Hi Everybody. I am still Here

Sorry for the lack of blogging in the past few months. As you know I had been feeling very grotty for months and generally very tired and under the weather. It was just as if someone had whacked all of the stuffing out of me. I was still crocheting and knitting but feeling so rotten that I didn't feel like sharing my feelings with anyone via the blog. After a few trips here and there I think that the problem has now been diagnosed. I have diabetes which has apparently been undiagnosed for a while. Just before Christmas I mentioned all of my symptoms to my GP and after a few tests for various things the blood tests came back with Type 2 diabetes.

I am now on Metformin. I am not a special diet as I have not yet had a meeting with the diabetic help nurse. My eyesight has been deteriorating over the last few months so I am also going for a special eye test. After a month of the Metformin I am gradually starting to feel better. Apparently my four bladder infections in the last 6 months are also a sign that something was wrong. I had antibiotics which seemed to work but the infection was back within a month.

I have had my pre op tests done for my left knee operation at the end of February (unless it gets cancelled). I am not having a replacement knee this time. They are just doing an arthroscopy to have a look around inside. I am very dubious about this as last time an arthroscopy made my right knee so bad that I had to have it replaced. Fingers crossed this time. The hospital have also said that my diabetes could be an explanation of why the right knee has never healed properly. I still have all of the swelling and it won't bend properly. I got told the jolly news that I will never be able to ever kneel again and the reason that I struggle with stairs is because it doesn't bend properly. Things can only get better eh?

I have re-opened my Etsy store and am taking photos of finished things that I have been making lately. This Christmas I didn't make anyone any woollies so that should tell you how rotten I was feeling. This is the first Christmas for years. Everyone has I.O.U's for sweaters when I feel a little better.

I did manage 3 craft fairs but I just made small things like hand warmers, headbands and hats.

This is me, taken by the local newspaper, with the knitted Santa Claus and dolls that I was using to make my stall appear more like Christmas. I didn't knit these, I bought them from EBay for display purposes. They are packed away now ready for next Christmas. I don't think that there are any more craft fairs planned in the next few months so I will have to concentrate on Etsy and start a Folksy account which I think is just for crafting in the UK. Etsy has now got so huge that it's difficult to attract people to my store.

One of the hats ready for my Etsy store. The pattern is from Hectanooga from Etsy. She gives her permission to sell things made from her patterns which is good. So many designers won't let you do that. I stick with a lot of vintage patterns or my own designs for that reason.

This hat is a mix of my doodling and a couple of patterns. It is so altered that I doubt that the designers will recognise it as anything to do with their patterns. If I don't like the way that they tell me to crochet something, then I just change it. I found the brim instructions on another pattern so confusing that this is my interpretation.

I made this without a pattern but no doubt it resembles a hundred other hats on Ravelry. I love the flower on this hat but I am annoyed because I can't remember which method I used so I will have to inspect it carefully so that I can repeat it. With flowers I never seem to make any two alike and rarely follow a pattern. I remember methods and interpret them to suit myself.

This tight cowl can be worn as a hood, or just around the neck. I used James C Brett Marble chunky and also made a pair of hand warmers trimmed with crochet flowers to match the hood.

The pattern for this tight cowl can also be bought on Etsy. It is by LoveKnitAndCrochet. The buttons are for show but if you made buttonholes then they could be made to open, This cowl has the band stitched closed. I love the 'silver' rimmed buttons.

The pattern for this waistcoat dates back to the 60's. I have made it 3 times now but I think is the first time that I have made it with the pointed front. I am hoping that this will appeal to to the retro lovers. I made the one for myself in dark shades and much longer and without the points.

This ia a pattern that I made for myself in the 60's which I am hoping will also appeal to the retro lovers. I have also made another similar one in navy, turquoise and white. A friend has my camera at the moment as she is taking some photos of my things on her tailor's dummy so I can't show you much more. She was going to bring the camera back today but is in bed with the flu.

I have also been trying to knit on the knitting machine again. At the moment I am trying to make a maternity sweater for my younger niece but as I don't have a pattern it is all experimentation at the moment. I keep making mistakes and having hiccups with the machine dropping stitches but mostly it's because I don't feel that I am concentrating properly to learn pattern stiches and methods once again. I keep having to refer to my manual all of the time. My friend Claire has a web page selling dresses and skirts in the 1950's style and would like me to make some fine sweaters, tops and boleros in the 50's style to compliment her dresses and skirts. The thought of possible sales for me should be spurring me on but I am still not very motivated. The sweater has only got one piece so far. I was going to knit on the machine all today but I got sidetracked as usual. Some days I feel like I don't do anything and yet the time just whizzes past. When I think of the kind of things that I used to knit, without thinking, on the machine I could cry at my ineptitude. I am sure that I am getting brain fade. I just don't remember things any more. I can do something, master it, leave it for a couple of weeks and then I have forgotten everything and have to start all over again. It's so frustrating. When I read up on the internet about diabetes it did say that one of the effects of it, before treatment, is lack of concentration and general fuzziness so hopefully once I get my levels balanced my brain will sharpen up.

I do get occasional messages asking (sometimes demanding) will I send this pattern or that pattern to them via e mail. If they are my designs then I don't write anything down so I can't send them. If they are modern patterns then sorry but I won't break copyright. All I will do is provide a link to the pattern or book. As for the vintage patterns I have bought a lot of tlem through EBay or Etsy as I had lost a lot of my originals. I am sorry to have to write this but the people who ask are not usually people who are known to me. I don't have a lot of money either and I have to buy my patterns and books. These remarks are not directed at any of my on line friends just the strays who read the blog and like a pattern

Thank you to all of the people who have been enquiring about my health through various people. I do appreciate your concern. I can't promise to blog as I did before but as I am back up to almost normal crochet speed once again then you never know.

Bye for now. I hope that you are all having a nice weekend. We have about an inch of snow which of course is throwing my neighbours into some sort of panic. UK doesn't do snow very well. The grit waggons only ever salt the main roads and as I live on a hill car travel can be a bit precarious once the snow gets compacted and turns to ice.