Author: Carry on Cate!

I'm a mother, grandmother..wife, sister, daughter, friend...and above all, I. Just me!

It’s been a while…

but for very good reason! On January 17th I had a fall and truly buggered my knee! First trip to A & E was about two hours later when my knee had blown up like a balloon and started to bruise. The diagnosis? A huge haematoma and prescribed RICE…rest, ice, compression, elevation. Very odd blue splint put on, crutches in hand and off home to bed I went.

I had several trips back to the hospital as I got more worried at how it was progressing…I was reassured all was well and I needed an ultrasound. When this finally happened the haematoma was measured at 11.5 cm long by 1.5 cm wide….and 4.5 cm deep! Huge! Truly explained the colour of my leg, foot, knee, ankle etc etc…I could barely move my leg let alone stand.

It’s slowly getting better, movement is getting better but pain is horrific…never known anything like it. I’m hoping to get back to work after half term and continue improving.

On a sad note, I’ve not been able to climb IN my van never mind drive it. My hopes for half term have been well and truly squashed…fingers crossed it won’t be long coming.

Christmas!..in a van??

I spent Christmas Eve doing a mix of things..lunch was celebrating my granddaughters 1st birthday. Maddison was 1 on the 20th but we met for a meal on Christmas Eve.

Straight afterwards Barrie and I dashed to Wigan to join our eldest daughter Rachel and son in law Phill and two granddaughters, Beth and Dorothy. Jenny, second eldest, and her husband Stephen, and their children..grandchildren Elisa, Hannah and Matthew joined us too.

We ate, played games, exchanged gifts and then went to the local Christingle service at St Anne’s Church in Wigan. What a joy that was! Truly magical, funny, and so very special. Hannah, Matthew and Dorothy even joined in the nativity. It was a lovely start to Christmas.

Christmas day was a mixed bag. Barrie spent his day with two if his girls and their children..I spent mine with four of my five. My four youngest children lost their dad to cancer in August and Christmas was always going to be hard.

The day was as good as it could be and ended with me sleeping in my van outside Jenny’s house! It was fabulous. I was surprisingly warm and cosy. I got some lovely gifts formy van and to document my travels too.
I still have a few things to add to my van…a radio for a start! I need to get the internal sockets checked and also make sure the plumbing is correctly wired! Once those things are completed then I’ll be ready for the road proper.

Christmas!

you either love it or loath it, a bit like marmite!

I love it…normally, this year has been awful so I’m not particularly bothered this year..however, I have been buying gifts.

My dilemma came when I was trying to decide what to buy for my 88 year old mother. She’s very healthy, mobile although a bit unsteady on steps if there are lots. At her age there isn’t much she either hasn’t got, or has already had at some point. I mean, what do you buy someone that has everything, or buys it if she needs it? There are only so many mugs with ‘wonderful mum’, ‘best mummy’, etc written on them that one woman needs to own.

What she does love is to dance! She’s always the first on the dance floor at a party, and the last off if she can get away with it..the life and soul. In her youth she was a ballerina, at one time having her own ballet school…so…when I spotted an advert for a ballet in Blackpool I snapped it up.

The event was ballet by candlelight organised by https://www.facebook.com/concertsbycandlelight and it was spectacular! From entering the tower she was greeted with kindness, offered help to the lift, her bag carried when she had to walk up one flight and then escorted to her seat too! Once there, even the other guests were so kind. While I went to get us a drink a lovely couple looked after her, chatting about her time as a dancer.

All in all it was a fabulous evening and she went home very happy. If you get the chance, I’d highly recommend it.

https://www.facebook.com/100004254217046/videos/pcb.2959864780831967/888322912802243?cft[0]=AZWxyIQzCrOgE_Qwnat6S–JAFVBZgt8oHvlLnYH_j16XBOhdVIZnH2uSm0u8XGmgVGFx91QTSIzrJNjSGfXBCmR3zXwkUfjKmaYyQ_t4LdphrJsTHNWquo5qnMouLKAUEM&tn=*bH-R

It’s back!

If you know, you know!

For those of you who don’t know, my camper van had to go to the garage when I first got it. I knew it needed some stuff doing to it….new tyres, new ,ensure batteries…and a door wouldn’t lock but, all in all it was perfect.

Then I decided to have all the advisories from the last mot done…not a lot of things, but better sooner than later!

Then the real issue showed it’s ugly head! The locks! It turned out it wasn’t an issue with the door that didn’t lock, but with the wiring..internally..hidden behind all the conversion panels! I was freaked! It’s all I could think about and I pestered my garage weekly for updates…and they were sooo very patient with me.

But today, finally, he’s back. Vinnie is now back outside my home..he locks, he drives better and is ready for the internal stuff to be connected..(gas, water etc) so I get out finally. To say I’m excited is an understatement.

So…a HUGE thank you to https://johnhandleymotors.co.uk for their amazing work, support, patience and perseverance! I think they all had a hand in sorting the van and are all very happy to see him leave! Having been using Handleys for over 20 years, if you need something doing well you can’t go wrong with them. As Kevin says, they may not be the cheapest, but you’ll get the best job done to the highest standard! I couldn’t agree more!

Great news today…..

My van can come home from the garage!!!

It’s very odd, as I haven’t owned him long, but I’ve really missed Vinnie being outside! I’m hoping to pick him up by the end of the week! Next on the list is to ask a lovely neighbour that I have to check up the inside, connect the gas, show me how the buttons work to. Then I can go out in it finally…well…when I’ve tried to drive it that is lol!

But truly, I’m so very happy. It feels like forever but it will be worth it. All my pretty things are piled on the bed in the van ready to be put away, hooks to be put up, shelves to be added but now useable anyway. The biggest decision, I guess, is where to go first! I’d like to try it out between Christmas and new year. I finish work for Christmas this Thursday 21st December, and I don’t go back until 9th January so I do have an opportunity to give it a good try.

I’m fully armed with lots of blankets, new pillows, a kettle, everything I need to cook and even some food. All I need is milk (for the very essential brew), some fresh food, (at the very least some bread and butter) and, obviously, tea bags!

Clearly I need to consult my list of the people who want me to visit them to allow them to have a nosey inside, and finally I need to pack…wool, needles, patterns, scissors, sewing needles, fleece, wheel, lazy Kate, bobbins, a book, pen and notebook (those who know me well will know this is not an exhaustive list of craft items), and I’ll be ready for the off.

(almost forgot, I’ll need some clean clothes too!)

…and its done!

I’ve finished the beautiful yarn I was spinning. It’s from World of Wool. Its from their northern lights range a x named Blaze..very appropriate j think.

I’d hoped to spin it thin enough for 4ply…not quite got that..more a double knit thickness. Now…what to make with it??

To join or not to join!

I have to admit that I’m a bit of a joiner! However much I love my own company, and I do!..I do love to be with people.

As an avid crafter there are many groups available to join, and join them I do! Currently I attend no less than three knitting groups, one weekly during the day, one daytime Saturday and one every four weeks in an evening during the week. There’s also another that I dip in and out of, work permitting, as it’s during my working week.

I then have a spinners or fibre group every two weeks in the evening. Written down it sounds like a lot but, only a few people overlap the groups so I meet different people each time which is lovely. Being self employed, albeit in schools, can be quite lonely so these groups are my opportunity to meet and chat with others. I think of them as friends because that’s what they’ve become over time. I know that attending groups isn’t for everyone but I say, give it a go, what have you got to lose?

No matter what it is you enjoy, knitting, cooking, reading, singing, walking…the list is endless, there’s a group out there for you and it might surprise you how much joy you can get and what might come of it.

I think a lot of my friends are now getting used to me getting my wheel out each time we meet, not just at the fibre group!

I’m finding myself spinning at every opportunity and I’d like to think it’s showing in what I’m producing. I reminded myself today that I also need to knit with it!,