Seraphina is growing slowly

Seraphina continues to grow but it is very slow progress now. Each row takes a half hour and the row measures 120" so it doesn't appear to be growing very fast any more. I like the shape of it as it provides a great wrap at the front and I feel it will stay anchored to the shoulders without the need for a pin. Neck to point it is 28" and across from point to point it is 60". There is still quite a bit of chenille left on the cone but of course every row takes a lot more wool now so I think it will start to run out after a few more inches on the length. I think the shawl will need a little light blocking to open out the pattern stitches as they are not as distinct with chenille as they would be with plain wool. I think it will just have to be a light sprinkling of water and try to block it out with pins on some towels. One of these days I will invest in some of those interlocking blocking squares. I find it difficult to find a place large enough to lie the shawl flat to do this without Buster lying on it. I will have to use the spare double bed, loads of bath towels and keep the door closed until it dries.

I reached out the sock knitting last night to give my hands a change of movement and have turned the heel of the first sock. Still got quite a way to knit on the first sock. I feel like I have been knitting this sock forever. I can't remember a pair of socks taking so long. It's my fault for deciding to change from toe up to top down half way through the sock.

Buster is still not back on form as can be seen from the sad face on the photo. My son and daughter in law called last night to see him and he was a bit sad after they left. He still appears to have a groin strain and is still limping. I am hoping that he hasn't picked up another water infection. He woke me at 6 am this morning with a very apologetic look on his face. He gives himself away when he has done something wrong. He doesn't just wait for me to discover it. I came downstairs thinking that he needed a wee only to find out that he had already had a wee in the kitchen. This has never happened before and he had his last wee around 2am when I went to bed which makes me think he is having a problem holding his water. My son said he had a few dribbles when he was with them but they work all day and to be honest Buster isn't used to holding his water long these days as I am usually there to let him out for his wees on a regular timing basis apart from the odd days when I have been out. I will have to watch him carefully for the next few days and make sure he has plenty water to drink.

We are off for a walk before the rain starts again. I am trying to get him just to go for a walk but Buster still finds me sticks and gets irritated when I only throw them a few inches. I am trying to rest his leg and groin and it is slowly improving.

Today I realized that I had not put my healing crystals from Ambermoggie and Vicky in my hospital bag. I have now made sure that they are packed and ready. I have put all thoughts of going in out of my mind so it will be a surprise to me when the call comes and even then I won't believe it is happening until I am on the operating table.

Rainbow hat for a rainy day

This is a rainbow hat I made for Lisa. We had been discussing how she likes hats - the sillier the better and so I decided to make her this hat as a surprise. When I got to the Knit Out on Sunday it was me who got the surprise because Lisa turned up wearing a striped jacket that was almost a match to the hat and neither of us did it knowingly. She very sportingly wore it all through the Knit Out so if anyone was passing the cafe and saw a lady in the window wearing this hat then it was all my fault! I don't think she sallied forth wearing it on her way home but who knows! The bottom photo has the truest colours to the hat by the way. My web cam muted the photo with the hat on my head.

Vicky gave me a lovely heart made from amethyst quartz to keep with my other crystals and to accompany me to hospital for my health and well being. My heart came in a lovely little purple bag so that don't lose it. Yeah for purple. I rang the hospital today and spoke to the Surgical Care Practitioner but she could not tell me if I am on the list for May. She said that she would let me know so fingers crossed that she remembers to do that and the letter arrives very soon.

I went out today to Biobank in Bury to take part in some medical tests for research. In the words of Tony Hancock I donated another armful of blood. They asked me so many questions that I was unable to answer. The dates of all my operations etc. I sort of knew how old I was roughly when they happened but who keeps exact dates in their diary? Do people celebrate the 10th anniversary of their tonsillectomy? Go out to dinner to celebrate the date that their broken nose got fixed? I had tests on the PC to test my reflexes and a grilling on my life style. I had my cholesterol done and it was a bit high and my weight was of course too high for my size. Sigh! The column next to weight had severely overweight ticked. At least it's better than the morbidly obese tag I got from the hospital a couple of years ago. I know I am chubby ( a polite way of saying I carry too much weight) but when I looked around the waiting room I would say that the majority of the ladies in there were far larger than I. One lady was out of breath just walking down the corridor and almost touched the sides of it as she swayed by. When I looked at the size of her belly slapping on her knees as she staggered by I thought now hang on a minute THAT is what I would call morbidly obese. By the time she got to the bottom of the stairs she was almost ready for intensive care!

Their advice to me on how to lower my cholesterol was to take more exercise. I wish I could, I would if I could, I would love to exercise to help me lose weight but after a day of screaming agony just walking from house to tram and tram to Biobank I am afraid that exercise was the last thing on my mind. Getting from A to B without resorting to crawling on all fours snapping at everyone's ankles was the priority of the day.

Charlie has just rung and said that she is able to give me a lift to the Salford Arms so I will have another Knit Out to go to tonight . I do love my little outings and hope that I will be fit enough to go to them very soon after my op What op? Is it a figment of my imagination? Is it tomorrow - the tomorrow that never comes? One day my op will come. I think my painkillers have kicked in and gone straight to my head. I shall away and splash my face with cold water to recover my equilibrium.

My ex husband came today to see how I am and had a look inside the newly re-furbished garage and discovered that the roof is leaking in the corner. Why did it have to be him that spotted that bit? I rang the builder and he was really upset and said he would be round asap to sort it out. He is a lovely man and I hated telling him as he really prides himself in doing a good job. He sounded really upset about the leak. It's probably just something and nothing and the driving rain has found the small chink in the roof's armour.