The dreaded "lurge"!

Yup, thats what gg's house has been full of this week!

Robert took ill on Saturday, complaining of a sore throat and generally feeling ill, things got worse and he missed his rugby training on Sunday. (He must have been bad, coz he misses THAT for nothing. He broke his arm a couple of years ago and would have even played with that had I let him!!!!) He has been off school all week, with sore throat, high tempratures and sore, achy bones......The flu! Unfortunately for Bob, he didn't feel up to celebrating his 9th birthday on Tuesday either, so hopefully once he is better we will have a belated birthday tea for him.

Ronan managed school on Monday, but I got a phonecall from the school gates to come and collect him as he wasn't fit to play basketball.....you guessed it.....The flu, too! He has also been off school all week and won't be there tomorrow either, much to his disappointment as he was due to swim in the finals of the front crawl and relay team for the P7 school team tomorrow morning. He is really upset about this, but no way is he fit enough to do it, he has lay on the couch most of the week and hardly eaten a thing (not like him!!!!)

Lets hope thay are both feeling better on Sunday so they can enjoy a joint birthday treat....we are off to Murrayfield to watch Scotland V France in their opening game of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament 2008.

Page 161?

OK I know this is a strange title for a blog entry, but all will be revealed soon!

I was catching up with my blog reading this afternoon.....Yes I know its Sunday afternoon and gg isn't at the rugby! Robert isn't well(must be bad if he didn't feel up to going to the rugby, this from a boy who would have played with a broken arm, had I let him!), he has a very sore throat and temp so I've stayed at home with him and DH has taken Ronan to rugby. Having said that I had been up at 7am to take Ronan to swimming this morning so DH (bless him) thought I could just "veg" for a few hours!!!!! He probably wants a pint at the rugby club more like!

Anyway, getting back to my title...... As I said I was catching up on blog reading and whilst reading Robin's blog I found this and coz I'd been reading it, I was "tagged" to do "Glimpse of what you're reading", this is where you turn to page 161 of the book you are currently reading and copy out the 5th sentence on the page.

So here goes.........
"At least my chilblain-covered fingers were testament to the fact that I really didn't like the cold."

OK, so what am I reading..... "Bloodletting, A true story of secrets, self-harm and survival" by Victoria Leatham.

I have always liked reading "true-life" books with a mental health topic, I suppose 20+ years working in this field has left me with a curiosity about how mental health issues are dealt with by the person themselves and the professionals trying to help them. I find some of the books I have read actually more informative than the official textbooks! Over the years I have worked with many people who have a history of self-harm and I suppose never having experienced this first hand (and thankfully never having had the urge to do so)I find it difficult to understand the compulsion to do it. I must admit, so far, this book is helping me to gain some insight into why people self-harm.

I'm not going to specifically tag anyone to do this, but if you want to do it, feel free!

Tired!

I'm really tired today, but its worth it! I was working last night, but stayed up this morning as Ronan and some of his class mates were swimming in the heats for the East Lothian schools swimming gala. Lewis, his best friend was also swimming and they both had a good swim, both were swimming in the front and back crawl heats and both won their heats. It will all depend on their times who will be going through to the final in a couple of weeks. They also had a team in the relay, Lewis had the 3rd leg and took them from a close second to first equal and Ronan had the final leg and won for their team by more than half a length. They all swam brilliantly.

Well done boys, see you in the finals in 2 weeks time, if my nerves can stand it!!

Now I'm off to work.......... Thankfully I'm off tomorrow and will be able to catch up on my sleep, well some of it anyway.... the first XV are playing away tomorrow and we plan to go watch!

No pix of the swimmers as you aren't allowed to take pix in the sports centre....Child protection.

At last!!!!

Robin sent me a package way before Xmas and we were both getting a bit worried about it coz it hadn't arrived.....well it arrived yesterday and was full to the brim with all sorts of goodies!

Look......

...isn't that plate just gorgeous, well it was hand made by Robin herself at her pottery class last year. Isn't she a clever crafty girl then? This was the main reason she was concerned about the package as this is irreplaceable and a one off and I just LOVE it. There was also 2 skeins of Gossamer 100% Merino from Knit Picks, in blue jeans colourway......VERY scrummy and destined to be sox for moi at some point!


Also included was some chocolate but it didn't even last till I took a pic. (It was Weight Watchers though, so its allowed!!)


There was this Sand Dollar too, something I had never seen before. The kids and I were fascinated with it. Along with the sand dollar was a postcard telling the Legend of the Sand Dollar. Just in case, like me, you know nothing about this legend I will tell it to you. (From the postcard BTW!)

There's a pretty little legend

That I would like to tell

Of the birth and death of Jesus

Found in this lowly shell.

If you examine closely,

You'll see that you find here

Four nail holes and a fifth one

Made by a Roman's spear.

On on side, the Easter Lily,

Its center is the star

That appeared unto the shepherds

And led them from afar.

The Christmas poinsettia

Etched on the other side

Reminds us of His birthday,

Our Happy Christmastide.

Now break the center open,

And here you will release

The five white doves awaiting

To spread Good Will and Peace.

This simple little symbol,

Christ left for you and me

To help us spread His Gospel

Through all eternity.

If you look closely at the first pic you can see the Easter lily in the middle and the 5 holes ......

.....and if you look closely at this side you see the Christmas poinsettia. I haven't broken it to "release" the 5 doves, but if you shake it you hear them rattling inside!



There were some pressies for the kids too, a game of twister, a Virginia T-shirt and baseball cap for each of them and a fossilised sharks tooth necklace each. They were well impressed by that, especially when they discovered they were 16-25 million years old!!!! (The sharks teeth not the T-shirts and hats!!!!) No pix of them yet, as they squirreled them away before I got the chance to take them.Thank you VERY much Robin you are a star.

Meet Emanon!

Hi my name is Emanon, and I am the newest sheep in gourdongirls collection and the only one who has actually been named!

I was bought from a stall at the German Market in Princes Street Edinburgh when she visited just before Xmas. I was sitting looking rather forlorn and cold on the stall that she was buying a mug for her son Ronan at.

At last Ronan has a mug with his name on it. He has problems getting named items since his name is so unusual??? Even when we were in Ireland he couldn't find anything, despite his name actually being Irish!


This is the mug in question. Notice it has a picture of a seal on it, this is VERY appropriate as the Gaelic meaning of Ronan is "Little Seal". Needless to say Ronan is well pleased with his mug and uses it constantly. I only hope he doesn't break it!




OK on to some knitting content, after all this is supposed to be a knitting blog!

Just before Xmas I received a package from Izzy, this was my Secret Santa swap from Ravelry. In the package there was some yarny goodies and some stitch markers. Sorry for the quality of the pix but the light was pretty crap!



There were 7 stitch markers with letters of the alphabet and one was a sock.




The yarny goodies are 2 skeins of Knit Picks Gloss in burgundy, oh boy it is really yummy and I can't wait to knit with it. However I'm not sure what it will be yet, probably sox for me, but as to the pattern, who knows? Any suggestions?

More goodies via the post!


This arrived just after New Year from The Yarn Yard.
Its the second instalment of my Merino Club. The yarn is really silky and soft, it is a 50% Merino 50% Tencel mix.


I also have to say a big thank you to my Knitty SP as she has sent me a "membership" to the Stitch n Bitch daily email calender.She also informs me there is a package in the mail for me, so I guess I need to start stalking the postie(mailman)!

Sorry this is quite a long post, as its a while since I did one. Now on to the FO's and current WIP's!


Yarn Harlots 1 row handspun scarf. I knitted this with some handspun, hand dyed yarn I bought on ebay from Elvincraft.It only took me a couple of days to knit this as the pattern only had one row to remember and I did it on 6mm needles!


This is the Jaywalker sox I knitted for Debbie, one of the girls I work with. They are knitted in Opal Neon.



These are the first ever Toe-up sox I have knitted, and also the first on 2 circs. I used the magic cast on for the first time too, so that was 3 firsts for 1 pair of sox....not bad, ehh??? I really enjoyed doing them. I started on 4th Jan and finished them on the 9th. They are for Debbie's daughter Kelsie, and are knitted with sock wool from Russia that I found in a local charity shop. The pattern on the cuff is Waterfall from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. If you look closely you will see my new sock stitch marker too!

Right that's the FO's out of the way, now for the WIP's!


I have just cast on an other toe-up sock. They are knitted in Opal Neon 1932 and are for me. I plan to do the crosshatch pattern on the cuff from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. Yes, I love her books!!! Hey you can see that sock stitch marker again!

I have also just cast on a baby jumper (no pix for it yet)as a friends daughter has just had a baby boy.

I have also read 3 books since Xmas, but I'll leave that for an other post as this one is way long enough!I have been to work over the festive period, but didn't have the usual ferrying around of the boys to their various sporting activities, that is why I have managed to read so many books. However that has all come to an end as we are back to the usual hectic sporting schedule!