I can't believe it's been sooo long since I last said anything here!! I lay the blame fairly and squarely at Facebooks door!
I've been so addicted to farming and mafia games that even the woolly stuff has been suffering.
It has been really good for getting back in touch with some people though...and for finding some new friends too! It's amazing how 20 odd years have passed by so fast and although we're not the same people we were, we still have a lot of things in common...not least bleeding FB..or FFB as I think it should be!!;-)
In between the hours on the lappy I have had a couple of major knitting successes! I have joined a knitting group which meets every other week. And thanks to their encouragement have knitted one and a half socks.... I now understand why folks says sock knitting is addictive... well at least all the men in my life won't be getting scarves again this Xmas ;-) Though bags will probably still be my main preoccupation!
As far as health issues go, I'm being referred to the dialysis team as my kidneys are now at less than 20% functioning... so the thing I really do the most now is sleeping! Even the cat isn't sleeping as much as I am lately.
The on again off again summer has been ok lupus wise. I had a bit of a flare up in june but it seems to have settled again now. I also have a new Rheumo doc who specialises in Lupus so the future looks interesting in that respect...he's set up a lupus clinic so all the lupies can meet up... when I was first diagnosed and for the first year or so it would have made such a difference to be able to talk to others who were managing a life with lupus...it would have been so much less terrifying. It took almost 18 months for my drug regieme to settle down and for the side effects to run their course and if I could've spoken to someone who was at the stage I am now with the lupus, to know that it is always changing and flaring, that some days are cripplingly painful and others are just 'normal' pain levels would've been so reassuring. Admittedly everyone who has lupus has their own particular problems and mine are added to by the kidney disease, but I think it would still be a valuable thing to do for the newly diagnosed..it also helps remind those of us with a few years under our belts how far we've come in managing this horrible illness.
Anyway....I'm now ready for another little kip before 'he who thinks he must be obeyed' comes home! I'll try not to leave it so long next time!
xx
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Friday 26 June 2009
Morrissey!!
WooHoo!!!!!!
I've just managed to get tickets to see Morrissey in Liverpool in November!!
Just tried to work out when me and Little Sis saw him at the free gig in Wolverhampton. It must've been 88 or 89. That makes it 20 years!!
Don't think I've still got the t-shirt I wore then. If I did it wouldn't fit anyway.
Now we've just got 5 months to wait!! Maybe it'll give me a target to find the spare bedroom ;-)
I've just managed to get tickets to see Morrissey in Liverpool in November!!
Just tried to work out when me and Little Sis saw him at the free gig in Wolverhampton. It must've been 88 or 89. That makes it 20 years!!
Don't think I've still got the t-shirt I wore then. If I did it wouldn't fit anyway.
Now we've just got 5 months to wait!! Maybe it'll give me a target to find the spare bedroom ;-)
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Blimey!
I can't believe how long it's been since I last wrote anything here! My only excuse is that I've been busy!
I went on a great yarn dying workshop a few weekends ago and intended to tell all about it, but got busy with some yarn instead. So far there have, if I'm honest, been mixed results. I tried to dye some mixed animal fibres with a mossy green and a bright orange... I ended up with sludge and blotchy orange that was a bit too flourescent! Apparently I can overdye it but to be honest I may keep it as a reminder of how I'm going to improve.
Of course the trouble with dying my own yarn is that it means trashing the kitchen. I'm one of those cooks who can wreck a kitchen doing beans on toast so Husband starts to panic every time I start talking about having a play!
We spent last weekend in Derbyshire again. It's so nice to have a place where we can just chill out, read and of course knit, without the distraction of the interweb, telephone or TV. Trouble is we ususally spend so much time sleeping that we don't get to see much of the area. Ah well, we have plenty of time...
I've also started going to a knitting group. It's only every other week but so far it's been really good. I've even got a couple of them interested in crocheting! And Husband gets to go for a chippy tea occasionally!
One of the other main distractions the last few weeks has been me, playing up again! I've been all over the place with my blood pressure and just feeling even more exhausted than normal. But I saw a new doc this week. So I'm off the BP tablets and upping the steroids. Apparently we no longer need to worry about protecting my kidneys from high blood pressure and my lupus is having a bit of a flare so we're 'nipping it in the bud' (or should that be knipping - nah that doesn't look right at all).
And now Wimbledon has started so it's time to knit something brainless so I don't miss anything in SW19!!
I'll try to come back sooner next time...
I went on a great yarn dying workshop a few weekends ago and intended to tell all about it, but got busy with some yarn instead. So far there have, if I'm honest, been mixed results. I tried to dye some mixed animal fibres with a mossy green and a bright orange... I ended up with sludge and blotchy orange that was a bit too flourescent! Apparently I can overdye it but to be honest I may keep it as a reminder of how I'm going to improve.
Of course the trouble with dying my own yarn is that it means trashing the kitchen. I'm one of those cooks who can wreck a kitchen doing beans on toast so Husband starts to panic every time I start talking about having a play!
We spent last weekend in Derbyshire again. It's so nice to have a place where we can just chill out, read and of course knit, without the distraction of the interweb, telephone or TV. Trouble is we ususally spend so much time sleeping that we don't get to see much of the area. Ah well, we have plenty of time...
I've also started going to a knitting group. It's only every other week but so far it's been really good. I've even got a couple of them interested in crocheting! And Husband gets to go for a chippy tea occasionally!
One of the other main distractions the last few weeks has been me, playing up again! I've been all over the place with my blood pressure and just feeling even more exhausted than normal. But I saw a new doc this week. So I'm off the BP tablets and upping the steroids. Apparently we no longer need to worry about protecting my kidneys from high blood pressure and my lupus is having a bit of a flare so we're 'nipping it in the bud' (or should that be knipping - nah that doesn't look right at all).
And now Wimbledon has started so it's time to knit something brainless so I don't miss anything in SW19!!
I'll try to come back sooner next time...
Wednesday 27 May 2009
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??!!!
'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
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
Tuesday 26 May 2009
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
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
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