Landmark Day

Today marked a landmark in my progress since my operation. I managed to walk as far as Marks and Spencers in the village. I had to stop in the cafe for 10 mins with a Cappuccino when I got there as I felt a bit knackered. I could only buy 2 ready meals as I not supposed to be carrying anything but it was such a sense of achievement. My back was sore at the operation site but my legs worked fine ( a little wobbly but no sign of numbness) and I had no severe pain on walking which was something I wanted to test. I am in more discomfort since my walk but I am sure that it will pass. I feel very pleased with myself and the surgeon today. Now I can start to believe that the pain will be gone forever soon. The operation site was red hot when I got home and I had a very strange sensation of hot water trickling down inside my back so I hope all is well underneath the skin. Time will tell I guess.

I have not abandoned the crochet cardigan. I decided to leave it at the stage it is at until Vicky J can try it on. The beginning rows for quite a few sizes are exactly the same so I would only have to undo a few rows and increase a little more if the size isn't quite big enough. I don't want to carry on and have it pulling at the bust line. The yarn I am using is still working up a little on the small size but I don't want to go up a hook size as I think it would spoil the look of the crochet. The tension looks good on the hook size I am using now so I would rather go up a bust size and stay on the same hook.

I have started the Blue Curacao from the Amazing Lace Book whilst I am in limbo. The wool is Sublime Cashmere merino silk DK. I am using a 5.50mm hook. I think Doris has used more of an aran thickness but it is so difficult to tell with the US patterns exactly what US 4 thickness is compared to UK yarns. It seems to be mid way between DK and Aran but I really prefer the DK for a shawl such as this. Many Ravellers seem to have made it with finer yarn and added an extra set of pineapples to get the right length. The shawl will be blocked and that will also make a difference to it's finished size. I am still on the first ball but of course I will get less and less rows per ball as the shawl progresses. I guess I will just finish off with as many completed pineapple sets as I can with amount of wool that Vicky provided.

I accosted the landlord of the house next door today and told him I was considering cutting down his holly tree as he was obviously not going to make any effort to do anything with it. I had discussed it with him last year and he hasn't done anything at all and has no plans to do anything. It is supposed to be a holly bush but it has been neglected by him and years of tenants and is now a huge towering tree. It sways alarmingly in the winds very close to my roof but more than that it is affecting the signal to my Sky dish. He looked rather startled and said I could trim it and cut a wee bit off the top. I told him not to be ridiculous as the tree was higher than both houses. I said it is going down to at least half size or down altogether. He finally agreed to half way when I said I would sue him if it blew down onto my roof and did any damage. The whole garden next door is like an overgrown jungle so how can he possible say that the tree is an asset to the garden? It's not as if the tree ever has any berries. All it ever does is creak alarmingly and shed loads of prickly leaves onto my garden everytime there is a breath of wind. Plus my poor lawn hardly sees the light of the sun in certain areas because of it's height. Timber! Oops sorry the chain saw slipped - I will have to buy you a new small holly bush as a replacement. I would, if I dared, tell the tree guy to just chop the whole thing down. Maybe he will discover some ghastly disease which means it is a danger to everyone. I can only hope.

I hope that my little walk today will ensure another good night's sleep tonight. At the moment I feel more enlivened by the fresh air but hopefully by bedtime the walk will have tired me out sufficiently so I will sleep.