Still pottering along, life is still good, but I'm still finding it hard to get the motivation to update (sorry Ormskirk lurkers, I'd make sure you knew if there was any interesting news.)
I've been trying to redesign the site a bit, especially as I realised that my "about" page is terribly out of date (I haven't worked for that phone company for over a year now, and I'm 29) but even getting motivated to do this seems hard, and I've not published anything yet. I'm hoping a redesign will make me happier with the site and I'll want to write often.

I have been doing some things though. The other weekend I went along to a members day at the spinning guild and had a great day getting to grips with my wheel. With some advice from Ali I managed to spin a fair amount without the yarn breaking all the time. I think one of my problems was confidence, but also since I've got home I've realised the sofa is too low and I can't keep the wheel spinning, so a change of chair and everything seems to be working. When I've spun some more and tried out plying I'll take some pictures.
The next day I went off to the G-Mex to the knitting and stitching show. I managed to restrain myself and only bought a set of coloured Susan Bates crochet hooks. I can't resist pretty colours. I saw quite a lot of yarn I wanted to buy, but they only seems to have 1 hank of each left, so next time I know to go on the Friday instead of the Sunday.

The Blip is doing well, I've definitely got a bump now and I've been feeling it moving for about 2 weeks, very early for a first time Mum apparently, but that sensation is definitely not indigestion.
We had an appointment with the Midwife a couple of weeks ago and got to hear Blips heartbeat. Porl keeps walking round the house making the "woog woog woog" sound.
I however have read that it can probably hear us now so I've taken to singing more... Porl is not impressed :)

The les fun bits are that my energy levels are beyond erratic. Some days I feel great, others days I'm fit to drop 2 hours after getting up. I find the gibberish I talk when I'm tired very amusing though, Porl just tells me to go to bed. I just wish he'd ban me from cooking when I'm tired, I never want to tackle anything more challenging than toast, but I must have burnt about half a loaf of bread so far.

I've also started having problems with my back too. I knew it was bound to happen, I've a dodgy back anyway, but I thought I'd be okay for a few more months. I've had some very restless nights and by tea time yesterday every movement hurt. I've booked a doctors appointment and I'm going to beg for physio. Last time I had physio it took 14 weeks for an appointment (well it would have if work hadn't helped me queue jump,) so if I ask now I might get some before the end of my pregnancy. I'm doing the exercises I was given last time, but my body has changed so much these past few weeks that I'm worried I might be doing more harm than good. Also some of the exercises will become physically impossible as I get bigger.

We've also been making plans for the nursery (sorry, having a nursery seems so grown up.) We're going to swap the bedrooms around so that we are in the biggest room. This means the baby won't have to live with things like amps and boxes of material, it also means I'll have space in our room for a dedicated craft corner. There's a lot of sorting and decorating to be done first but I'm so excited! If I wasn't banned from lifting things I'd have been getting stuck into it already.

Labels: baby, spinning

I had an adventure today, I went along to the North Cheshire Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers. It's near Warrington, which is about 45 minutes from me, but it's the nearest one. I've been promising myself I'd go, but kept chickening out, then I realized that Ali, whose blog I've been reading for a while, is a member. I love how blogs give you enough information about people to think of them as friends even without meeting them, so that, added to the fact her photos of meetings showed young people gave me the extra courage I needed to go.

My plans were nearly thwarted by a colleague spraining her ankle, meaning I had to stay on at work and do the night shift, but thankfully the guys slept pretty well which meant I did too. I was still shattered, but I made it through the day without falling asleep (until I got home) I was just a lot quieter than normal.
We had a class on Rainbow Dyeing, which was good fun, I dyed some sample yarns which I'm sure I can turn into something, then I at the last minute I threw some merino fleece into the pot. I didn't soak it for very long, and wasn't expecting it to work very well but it seems to be a success.

I keep telling myself that next time I'll try muted colours, or shades of the same colour, but I always end up with rainbows. Oh well :)

Of course Gonzo had to get in on the action, and he got a slap for getting his claws stuck in the fleece.

Now I'm going to bed because I'm exhausted, and I have another sleep-in tomorrow. 3 more shifts till my next week off... and my birthday :)

Speaking of my birthday. We're thinking of having a barbecue on the Sunday beforehand, (if the weather is okay) it's the 30th July. Open invite to anyone who wants to attend. I'll probably get in touch with people a couple of days before though. I realize not everyone leaves things till the last minute like I do, so I'm trying to give people advance notice.

The fires are still burning across the road, they keep dying down in parts, then suddenly getting loads worse again. Shell took some pictures of them earlier today from higher up the valley. The area on her photos has got worse this evening, we can see flames there again now instead of just smoke. The helicopters were dropping water on them again early.

If we don't get enough rain by Sunday to put them out we could forget the barbecue and just go across the road to cook everything.

Labels: spinning

Isn't she pretty. She needs a name, everytime I look at her I see Clara, which then makes me think of Heidi, or Long Distance Clara. I'm trying to make myself see her as an Emily instead.
Excuse the mess in the background, it's tidier than it was, but the blue box is my rain bucket for colloect water for my plants.

I picked her up this morning, apparently she's about 25 years old, was used a lot but hasn't been for a few years. As well as the wheel I've got a drum carder, a couple of hand carders (on the bench) a lazy kate, 2 bobbins, a bobbin of green silk, and some magazines and spinning books. The lady said she'd call me if she finds anything else.
I gave her a box of chocolates and a very good bottle of wine, and lots and lots of thankyous.

Today has been spent gardening. We were going to go to Ormy, but the sun was shining, the garden needed doing, and I wanted to play with my new toy.
I resisted cleaning the wheel up (she was very dusty) until I'd planted all the plants I've bought recently. I now have 2 belfast sinks potted up, some hanging baskets, and a load of flowers in the front garden too. I also have a very achey body and sunburn.

The belfast sinks look really good now they've got their new coverings and plants in them. It's a good job they look good too, because there's no way we'd be able to shift them now, they're so heavy!

A bit boring now, but the should look great in a couple of weeks.

Labels: spinning

[manchesterfreecycle] OFFERED: spinning wheel & carding machine - M21 Chorlton
Dark brown wood, small spinning wheel in working condition, not used
for quite a long time. Also carding machine & a few mags/books about
spinning.

Guess who just got their name picked out of the hat.

EEEeeeeeee!

I'm picking it up tomorrow.

If Sezer gets booted out of Big Brother tonight then today will have been a truely perfect day.

Labels: spinning