GinnyKnit

These 2 are keeping me on my toes at the moment. Boo is the great adventurer now and carries the stool across the room to reach whatever she wants! She is besotted with the cat who sits patiently while she strokes his toes. Michael is on his best behaviour lately with us and finally sleeping better. No more 4 am's - phew. I am not doing so well myself as in the last 3 months have been diagnosed with more arthritis - in my lower back, carpal tunnel syndrome in my left wrist and worst of all either bursitis or inflamed ligament also in my left arm. This is seriously cramping my style I cant knit, crochet or sew for more than a few minutes and its painful and boring!!! So am making decorations for the tree and a few bits for gifts. I am hoping for a steroid injection asap which will help the arm and stop the pain a bit.

Tough month with little income means I need to polish my frugal skills. Luckily the pantry has 2 shelves full of various bits and bobs and the tin cupboard is still full. Muscle foods order is now getting to the end but I must say it was a worth while (and lucky) purchase. The chicken breast are amazing.  Due to the heat we had pasta salad and rice tonight with a boiled egg and a piece of pork pie. I actually  thought I had run out of pasta - nooooo - found several packs in the pantry ...phew... Sadly when the S*** hits the fan I always start making things to sell however there is no point to that as I cannot sell anything due to the stupid rules when benefits change - Dagnab it! One thing we will be able to rely on this year is soft fruit as   the garden is positively groaning with strawberries, raspberries and red currants. The strawberries are either from my dear friend Annie, posted from London a couple of years ago or from 2 bedraggled 50p half dead plants from Homebase a w

I started a tiny business in December and last week had to close it due to government ineptitude. They could not grasp that I was starting a business that only earned me £30 a week! I hoped to grow it slowly but surely and be able to support myself. Add to that Johns benefits changed as he had run out of contribution based ESA. So they left us with a little PIP and my carers allowance to live on. They even stopped the rent payments and expected me to pay them from £30 a week - un-bloody-believable. Oh and they stopped my tax credits due to the change of ESA. I see so many people with online business's and at craft fairs and just wonder how many of them have gone down the legitimate route? Anyway am filling in paperwork every day and crossing my fingers. Tomorrow we have a medical to see if Hubby is fit for work, I am guessing there are few jobs where you can take your wife to work, be able to have a shower and a nap but we will see. Mean while these two are keeping me

Pickle and Boo now have a shop on Folksy! Its a small start but will be filling up soon. Here are 2 of the listings to start with. B for Boo and bears! Boo has fallen in love with just a few of my bear collection and looks for them every time she comes over. In fact today I couldn't part her from one and she dragged it into her car seat. Luckily he ended up in the car or he would have never been seen again. Pickle is still practising his pknitting, as he calls it. He has come along in leaps and bounds of late and is baffling his teachers as if you give him a date he will tell you what day of the week it is. Yesterday he asked if we were going on holiday next week because its the same week we went last year - amazing memory.  

Working on some new makes for Pickle and Boo - this is Patsy Panda. I am now making one on pure wool and alpaca just to see how she goes. This panel will shortly adorn the front of a bag for a friend, I think she will be pleased. This fella arrived here yesterday from the top shelf of a charity shop. He looked very sad sat up there. Its one of those shops where everything is crammed in and I always pick up something good from there. He will be having some clothes tailored for him to go with his haughty expression and then will be going on sale - you know where!

Had to post this, my grand - daughter is beautiful and calm, feisty, - twice blessed! Pickle and Boo is ticking along nicely. I will never be rich but I am happy about this area of my life. I opened an Etsy shop but they wouldn't let me have Pickle and Boo so its Gin and Pickle. I have been so busy with many, many things that the Etsy shop only has one item in it to date. This is my friend Karim who sadly passed away last week - such a shock. I wanted to post this here so the picture will be safe. Just before Christmas my sewing machine broke, the first of many electrical goods that we lost in the last 3 months. So I had to buy a new one with a little help from my friend Sarah, and I am so pleased with it. I seem to be improving with age as I have managed to conquer a couple of things this year - I finally learned how to knit in more than one colour neatly and can also applique really well. At present I think I would be lost without my online friends, they ar