Lipstick

Just read the Wikipedia dodar for SLE...

'There is also a small but growing body of evidence linking SLE to lipstick usage'

Now I'd heard about Aspartame (which is the work of the devil anyway and tastes terrible IMHO) and microwaved food being 'triggers' but lipstick??!!!

The down-side and the up-side

I've discovered a down-side to my new found technology flurry.... I am spending more time on-line and less actually making the bags etc that this was supposed to help me sell!

However, I have made a few interesting discoveries. There's a place on eBay that sells vintage kimono fabric. Some of it is a bit garish but there's some gorgeous stuff too. It's in pretty small pieces but they're just about the right size for lining handbags!! I've bid on a couple to see what they're like... watch this space! Hopefully it'll arrive in time for me to use it in 'the replacement', as it's becoming known. Over the last 6 months or so I've begun, several times, to make myself a replacement for the Original bag that started all this. Trouble is that by the time I get close to finishing one, someone sees it and wants to buy it. Great, it's very flattering for so many people to love what I make. But, although my bag is still going strong (and believe me I seem to carry my whole life around with me) I want a new one! Husband reckons it's a girl thing. So anyway, working in secret so no-one could nab it I finished the crochet/knitting bit last night. It's been felted and is drying. So far I'm quite chuffed with it! I decided to have a play with some colourwork and texture, which can be a waste of time once felted, and it's looking really good. I will not be showing any pictures before it's finished and lined etc, just in case ;-)

I've also spent some time with my yarn stash. I'm trying to decide how to cut it down a bit, before it takes over the entire house instead of the 2 and a bit rooms it does now!! And anyway I've been banned from buying any new yarn until I actually sell some on-line, either as yarn or as a bag!!

Anyway, I said that I would be telling anyone who's reading my ramblings a bit more about life with Lupus... First the background I think...
I was finally diagnosed 6 or 7 years ago (I think time moves faster as I get older), after a couple of years of nonsense with no doctor willing to give me a name for this pain, exhaustion and hospital visiting. When I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't breathe, after several hours in A&E and loads of tests they finally said the magic words... Systemic Lupus Erythramatoses (if that's how it's spelt!). Then I spent a year in and out of hospital until we found an equilibrium with the medication, side-effects and symptoms.
So now here I am taking up to twenty-odd tablets a day (and to think I used to have to mash them up in jam or banana when I was a kid!) and trying to avoid sunlight, stress and ill people!

If anyone wants more about what SLE is then Wikipedia says... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_lupus_erythematosus

and the UK site is...
http://www.uklupus.co.uk/

So there I was just getting used to this swine of a thing when the doctors realised that the pain killers they were giving me were speeding up my kidneys failing. Kidney failure can be part of Lupus, but in my case it's a family thing. In fact my little sis had a transplant the summer before I started with Lupus (still capitalising that!). So back into hospital I went for a bit more poking and proding. Anyway, very long story short... I'm now in stage 4 of the 5 stages of kidney failure. Which means I'm probably counting the months rather than years before I need to go on dialysis.

Strangely, I'm not too worried about going on a machine. I think I'm more concerned with how poorly I'll get between now and then. Oh, and about having my first ever operation to enable me to plug into the machine.

So, that's the background. It also explains why I have time to make stuff and whitter away here (the up-side).

Think I'd better do a bit of tidying up now. And the cat (another up-side, but don't tell her;-))is mithering me so she probably wants feeding. What is it about cats? The only time you ever see them is when they want something!

Blimey! I can't believe how much I've gone on!

I need tea and cake! xx

At last...

Well, after far too long prevaricating I've finally gone and done it! The time has arrived for me to join the 21st century!!

First came my website... still under construction but there none the less!

Second came this blog. Though I'm still unsure of how much I'll have to write here, I'm sure over time it will expand with my witterings on all things woolly and anything that annoys or surprises me in the world out there. I'm also planning a bit of a 'sub-blog' on the delights of having Lupus and Kidney Failure (for some reason I always capitalise those!).

And this morning I've set up a shop on folksy.com in order to extend the list of those lucky people who have one (or more :-)) of my amazing handbags! But true to form there is nothing to actually buy yet!

All of which means that I now really need to get the half dozen or so bags 'on the hook' finished. So.... I'll be back later!

Emma x

Hello!

I am Emma, aka Daisy Prudence, and I love yarn. I make handbags, shawls and other accessories, whilst watching far too much daytime television!
So I thought I should use my time a little more constructively, and begin to tell you a little about the work I do, and how I pass the time.