Respite

Things have started moving on the respite care for Steven. Two lovely ladies arrived on Thursday evening, bathed and fed him and got him ready for bed. Unfortunately he then 'played up' all evening in the only way he can, threatening to be sick, so I was kept busy. Hopefully, he will start getting used to new carers.

On Sunday, they came for the afternoon, so I had a meal out and visited the new Cold War exhibition at RAF Cosford, very interesting, free, and bliss for young boys (and girls) if they are interested in aircraft, rockets etc.

As for knitting, two items have floated to the top of the pile of WIPs.

The sock is making slow progress as it is my KIP project. However, I'm now past the heel.

I've also started a new top for Steven. It is going to be a raglan Hoodie, but I'm not sure that the self striping yarn is the best choice for this design as there is no way the stripes will match up.

Here is progress so far..........

.........and the yarn is.....

Pure wool, machine washes like a dream, and the first sweater I knitted in this is still soft after two years of machine washing.

Now must take myself into the garden to mow the lawn, the sun is shining atm but rain is threatened later.

New Jacket

Here's a picture of Steven in his new jacket from Rackety's.

I saw this firm mentioned on Emma's blog and thought it would be ideal for Steven. It looks like a conventional front fastening jacket, but actually fastens at the back, so is much easier to get on and off. He also has a foot muff, but will probably not need it until next winter.

Let it snow!

The snow promised yesterday arrived this morning. Not much before 9am but it has been coming down steadily all morning so we have quite a covering now in Wolverhampton so Roo will be pleased!

This should mean a good knitting day, but as the lad is not at day care today, because of the snow, I have to keep breaking off to attend to him. Needless to say, he is thoroughly enjoying lazing about.

Frustration

I've been having a very frustrating time recently trying to contact Hip Knits. In August I joined their Sock Club, and hoped to receive a skein of yarn each month for four months. In September I got the first skein and Steven now has new socks (see previous post.) Since then I have received nothing. I emailed Kerrie in November and received a reply saying that the missing yarn would be sent the next day, but so far nothing, and no reply to other emails. Has it got lost in the post or not yet been sent? Looking at comments on the Hip knits blog I see I'm not the only one having difficulty making contact.
On a more successful emailing note, Steven now has his picture on Radio 4's Window on your World, page 2, photo number 31. All the photos were taken at 5pm on Tuesday 5 December.






On the knitting front, I'm working away at Christmas presents, both to give myself and for other people to give ( you know who I mean Chris!) Here is a small sample of progress.


Very plain so far but I hope to add a decorative ribbing at the top. Wool came from Texere. No problem contacting them and a speedy delivery. As you can see, I've already started the second sock to avoid Second Sock Syndrome

Birthday

It's hard to believe, but Steven will be 20 tomorrow. We've nothing special planned as he wouldn't really appreciate it but he has a delicious chocolate cake to share with his friends on Monday.
As I type, he's getting great pleasure from watching the shadow of the leaves on the blind. (Sorry for the quality of the picture.)

We've had a busy week, flu jabs on Wednesday, and a meeting with social workers and other professionals on Thursday. Steven has to attend all meetings now he is deemed to be an adult.

Tuesday, we had our usual Knit Chat group meeting in Beatties. We're making blue squares for Knit a River at the moment. It was good to see Fiona, and baby Seth, who slept throughout.

Here are Yucca, Rose, Fiona, Pippa and Steph.

I've also managed to finish a project, socks in Regia Stretch. Just a simple toe-up pattern with short row toe and heel. The problem I find is getting a loose enough cast off. I tried several different methods, and finally used a picot edge loosely stitched down.

Bad Blogger

It's been quite a while since I last blogged, life has been getting in the way recently.
Some knitting has been done but nothing quite completed. I've almost finished Steven's jacket. I forged ahead with the second half of the front on Monday when we had to spend a day in hospital ( luckily not all night). Steven has been producing blood in his stools recently which obviously needed investigation. He thoroughly enjoyed the day especially being pushed around the ward in his chair. The only down side was the doctor using him as a pincushion to get a blood sample, but he soon forgets. We had to wait ages for the result as the machine in the lab. broke down. Nothing conclusive was discovered but his next outpatient's appointment with the cosultant is being brought forward.
Back to knitting. It was good to meet up with Ruth again on Saturday in Beatties, although we had to leave early as Steven wasn't feeling too good. Yesterday I spotted these in a LYS. I look in from time to time in the hope they might have something to inspire me, but it's usually just acrylics and fancy yarns. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of any one colour to make anything large, but I thought this might do for a hat or even a felted bag.

I do have some other things to show when I get round to sewing up.

Happiness......

........ is Steven back in his own bed again after a week in hospital.

Although we were very relieved to be in hospital last Tuesday with vomiting and a chest infection, it is good to be home again. I managed to dash home for an hour or so each day to collect post and clean clothes. As Steven still goes to the children's ward, I could stay with him. The facilities are very good for parents, a small kitchen with microwave and hot water for drinks, and a bathroom and shower room for parents use. I even got a proper bed to sleep in, usually I have to use a fold out bed.

Steven's new consulant, for Gastro-enterology, came to see him and is quite happy to treat him on the children's ward, as he says the facilities on the adult wards are not suitable for him and the staff would have difficulty coping.

I did a little knitting, mostly a bag in Rowan 'Country' which I'm hoping will be a Christmas present after felting, and some of my sock.

Good news from Fiona, her baby Seth has arrived, a week late but well worth the wait.

Guess where......

..... we've been. While everyone else is thinking of holidays and cancelled flights, yes we've been back in hospital. Steven had another attack of gastritis on Tuesday evening, so spent three nights in hospital, but we came home this morning. It's been seven months since his last admission so some improvement on last year.
Not a lot of knitting done, just a little work on a sock which happened to be in my bag. I also had to dash home for the plumber as I've been without hot water since the weekend. Luckily it's now fixed, so I can get the pile of washing done. I'm not even attempting to post any pictures as Blogger has been making it very difficult for me lately.