The Cult of Ellen

Almost a year since my last post. Wow. The blanket I was crocheting in that photo? As soon as I'd finished it - before I'd even sewed in the loose ends - Newton ran up and stole it. Pretty much, "Thanks, mum! New blanket!" and so for the last year, it has been his blanket. He curls up on the sofa beside DH, gets tucked up under the blanket, rests his chin on DH's leg and watches whatever DVD is on the tv. (Favourite film: The Thing; favourite TV series: episode 1 of Walking With Dinosaurs or any wildlife series; seems fond of werewolf films but looks at us like, "Why won't you change into a big dog and run around with me?")

The Pittsburgh Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row, and are currently second in the Metropolitan Division, with only 5 games to play before the playoffs start for the 2018 Stanley Cup. They aren't playing very well at the moment for whatever reason, but they know how to bring it when the stakes are high. Playing tonight, so fingers crossed!

Health-wise, I'm not brilliant. Still got ME/CFS, still struggling. I'm taking a mindfulness course at the very wonderful Cedar Foundation in Ballymena which helps immensely with anxiety and depression. I sold a short story to Schreyer Ink Publishing, which appeared in Twilight Madhouse Vol 3. Yay!

Currently, I'm designing knitting patterns. My first pattern is up FOR FREE: it's the TARDIS Phone Sock! Copyright of the TARDIS is, alas, not mine, so go forth and knit, my pretties! My second pattern, a cabled scarf, is with a test knitter at the moment and awaiting feedback. And I'm working on turning an Elizabethan blackwork pattern (as seen in a painting of Queen Elizabeth I, on the cuff of her shift) into a double-knitting pattern. Easier said than done! I'm persevering, though, and someday soon I will have my pattern figured out and I will knit it! Mwa ha ha! And then, you know, I'll put it up for test knitting and I'll put it up for sale on Ravelry, and two people will buy it, but that whole few pounds will be a tremendous validation and make it worth all my time, yes it will indeed!

I was going to get new tyres on my car today but I cannot find the locking wheel nut key. Argh! Tomorrow I shall ransack the car, the barn, the hallway, old handbags, goodness knows where it is since Kwik Fit and a local garage don't have it. I suppose I could ask the mechanic who worked on it 2 years ago if he knows where it is, but I very much doubt he has it either. *sigh* Which reminds me, I need to buy a socket set anyway as the heavy gates on the yard keep working their bolts a bit loose from the pillars. Eh, never mind, I'll get it sorted before the car's not legal to drive. Suuuuuuuure...

Welp, that'll do, going to go knit some more of a bed jacket for mum in glorious merino/silk yarn. Happy fingers!

After talking with my counsellor on Tuesday, I popped into the Antrim Forum to see what classes they had, and on Wednesday morning I went to Pilates for the first time ever. Ahahahaha! It is brutal! In a very non-brutal way, but today my everything aches. When I think about all the sword fighting, glima, rock climbing, cycling, swimming etc I've done and how very unfit and unbendy I am now, the comparison makes me feel, well, unfit and unbendy. Gah! So yeah, I'll go back next week, provided I'm not a) dead or dismembered or b) having a bad ME day. Fingers crossed, eh?

I'm feeling quite chipper at the moment: financially, things aren't entirely dire (hurrah); DH is coming up on the end of week 11 of his new job (but eye surgery next week, eep); I haven't had to take Planck to the vets for a few weeks (but I need to get him another hip x-ray, his bad hip is getting worse); the other dogs are fit and well (touch wood); family is all okay (to the best of my knowledge, and my nephew starts school a week on Friday, wow); I've even hoovered the house. Well, downstairs, and I hoovered upstairs at the end of last week, so it's still okay for now.

So yeah, no major disasters! Have some crafty photos instead:

( Photos )

Also a book recommendation, also from my wonderful counsellor: Reinventing Your Life by Jeffrey E. Young, PhD., and Janet S. Klosko, PhD. So yeah, I'll be getting that. Oh, and I read Neurotribes by Steve Silberman, which is a fantastic read - hugely informative, sometimes difficult, sometimes hugely entertaining, but always very thought-provoking. I think my favourite bit, for reasons which will be blatantly obvious to anyone who knows me personally and to anyone who's read anything else at all in this blog, is this, about the expanded criteria for diagnosis:

A nonspeaking boy of six who rocked in a corner all day would fit the bill, as would a woman in her late twenties who reflexively averted her eyes when speaking and calmed herself while knitting while inwardly fancying herself the real-life equivalent of Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who.

Replace 'late twenties' with 'early forties', and 'Sarah Jane Smith' with 'Ace', and yeah, that's absolutely me! It made me giggle.

So yeah, that's me this week. I'm going to go back to crocheting another cute cat (making a good start on those family Christmas presents) and wait for the washing machine repairman (repairperson? probably a bloke, though) to turn up (13:00-15:00 allegedly). Have yourselves a great week and welcome to September!