Ups and downs

It's been a while since I last posted and I have to confess that I have been feeling a bit meh. I think it's a combination of feeling rather flat now that my fundraising has finished, getting over the flare I experienced after my 5th Covid vaccination and frustration that I find everything so flipping difficult! Welcome to my Pity Party, help yourself to a drink and some nibbles before they run out. 

My fundraising became massively important to me, especially throughout lockdown when I was shielding, as it gave me something positive to focus on as well as a link to the outside world. It also gave me some kind of identity which helped me; having lost my identity as a wife after Mr JK died, I then lost my identity as a teacher after I had to take ill health retirement, so fundraising gave me a sense of purpose again and I felt useful. Now that the fundraising has finished, I am feeling a little redundant once more so I need to find something new to channel my energy into. 

I had my 5th Covid vaccination in June and it caused a flare up of my myositis and my inflammatory markers, which had been consistently decreasing since I started my IVIg infusions, shot up again. I had the Moderna vaccine (all four previous were Pfizer) and from what some of my doctors have said, what happened to me didn't come as a surprise. I'm getting back to where I was pre-jab, but had Covid jab number 6 as well as my flu vaccine this week; sadly it was Moderna again, I did ask if they would be getting any Pfizer but the answer was no. As I'm going to be starting on a more heavy duty immunosuppressant very soon, I decided that it would be better to be protected from Covid and risk another flare up rather than refuse the vaccine. Fingers crossed that it won't happen a second time.

There are things that I want to change in the house but things take me such a long time or I'm not able to manage them that I just ignore them. I have friends who I know would be happy to help me; it's me that finds it hard to ask for and accept help and I guess that I need to change my attitude. It takes me a ridiculous amount of time to do the simplest things: taking things upstairs I have to put things in a rucksack to carry them as I have to tackle the stairs on all fours. I'd like to bring all my craft books downstairs and swap them for a couple of shelves of LP's but the mere thought of doing it is enough to stop me, even though I'll be really pleased to get things rearranged in a much more helpful way. Perhaps I should set myself a task each week and tell you what I have planned, so that I have to report back and be accountable! It might work...

I have had plenty of little moments of joy over the past couple of weeks to share with you.

*** Teddy Love ***

I crocheted this cute little bear for a friend of a friend's new baby boy and was delighted when she shared the lovely photo of them together. Apparently it is his favourite cuddly! (Pattern is Billy Bear from Emma Varnam, which you can buy as a kit or pattern only.)

*** Fundraising ***

I never in a million years imagined that I would raise so much money for Myositis UK. I am so grateful to everyone who donated a prize and to all the people who helped by buying virtual raffle tickets and sharing my fundraising to spread the word. Thank you so much. (See right at the end of this post how you can help me!)

*** Festive socks ***

Winwick Mum has designed some gorgeous new sock patterns to go with West Yorkshire Spinners new Christmas yarn, in the Gingerbread colourway. The patterns are all free to download. This is my favourite - Gretel - with the colourwork trees and snowflakes. I've got the yarn ready to cast on. I downloaded my pattern from Black Sheep Wools. There are four knitting patterns and one crochet pattern for socks.

Photo copyright West Yorkshire Spinners

*** Stripy Goodness ***

I finished knitting my stripy socks using the beautiful 'Twelve Days' colourway from Spin & Blether. I went for matchy-matchy socks right down to the heel as I had plenty of yarn and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. The yarn is a mix of Blue Faced Leicester and nylon and has a wonderful lustre. 

*** Strictly Sockalong ***

I'm delighted that Strictly is back on our screens and have cast on my pair for the sockalong. I'm knitting my 'Tiptoe' pattern and I'm not totally convinced that the lace shows up well enough with the yarn. I think that I will stretch it out over a sock blocker to see how it looks before I knit any more rounds. I had to rummage around in my notions bag for my glitterball stitch marker!

Have a good week and I'll be back chatting away again soon. xxx

PS

There are still a few days left to vote for your favourites in this year's British Knitting & Crochet awards. I have been nominated in the favourite charity campaign for my Fibre 4 Fibres Fundraising which reached over £30,000. My page will close at the end of September, which is the same day that voting closes. You can vote here and you might be lucky and win an amazing prize!

You can vote here! 

 

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 100

Welcome to the final raffle in my Fibre 4 Fibres fundraising for Myositis UK! This is my 100th raffle and I feel the time is right to bring things to a close. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to raise such an incredible amount of money. Through your donations for virtual raffle tickets, my design commissions and all my pattern sales, between us we have raised more than £30,000 which will be enough to fund at least one research project. Thank you.

There are three prizes to be won this week. Each prize contains a zipped project bag, a set of 2.5mm circular needles, a fridge magnet, some stitch markers and an assortment of beautiful yarn. The yarn has been donated by Spin & Blether, Crafthouse Magic and my Instagram friends Sophie and Ann, as well as a couple of skeins from my stash. The stitchmarkers have been donated by Spin & Blether and The Yarnicorn. Sophie donated several balls and skeins of yarn including two self striping yarns which have already been caked up. They are dyed by Country Mouse Yarns but don't have a label; they are 75% merino and 25% nylon, confirmed by the dyer and you can see the beautiful stripes they knit up in one of the photos below. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated a prize this week.

Here's a reminder of what you need to do if you'd like to enter the final raffle! You have a chance to win one of these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 11th September, closing at 23:45. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your email address with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support.  Myositis is a rare disease and that means that there isn't as much research done to help find better treatment and ultimately a cure. Every single donation is important. Last week the total raised hit £30,000 and I am so grateful to everyone one of you who has donated. Thank you and stay safe! xxx

 

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 99

Welcome to the penultimate Fibre4Fibres raffle. All good things must come to an end and I have decided to finish my fundraising for Myositis UK next week. It will be raffle 100 and the total raised should hopefully reach £30,000. Both of these are nice round numbers and it feels right to bring things to a close. Of course I have been tempted to carry on, but I've been fundraising now since the end of 2019 (with a couple of breaks) and there are other things that I'd like to focus on. Also, people have been incredibly generous, and I know that I have had a few people donate to every single raffle. With the cost of living going up, there isn't a lot of spare money for many people either and I'd hate for people to feel pressured into donating. 

This week's raffle has two prizes. The first prize includes a zipped project bag in a fun print, a ball of self-striping, sparkly DK rainbow yarn donated by The Dotty Wool Co, three sets of Norah George DK miniskeins which have been donated by an Instagram friend, Marja, two sets of Hiya Hiya double pointed needles donated by my Instagram friend Ann, a unicorn stitch marker donated by The Yarnicorn and a yarny fridge magnet. Thank you so much to everyone who donated a prize.

The second prize includes a zipped project bag in a knitting sheep print fabric, four balls of wool and a tweed key ring from The Silly Sheep Fibre Company (who use fleeces from their own sheep and from friends and neighbours on the Shetland Islands) nine balls of Jamieson's/Jamieson & Smith yarn, a set of Hiya Hiya double pointed needles donated by my friend Ann (again!), a unicorn stitch marker donated by The Yarnicorn and a yarny fridge magnet. Thank you so much to everyone who donated a prize.

Here's a reminder of what you need to do if you'd like to enter this week's raffle! You have a chance to win one of these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 4th September, closing at 23:45. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your email address with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support.  Myositis is a rare disease and that means that there isn't as much research done to help find better treatment and ultimately a cure. Every single donation is important. Let's see how close to £30,000 we can get this week! Thank you and stay safe! xxx