crochet

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, Mandala

November 22, 2020 by Anne Sweet 2 Comments

Yesterday I spent the afternoon making this mandala. I’ll be sure to be making some more of them.

My First Mandala

a ring with a crochet mandala in the colours of pink, cream, blue and green. — crochet mandala

Making the mandala has to be the most exciting thing I’ve done this week. Well, I did finish reading a rather good book, The New Girlfriend which I have reviewed here if you are interested. But it’s been a fairly quiet week.

The Bad Morning.

I had a bad morning. It started with a weird dream, but then I woke and I couldn’t move. The room was dark and I confused my son because I couldn’t speak when he came in. He did come back though and when he turned on the lamp he realised something was wrong. With his help I managed to get moving and eventually sitting on the edge of the bed where he gave me my medication. He gives me my medication every morning, today he had to put them in my mouth for me and pour the water in too so I could swallow them. I feel so sad. He’s 10 years old and these are the memories he will have of me when he grows up.

My oldest son realised something was wrong and came into help. He got me standing and helped me down the stairs. It’s days like this that I wish I’d had my lift installed. It’s so scary trying to go down the stairs when your body isn’t responding. I couldn’t even bend to go down on my bottom.

An hour on the settee with a nice cup of tea which was made for me, and couple of extra, different painkillers, and I was feeling much better. I got to watch my morning Christmas movie wrapped in a blanket. The Little Man played Roblox on his laptop next to me.

I dread the time when this becomes an every day occurrence. I may have to consider that lift, or maybe even a stair lift. It’s crazy, but the occupational health team are happy to pay for a lift installation but won’t approve a stair lift because they don’t think it would be safe enough for me. A lift sounds great, but I would have to lose a large chunk of my bedroom and living room to have it installed and I really don’t want that.

Ok, I’m rambling now. Today will be okay now I can move again and the pain is under control. I may even cook the kids favourite roast chicken for dinner.

my sunday snapshot badge from Rachel Swirl dot co dot uk

Check out my Etsy Christmas Gift Guide

My Sunday Photo and Ordinary Moments – Cushion

October 18, 2020 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

I love to crochet, especially while listening to an audio book. This week I finished one of my Works In Progress, a cushion.

photo of a cushion in purple, pink and white pattern, lying on a brown settee.

I started it a while ago, the back is plain white and was very easy to make. The front consisted of three colours which were to be made in a complicated pattern. The pattern was not too bad to understand, but when you are changing four colours in each row it can be complicated and creates a lot of work on the back to sew in all the threads. I tried and gave up. I decided to use the same colours but make some squares and sew them together. I designed the pattern myself. I’m never 100% happy with what I make but I’m happy that I didn’t just give up on it. And now I have a super soft colourful cushion.

The Ordinary Moments, Some Might Say

Today’s Blogtober post is ‘Some Might Say’ and I have to say, I really don’t like Oasis. I never have, the Gallagher’s both annoy me beyond belief and I don’t like their voices. But I do like some of their songs and this is one of them. And the lyrics are quite relevant for these time don’t you think.

Some Might Say we will find a brighter day!

So many awful things that are going on in the world right now. There has to be a brighter day coming. At the moment, all I can see is division and suffering. But life goes on, and we have to think of our children. I don’t believe that there is a big plan to get us all under control. That is not possible, we have been free for too long. We can’t even follow simple instructions like not gathering in crowds and putting on masks. Its a crazy situation. Following the rules could get the pandemic under control, but if it you don’t believe there is a pandemic then you won’t follow the rules.

I can see us going around in circles for a long time over this and there will be a lot of lives lost or ruined.

Some might say that we will find a brighter day!

Let’s keep hoping they are right!

In the meantime, I’m going to keep home as much as I can and do my favourite things like read and crochet. I may even make another cushion!

image shows a drawing of a camera with flowers. A badge for My sunday Snapshot from Rachel Swirl blog.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Fall Guys

September 6, 2020 by Anne Sweet 10 Comments

Fall Guys

Fall Guys Ulitmate Knockout is a fun new game on PS4 and Steam. And I love it. I think I love it more than the kids, there hasn’t been a game I’ve enjoyed so much in ages. The game is simple, you start off with a load of other fall guys and compete to finish five rounds of random games. They can be races or skill games, some are down to chance, some are skill. It’s just fun and competition in its simplest form.

Anyway. I was thrilled to find this lovely little crochet pattern on Craftfix and had to give it a go. Such a cute jelly bean guy. I want to make some more and some outfits like you can get in the game.

Ordinary Moments

This week the Little Man went back to primary school on Thursday. He’s in year 6 and it’s a good school that has taken all the precautions. They are taking the COVID19 risk seriously so I was happy to let him go back. Not only that but he needs the interaction and discipline of school. I’ve let him get far too lazy since we stopped home educating in July.

The first day went really well. As I’m clinically vulnerable the plan was for Graham to bring him home then he could get changed and wash his hands before coming in to me. But it didn’t go to plan. After school, on the way to the car, he had a big fall and hurt himself quite badly. So as soon as he got home it was straight to me for cuddles.

He hurt his knee, his wrist, his hands and his back. So it was a nasty fall. Later he also complained of headache and had an upset stomach, his eye was hurting too. I think it was a combination of the return to school and the fall, it really took it out of him. He didn’t go back on Friday as I was worried about his wrist and his back was still aching. But now, on Sunday, he’s much better. So I’ll let him go back to school tomorrow.

We didn’t even get a back to school photo because he didn’t wear his uniform on the first day and we were waiting for a uniform photo on Friday. We’ll try in the morning.

Did your kids go back to school this week?

Worst Back to School Ever 2020

Covid Diaries Day 76 The Future

May 29, 2020 by Anne Sweet 1 Comment

I’ve changed the title from Isolation Diaries to Covid diaries. As of this moment we are still in Isolation and haven’t been out, but the rules are relaxing and we are now one of the few. Things will be changing for us soon too. I don’t know if the kids will be going back to school before Summer, but it’s still a wait and see situation.

It seems for us that everything is a wait and see situation. Thanks Covid!

Lock down Broken

So, the Prime Minister’s advisor broke lock down but apparently he didn’t. But the people say he did, the PM says he didn’t. The people say, it’s there in black and white, the PM says he didn’t. The people say it’s not fair, the police need to do something. The Police say, he would have been warned if we caught him but he’s not being prosecuted. What a shambles. The people are angry so the PM comes up with a new plan. He refuses to talk about his advisor any more and lets everybody have their freedom back.

So, from Monday you are allowed out to meet other people. The rules are clear (haha) as always. You can meet with up to six people from another family. So six teenagers from different families are welcome to gather on the street corner. But, if you have four kids in your family, and two parents then you cannot meet up with the grandparents together. One parent can take three kids and meet up with both grandparents, or one parent can take four kids and meet up with one grandparent. It all makes sense doesn’t it? Doesn’t it? Clear as mud.

You can meet these other people outside in the fresh air. Don’t go to their house, unless you go in the garden. But then you can’t use their toilet, unless you really need to go, then it’s ok so long as you wash your hands. You can have a BBQ together and pass food around. So long as you wash your hands. But it’s best if you just meet in the park because you MUST still stay 2 metres apart…stretch those arms while passing that hot dog or burger! And don’t hug or kiss, no, not even the grandkids. Do you know why? Why you have to follow these rules? BECAUSE COVID IS STILL OUT THERE! We haven’t beaten this virus, it hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s just not spread so much because we have been staying home. (Well, some of us.)

If it all goes wrong then it’s our fault for not following the clear and precise rules and many more will die…you know…just in case the death toll of (currently) 37,837 is not enough.

Contact Tracing and Covid

Covid isn’t going anywhere and contact tracing is the best way of controlling outbreaks. So if you are sick you call 119 or go to the website. Get a test, get the results, and as soon as possible let them know who you’ve been in contact with so that they can tell them to isolate just in case. It’s brilliant. But in my opinion (disclaimer, it’s just my opinion) it’s not going to work.

Here are my reasons for contact tracing not working:

It’s a simple system but way too complicated
The phone lines are already having problems on day one
It relies on the British public to inform of illness, get tested then tell of all their contacts.
It relies on people listening to the warnings that they have been in contact with someone and then isolating
It relies on common sense
It relies on things like computers and phones and people working properly
It relies on people doing as they are told
It relies on people honestly believing that it’s for their own good and not some elaborate government plan to control the population.
It relies on trust and honesty

I’m not even going to mention the app. because what’s the point. No-one is going to download and use it.

Holiday

Oh how I long for the beach, to feel the sand beneath my toes and the cold water of the sea wash over my feet and dissolve my woes.

Only joking! I haven’t been able to walk on the beach properly for over four years anyway, and the last two times I did manage to get my feet in the cold water I went into spasm.

I do love the seaside though and watching the kids play. We have a holiday booked in August in Weymouth. A caravan holiday with a beach nearby, and a big entertainment complex and pool. We love our holidays and this year was important to me because Star is getting older. When my older kids were a year older than her they started going away with friends or their Dad. I don’t think Star will be ready by next year, but then I never imagined my older kids would be either. I was looking forward to this years holiday.

The campsite is making adjustments. The caravans are great for keeping away from other people. The beach is fairly quiet (There is a much busier one nearby if you don’t mind more people) I am guessing they will limit their guests and close their clubs. (the club houses are generally packed to the hilt and we avoid them mostly anyway because they are not good for wheelchairs.) The kids love the amusement arcade, but again, it’s always rammed with people. And the pool will be a no go area too. The shop will be open with social distancing. We can still go but it won’t be the same. Honestly, I think we could be happy spending the whole week in the caravan with a view of the sea and the sea air. We could miss out on the arcades and pool, and eating out (although we love eating out on holiday.) We could still get take outs and have a BBQ next to the caravan. If the beach is quiet the kids can still go and play.

I’m faced with a difficult decision, but I have a month to make it. I’ve been told it will be July 29th week that I will be contacted and asked if I still want to go. As much as I want to, I’m scared.

What we’ve been up to during our Covid lock down

It’s been 10 days since my last update so I’ll fill you in with our week and a half of excitement.

We had another BBQ. The weather has been so warm and sunny and eating out in the garden is so much nicer than sweating away in the kitchen.

Graham cut the grass again. My Willow tree is growing and so is my lavender. I just need my roses to grow now, we have buds. Graham has moved the post so I can see them from the window.

The new garden furniture has not yet arrived…watch the weather change when it does!

I’ve almost finished crocheting the back of my new cardigan and I’ve read three books (or rather listened to them) you can read my reviews on my other blog if you wish.

my crochet done during covid lock down — *My Crochet cardigan*

I’ve been busy working, it’s strange but while I was trying to home school the kids I was inundated with work, but it dried up at half term. Thankfully, I still had plenty to get on with.

We played a new game, Sproutword and you can see my review here. Go take a look it’s great fun.

I can see you yawning now. I am too. So I’ll catch up with you soon. In the meantime here’s my Covid link up thingy if you want to add a post or two.

My Sunday Snapshot – Owl Card

January 19, 2020 by Anne Sweet 7 Comments

It was my friend’s birthday and I’d not managed to get out and buy her a card. Just before Christmas I’d been given a set to make two Christmas cards as a gift with my Chrochet magazine subscription. I’d really enjoyed making them and as I had some blank cards I thought I’d have a go at making an owl birthday card.

I looked at patterns for motifs and decided on this owl pattern. It was fairly simple and I thought it would make a nice card.

I could have easily sent out my husband to buy a card but I thought it would be much nicer to make a card myself. Then all I had to do was pop on a stamp and my husband could post it for me.

Card making

I have a lot of supplies for card making as I believed it was something that I would enjoy doing. In fact, I didn’t enjoy it much at all. The few cards I did make created a lot of mess to clean up and I was never really happy with the results. I guess I just didn’t have the creativity to make them.

Crochet is something I can do though, and even though it’s not perfect, I don’t feel the urge for perfection as I do with other crafts.

I may even have a go at making some more cards using crochet motifs, I think they make for unusual and creative cards.

They don’t make so much mess either like I did when cutting out lots of pieces of paper and embellishments. And they really don’t take to long to make as well. With a little more practice I think I could get quite good at this. Do you like my owl birthay card, do you think using crochet makes for an unusual card?

My previous sunday snapshot – mandala

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