Pesky Cat

... she always has to poke her nose in other people's business; I should be grateful, really, for her help in keeping this blog going and for her wonderful way of "tensioning" the yarn I happen to be knitting with (some might use "sabotaging" in preference to "tensioning" but I know she's just trying to be helpful).
Anyway, thanks Mollie.
We spent last weekend with my parents, just the two of us as the girls had prior commitments (in Lucy's case it was work; Bethany had been invited to the party to end all parties).

Both mum and dad had been unwell the week before so it was uncertain right up to the last minute whether we would actually be going but luckily they rallied round, only for me to go down with a stinker of a cold on the journey up there.
We had a very relaxing weekend, joined on Sunday by my brother, his lovely partner and their respective daughters for a lovely Sunday roast. I love my mum's Sunday roast even though I'm not much of a meat-eater; yorkshire puds, roast potatoes and lots of gravy - I'll never tire of it. Oooh! And custard pie! Mum makes the best custard pie in the whole world, I've really never tasted better.

Monday was a Bank Holiday and Simon, Dad and brother all went off to Donington to watch a load of noisy cars drive recklessly fast around a circuit so we girls took the opportunity to visit Calke Abbey - a lovely, dilapidated country house in beautiful parkland (plenty of wool in the making sheep and deer grazing, a lake, a church - you get the picture). There was also a craft fair in the grounds, including a Weavers, Spinners & Dyers Guild stand. The ladies there were very enthusiastic spinners and were happy to talk spin for ages until I was dragged away. One of them had the most beautiful, hand-carved wheel I have ever seen, gorgeous curves and very organic - I have tried to find an online photo to link to but without success.

Quite a bit of knitting took place (two pairs of baby/child socks from stash yarn) and some spinning. I hadn't touched my wheel for over a month but the spinning mojo reappeared with a vengeance, I'm happy to say, and I have a bobbin of finely-spun merino-mix awaiting its partner-in-ply and a skein (approx 200 yards) of variegated lace-weight Suffolk singles. The Suffolk fleece came from Rachel who was kind enough to send out fibre samples in return for some feedback. All I need to do now is take piccies and send them off to her with my comments on how it was to work with etc.

That was the good parts, now the gutty part:
There is a fairly strong chance that I may lose my job by October, or at the very least, have to re-apply for it. I know this could be a golden opportunity (and the kick up the butt that I need) to start seriously trying to make a living from knitting/spinning etc but my mortgage is just tooooooo big and I'm too scared.
Gutty part two:
On Monday, I'm going into hospital (as long as my cold has receded somewhat) for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Wish me luck.