded like he had had a stroke, and sure enough the eventual word came back that he had had a small clot.  10 years ago he had had a series of clots and had been put on Warfarin which he had been taking till a few months ago when he was taken off is as he was bleeding internally.  Instead he was put on Plavix, a milder form of medication, and in the meantime has had the bleeding areas fixed.  All was well till last week.  It seems that the Plavix hasn't controlled the clotting as well as the Warfarin.

I was finally able to make the 1 hour journey to visit him on the Thursday, and he had apparently improved a little from earlier that week.  That night however he had yet another clot, and the doctors said on the Friday that he was unlikely to come home, and that he was deteriorating.  After a discussion with my mum it was decided that they would add aspirin to his list of meds, and when I went to see him on Friday it was like a miracle.  He was much more alert (though very restless) and wanted to get up and about.  We took him for a walk, with him using a wheelie walker, and he did exceptionally well.  He has improved a little each day since, and will be going to rehabilitation soon.  The only thing is that he is now getting bored, and therefore somewhat despondent as he has nothing to do there, time is dragging, and he's not improving as fast as HE would like.  He is very demanding of mums time too, so she is getting a bit stressed and tired, so hopefully once he's at rehab, and his time is more filled, she will get a bit of a rest.

As for my back, it's very much better, though not fully pain free as yet.  At least  I can get around though, and that is good........for me, as I too was getting bored and restless. lol  Driving and knitting are still a bit difficult, but I'm getting there. My HRB is growing slowly, but over the next few days I hope to really get stuck into it and hopefully get it finished........yeah, I'm getting impatient too........do I sound like my fathers daughter? haha.

As you can see, it has grown a little.  I'm now up to row 99, so almost into triple figures now.  Send me good vibes so that I can get it done........I'm itching to cast on for another project, possibly a pair of socks for moi.

Take care all, and happy knitting.

OUCH

Hi all,

Sorry I've been silent for a while, but I've more or less been confined to bed and my couch with a severely sore back.  I'm not sure if it was because of the seat on the plane on the way home from Perth or not, but about halfway through the flight I did start to get a back ache.  The seat on the flight home seamed to be much more upright than the one on the way over; it had no curve or contouring or anything, and didn't recline as far either.  My back was ok once I got home, but then a few day later, on the Saturday while at my youngest son's housewarming party, I noticed it aching again.  By Sunday I was in a lot of pain, and it's been like that since.  On Friday just gone it seemed markedly improved, but on Saturday we went to #3 son's house for his daughter's birthday.  I had to leave early because my back was spasming, and by the time I got home I wasn't able to walk or move without pain.  I am now making great freinds with paracetamol, and ibuprofen with codeine, and falling in love with my wheat bag. 

Due to being confined to bed or couch, I haven't been able to access our PC; but thankfully, my gorgeous MOTH has now set up our laptop so that I can now be in communicado again.  While I'm on here though, he can't be on the PC, so I will need to get a wireless router ASAP so that we can both be "on" at the same time.  I'll try to get that this evening and #2 son will come and set it up for us.

I also haven't been able to do any knitting as even moving my arms wrong can send the back muscles into spasm.........can you imagine me trying to go to the loo?  Must uncomfortable and ungainly, lol  Shower I can just manage, but getting in and out is difficult as it's over the bath. 

Well folks, that's about it for the time being.  Now I have the computer I can check out YOUR blogs, so I'm off to do some reading.