Y Lloeren

Change, good and bad

There have been some major and minor changes for us over the last few months. The most significant was that Rob's Dad, Gordon died suddenly about 3 1/2 weeks ago aged 67as a result of an aortic aneurysm. Too young. There's lots I want to say about Gordon but I will save it for another time.

I have been working full time for about 6 or 7 weeks now. It's only temp work for minimum wage and the contract is renewed on a weekly basis. It's in a meat factory so nothing exciting. It also means starting work at 6.30 am which means going to bed at around 8pm so I don't see much of Rob in the week.

We are also moving house on Thursday. We have found a place to rent in Merdrignac - a small town a few kilometres away. It's a very traditional style house and is small in some ways but it does have four bedrooms. It also has a 'cave', large utility room and an outbuilding so lots of storage space. No garden but a small courtyard with enough room to sit in the sun and for Rhianwen to ride her bike.

We are all looking forward to the move, living with Mum has been great and she's really helped me get well again but now we're just getting on each other's nerves. It's the right time for all of us.

The Etsy shop is almost ready, I just have to photograph the stock but there's been no time lately. Similarly knitting and spinning are progressing slowly. I work on the Tangled Yoke cardigan during my lunch break and I spin occasionally on the weekend to get some quiet time. I'm spinning some white North Ronaldsay top into laceweight.

Umm.. Hello?

I bet you think that I haven't been blogging, don't you? The think is, I have been - mentally. I have written dozens of posts in my head, they just seem to be reluctant to leave the cosy confines of my mind (cosy, my mind?) and get written up.

I'm going to write several of these posts now and set them to show up one per day for the next few days.

A Small Catch-up Post

I've got lots I want to post about and hope to do so soon but I don't want to mix that up with what I'm about to post.

There's only one way to do this and it's blunt and to the point.

About two weeks ago I was diagnosed as being diabetic.

There, it's out now. I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) which makes it hard to lose weight, hard to conceive (hence, the large gap between Meleri and Rhianwen) and gives and increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. So I've known about that risk since my PCOS diagnosis but to me it's always been a distant risk and it was a hell of a shock to come face to face with it.

The diagnosis also came at a point where I thought that I was finally coming out of my depression (after 18 months of various medication combinations) and it has set me back a fair bit. I've also been feeling rundown due to a bug that we've all had for the last month or so. I seem to be going through a sort of mini grieving process. As yet, I can't get rid of the feeling that I've failed somehow, that society says 'I told you so' because I am fat.

My GP has said that my particular problem is one of sugar intolerance and so I have to avoid all sugar. This is going to be bloody difficult. I don't smoke, I drink alcohol very occasionally, caffeine very rarely but chocolate and fruit juice are my main vices. Oh and pastries too since moving to France!

I've started making small, gradual changes to my diet. I hope to build on these slowly so that one day I can look back and see a far greater, lasting change. But for now, it's just one day at a time.

There are other things to consider - eyesight and footcare. From what I've read, diabetics need to wear socks and shoes as much as possible. I have spent my life staying barefoot as often as I can and believe that I have very healthy feet as a result so this has really thrown me. At least all the socks I've knit will be good for my feet! Eyesight means detailed eye health checks which will be a pain - ophthalmologists are scarce here and appointments are often made six months in advance.

That's it for now. I hope to be back soon with something a little more cheerful.

P.S. I'm on Ravelry as Lloer and it's great!

Making progress

Firstly, I've actually finished something for me. It's the Cold Weather Corset from Knitty. I decided that I needed a vest/waistcoat type garment to keep me warm in this non-centrally heated house. So I looked for a pattern that was free and in my size. This matched my requirements perfectly. Then I used my Excel yarnlog spreadsheet (in which I am surely but slowly recording my stash) to great effect by filtering for SPI and picking a suitable yarn. Not only could I see that there was enough yarn but I had also logged the location of each yarn so it was pretty easy to find. The yarn I chose was Rowan Chunky Print in deep purple that I had bought half price in a John Lewis sale. The finished item is still being blocked - it's already had 24 hrs to dry, so now pictures of it being worn yet.

Despite the pattern stating that my size would take 450 yds and the fact that I had 660m, I still ran out of yarn, I had to replace the 7 row eyelet and garter stitch border on the armholes with two rows of garter stitch and had about a foot of yarn left, that was after undoing my swatch. I also seamed with a different and thinner yarn which I would have done anyway as I didn't fancy seaming with chunk weight yarn.

It also has I cord ties that are threaded through the eyelets. It needs at least 80 inches of I cord.

Now I don't have the patience to knit that much I-cord so it was just as well that I have this:

I cranked out all that I cord in a very short time using some leftover Felted Tweed from Rhianwen's wrap cardigan.

Other Items

Rogue

This was progressing well - the body is complete and I've started the hood. I put it aside to work on the vest but I plan to pick it up again soon.

Pomatumus socks

I've turned the heel of the first sock and have started picking up stitches for the gusset. I still love knitting this project.

Secret Project

I'm finding this hard going as the pattern is boring and it's also hard to find appropriate time for it as it remains hidden from a certain member of the household. But I do need to get a shift on.

Life News

I've started a low-carb diet. This type of diet is particularly suited to me as I have PCOS which affects the way my body takes up insulin. I have also started taking a drug called Metformin which is an insulin sensitizer. The down side is that the Metformin has nasty GI side effects and at the full dosage gives me nausea and sensitivity to the smell and taste of many foods. I've had to drop the dosage down from three a day to two because the full three was making feel so rotten and worsening my depression. It also put me off most of the foods that I had to eat for the diet.

I'm in the introductory two week phase of the diet which is very strict and low in carbs - no fruit, no muesli, no bread of any kind. Lots of meat, eggs, spinach (which seems impossible to buy fresh locally so we have to make do with frozen) and salad veggies. The evening meals are fine but I find breakfast and lunch hard. I can't wait to eat (sugar-free) muesli again. I also miss being able to have fruit as a snack.

I am getting a lot of support from my Mum and Rob. All my meals are being cooked for me and that really makes a difference as I don't have to make any choices. Mum is quite happy to do this as the first two days I missed lunch because the thought of making the prescribed lunch made me feel sick.

I'm taking this one day at a time. I know that this diet will have to last for many months but try not to think about it too much. I have used a low carb diet before and lost about 21 pounds at the time so I know it can be successful.

Some news and some thoughts

First the bad news. Rob was told at work on Friday that he was no longer needed so he's unemployed once more. Hopefully he'll find another interim job soon. It should be easier now that he's proved that he can overcome the language barrier. It also puts a lot of pressure on me to keep going with my job. My current contract runs to the start of November but it could well be renewed. The problem is that I'm finding it very hard physically. My feet and hips ache continually.

The good news is that it was Meleri's birthday yesterday. We took her out for a pizza last night and today she's gone ice-skating with a few friends. She also had her ears pierced this morning, she's wanted her ears done for years but I told her that she had to wait until she was old enough to be able to make an informed decision about an act that will create permanent holes in her body. I also made her six pairs of dangly earrings from my bead stash.

The thing about my job is that while it is physically demanding, it leaves my mind free to wander. As a result I've been thinking about all sorts of things recently and I intend to post about them now and again.

Understandably, something I've been musing about is language, learning languages and also people's attitudes to non-native language speakers. I was quite a linguist in school and studied French, Welsh Italian and Latin until age 16 and continued with French and Welsh through Sixth Form and university (although I dropped out of uni after a couple of years). I also moved on to study the artificial languages that are programmimg languages.

Something that I find interesting is that as my French is being reawoken so is my Welsh and I find Welsh words suddenly popping into my head. I guess it's something to with the way the neural pathways were created.

Here, in Brittany, everyone is so understanding and pleased when you try to communicate in French. They also are really keen to practice their English which can make for fun conversations. In the UK however, there seems to be a very low level of tolerance for those who have immigrated and are struggling with English. This is ironic in so many ways. For starters, it seems that many of those with that attitude seem to have a poor grasp on English themselves. I bet many of them hated French in school. I'm also pretty sure that when they go on holiday every year, they don't bother picking up the relevant phrasebook.

My knitting has really slowed recently. I also find that when I do knit I want to keep it simple. I've started a second cardigan for Rhianwen in purple Rowan Felted Tweed using a pattern for a frilled wrap cardigan from Baby Style by Debbie Bliss. I have almost finished the Limbo Gansey carigan from an old copy of IK, it's just waiting for the last sleeve but I ran out of yarn and am waiting for some rescue yarn from Mary who luckily had some that was bought at the same time that I bought mine! What's really shocking is that, for both projects, I have used the recommended yarn.

Sockwise, I completed the heel of the first 'waiting room' socks. I've also completed the first Lacy Ripple sock in Opal Petticoat for Meleri, it looks very, very girly - not my sort of thing at all *grin*. I'm trying very hard to resist casting on for any more socks so that I can get on with Christmas knitting.

Hmmm... Christmas knitting. The scarf for my uncle that I started before last Christmas is growing slowly. I love the way it looks but I will never knit this pattern (Interlocking Ballons from Scarf Style) again. I've been looking for suitable stitch patterns for something for my brother's present and also my grandmother's. I have plans to knit a few simple bits and pieces for Meleri too but this may be a little ambitious.

I have also been dyeing and spinning for the Twisted Knitters dye-spin-knitalong. More details and pictures will appear on the TK blog when I prise the digital camera away from Rob.

All work and no play...

I had intended to start blogging more regularly but last Monday I got a call from a temp agency to say that they had a job for me. Great news but there is a downside...

I start work at 5 am! It's working in a meat factory making sausages and is minimum wage. The factory is about 15 miles away so I have to leave the house at about 4.20 am to be there in time to get suited up.

I get home between 1pm and 2pm but by then my feet hurt so much I can't walk :) I also have to go to bed about 8.30pm :(

It's seriously eating into my knitting time especially as I slept all day Saturday. I did have serious plans for Christmas knitting but I don't know if things will work out now.

Is There Anybody Out There?

It's been a ridiculously long time since I posted. The move to France has meant that life has been somewhat hectic for a while. At first, we were busy getting medical issues sorted. Then we needed to a lot of bureaucratic stuff , we also had several rounds of visitors, including Mary. More recently we've been job-hunting, strengthening the upper floor in the garage to take all our stuff that's in long term storage and various other things. The really good news is...

Rob has a job!

The bad news is that it's in an abattoir, he went to have a look around/interview last week and he started work today. It's minimum wage (which is quite good in France) and a bit gory. However he did say that there were tasks there that are worse than the one he has to do. Apparently, his job involves cutting up cow's stomachs. Lovely!

This job has turned upin the nick of time, Rob had actually booked a flight back to the UK a week so that he could earn some money there to keep us going. I'm also looking but all the IT jobs are in Rennes which is at least an hour's drive away and quite often the companies expect you to be willing to travel further afield. Just the sort of thing we came here to get away from.

As for knitting and spinning, I've been fairly busy there. I'm currently spinning some Lorna's Laces wool top. It's taking a while and I'm getting a single that is fairly consistent. I have one half bobbinful left to spin and then I can start plying it.

My ongoing knitting projects are the Boobalicious tank from Big Girl Knits; four different pairs of socks including Ellen's Stockings from Folk Knitting in Estonia - about to turn the heel on the second sock. Falling Leaves  - I finished the second sock only to find that I'd used the wrong size needle and it was huge, I ripped and restarted but then broke a needle so now I'm stalled until I get a replacement sent from Brittany (the company not the place, of course).  Basic toe-up socks for Rob in some of the Regia 6 ply I bought very cheaply in South Wales last year. I've  got past the heel on the second sock, I've been knitting these as 'Waiting Room' socks as they are so simple that I don't need to carry a pattern around. I've also stared another pair of toe-ups in some yarn that is a weird, so bad it's good mixture of purple, green, yellow and white. The first sock is still in it's infancy as I've just done a few rows after the toe. I also have some wristlets that I'm knitting in a random kind of a way for Meleri, I'm using an energised single that I spun on a spindle.

I still have various projects on hold such as Kiri, Rogue and the Annie Modesitt Silk Corset (which has been restarted twice now). I also recently completed Bombshell from Big Girl Knits using some Hipknits silk. To be frank, I was quite disappointed with the silk as it frequently came unspun and some of the skeins are darker than the others even though they are supposed to be from the same dyelot. I don't think I'll be buying any more. The silk was originally bought for the Angelina pattern but having completed the body and tried it on, I decided that it didn't look right so I switched to Bombshell. I then completed most of it but ripped it back because it was far too big. I had tried it a few times but couldn't really get a good idea until the later stages. It's still not perfect - there's a lot of back sag and it's still too big overall but I can't face reknitting it again. I also finished a pair of Jaywalkers from Lorna's Laces.

I've got so many projects screaming 'Start me!' at me. I want to knit Haiku with some handspun  and a gansey style cardie from a back issue of IK for Rhianwen. There's three more BGK projects that I have the yarn for and so many socks:

• Pomatomus
• RPM
• Beaudelaire
• three different designs that only exist in my head at the moment
• Lacy Scallop socks for Meleri using Opal Petticoat (probably next up as I want to knit some baby bootees and a hat from the leftovers for Rob's new niece)
• Priscilla Gibson Roberts' Bazaar socks from IK
• about half a dozen more of Nancy Bush's designs from Knitting on the Road and Knitting Vintage Socks
• Tiger Eyes from Socks, Socks, Socks

That's fourteen different designs. Well, at least I have the yarn for all those already!

Not a lot really, of course I've also got other craft projects on the go as well...

I've been a bad blogger...

It's been far too long since I last posted. Many apologies to anyone who's been checking in.

Baby News

As you may have guessed, I am no longer pregnant.

May I present Rhianwen Iris Holland, born 11th June 2005 weighing 7lbs 11.5 oz (3.5 kgs):

Here is a photo of the four generations (plus dog) and all I have to say to Meleri and Rhianwen is "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

More up to date pictures are coming soon, I promise.

Knitting

Again I need to take pictures but I've knitted the Denmark socks from Knitting On the Road by Nancy Bush is a lovely green self striping yarn that I bought on Ebay - the seller said it was Opal but it didn't have a label. It also came in two 50g balls and Opal normally comes in 100g balls so who knows?  I plan on knitting several of the socks from this book, there are some great patterns.

I've also finished knitting but not blocked or seamed the mini poncho in Cork that was last year's free gift from Rowan. Meleri has already laid claim to it which is just as well because it's not my sort of thing. I've also knitted Meleri the One Skein Wonder shrug from Glampyre Knits. I had some left over Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino* (that was bought half price) from knitting Rhianwen's kimono jacket. I didn't tell her what I was knitting until it was finished, thankfully she loves it.

I've just realised that I haven't actually mentioned Rhianwen's kimono jacket before either. It's a Debbie Bliss design, from her book Baby Style. The Baby Cashmerino is a dark cerise and is beautifully soft with a lovely sheen.

I also knitted Rhianwen a pair of socks with some of the leftover yarn from the BasketCase socks. The pattern is for the Cable Rib socks from the Better than Booties collection which can be download from Interweave Knits. I finished these socks while in labour.

I'm currently knitting the Vine Lace socks from Socks, Socks, Socks in solid pink Opal for Meleri. Initially, I decided to ignore the fact that the pattern said to use four dpns and used five. Big mistake. I found it really hard to keep track of the repeats so I ripped back to the cuff and started again with four needles. The first sock is coming along nicely :)

I'm also knitting my first large lace project - the Kiri shawl from AllTangledUp using Kidsilk Haze in Liquer. So far, it's looking good but it's not getting much attention as I'm trying to concentrate on the projects for Meleri.

*Note to Mum: it will machine wash but don't put it in the drier!

Long time, no post

It seems that life overwhelmed me for a while.

Having returned from France,  we had a mad rush to get lots of decorating done before the new carpets were laid. I was also very down having come back to no job and I was also suffering from the usual early pregnancy nausea and tiredness. I had very high levels of anxiety about the pregnancy due to the amount of time it had taken to get pregnant in the first place and that anxiety was almost all consuming. I also had a scare which resulted in an ambulance trip to A&E but turned out to be just one of those things that happens for some women.

Since then, we heard the heartbeat at my 'booking-in' appointment with the midwife and I have my first scan appointment on Dec. 9th. (Isn't the NHS great, I'll be having my twelve week scan at nearly 15 weeks.) Once that scan is done perhaps I can finally believe that there will be a baby at the end of this.

On a much lighter note, it would seem that I am not getting this right:

Only a measly 34%? I must try harder...

First the bad news...

I was told on Wednesday that I'm being made redundant. I've been given one month's notice. Basically, the company's bank account went overdrawn when they ran payroll this month and there's no work for me to do. I suppose it was inevitable that this would happen eventually but I was hoping to jump ship voluntarily first. Unfortunately, the house renovations have taken longer than expected and we still haven't put it on the market, let alone found a buyer.

I'm not sure what I'll do next. Hopefully we'll have moved to France in a few months time so I'm not looking for a long term job. To be honest, if I could take a couple of months off it would be fantastic but I don't think it's possible due to our financial circumstances.

The one good thing is that I can go and visit Meleri in October for her birthday. We thought just Rob would be able to go as I didn't have enough leave to go then and to go at Christmas.