A Horror Week

It has been a bit of a horror week here... starting off with having to take Matilda to the emergency room in the middle of the night (problem all sorted now, thankfully), and culminating in the scary, scary events of last night. A portion of Roy's workshop (where he keeps all the paints, kero bath for cleaning parts, and other inflammables) setting on fire. Thankfully he looked out the door at just the right time and saw some of the flames through the cracks in the door. Ran out, heard paint cans exploding, and reached for the fire extinguisher on his truck. That was soon empty so we both struggled with the hose. The fire just wouldn't go out... and M came out and started calling for me. I unhooked the boat cover and grabbed the fire extinguisher from there and chucked it to Roy and then ran back to M and took her inside. Finally after a while he had it under control. What a mess there is this morning though. We think that if he'd spotted it a minute or two later it would have taken out the whole workshop, my adjoining dye studio, and perhaps even spread to the house. So, we were very, very lucky. The flames were just terrible it seemed as though they would never be put out by extinguisher or water. We don't know what started it but we do know there's a lot of cleaning up to do! And Roy is very, very depressed about it.

I was so looking forward to this week; back to school finally. The school holidays were a challenge. M really missed the routine and straight-out fun that school (kindy and Ei) offered, so when we didn't have that it was a real struggle to keep things interesting. We tried to plan an activity out of the house each day... swimming (unfortunately our local pool has shut down for renovations so we had to travel to the next nearest), playdates, even a movie with me sneaking in butterless popcorn :)

I shut down Jolly Jumbuck a few weeks ago; Abby was having personal problems and could no longer work for me sending out the orders. But it seems that I got more enquiries after I shut down the shop! There are a lot of people I need to reply to via PM and email. I just haven't had the online time to do so. So yeah, I've read the messages but put off replying to each one which would take hours, hours that I don't have with miss climbing up on me every time I open the computer. Roy is taking M out a few times this weekend so I'm going to catch up. I just feel really torn between dealing with M and the family, and keeping up my online presence and other commitments I've made including finding a way to pay for a recent Henry's Attic order. As she is growing there are more and more autistic traits making their way into everyday life, challenges hard to see from the outside. Those who meet M comment on how "good" she is, ie. will sit and wait while I have a medical appointment, but they don't see the bad days. The dawdling, the determination to finish her crafty things, the funny little quirks. The tanties while I'm trying to drive through heavy traffic. I wasn't born maternal, and to have a child with special needs is... not what I thought my life would be. There's just no respite; there's no family we can call on for a break, friends have their own families, and I just feel drained. Roy has his work and his drinking friends but I can't just spontaneously go out. When M goes to bed of an evening, the LAST thing I want to do is to think about going online and dealing with this and that. So I take refuge in knitting, and watching TV or reading novels to escape the drudgery of everyday life.

Alright.
Enough whining. On the knitting front I've got lots done. My Central Park Hoodie was shoulder-seamed and the hood started, then I realised that I may not have enough yarn (hand-dyed in a non-reproducible colour) to finish the hood and add the pockets I deem essential. So it's sitting waiting for me to undo what I've done of the hood, rip back the shoulder and armhole shapings, and reducing the length a little. True to form, I found a new project to work on while I procrastinate on that. I was just browsing the newsagents the other day and picked up a copy of "Designer Knitting". In the past something like this would not have appealed to me but I found at least three garments I'd like to make from it. I've been wanting a belted cardigan so cast on the cable and lace one with Highlands Cinder and it's stimulating. There is patterning on both sides, so it's a bit piquant but a really fun knit. I've also been making a few Gidget sweaters from "Doggie Style" for our dog Gryph (a red rough Griffon Bruxellois). The first was a bit of a tight fit and the design looks better with lots of positive ease, so I will be offering it up for free on Rav sometime soon, it should suit a chihuaha or similar. The second one I just went to town and added all sorts of cables and twisted stitches. I'm very happy with it but still have to sew on the snap tape and faux buttons. It's been cold so he's worn it a few times already. I also started a cabled cardi for Matilda but it is turning out very huge so it's hibernating as she's got a lot of growing to do before it will fit.

Side note: if you've emailed me at jollyjumbuck at iprimus dot com dot au in the past month or so, please send again to irene at jollyjumbuck dot net. I'm having trouble retrieving the iprimus emails.