Life has been a bit busy lately for a variety of reasons.
First up, the final total that I raised for Race for life was £250, which I was incredibly pleased with. The voucher for the OMA yarn was won by Anna from my knitting group and I'm busily knitting a pair of socks for the sock prize winner. Time has slightly run away from me lately but if you donated and I haven't been in touch yet, I will be as I would like to give a little something to everyone who did donate.
Work has been keeping me busy. I can't quite believe I've been in my new job for 9 months already and it all seems to be going well. They've been pretty understanding with hospital appointments as the thumb problem that I had earlier in the year has continued to cause difficulty and I've been attending physio sessions for the past two months. Again I have a delightful thumb splint to wear and will probably have to wear it on and off in the future as my physio has discovered that the injury was aggravated by the fact that I have hyper mobile thumb joints. Its not just the thumb joints but also my ankles. The ankle joint effect has caused me to fall 3 times in the past couple of months so I've been a bit bruised and battered.
Thankfully the thumb problem has not stopped me knitting although it has affected my ability to stitch at times. I have finished a couple of things, including a long term sock WIP.
Oh and there was also my annual stitching weekend with friends in there, a trip to London from Knit Nation, a visit to the Knit Camp market place and a Ravelry meet up picnic but more on them in the next few days.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Happy Christmas
The past month or so has been pretty busy with a couple of trips away to Harrogate and also to a GTG with some stitching friends. There was of course, the small matter of leaving one job and starting another job. The new job is going pretty well so far but there's been a lot to learn so my brain is a little fried just now. Added to that was another delightful episode of sinus infection, which is thankfully settling down.
Its almost Christmas here, so I thought I'd share my Christmas tree and some other decorations. I have stitched a couple of ornaments for exchanges and received some lovely ornaments too. More on them shortly.
Behind the Christmas tree in the picture, you might just be able to see a very white coloured view out the window. The UK is having a spell of very snowy and wintery weather. Initially it was just cold and icy here but on Tuesday, we got about 3-4 inches of snow. Since then, the temperature hasn't gone above zero Celsius and mostly hovering around -6 so there's a lot of snow on the ground. These are views from my train journey home today at 3pm. We've been sent home early a couple of days running because the local train services have suffered major failures and problems due to the weather. In some areas of the UK, people have been trapped at work or out shopping.
I'm having a quiet family Christmas and really looking forward to my first complete Christmas off in 14 years. I'm off until Tuesday. I wish you all a safe and Happy Christmas.
Its almost Christmas here, so I thought I'd share my Christmas tree and some other decorations. I have stitched a couple of ornaments for exchanges and received some lovely ornaments too. More on them shortly.
Behind the Christmas tree in the picture, you might just be able to see a very white coloured view out the window. The UK is having a spell of very snowy and wintery weather. Initially it was just cold and icy here but on Tuesday, we got about 3-4 inches of snow. Since then, the temperature hasn't gone above zero Celsius and mostly hovering around -6 so there's a lot of snow on the ground. These are views from my train journey home today at 3pm. We've been sent home early a couple of days running because the local train services have suffered major failures and problems due to the weather. In some areas of the UK, people have been trapped at work or out shopping.
I'm having a quiet family Christmas and really looking forward to my first complete Christmas off in 14 years. I'm off until Tuesday. I wish you all a safe and Happy Christmas.
Monday, August 17, 2009
life and more knitting
Work is a little busy and stressful at the moment plus I've ended up on Facebook too in order to keep up with my extended family around the world. So its time for a catchup post. Over the past weeks, there's been a family party too - My cousin and her family are leaving the UK to settle in Canada. We are all going to miss them a lot but I am sure they will visit plus its nearly 20 years since I last visited Canada so it might be time to plan another trip.
As work has been a little crazy, I've been in need of relaxation and destressing when I'm at home. One of my favourite things about all the craft things that I do is that I find that they all help to reduce stress. I have a tendency to let things bother me and get me down so things that relax me are really vital. At the moment, its mostly knitting thats grabbing my attention. I've finished two projects since my last post.
Firstly Shur'tugal socks in absolutely divine Malabrigo sock in the shade Abril. The colour is even more purple in real life. These took a while to get done but it was worth it.
My second knitting finish, on the other hand, just flew off the needles. 18 days from start to finish and I didn't knit on it most days. The pattern is Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. I've knitted a lot of her designs largely because they are so pretty and so well put together. She seems to put a lot of clever detail into her designs. The yarn is Habu naturally dyed laceweight cashmere. I bought this yarn several years ago when I first started knitting as I loved the colour but wasn't confident enough to knit it up into something that would do it justice until now.
I love this little close up in the window as it shows how light and airy the lace is.
I now know why people knit lace as it is so addictive plus blocking a lace shawl is just like magic. Blocking boards aren't available in the UK so following some advice on Ravelry, I used children's foam puzzle tiles which worked out fairly well.
As work has been a little crazy, I've been in need of relaxation and destressing when I'm at home. One of my favourite things about all the craft things that I do is that I find that they all help to reduce stress. I have a tendency to let things bother me and get me down so things that relax me are really vital. At the moment, its mostly knitting thats grabbing my attention. I've finished two projects since my last post.
Firstly Shur'tugal socks in absolutely divine Malabrigo sock in the shade Abril. The colour is even more purple in real life. These took a while to get done but it was worth it.
My second knitting finish, on the other hand, just flew off the needles. 18 days from start to finish and I didn't knit on it most days. The pattern is Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. I've knitted a lot of her designs largely because they are so pretty and so well put together. She seems to put a lot of clever detail into her designs. The yarn is Habu naturally dyed laceweight cashmere. I bought this yarn several years ago when I first started knitting as I loved the colour but wasn't confident enough to knit it up into something that would do it justice until now.
I love this little close up in the window as it shows how light and airy the lace is.
I now know why people knit lace as it is so addictive plus blocking a lace shawl is just like magic. Blocking boards aren't available in the UK so following some advice on Ravelry, I used children's foam puzzle tiles which worked out fairly well.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Lots of little things
I haven't fallen down a hole since my last update. Its just there's been a lot of little things keeping away.
First up I finished one of the knitting projects that I mentioned in my last post - my February Lady sweater in lovely New lanark aran yarn. This yarn is made fairly close to home, is cheap and its a lovely mix of blue and purple.
Late last year I joined the Socktopus sock club and the first package arrived recently. The pattern this time is for a toe up sock which is something I've never tried. The first sock is done although the ankle is a little tight as my ankles are a little on the bigger side.
The yarn is Chameleon colorworks Evolution.
For the past week, most of my time has been taken up with the preparations for a job interview which I had on Friday. I had to prepare a presentation and do a ton of reading up for the post which would have been a promotion. Sadly I didn't get the job - I've been told that the candidate field was of a very standard and I was slightly under the required experience for the job. I've taken some solace from that as I really wasn't sure I would get an interview for the post in the first place. Still it would have been a good job. I have my eye on another vacancy though.
On a slightly more geeky note, I've been spending a bit of time spring cleaning and upgrading my computer in the past few weeks so I now have a shiny new operating system to use, OS X Leopard plus a nice tidy computer which has all its files backed up. I've also joined the Twitter bandwagon today, largely just to see what its like.
I reached another milestone in my ongoing health and fitness plan today - I have now lost 3 stone/42 lbs/19 kgs in weight since I started working out in August 2007. I didn't really start the whole thing for anything other than working on helping my back originally so the loss in weight is a great side effect. Plus in what was a total surprise to me, I actually enjoy going to the gym and the way it makes me feel. Not something I would have said 2 years ago.
First up I finished one of the knitting projects that I mentioned in my last post - my February Lady sweater in lovely New lanark aran yarn. This yarn is made fairly close to home, is cheap and its a lovely mix of blue and purple.
Late last year I joined the Socktopus sock club and the first package arrived recently. The pattern this time is for a toe up sock which is something I've never tried. The first sock is done although the ankle is a little tight as my ankles are a little on the bigger side.
The yarn is Chameleon colorworks Evolution.
For the past week, most of my time has been taken up with the preparations for a job interview which I had on Friday. I had to prepare a presentation and do a ton of reading up for the post which would have been a promotion. Sadly I didn't get the job - I've been told that the candidate field was of a very standard and I was slightly under the required experience for the job. I've taken some solace from that as I really wasn't sure I would get an interview for the post in the first place. Still it would have been a good job. I have my eye on another vacancy though.
On a slightly more geeky note, I've been spending a bit of time spring cleaning and upgrading my computer in the past few weeks so I now have a shiny new operating system to use, OS X Leopard plus a nice tidy computer which has all its files backed up. I've also joined the Twitter bandwagon today, largely just to see what its like.
I reached another milestone in my ongoing health and fitness plan today - I have now lost 3 stone/42 lbs/19 kgs in weight since I started working out in August 2007. I didn't really start the whole thing for anything other than working on helping my back originally so the loss in weight is a great side effect. Plus in what was a total surprise to me, I actually enjoy going to the gym and the way it makes me feel. Not something I would have said 2 years ago.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Off on my travels
Straight after work tomorrow, I'm off to the airport for my flight to London. Luckily its only about 10 minutes away and hopefully the work day will not be too stressful tomorrow. I have my doubts about the lack of work stress as this week so far has been hectic. Sometimes being a ward nurse is a weird cross between Mother and shepherd when dealing with Doctors and this week has involved a lot of me running around making sure one of the doctors is doing everything he should be.
In other work related news, next week I'm off to a different hospital for a few weeks. A vacancy, which my boss thinks is suitable for me long term, has come up in a different hospital. Its in an outpatient department and it sounds like it might work out. I've been given the chance to have a no strings attached trial at the job without giving up my current post, which is rather good. So Monday is the first day of the trial. I'm a little nervous but hoping it works out.
Anyway I'm off to finish packing for London, iknit and the Yarn Harlot. Its all very exciting.
In other work related news, next week I'm off to a different hospital for a few weeks. A vacancy, which my boss thinks is suitable for me long term, has come up in a different hospital. Its in an outpatient department and it sounds like it might work out. I've been given the chance to have a no strings attached trial at the job without giving up my current post, which is rather good. So Monday is the first day of the trial. I'm a little nervous but hoping it works out.
Anyway I'm off to finish packing for London, iknit and the Yarn Harlot. Its all very exciting.
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