what to do with an unexpected day off...

when the sick bug circulating in the house keeps lingering....

James is still not quite ready to go back to school. I was torn between toughing it out, send him to school and go to work myself  or staying at home, taking it easy and hope an extra day of recovery will help James to fully recover. I felt pretty awful during the night and it didn't take much convincing to settle for the latter option. I am not actually feeling to bad now, but my tummy is not its usual self.

James is wrapped up in a woolly blanket in front of the fire, watching cartoons. That's what he likes doing most when he is not well. Jack is sharing the floor cushion with him.It is kind of nice actually. The weather is fine, too. It was blowing a gale last night and I have yet to venture into the garden to assess the damage. Our fence is on its last leg but it is still standing. Just.

Not feeling motivated enough to do my English homework, I decided to mend my Noro hexagon blanket instead. I noticed a small hole recently, no doubt a result of Jack shaking it like dead prey. He is such a naughty dog. He did a runner yesterday. I came home from work early to take over childcare and no sooner than Richard had left, Jack moved a brick that covered a small hole in the fence and squeezed through it. I was surprised he didn't get stuck. I saw his bottom disappear. Unfortunately, he didn't come back. Eventually I had to abandon James in the house with the instruction to tell the boiler engineer that his mum would be right back should he arrive when I was searching for the dog... I eventually found Jack several gardens and houses down the lane. He couldn't find the his way back out that silly thing. I was torn between climbing over the wall and catch him or just leave him there but luckily the house owner noticed me and let me in. Just as well, garden walls in this neighbourhood are pretty ropey, a bit like the leaning tower of Pisa.

But I digress. My mind works like that, hopping from one thought to another.

I couldn't for the life of it remember how to darn a hole. I learned darning at school. My evil needle craft teacher cut a hole in the heel of a newly knitted sock and taught us how to fix it. Can you believe it?? Anyway, I searched for a darning tutorial online and found one on Knitty. What did we do before Google?? I presume we asked our mothers and granny's. Mind you, I doubt that my mum would know how to mend a hole in a knitted blanket. It is even longer since she learned to do this at school. It was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be. I am like that, I procrastinate over tasks that might be tricky (but are usually not) and by the time I talk myself into tackling it, I am so stressed that I lost a stone (if only). I am quite pleased with the result. It is a bit lumpy to one side but not bad at all. 
 



Now, for that hole in the crochet border in my other blanket.... it has been packed in a bag and stuffed under my bed last year because I could just not face the no doubt easy repair. It is probably have eaten by moths now. Is anyone else like me? I mean, I managed to obtain a PhD! In the light of that, I feel rather pathetic that simple things are giving me the heebie-jeebies. 

Have a lovely day my friends! Cx


Comments

  1. I am most impressed with your mending. I have at least 3 handknitted socks awaiting repair....

    hope everyone is well soon xxx

    ps, when you had your PhD to write no doubt you had a supervisor breathing down your neck telling you to get on with it. that doesn't happen with mending piles......

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  2. Poor James, I hope he'll be back up to full strength soon. Naughty Jack, it sounds like a steeplechase trying to find him. I have an embarrassingly large mending pile. By the time I eventually get round to dealing with it, I find that the children have grown out of whatever it was that had a hole. My grandma had a wooden darning "mushroom" to help mend holes. I've just seen I can get one on eBay for a snip! Enjoy the rest of your unexpected day off xx

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  3. Well two things occur to me, first, great repair!!! Second, I am sooooo glad that someone with a PhD worries about these things just as much as I do - no PhD here!! - that just means that you are as normal as me and I am as normal as you!!! I know what you mean about procrastinating about things you think will be hard to do, perhaps I really should get on and learn to knit. I keep procrastinating about that, but it might not be so bad..... who am I kidding!! I hope that you all get and stay well soon! xx

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  4. I always try to allow a 'recovery' day if either of mine are off sick, it's hard with other commitments, but I have found if I send them back the second they start to recover, they just go down with something else quickly again, or take absolutely ages to get back to full strength again. Nice darning job on your blanket! X

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  5. Hey Christina,
    I seem to procrastinate about everything. Then I have a blitz. Then I procrastinate again. As for darning......well I just wouldn't I'm afraid. I'd just leave the hole to carry on regardless.
    Hope the bug is banished for good soon. We have escaped without catching most of the bugs that are circulating St Ives.
    Leanne xx

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  6. I really am impressed with your darning skills, you have done a great job. Hope James and indeed yourself are feeling better soon, there is so much going about at the moment.

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  7. I hope everyone in your house recovers from the bug that has hit you. It's always so awful when it hits, especially in a family with multiple children. They seem to just keep passing it back and forth, and sharing with the parents at the same time. It was one of my least favourite aspects of parenting.

    Your blanket repair looks brilliant! If it makes you feel any better, I have a degree in math but avoid any knitting pattern where I'm going to have to revise the stitch counts or do any other calculation. I fear I have developed a very lazy brain! :-)

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  8. Well I've no PhD but I still get the Henie Jeeves over silly stuff which usually then turns out so simple I wonder what I was making a fuss about. Very impressive repair!

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  9. Oops... My iPad has corrected heebie jeebies into Henie Jeeves!

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  10. I don't have a PhD but I love a challenge with my 'DO IT or BIN IT' attitude. Everyone is different! Hope you feel better soon. Jo x

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  11. That's a nice, neat fix for your blanket. It looks good as new. I hope everyone in your house is feeling better soon.

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  12. Beautifully mended. Do the other one quick while it's still fresh in your mind. I'm exactly the same, I usually wait until the whole is a hundred times bigger than it was at the beginning. I left a weed in the front garden for so long once that it practically turned into a tree and I had to get a man in to dig it out. I used to look at it out the window every day and think, "I should go outside and pull that up". CJ xx

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  13. me again... My overlocker is a Brother 1034D and I bought it on a great offer with free thread spools which I am no where near finishing (even after all of my makes in 12 months!) there was other free stuff too like scissors, sewing bits and bobs etc. You gotta get one!!! Jo x

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  14. I hope you're feeling better, an extra day at home always helps. I'm unexpectedly at home today, and being very lazy!
    Your mending is beautiful, it reminds me of my Grandma who could invisibly mend most things and who tutted at her sister who once told me to do a big loopy running stitch around a hole and pull tightly!

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  15. That's amazing! I've never known how to repair a hole, I kinda thought once it was there that was the end of it. You can't even see where yours was. And yes, 2 degrees and still can't work the TV remote, you are not alone. Get well over there...x

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  16. Sorry you've all been poorly - hope you have recovered. What have you got to do for your English homework? Can I help?

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  17. I put off doing things if I'm not quite sure how I should go about whatever it is. Usually it's something that turns out to be so easy. Your mending job looks really great - so neat.

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  18. Oh I put things off like that all the time. I still I have a dress I knit in time out at the back of my closet, I should just frog the whole darn thing but I don't love the yarn enough to muster up the energy. Hope you are all feeling much better by today.
    Meredith

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  19. I'm fascinated by how you've mended the how using the cotton - you'll have to show me how to do it one day! It looks great, you'd never know it had ever been anything except perfect xx

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  20. Your mend is wonderful. I am definitely a procrastinator doing everything but what I should be doing. My mother calls it displacement activity........hope you are all feeling better now!

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Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment, I love to hear from you, I really do. I sometimes reply by email but I am not all that reliable... Christina xx

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