Having Fun with Hexis

Life

I was sent an e-mail the other day. It gave me great pause for thought. It was an obituary published in the London Times a couple of years ago which laments the passing of common sense. It touched me greatly as I also realised that in my lifetime, short as it is in the grand scheme of things, we have also lost taking responsibility for our own actions. People are too ready to blame someone or something else for where they are in life. Now I am not saying that there are not genuine cases where others are to blame but it simply cannot be the case for everyone. I have experienced bullying in my life which wore me down so much I considered doing all sorts of nasty things to myself, but I have on more than one occasion picked myself up and restarted living for the good things in life. I have seen my husband being ground down on a daily basis by chronic pain but we still laugh together and try to do fun things whenever we can. 

However it galls me to hear youngsters who have never lived and have had it all handed to them on a silver platter complain that it is not their fault that they cannot find a job, take drugs, are alcoholic etc. I know I sound like an old fuddy duddy but I was taught when I was young that if I wanted something I would have to work and save to get it. Now this may have been doing the dishes, hoovering, dusting or whatever but I know I felt a great deal of pride in myself when I took my hard earned cash to the shop to buy what I craved. Likewise when I started work that pay packet at the end of the week meant so much. I paid my dues for bed and board, put some aside for bus fares and work expenses and what I had left was mine to do with what I wished. Never that I can remember did I moan that if I could not afford the latest gizmo or clothes or whatever that it was someone else's fault. And above all never would I dream of stealing.  If I wanted it it was my responsibility.

Similarly if I fell over or broke something it was me to blame, no-one else. I took care of my belongings and they lasted. This is something I do to this day. It saddens my heart to hear the culture of blame in today's society. Maybe it is time to resurrect common sense and taking responsibility but I fear we may have gone too far.

Off the Needles

Nothing much to show this week, just a few Hexipuffs for my Beekeepers Quilt 

 I have been knitting these off and on for nearly 2 years and have finally perfected my technique. I am using magic loop and when I pick them up they go quite quickly. I am stuffing them with old pillow filling which I wash and dry so I am recycling as I go and using up all the fingering weight leftovers I have been collecting over the years.

I have nearly 100 of these done now and the jar I was collecting the finished ones in is overflowing so to my rescue is a plastic shoebox.

 

I am looking forward to watching this fill up albeit quite slowly.

On the Needles

The same projects as last week although a couple have moved forward somewhat. Hopefully next week I will have a finish to show other than hexis.

I hear the yarn and needles calling me.

Stay safe and happy crafting.

Mary

Furuncle, What's That?

Life

I had a birthday this week. A happy day which was interrupted by a visit to the Doctor because I have been having earache for nearly a month. He looked closely in my ear and at first announced he could see nothing wrong. Then he moved the tool he was using to examine my ear and, holy moly, I just about hit the roof! The pain was excruciating!! I don't know who jumped higher, him or me. He gently looked again and he saw it, a Furuncle in in the ear canal. What's a Furuncle I hear you ask? Well its a boil, especially in the ear or nasal passage. Antibiotics have been duly prescribed and hopefully they will sort it out. 

This week I also had a problem with Paypal :( They are holding some of my pennies hostage with them blaming my bank and vice-versa. This is the first time I have ever had trouble with them, but I will try to avoid using them in future as I cannot really afford to have them tie up my pennies.

At work we had a fabulous event, Robots Live. Held on Father's Day in bright sunshine lots of fun was had by over 1000 visitors. Silly me though, guess who forgot to take her camera so you will have to check out flickr.com/photos/nationalmuseumsscotland to get an idea of the day.

Off the Needles

Last week I told you I had finished my Camp Loopy project 1. Well here she is

Loopy Damask

I am so proud of this beautiful shawl, it is so soft and such a summery colour.

On the Needles

Having one project finished and being able to share it has got me motivated to make a list here and share with you all. Hopefully, maybe madly I will aim to have at least 1 finished project to share each week. 

So here goes.

• Colour Affection
• Damask (yes another one!}
• Carreta Carreta
• Vanilla Socks
• Maia Wrap
• 7 Sisters
• Beach Street Park
• Irish Mesh Cowl
• Dragon Wings
• Diantha
• Polaris
• and a few more!!!

Oops, seems I have had a few too many oh shiny's! Time to start knitting methinks.

Stay safe and happy crafting

Mary

Flaming June

Life

I love my job! I really do. I meet some of the nicest people and it is my pleasure to help them make the most of their visit to our wee museum. If you want to come along and see for yourself where I work all the details are here!

I other news this week, hubby had a hospital appointment at Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary. We were so lucky in that we quickly found a parking space, he was seen promptly by a lovely Dr who explained why she wanted to do further tests and she organised for most of them to be done there and then. The only one she could not get done was a MRI scan on his brain, that will be organised and an appointment sent out in due course. Of course this has left me worrying, does he even have a brain? And if he does will they find it to scan it? Shush, don't let on I said that. 

Another thing odd this week was the weather. It has been glorious, warm sunny days followed for the most part by warm muggy nights. Now seeing that big shiny yellow thing in the sky is a most welcome sight, but it is tempered slightly by the high humidity we suffer. It must seem strange to some that we go nuts in this country when the temperature climbs to over 16 Degrees Celsius but with the addition of the humidity that spells hot to our pasty selves. Also this year we seem to have gone straight from Winter to Summer. Spring forgot to turn up at all. 

New to the home this week is that instead of having the TV on we have been enjoying books of an evening. A while ago I downloaded Audible for my laptop and took a 1 book a month subscription. This past few days Bill and I have been rediscovering our mutual enjoyment of the Skinner books by Quintin Jardine. These crime novels are set for the most part in and around Edinburgh and East Lothian and we both find them most enjoyable. It is lovely in the evening for both of us to just sit and relax whilst listening to the story unfold. 

Knitting

The needles have been cracking on apace this week and my Camp Loopy project No1 is complete. I just have to bath and block it. Now it is a modified version as for some reason I ran out of yarn with a fair few rows to go but I like how it turned out. No finished photos yet so you will have to make do with an in progress

The yarn I used is one of the softest I have ever worked with and I loved it. It was Skein Top Draw Sock in the Sunspots colour.

My other KAL of the socks is not moving quite so quickly but I do hope to have a progress report next week.

The only other thing I have to share is that a new resident has come to stay.

Little Loopy arrived along with a lovely skein of Lorna's-Laces Shepherd Sock in Iris Garden and my Loopy reward for reaching Cotton Club.

Knitting calls

Stay safe and happy crafting

Mary

Camp Loopy and Other Things

Life

What a week! I woke on Monday feeling like I had been run over by a bulldozer. Aches and pains in parts of my body I never knew existed. This lasted nearly 3 days then the snot and sneezing started. I felt absolutely dreadful and could have given Rudolph a run for their money in the nose department. I took the wise route and stayed well away from work to avoid spreading it around and now I am beginning to feel more normal again. Thus a quiet week has ensued here in Chez Baxter. 

A new TV show was discovered by us. Rescue Me is set in a New York fire house in the aftermath of 9/11. It is described as a Dramedy and oh boy it certainly has had us gasping out loud as well as laughing our heads off. Now I know it has been on TV for years, but our magic box only has the first 3 seasons so we will watch these and hope the others come along sometime. Another TV show we watch avidly in this house is NCIS. We both love it and were both left gasping open mouthed at the end of Friday night's episode. Oh boy, just did not see that coming. I won't spoil it by saying what happened just say that the episode was "Berlin".

Knitting 

Camp Loopy has officially begun. I mentioned last week that I would be double dipping with my Socktopus book KAL. Well here I was just before midnight with my supplies all ready to begin.

Well I waited until past the witching hour and duly cast on my socks and what do you know? 2 rounds in and I just knew the yarn was screaming at me "I don't want to be socks!" So back to the drawing board I went. I petted the yarn for a bit and came up with an idea. I have knitted 2 Damask shawls in the past but both were for gifts, this time I wanted one for me. So here is my progress after 2 days

Yup, this yarn wanted to be a shawl.

As for the socks, well yes those are on the needles too and much happier. No progress pics yet but here is the yarn I am using

Now the pattern name, Caretta Caretta, is the scientific name for the Loggerhead turtle and I think the shading in this yarn perfectly picks up the shading on a turtle shell. So I am more than happy using this for my socks.

Okay time to get back to my shawl

Stay safe and happy crafting

Mary