Interestingly, I'm not finding it easy. It's totally different to knitting, the one needle being the obvious difference, and I can't quite grasp the way that the patterns are written out.

All is not lost though as I've contacted someone locally who is willing to teach me. Chris has been crocheting for 40 years so I'll be making full use of her experience. I have my first lesson on Monday and I'm really excited about it.

I've crocheted a few granny squares and hope to make my first baby blanket from them. I'm a little slow - it takes me 30 minutes to make one 6 inch square - but there is that instant feeling of success once the square is finished. I'm all for instant gratification these days!

This was knit using an old Aran pattern I had for a cabled jacket. I added a hood onto it to keep her warm. the yarn is some Noro Silk garden that I'd originally used on another project and didn't like. I'm all for recycling yarn when a project goes a bit awry.

I love Sirdar Snuggly yarn for baby knits. It's very soft but being acrylic is easily washed and dried, something important for a mum with a baby I think.

I can't remember the name of this yarn. It's almost certainly another in the Sirdar brand. I liked it because it was self patterning and looked like fair isle without all the hassle.

And finally a cardigan knit with Sirdar Chatterbox. The colour is actually called nougat. Grand-daughter3 looks lovely in this one.

--Albert Einstein

Which is a wonderful idea. It's putting it into practice that I find so hard. I am trying though. I just wonder if, at nearly 47, I'm running out of time for getting it right!

This time when he told the doctor about the leg spasms and the night sweats, she made the effort to run further tests and tried to find a drug protocol that would ease the leg cramps. In fact she was quite concerned about the night sweats and that he'd been suffering from them for so long. Bloods were taken, as was blood pressure and various other things (such as temperature and looking for signs of lumps and bumps anywhere). Even though there has been some change since his last review he's to carry on with the Copaxone. I think he's relieved about that - he doesn't have the major MS relapses he had before the Copaxone; it just grumbles along in the background these days which he finds able to cope with.

45 minutes later and we were on our way home again. We're now feeling replete on tea and toast and can enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Himself is filling in his train logs from his recent train trip and I will shortly be taking up my knitting needles again.

*contented*

More later.

Feel rotten.

Going to go and lie down some more.

:(

Update: well it didn't last long. After a very long nap (I got up at 8.00pm) I felt much better. I'm a firm believer in naps these days...I take so many of them!

It arrived beautifully boxed. As one of their signature ranges you'd expect something special and you certainly have the expectation of that when you see the packaging.

And on opening the packaging you're met by what looks like sumptious chocolate. Two thick chocolate egg halves individually wrapped, each one containing 5 liqueur truffle chocolates. I asked the rest of the family to help me when it came to the tasting.

And here's one of the half chocolate eggs unwrapped in all it's glory. this is the dark chocolate side as unfortunately the milk chocolate side was a little bashed in transit. Nevertheless, it didn't detract from the taste which was particularly creamy in the 40% milk chocolate egg. I'm not a lover of dark chocolate as I find I don't enjoy the bitterness associated with it but I found that the dark chocolate found in this particular brand to be quite pleasant.

It promises to be an extra thick, sumptious chocolate experience and I think it manages to deliver on that score. Everyone who tried the chocolates said that they could taste the alcohol in the truffle and that they thought that there was a balance between the taste of the chocolate and the amount of sweetness. The only one that wasn't enjoyed was the Advocaat flavoured truffle. Everyone thought there was a funny back taste to it.

So there you have it. If you'd like to find out more about the Hotel Chocolat range of chocolate confectionary then pop over to their homepage.

Himself and I have also been away for a few days. We took our annual trip down to London. We went to The Appollo theatre to see Wicked The Musical, based on the book Wicked by Greg Maguire. Which was excellent and a completely different take on the story of The Wizard of Oz.

We also took the Pathfinder Tour's Buffer Puffer 6.1 train tour. A 15 hour train trip back down memory lane for train buffs (this was a treat for himself). We travelled first class behind two diesel engines that were built in 1964. I'm not a train enthusiast myself but even I was captured by the delightful coach accomodation. Himself and I sat in two upholstered wing backed chairs with a table between us on which was placed a brass lamp with a silk fringed lampshade. There was also carpet on the floor. Definitely not something you find nowadays.

Tomorrow I'm gong to bring you the review of the Hotel Chocolat Eggsellency egg that has just been tasted by everyone here at Domesticated Bloggage. More about that later.

via Vixenpath

So what's been happening in Chateau Domesticated Bloggage? Well grandchild #5 now has a name. Mum was convinced that baby didn't look like an Abigail so has chosen....Megan. It's a lovely name for the sweetest baby. Megan has a lovely temperament; is placid and takes delight in looking around her at what's going on. She doesn't seem to fuss too much which is nice for mum who has a very busy schedule with three daughters to look after. Her sisters love her too so it makes for one very happy family.

I'm still knitting. I'm currently on my 6th pair of socks so far this year. Since I've started knitting them everyone seems to want a pair so it's keeping my fingers busy. Good job I enjoy knitting them or else I could soon find it all tiresome. The latest pair of for Himself and are being knit in Regia's Kaffe Fassett in the Mirage Fire colourway. I'm knitting it up on 2.75mm needles and it's knitting up a treat.

I've recently been contacted by Hotel Chocolat to ask if I'd be willing to review one of their products for them. Regular readers of this blog will know how very happy I am to receive free stuff and I'm more than happy to sample chocolate so I'm no awaiting the arrive of their Your Eggsellency(trademark) egg. It looks extremely yummy and I'll let you all know what it was like as soon as I've tasted it :)

Hopefully grand-daughter4 aka Abigail should be with us sometime today.

I'm so excited!

More later...

UPDATE
Mum had baby within 30 minutes of getting to the hospital. A very healthy 9lb 1oz bundle of joy. Daughter1 reckons that she doesn't look like an Abigail so may change her name. She doesn't know what to yet though. Mum and baby are now home and settling in nicely :)

See you in a wee while :)

In the end, frustrated and almost in tears with anger over it, I asked Himself to help. He doesn't normally like to get involved with winding skeins as he knows what a mess they can be in (and it gives him cramps in his muscles to sit holding one in outstretched hands) but he could see I'd hit a dead end and came along to help just as long as I held the skein and he did the winding and un-knotting. It must have been another hour and half before we finally got it looking like a ball of yarn.

I've been in terrible pain as a result. My right shoulder was solid and the pain travelled up the side of my neck into my face. My right eye keeps watering as a result. I've had to rest this past couple of days and naps have been the only way to cope. I'm extremely annoyed about yarn. It was very expensive, being cashmere, and I don't expect a skein to be thrown together when paying those sort of prices. The problem is that it's almost fashionable for hand painted yarns to be sold in a twisted skein rather than wound into a ball. I'm almost at the point where I'm no longer looking at such yarns because I can't bear the thought of what kind of condition they might be in.

Still, that skein of yarn is now a ball of yarn ready to be knit into a scrummy, warm and soft pair of sock for Himself. Only another 4 skeins of the same yarn to wind. I'm dreading them!

In pictures: From edible to incredible

Mouthwatering-ly lovely.

Etiquette Quiz

Himself managed 5/10.
I scored 10/10.

That annoyed him no end :)