Happy Halloween!

Buttoned up

It's finished. How I agonised in Boyes about the buttons. I never really liked the duck and gingerbread man shaped buttons when j was small. I found they never worked well as buttons and was always worried he'd get hurt on them. So, plain wooden it is.



Woke up early with clicking sinuses and a runny nose this morning so I got up after an unsuccessful wrestle with my book light. Decided to make some porridge, but remembered that I'm due to go for fasting bloods this morning so sewed the buttons on instead. It's not the same, really, it's not.

Can you tell what it is yet?

This looks rather like the very first scarf I made when I was about 7. It won't lie straight and the width varies in places.



After a few moments of origami (I struggled with this, I have terrible spatial awareness:



I'll put up another picture when I've seamed and blocked it and sewn on some buttons.

WLS update

I don't intend this to become a weight loss surgery blog, but it's what going on in my life at the moment so bear with me even if it's a bit boring or the idea disturbs you.

I had an appointment with Mr Small at Sunderland today. It's the third step towards NHS funded weight-loss surgery in this region:

Step 1 - GP referral
Step 2 - Attend information seminar
Step 3 - Appointment in clinic - see surgeon, dietician and set weight-loss target
Step 4 - Review in clinic
Step 5 - If weight loss target met, join waiting list for surgery
Step 6 - Gastroscopy and blood test
Step 7 - Weight loss surgery

Mr Small and the dietician were satisfied that I have made a sufficient commitment to losing weight to go to step 6. I feel ridiculously rewarded, like one of my pupils getting the 'Attitude of the week' award.



So, next step, gastroscopy. Not really looking forward to that, but it will help make a decision about whether I'm a good candidate for a band or whether a Roux en y would be more appropriate. I've got my fingers crossed for band.

BSJ redux

We were woken up by the Police helicopter this morning. It was low and around for a long time. We have quite long, mature gardens here and I imagine they would be good hiding places for anyone trying to avoid the road-based police.

After checking that there weren't any fugitives from the law in our garden we went for a crisp walk along the beach this morning. It's so good to see some daylight and get some fresh air after a long, exhausting week at work.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so here are some pictures of early Autumn from the garden.










I've restarted the Baby Surprise Jacket after frogging the Sunshine Yarns version, which was too scratchy.
This time I'm using an unknown stash yarn, which looks a lot like an Opal or Regia self-patterning sock yarn.

This morning's post

This morning's post brought me an appointment to see Mr Small, the bariatric surgeon at Sunderland. I didn't think it would ever come around. I feel like I have been doing quite well on the weight loss front, but I seem to have been battling the same pound for weeks. It comes off, it goes back on, it comes off again and so on.

The post also brought me this:



I'm looking for a lacey sock pattern to do it justice. Perfect for work, but hard on the eyes during the knitting process.

Poke 'em in the eye Put their fingers in the socket and watch them fry

My car is having some work done this week so I've been at the mercy of family and friends. As a sensible teacher, who does believe in some degree of personal life, I don't live and work in the same town. It's been mostly manageable, but I've been on a course and always seem to have meetings, after work, at other venues.

Had to get a taxi from work to the Teachers' Centre this evening. When the driver realised he had a cative teacher audience, he launched into a journey-long diatribe against the education system, which had failed his children, and teachers in particular.

Apparently:
- we can't manage behaviour
- we only work 9-3
- we only teach the kids two hours a day
- we waste our time deciding what to teach and planning lessons because you can just go on the website and find work to do. His wife did and is now homeschooling his kids in the morning and they play on the X Box in the afternoon. It's ok, because they don't have to do exams anyway. Why didn't I think about that?
- we pick on the kids
- we back each other up against complaints and lie about the kids
-we're paid too much

Well, mate. I hope you appreciated the way I listened to you without poking you in the eye. I hope you appreciate the fact that, tomorrow morning, I will be changing our school taxi contract to your company's competitor.

Lazy Sunday

A lazy day.

Cast on a new pair of socks to offset the unpleasant Baby Surprise Jacket experience.
This is a nice, simple pattern: Socks of Kindness.



J and I had our first Autumn drive across the moors this morning. Lovely light and colours.
We ended up in Whitby, as usual.





Bobbins is now selling Araucania sock yarns. The dye jobs are beautiful and I love the colour combinations, but I can't say I love the base yarns. I've come to realise that I like a sock yarn with a heavier twist best.

Not loving it.

My brother and his wife have had their 20 week scan and we now know that they're having a boy. He's due in February. I had held off knitting as they had a miscarriage earlier in the year and I didn't want to tempt fate.

So, last week week I started a Baby Surprise Jacket in this yarn:



I hunted high and low for this pattern and was looking forward to making this, but I'm really not loving the sweater so far. It's the yarn. It feels beyond crunchy and I don't like the colour repeats. This jacket should be soft and squishy, in my humble opinion. Who wants crunch baby clothes? So, it's back to the drawing board. I'm disappointed with my first attempt.

&hearts

Ah well, on the up side, I do seem to be getting a grip on my work-related screamingly high stress levels this week. I've sorted out the things I need to do and things will get done as I can fit things into each day. I refuse to drive myself to illness over my job again.

&hearts

I'm back on the losing side. Have been really wrestling a bit of a weight loss plateau recently. A kind of one-step-forward-one-step-back thing really. I think things are on the move again.