Best laid plans #2

At exactly this time, for the past two years, I've been elbow deep in Advent Box kits, frantically rushing to complete 25 different themed kits.

In 2022 the theme was Fairy Tales, in 2023 it was Circus & Animals.  I thoroughly enjoyed the development stages, designing and creating all the little toy and doll kits then working out how to best make them as kits. Actually making up each of the 500 individual kits was somewhat less enjoyable, but seeing each boxful gradually coming together was incredibly satisfying.

Both times it all went right to the wire... because they were Advent kits, they all had to be delivered well in time for December 1st, so they had to be posted out mid-November.  Earlier for international orders.

On December 1st last year, as I lay hyperventilating in a darkened room, I vowed, never, ever again. And I have been as good as my word.  The past few months have been difficult to say the least.  In September we both had Covid, the effects of which are still being felt.  I've undergone a series of infusions to treat my Crohn's Disease, which have also had significant side effects.  Now PP has another health hurdle to overcome, which may well knock all the rest into a cocked hat.

However, while recovering from Covid, back in late September, I picked up one of my many languishing miniature projects, with a view to actually completing it.  The project in question is a Mignonette Doll Presentation Box, in the style of those wondrous creations from the late 19th century.....

An example of an original 19th century presentation box

They were filled with elaborate costumes, hats and accessories

These boxes are something of an obsession for me and over the decades I've made many, in all shapes, sizes and themes.  Fifteen years ago I even produced a complete home workship kit, which was a major mission in itself.

However, the one I'm currently working on is particularly lovely.  It is currently being filled with many miniature delights including a tiny dressed doll named Belle, with a selection of costumes and accessories.

While sorting through all the materials and components, newly discovered in boxes in my Tardis-like workroom, it occurred to me that I probably had enough of everything to make up just 10 kits.... and the idea was conceived. 

 Last month I posted this on my Sandra Morris Dolls FB page....

As is the way of these things, I have been somewhat overtaken by recent events, and have decided to postpone release of the kits till the New Year, to enliven the damp, dank, dark days of January and February.  

I have still to finish my own box, and I want to actually enjoy the process, rather than having to rush to complete it in the next two weeks.  There are many more things I want to add to it, over and above what I've already made.  So, despite the delay, I'm confident that the project will exceed expectations.

I've also been dressing some lovely little toy dolls for La Mignonette, my French doll shop, which underwent some major renovations last year and is in desperate need of a re-stock.  I may make some extra dolls, which will also be offered for sale alongside the presentation box kit.   

When the presentation box kits are ready, I will post the all details here and also send out a newsletter.  If you received details of my Advent Boxes in previous years, then you are already on my mailing list.  If you're not sure if you are, and want to receive notification of these kits, just message me with your email address (via the Contact Form on the right) and I'll check, then add you if you're not already there.

Anyway, this afternoon I'm working on designing the little kits for all of Belle's hats, to accompany her different costumes.  The sun is currently streaming into my workroom and over the weekend I tidied it up (yet again) so that it's an inviting space in which to create.

Best go and get on then..... 😊

Best laid plans.....

This time last week, PP and I returned from a long planned special holiday, in honour of her milestone birthday next week.  We had a glorious time and enjoyed every single minute, despite some unexpected glitches and challenges.

24 hours after we got home, I started to feel unwell.  On a whim I took a Covid test.....

Despite being vaccine boosted to the gills, and after 4  1/2 years of successfully avoiding it, I've tested positive for Covid.  I've been able to get antivirals, which I've taken for the past 5 days, and which have most definitely made a big difference to the course of the infection.  Last weekend I was really poorly, but the antivirals have really helped.  Unfortunately, I've had to suspend all my other medications for the duration of the Paxlovid treatment, which has caused other issues,  plus I'm still testing positive, but I am feeling better day by day, albeit two steps forward, one step back.  I'm also absolutely, completely, overwhelmingly exhausted.  Just having a morning shower is a debilitating exercise which takes ages to recover from. 

Poor PP hasn't been so lucky.  She didn't test positive till Monday, two days after me, and due to her cancer surgery she can't have antivirals.  As she has no spleen she has no infection resistance so all this week she's been really poorly too.  

Another unintended consquence is that I can't complete my course of biologic infusions as scheduled.  I had just one left in the sequence on Monday, but it's been cancelled.  I'll have to wait at least 5 days following a negative test before I can re-book it, and ideally I will have to have the final infusion within 3 weeks from Monday.  So the clock is ticking, adding another layer of stress to an already stressful situation. 

With both of us under the weather, PP particularly so, her impending birthday celebrations have also been put on hold.

Honestly, buggrit doesn't even come close! 

Crazy crochet lady.....

Back in what passed for our summer, I wrote about my burgeoning love affair with crochet.  Having finally cracked the crochet code, my enthusiasm knows no bounds and I'm now on square number 91 of my very first 100 square blanket.

Notice one very important word in that last sentence..... 'first'.

I'm already beginning to feel bereft at the thought of finishing my first blanket.  I shall miss settling down of an evening to hook a square or two, sorting and organising the gorgeous yarn colours, carefully labelling each completed square and laying it in gently in a little organza bag along with its 10 labelled neighbours.

Granted, I still have 10 squares to go, then I have to block them, sew them together, then make the border, but the end is in sight and I'm feeling twitchy.

So I have already lined up my next TWO crochet projects.  Another granny square blanket using a floral pattern, and a small laptop blanket with a flowerpress theme.  At this rate the house will be snowed under with colourful, handmade blankets, which, to me, is in no way a problem! 

As we slide into autumn, I normally experience a definite dip in my mood, and this year, for many reasons, will be no different, so I need to have a tranche of 'projects' lined up, so watch this space.... 

I'm hooked....

Long term readers will know that I am prone to 'enthusiasms' in various guises.  Earlier this year I embraced dressmaking, with mixed success.  I always have various craft projects in progress... for example I'm just about to experiment with mandala dot painting, which is supposed to endgender a calm and meditative state. 

*cough*

I'm reasonably proficient in lots of different crafts, but the one I have NEVER been able to master, despite multiple attempts over many years is crochet.

I think I'm quite a good knitter.  I can decipher complicated patterns. I can knit Arran, Fair Isle, Intarsia etc.  My grannie taught me when I was quite young and I took to it straight away.  She also tried to teach me to crochet but I could never do it.  A simple chain, yes, but anything more elaborate completely escaped me. 

It doesn't help that I'm left handed.  However, for some weird reason, I simply cannot get my head around crocheting with my left hand.

Last month I decided to tackle my inability to crochet and watched eleventy hundred You Tube videos on simple crochet for beginners.  I bought a cheap set of crochet hooks from Amazon and using wool from my knitting stash, spent many infuriating hours trying to get further than a simple chain.  I decided to make a granny square, which seems to be a common goal for newbie hookers.

There followed many more frustrating hours, laboriously hooking double and treble clusters, always ending in having to rip it all out and start again.  But at one point, something  miraculously'clicked' and I suddenly understood what I was trying to do.  My first granny square was hardly a triumph.  It was riddled with mistakes and was only nominally square, but I felt as though I'd conquered Everest.

A week later I'd bought a pack of yarn to make a granny square blanket like this....

That's 100 squares using 18 different colours, plus the border.  

Too ambitious for a fledgling hooker?  Time will tell, although I'm already on square no. 37 so not too shabby. 

TBC.....

Still here....

Yikes.  Over 6 weeks since my last post, during which A LOT has happened.

Not all of it good.

Having two warring autoimmune conditions, constantly at each other's throats, is wearing to say the least.  Caught in the middle there is little I can do except try to placate both factions.

Earlier this year, following extensive investigations, my Colitis diagnosis was changed to Small Bowel Chron's Disease.  Same shit (literally), different disease.  Over the past 10 years, the MIS-diagnosis meant that I've been on medications which have failed to have any discernible impact on the condition.  I've said no end of times that they've made no difference, and have just got on with trying to manage a disease which has made my life a complete misery. 

Despite several emergency hospital admissions over the years, during which I've been patched up then sent home, with promises of further investigations, nothing proactive in the way of a long term treatment plan has happened.  

In desperation, late last year I got my MS nurse involved, to poke my IBD team, who I felt, with some justification, were, quite frankly, pants.  Within a few weeks I had appointments for yet another colonoscopy, small bowel MRI and no end of blood tests, the end result of which showed I had Ileitis and SB Crohn's. 

Since then, things have moved only slightly less glacially, until in a fit of pique, I read the riot act.  Further  recent blood tests showed my inflammatory markers were through the roof and finally, FINALLY, after 10 years, I now have a proper treatment plan.

While that is most definitely A. Good. Thing, I'm moving into uncharted territory, as I have been approved to start on a biologic called Vedolizumab.  Due to my MS, I can't have any of the front line biologics, which can have a disastrous effect on MS by accelerating demyelination.  Obviously, they can't treat one disease, only to make the other one worse.  I'm doing lots of research, and due diligence, and Vedo is one of the few biologics which are suitable for patients with MS.  It's not without its challenges, and side effects, but it has the major advantage of being gut-specific, so although it will act as an immunosuppressant in my gut, I shouldn't fall prey to the risks of infection from a systemic treatment, which affects the whole body.

Pending more tests, I should be able to have my first of three loading doses by IV infusion in the next month.  I'll have to spend several hours in hospital for each one, to check I don't have any adverse reactions.  After the loading doses, I'll self-inject every two weeks as maintenance.  Fingers crossed it works.

The die is cast....

Having perused eleventy hundred laptops, I finally came to a decision and ordered one which will hopefully fit the bill.  It arrived the other day but it took several more before I plucked up the courage to open the box and actually switch the thing on.

So far, so trepidatious.

It's running Windows 11 which I already know I don't like.  I might try to push on through my antipathy, or I might see if I can install Classic Shell over the top of the messy thing.

The touchpad is way too sensitive.... the slightest touch sends the cursor batshit crazy all over the place, so I need to sort that.

It's also running Edge, which I loathe even more than Windows 11, so I've already set Google Chrome as my default browser, plus I've installed my email program of choice and after a few false starts managed to get all my email accounts coming in.  Other than that I haven't actually installed any programs yet, or attempted to introduce it to my belligerent printer, which is unlikely to go well.

I'm writing this on my old laptop, which predictably, having got wind of the usurper, is sort of behaving itself, although the trackpad is dead and it takes many minutes to persuade it to open anything.  It'll take a while to transfer stuff I want or need onto the new one, so there will be a strange interregnum period as that gradually happens.

Now I just need to work out how to get the printer to put aside its many prejudices and contemplate changing its precarious allegiance to the new laptop.

*sigh*

Say what now...?

If my levels of bamboozlement were sky high with the mysteries of dressmaking, they're positively stratospheric with researching a replacement laptop.

My basic needs are relatively simple.  A decent processor, loads of RAM and a large amount of storage.

Then there's the things I'd like but aren't absolutely essential.  For example a keyboard with a separate numeric keypad.  A non-glare screen.  Touch-typist friendly keys.

Then there's things I'd like which have been rendered obsolete by the passage of time since I bought my current, ailing laptop.

A CD/DVD drive.  Apparently they've long gone the way of the floppy disk.  A memory card reader.  Surely these aren't completely passé too?  I can compensate for the lack of both of these by adding peripherals, but they used to be standard.

Then there's the thorny issue of a new operating system.  I so dislike app based systems and much prefer a classic look.  I can fix that too but sheesh.

Finally, there's the fact that many of my most loved programs probably won't work on a newer machine, being obsolete themselves.  Not really any workarounds for those... it's like saying goodbye to old friends.

In the interregnum between the young pretender taking over fully, and the old master being laid to rest, the two will have to form an uneasy alliance while I painstakingly transfer files, set up new accounts etc.  Having gone through this process before I know just how fraught and frustrating it can be.  And don't even get me started on the printer, which is a belligerent old bugger, and despite it's apparent loathing for the old laptop, I know it will fight tooth and inkjet cartridge to avoid transferring its allegiance to the new. 

Buckle up buttercups, it's going to be a bumpy ride...