Very proud day

I've been very quiet about my crochet projects recently.
You might be forgiven for thinking I had given up and taken up sky diving instead.
But I haven't, all my recent projects have been secret one's, these include 2 new blankets.

Today I can finally share the first blanket - Lecchi.
Lecchi was designed and started while I was on holiday in Tuscany last year.
Lecchi marks the beginning of my orange triangle obsession, which I will blog about in the very near future.

Lecchi has just been published in a brand new British crochet magazine, its called Simply Crochet and comes from the same stable as Simply Knitting and The Knitter.
I was asked if I would like to be involved months ago and I was delighted and excited to be part of it.
But I had to keep it a secret.
Today is the day that Simply Crochet is launched in the shops - so I'm doing a happy happy dance.
Not only has Lecchi been published, but its also on the front cover.

You can find Simply Crochet's website HERE

Ted's end

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who messaged and mailed us last night.
It was very much appreciated and we felt very grateful for all the sympathy and well wishes.

We took him to the vet and within a couple of minutes she told us he was dying and putting him to sleep was the best thing we could do for him.
It was hard but I knew in my heart she was right.
He lay on the floor whilst we cuddled him and it was all over in a couple of seconds, seeing how quick it was  gave me comfort and I knew we had done the right thing.
Dais and I came home and cried and Phil took Loki for a walk and buried his collar at the top of Hollerday Hill, then he came home we drank lots of beer and all three of us cried.

This morning is a new day, the sun is shining and the sky is blue.
Phil has taken Loki out for a long walk over the moors and I am here alone supposed to be working on writing patterns, but I really don't feel like it.
So I'm going to postpone the pattern writing until tomorrow and snuggle on the sofa with Billy, crocheting to "Waking the dead".
I feel sad, but I also feel relieved and comforted that he's not in pain or distress anymore.

So here are some photo's in memory and celebration of Ted Bad Poodle

His first photo when we brought him home for the first time. I just loved his little monkey paws :-)

Ted with Dougal who loved and protected him from the minute I brought him through the front door. For the first few weeks Dougal would pick him up by the scruff of the neck and take him out of the room if anyone new entered the house.

Ted with Dougal and Splash, both of whom are long gone and still remembered with lots of love.

Ted's very first christmas in the snow.

Ted on his chair, when we lived in our house in Hollersley he used to sit on his chair looking out of the window, waiting for horses to go past so he could bark at them.

Ted at hydrotherapy, he had really bad hip dysplasia and swiming helped build up the muscles around his hip joints, which meant he could live a happy and active life. He hated it, but we forced him to swim as he needed it.

Ted and Fep last week, taking their last walk together at Illfracombe, he had a lovely day out with all his family and I like to believe even though he was probably already dying he held on for one last christmas to be with us. He was always her dog, and I think she takes comfort in the fact that they had these last few day's together.

And finally Ted 2 day's ago waiting for the end.

I've managed to write this whole blog post without crying, which is a good thing and makes me feel kind of happy in a sad way.

Crochet distraction

We are whiling away the hours until the dreaded vet visit this afternoon.
Ted hasn't really improved although he did eat a piece of ham he has refused all other food.
To distract myself I thought I would share my latest blanket.

 I've had a very crochetless couple of weeks.
Before christmas I had flu, then after the flu the babies came and I couldn't concentrate on anything, so only did a few motifs here and there.
When they went I managed to make the whole scarf for the triangle scarf club.
Then our woolly friends arrived and I only managed to do a few more motifs.
Last night I settled back down to do some serious crochet, trouble is the christmas blanket I had been playing with looked dull and uninspiring.
So this morning I took photo's.

I think the artificial light is muting the colours and they don't excite me at night when we have the light turned on.
They look a lot better in day light.

It doesn't have a name yet and is only in its very early stages. It's made with Dazzle Aran, I want it to be quick and easy to make. It is the replacement for the triangles blanket, I've had a few false starts and a lot of frogging to do, but I finally think I am happy with it.

Celebration and sadness

Firstly I hope you all had a lovely christmas and new year.
Ours was blissful in our new hobbit mansion.
All the babies were here for christmas and it was wonderful to be able to spread out and enjoy each other's company, even though it was chaos it was relaxed and happy :-)
They all went home after christmas and were replaced by our dear woolly firend's who we never see enough of, so the time we spend together is always really special :-)
They stayed for Homer's 50th birthday yesterday and we had a brilliant evening with our bestest woolly friends.

But our new year has also been tinged with sadness, I hadn't realised how sad I was until someone made an innocent comment about my grammer, it wasn't a bad comment and was meant in the best possible way, but has pushed me over the edge.
I have dyselexia, I can't spell I can't punctuate and number's are a mystery.
When I was at school dyselexia didn't exist and  I was told to I wasn't working hard enough and I needed to concentrate and try harder.
I muddled through and all was well with my world.
I was good at being creative and still am, I know my limits and know my faults.

But being dyselexic is totally irrelevant and not the thing thats making me sad, its just the thing that has triggered my realisation of how sad I really am.
My sadness is about Ted Bad Poodle.
He's at home, laying on the floor dying, its his time, he's had a good life and now is his time to go.
He's always been faulty he has really bad hip dysplasia, it was diagnosed when he was 11 months old, the vet told us he wouldn't make it past the age of 10 due to his problems.
He's now 11 and a half so has squeezed and extra 18 months of living in.
He has always been a really happy friendly dog, but was a family pet rather than devoted companion.
Since we moved to Lynton I have taken over walking him, he walks very slowly and so do I so we are well suited and he has become my dog.
A few months ago he was bullied by the Exmoor ponies in Valley of the Rocks, we thought he wouldn't recover, but with lots of love and persistance I managed to get him back on his feet and enjoying life again.
But this time its different, he's stopped eating and is slipping away slowly.
We took him to the vet yesterday and she gave him some injections, she said they may help, if not to take him back tomorrow for his final trip.
He hasn't improved over night and time is ticking away.
And there is nothing I can do to help, I feel so helpless

Here we are on Christmas eve, enjoying one of our last walks together.