Srapbook finished

What a week it's been, I've never cried so much in my life. As many people that know me from crafty threads and yarns know that my dad was recently taken ill. Then diagnosed with Lung cancer.

We are totally devistated that thie could happen to my dad, he had testicular cancer when I was little and recieved treatment for that, they did initially think that some cells had been left behind but since he has been in manchester they have found he has a rare form of lung cancer, independant of any connection to previous cancer. The silver lining is that while it is aggressive it responds well to treatment.

The hardest thing is not knowing for sure, they are making no promises and setting no targets, only that in a few weeks he may return home. I have said I will keep his shop going, I need the distraction as much as anything, but really want to do it for my dad, when I think of everything mum and dad have done for me this is the very least I can do. Hard it may be at times, but if there is one thing they have taught me is nothing is that bad you can't find laughter. Dad had the nack for turn tears to laughter no matter how bad things where.

I just wish that I could do more, I feel helpless stuck down here, unable to visit cause of the pox, awful that I am wishing my daughter to come out in them just to find out, it will be around the 2nd of april when the 21 days is up. This week feels as though it has been weeks long, april seems a long way away again.

Mum, kirst and me have also signed up for the race for life, before we knew all this about dad, its personal this year and I am to raise as much as I can. I won't have time for training working full time but if you want to check on how my fund is going do check here.

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/Cathie-Chant

Now I am not asking for sponsership, I know many people will have already sponsered other people by now, and it all goes into the same pot regardless of who's form gets signed.

As the title suggests I have also just finished my dads scrapbook, what a bittersweet task this has been, I have cried buckets, but I was determined to finish it. It's my dads birthday on the 23rd and he will be 50. What a birthday he will be having dosed up on chemo and stuck in a hospital.

Fluffy post

We where really pleased this morning to recieve our nappy from our nappy fairy. When I said the bamboo fabric was soft that is nothing compared to bamboo velour. It is so dreamy talk about pure luxury for your bum.

I've never felt anything so soft in my life, and DD was chuffed with it as well and here she is

Isn't it lovely, we also had two matching wipes. It's now prewashing and I can see it becoming a firm favourite just like our cow print Clwt twt. Such a shame she isn't in nappies much in the day, shall kick myself for not trying these beautiful nappies sooner.

Knitting news

I have been a bad knitter, having found not only 1 but 2 bags on unfinished objects (UFO's) One was bad enough and Ihave slowly plodded my way through it today and admitedly havn't got very far. Will post pictures once they are completed, shamefully though most things only need the ends sewing in.

Bad knitter bad blogger

It's been a while despite my promise. Knitting has gone pearshaped the last week or so, the only thing I've finished is my forest canopy shawl. Modeled by my beautiful little daughter, she is made up with it but said it was for GG, which is short for great grandmother rather than a horse.

Please excuse the sloppy chops she's cutting teeth at the moment.

I don't think I blocked it as well as it could have been done, and I made two mistakes but rather than unpicking like I should have done I just made the stitch count right by knitting a few stitches together in places I ended up with 2 many. You would have to look for them though not easy to see really.

My gran loves it though and said she will keep it for best. She doesn't go out often this time of year so I'm sure she will use it in the summer months.

I also promised in my last post pictures of my finished objects this was 3 pairs of strippy longies, all nice and drippy wet after lanolising so those will have to wait. I also promised pictures of my latest lot of bright dyes yarns.

beautiful DK in the first and last photos, the middle is sock yarn, for socks for me.

Centre pic is BFL aran those either side are double knit. All lovely and cuddly and much more vibrant than my pictures show.

As previously mentioned it has been a bad week for knitting, I've had no flair for anything and it feels like such an effort. I do however have at least 6 started projects trying to find something that sparks my interest. In the mean time I must still plod through my order and my work, I'm sure my flair will come back when it's good and ready.

Final lot of pictures for today, sorry this post is a bit picture heavy, but one thing I have done a lot of this week is scrapbooking. Not sure if I am getting any better at it as I go along but I am enjoying it.

Please no laughing and my photos, my hair cuts are terrible!

I have left the pictures small so you can click for bigger views. This is the very first car my parents owned, a yoghurt pot on wheels. THey brought it just after I was born to bring me home from the hospital.

This actual car is still going around as well, which is surprising but nice at the same time.

This is my parents wedding day, they have been married for 28 years. They just had a simple wedding in a registry office, there where so many good photos that I wanted to include but think these two just say how special the day was to them.

No laughing please! These are the only pictures I could find of us with my dad. I really wish photo taking wash cheaper when I was little there are so many moments lost.

The first pictures show us one christmas on our first bikes. These where our pride and joy, and our parents saved hard for us to have them. Embarressingly though I was 10 before I learnt to ride without stablisers. I just couldn't get my balance.

I actually made a mistake in this page the bottom picture should have been near the top but I dropped it ( straight luckily) and the glue was an instant stick. We where bother quite young in this photo and it was taken when my dad finished work one day, it was rare sometimes for us to be up when he came home when we where this little. I'm on the left of the photo, sporting one of my many hideous hair cuts I think myself or a cousin cut my hair and they had to chop it round a pudding basin to sort it out. Prior to that I had a beautiful pageboy style head. I've had terrible hair ever since.

After the real little photos, this is the next lot I found with my dad and us in. The top one is my sisters wedding in 1999

The second is my wedding, my make up was strange, it looked brilliant on the day. All the photos came back with these little shinny spots on my cheeks, making me look like aunt sally from worsel gummage.

This isn't the best photo but the only other one with both me and my dad in was taken at distance as I walked up to the church. Only one more page to go

This shows the family mogs, the top picture is a beautiful cat, we lost her some years ago, we think she was pinched due to her beautiful markings, more so than the picture, which is the only one we have she was around 6 months when she got taken.

My sister thinks she seen her 3 years ago when she took my kids to the park, I doubt she recognised her though. She was a lovely cat, she used to climb into bed and snuggle in close.

The bottom is duster, she is an old lady now at 13 years old, yet she still looks really young, she is my cat, and likes kisses and snuggles, she hasn't much time for anyone else and attacks ankles. She doens't like being picked up at all by anyone and dislikes the sight of little people.

Thats it for now