Just Nicky

Special Delivery May 30, 2005

When I ran out of the yarn for my sister’s Clapotis, the only place I could find to order more from was Herrschners. The only stumbling block was the requirement for a minimum USD$50 order for overseas buyers, so I decided to pad it out with something a bit special.

Having read of the wonders of Noro Kureyon, but finding it difficult and expensive to get here I decided to fill out the rest of my order with a few balls of it as a treat.

My order arrived today, after Andy’s actual birthday, but in plenty of time for her party at the end of June.

And here’s the Noro:

The picture doesn’t really do the colours justice.

Of course my darling sister has since decided that, instead of gifts, she wants donations to the CARE challenge she’s taking part in in November. She can take the Clapotis along to wear in the cool of the evenings.

Dog knitting

Thank you for the offers of knitting and other stuff.

For jumpers any size is fine - they’ll all be needed. I’m planning to knit larger sizes. This pattern is apparently quite good - haven’t knitted it up myself yet. This one also looks pretty simple too. I’ve knitted this one up, but it needs 3 yarns knitted together which seems like a lot to use for one jumper. I’ve just bought the Patons dog jumper book on eBay and once it arrives I’ll be happy to photocopy patterns out of it for anyone who wants one. There’s also a Patons book with patterns for fetes, which seems to be out of print now. It has 2 good dog jumper patterns. I used to have it, but I think I loaned it to The Mavis and she denies all knowledge of it. If anyone sees it anywhere, grab it and I’ll reimburse you - I want it again. It also has good patterns for teddy bear clothes…

For squares, any size is also fine. I’ll work out how to put them together, The one Mark’s knitting will be about 25cm x 25cm when done.

As far as getting wool to people is concerned, that should be no problem. Mark & I will both be home full-time from the end of this week and the big red car can go anywhere.

For the puppies, please May 28, 2005

When I decided to knit dog jumpers for the puppy farm refugees I jumped onto eBay (as one does) and snapped up as many cheap lots of yarn as I could. I did all of this in a bit of a frenzy before going to hospital and wasn’t really paying attention to the actual quantity of yarn I would have.

It all arrived while I was away and, although when Mark brought it in to show me it looked like a lot, I didn’t really understand just how much there was until I went through it this morning.

When added to the stuff from my own collection that I planned to use there really is Rather A Lot. More than I can knit up in the next few weeks even if I do nothing else.

There’s nothing to say that I HAVE to use all of this yarn for this effort and in the next few weeks (rescue dogs will go on needing jumpers after this lot), but I would like to get as much done as I can, so I have an idea. Another shot in the dark.

If any of you would like help by knitting or crocheting jumpers or blankets or blanket squares, I’ll supply the yarn from this collection. If you want to knit a jumper I’ll get a pattern for you - most of them are dead simple. All you need to do is supply your own knitting needles or crochet hook and some of your time.

If all you have time for is one plain knitted square to add to a blanket then that’s fine. If all you know how to do is double crochet, that’s great.

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW LITTLE IT IS I WON’T REJECT IT.

That said, you need to commit to get something back to me in the next 3 weeks. The puppy farm closes in July and I imagine that the co-ordinators will want to have all the stuff together a week or so before they get the dogs. I’ll get the yarn to you as soon as I can, you just get the result back to me as soon as you can.

I’ve also offered to act as a collection point for donations generally. Things such as food, medications and collars have been looked after through begging from large companies, but they’ll still need old blankets and towels, containers which can be used as feed & water bowls (icecream containers, tupperware that’s lost its lid, etc.), dog crates (cat carriers can be used for tiny breeds and baby pups) and that sort of stuff. Even a few dog toys might be nice… If you have anything you’d like to donate you can give it to me, or for those who live too far away from us, I can find out where there’s a collection point near you.

Knit porn

They call luscious cookbooks food porn, well this is knit porn. God, it’s so beautiful!

I found Teva Durham via Knitting in Public and just had to order the book from Amazon.

It arrived while I was away and Mark brought it into the hospital to so I could look at it. I sent it home with him a day or 2 later, loaded with bookmarks for the things I most want to knit. I’m not sure if the photo shows just how many there are in there.

Most of the stuff I knit (if I manage to get around to it) will probably end up as Christmas presents for family, but there are a couple of special projects that will be just for me and one fantastic jumper I really want to make for Mark.

The bedpan made me do it

Be prepared. There might be a few of these type of entries.

The day after my operation everyone seemed to be in a great hurry to get me up on my feet and eating and drinking heaps. None of these were at all attractive options, especially given that sucking on ice to moisten my mouth had led to throwing up water all over myself during the previous night.

During the day the physio came in and made me sit up on the edge of the bed. The nausea this set off was absolutley the worst you could ever imagine. Anything you’ve actually experienced times 10. I must have looked pretty green because the physio seemed almost as alarmed by the experience as I was and hung around only long enough to ensure I was lying back in bed with a bowl to dry retch into before scuttling from the room, never to be seen again. I was sure I wasn’t getting up again for days after that.

At midnight that night they removed the catheter. When I asked what I would do now I was told that I would need to use bedpan. Another new experience to add to the list.

I will save you further details, but the indignity, uncertainty, degree of difficulty and general awkwardness of the bedpan ensured that at 5am, rather than buzzing for a nurse, I was gingerly maneouvering myself and my IV stand around the bed and through the bathroom door.

There’s no place like home May 27, 2005

Yes, I am home and doing pretty well.

Thank you to all of you for your good wishes and support and for not visiting. It was really nice to know that you were all thinking of me, but it was only in the last 2 or 3 days that I felt much like visits and I was glad not to see too many people for the rest of the time. I even managed to convince The Mavis not to visit!

As I’m sure Mark’s told you all, the operation was a success. The tumour is 100% gone and definitely benign (didn’t know there was any doubt until they said that on Wednesday - gotta love doctors and their lies of omission). The hearing nerve is intact but there was a problem with the blood vessels so it doesn’t work - I have no hearing in the left ear. I don’t know if this is a permanent situation, but I suspect it probably is. I’m getting more steady on my feet daily and am feeling much better just for being at home.

I thought of lots of stuff I wanted to blog while I was away - even made a few notes - but for now I’ll keep it short.

2 things I must say, though:
Nurses are fucking fantastic! If you know a nurse, give her a hug from me - unless she’s the woman who woke me at 2am and wanted to know how much water I’d drunk in the previous 24 hours. The others, though, were all great and managed to be caring and friendly without condescending or being otherwise annoying.
The other non-medical staff - orderlies, cleaner, food delivery type people, I’m not sure what their proper title is - were also marvellous. Quiet and unobtrusive when I needed them to be and friendly and chatty when I was up to it.

Woozy-headedness is winning now so I’ll blog more later.

Home Now

This is still Mark writing but I thought you all might like to know that Nicky is home and happily watching Dr Phil while sitting on our comfy blue couch.

It is very nice to have her home and you can expect blog entries from her sometime soon.

Backson May 25, 2005

We found out today that Nicky will be coming home on Friay which is good news indeed. She is managing really well both according to us and the nurses.

So soon she can take back her blog and tell you to bit of her story herself.

Coming Home Soon May 24, 2005

Nicky is doing a bit better now although it might be a while before she is running a mile or anything like that. Happily we are expecting her to come home on Thursday.

Mark

Doing Better Each Day May 22, 2005

Nicky is doing a bit better now and is probably up for short quiet visits if people are so inclined.

She can talk on the phone and watch telly for a while now which has to help.