Knitting Therapy

For those who read my previous post, you’ll know that I recently spent some time in hospital. The legacy of that episode has left me with a lot of numbness in my left arm, and some very shaky fine motor control. It took me about 4 weeks to gather up the courage to see if I could still knit. I can tell you it was a very happy moment when I took up the needles and found that I could! So I’ve been knitting up a storm whilst recuperating.

My first effort: A diagonal piece that will eventually have a partner and live out a happy life as a tea cosy (Cleckheaton Vintage Hues wool): 

Another tea cosy improvised from the Mason Dixon ballband dishcloth pattern. I think it has a lovely vintage feel to it. Just needs to be sewn up and embellished….

The beginnings of a mitred throw  in purple, blue and green hues:

I finished my Noro Silk Garden diagonal garter stitch scarf:

I said I’d never knit socks, but………

All that lovely sock wool out there. How could I just window shop?

I modified the K2 P2 rib into a lacy rib for the multi coloured pair.

I’m sure all this knitting is good Occupational Therapy.

I’m feeling a lot better this week, even went back to work 2 part days. Still lots of free time for knitting. Thanks for all your good wishes – it makes such a difference!

cheers, Liz

Not rocket science – please read this!

Almost 3 weeks ago I got up to fix dinner and my legs went to jelly. I sat down for a few minutes, but when I got up, they still felt like jelly and my left arm had gone numb and tingly. All I could think of was ‘I’m having a stroke – how do you test if you’re having a stroke?’ So I held my left arm in the air and watched as it slumped to the chair by my side. Then I asked my 16 year old son to help me ring an ambulance.

I spent the next 24 hours in emergency at the local hospital. They gave me a CT scan and told me I had a giant aneurysm in one of the arteries in the right side of my brain. A few days later I was taken to a large hospital in Sydney, had a barrage of tests including MRI and angiogram. Then on the Friday night I was told that I would need to have open surgery on my brain to ‘clip’ the aneurysm, so it wouldn’t rupture. So I had the whole weekend to think about that. They proposed doing the surgery the following Monday. I was as ready for it as I could be, when one of the registrars came in and said they thought it could be fixed by a process called ‘coiling’, which is a much less invasive procedure where they perform surgery via a catheter inserted in the femoral artery and fed up into the brain.

So on Tuesday I went to have the coiling, but the machine had broken down. I’d already been sedated and they were trying to explain how they were going to block the artery and I could lose the peripheral vision on the left side of both my eyes, although it was highly likely that other blood vessels had taken over that function. I felt incredibly helpless because of the sedation.

On Wednesday, I went for the procedure. When I woke up I could see perfectly, but my left arm and the left side of my face were numb and tingly, and they still are over a week later. I had to lie flat on my back for 2 days, then they gradually allowed me to sit up.

I spent two and a half weeks in hospital. Now I’m home with my kids. They’ve been wonderful – keeping things going at home while I was away.  All I could think about was my kids – they lost their dad (my ex-husband) to cancer 3 years ago, and they’ve had a rough time.

I’m so thankful for all the good wishes, prayers and positive thoughts from family and friends. And for the answer to those prayers. It’s made such a difference!  I’m told it could take 18 months for my left arm to get back to normal, and have been prescribed lots of crafting to get the muscles and co-ordination happening. I’m still unbelievably tired and exhausted. 

So my friends, live every day!

Vintage Thingies Thursday…. vintage canisters

Welcome to another VTT hosted by Coloradolady!

So yesterday I took a little drive up the road from work and found a collectibles store that I haven’t visited in ages.  It mostly sold old books, but there were a few other bits and pieces hiding around the place.  Like these:

My mum had a set of these back in the 1960’s (I guess everybody’s mum did!). Unfortunately there’s only one lid, so now I’m 0n the lookout for spare lids! These great canisters are Nally ware, a company that made moulded phenol/formaldehyde plastic (nasty, nasty stuff!!) in Sydney c. 1923 – 1942.

And they also match my vintage buttons:

Sitting right next to them on the shelf I found these:

Two fabulous art deco style canisters made by Bristol, again in cream and red – don’t you just love those colours together! Two canisters, four lids. The extra lids don’t fit the other canisters. So now I’m looking for someone who needs lids for their Bristol canisters.

The set of bakelite measuring cups in the foreground were another find from a few weeks ago. Each one a different colour, and they all nest together!

And the local church fete last weekend had this for $1.

I know the box is broken, but there are so many needles inside, including the thinnest needles I’ve ever seen, less than 2mm.

Needless to say they have all found a new home at my place!

Etsy DUST team swap

Recently the Etsy DUST team (Down Under Street Team) held a craft swap. 46 crafty people signed up so there was a fabulous range of items being sent all over Australia. I made this button bouquet for my swap partner Michvanetta.  The theme was LOVE! Its made from red, pink and white buttons from my stash.

 

I think she liked it…

Looking forward to the next DUST swap!

I was going to call this post “three queens have lunch”, but let me clarify…

The queen of tea cosies, the queen of chooks and the queen of buttons (that’s me!) went up the hill for lunch, for op-shopping and for browsing antiques and collectibles. Then back down the hill a-ways to look at chooks, drink tea and eat home-made plum cake.

It was so great to meet you both, and thankyou Loani for my new orange socks – they really are a size 10!

    

Vintage Thingies Thursday … vintage meat safe…

Last weekend I took a drive up the mountains and found an antique shopped tucked away in a little road off the highway.  It was full of beautiful vintage sewing paraphernalia, some lovely antique smocked children’s dresses, and some of the loveliest china I’ve seen in a while.

It also had this:

It doesn’t have it anymore.  How could I walk past this beauty and not buy it? It still has the ant-capping on the feet.

I just love the cream and green colours so typical of the period.  It kind of matches my canisters, previously featured on VTT. 

It also matches some of my vintage buttons, which is always a good thing. I mean, how many people can say that they have a meat safe that matches their buttons???

 

 

I’m going to hang it on my back verandah, but I don’t think I’ll keep meat in it. I value my digestive system too much for that. But I bet it’ll be great for drying fruit and herbs.

Check out more Vintage Thingies goodness at Coloradolady’s blog!

Victorian Bushfire Appeal Shop….

We all know how devastating the bushfires in Victoria were last weekend.  So many people lost their property, their livelihood, and too many people lost their lives. There has been a wonderful response from the public, both in Australia and from overseas, in pledging donations to help those so badly affected by the fires.

If you’re not familiar with Etsy, it is an online site where people sell handmade goods. The Australian Etsy DUST team (Down Under Street Team) has set up a shop where Etsy artists can donate an item(s) that they’ve made for sale, and all the money will go to the Australian Red Cross for distribution to those in need.

There is a wide variety of beautiful items available, and at this point in time, $2800  (update on 14.2.09 total $5000) (update 15.2.09 $7500!!) has already been raised.

I’m donating some of my button flowers.  If you’d like to help out, either by buying an item or by donating an item, please check out the store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6902734

 

UPDATE: 14.2.09  I’m delighted to say that both of my bouquets have been sold. But there are many other stunning items for sale, so please dig deep!

Marian over at Marian Edwards Dreamweaver is auctioning  one of her stunning scarves for the bushfire appeal. Pop over to her blog to find out more!

Swap sneak peek….

I’ve been wanting to participate in a craft swap for a while, and thanks to one of the Aussie Etsy teams, the down under street team (DUST), my wish has come true. So here’s a sneak peek at the bits and pieces I’m using in my swap gift. The theme, by the way, is LOVE.

 

I’ll be  posting it to my swap partner Michvanetta in the next couple of days, so will post a pic of the finished item when I’m sure she’s received it!

Vintage Thingies Thursday… Old Buttons….

From time to time people contact me to see if I’m interested in buying their old buttons. Recently I was contacted by a lovely lady whose father owned a drapery store in Sydney in the 1940s. She had inherited the buttons when the store closed down, and has had them tucked away for the last 60 years or so. Evidently her father had catalogued them by attaching them to the back of advertising signs:

There’s lots of lovely interesting old plastic buttons, some very funky 2-piece spotty plastics, and a fair bit of Czech glass. There was also about  a dozen old Sylko thread boxes and these interesting rolls of old fisheye buttons, attached to double-sided tape so the quantity could easily be snipped off. 

So I came home with lots of vintage treasures.

I just wanted to share a couple of pics from my walk around the garden the other evening, white plumbago and snail creeper:

I just love the sculptural flowers of snail creeper – its grown right up into the melaleuca tree and has formed a liane so thick I think I could swing on it like Tarzan … or Jane!

 

For more Vintage Thingies Thursday visit Coloradolady’s blog!

Vintage Thingies Thursday… bakelite obsession

Yes, I have to admit it… my passion for bakelite has become an(other) obsession! Especially when its two colours… laminated together… red and yellow for instance….

I don’t usually collect butter knives, but how could I resist? Opaque yellow bakelite coupled with transparent red bakelite (prystal). But it’s the holder that makes the set so worthwhile – it’s not just another set of knives in a box, it’s a fabulous deco display!

And so is this one:

This fabulous belt buckle arrived the other day.  The workmanship is amazing. The long red and yellow linked buckle is just so stylish – I want to turn it into a bracelet, but I’ll have to put my thinking cap on as it’s just a tad short, and the pointy bits stick up.

For lots more vintage goodies, and I daresay a peek at other’s obsessions, visit Coloradolady’s blog!