Hi! My name is Alex and I have Lumbar Discogenic Dysfunction.

After months of back pain I finally dragged myself to a physio yesterday. In a way it is reassuring to have a diagnosis because I've had this on and off for years. But at the same time this is actually fricking serious! I cracked a disc at some point and the liquid inside is bulging out and pressing on the nerve. Not sexy. The aim is to stop it getting worse because that way lies surgery. Yuk. Fortunately the physio is really nice and seems to know his stuff so the outlook is good. I came out of the first session with my back like this:

Knitting continues but I've recently become quite obsessed with Bargello Embroidery. Isn't it beautiful?

I'm planning a sampler. Anyone know which canvas you're supposed to use with anchor tapestry wool? It's surprisingly difficult to find out.

Shop shop shopping

Sian and I went to the far flung outskirts of london to visit Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush today. There was a tonne of shops (which I guess is the point of shopping centres) but also lots of good food.

Steam pork buns are my favourite of all chinese food. Mmmmm. Unfortunately I seem to have been enjoying my food a bit too much recently and am looking a little on the chunky side. I just do love the sweet stuff. Ah well. People give up crack. I guess I can cut down on chocolate.

I finally met up with Nickerjac again last weekend and got to play sandpits with the increasingly adorable Pete as well as being introduced to their two cats. I had forgotten how small kittens are. It was Pete's birthday recently and lots of fun was had at the toy shop and with presents. He is so well behaved and a joy just to watch, never mind play with. Nic also had my japanese books from when Lucy did a bulk order from amazon.jp.

One of them is a stitch dictionary so is obviously yum. One of the others is a sewing book with lovely clothes. I love this dress...

You can see it better in this one.

The other is norweigan knitting and has some lovely techniques. I love this hat and the crown.

I feel I should have a crown.

Having admired Mingled Yarn's baby towel I made good on my decision to make one for Pooch - being modelled here by sistero uno - siano.

It doesn't quite meet in the middle - they just make towels like they used to - but it does allow him to do a great jedi impression.

I also did some cooking - cherry pie! It was the recipe from the 'what to eat now' with the crazily enthusiastic Val something or other who communicates mainly through noises like "mmmmmm".

I've highlighted my own special touch - pastry cherries. Mmmmmmm.

Leaving the best til last...my parcel finally got to me from my secret pal. Hoorah!

She did say it had a theme and there is no greater theme to anything in life than red with white polka dots. There is a gorgeous Kath Cidston mug, tissues and mirror for my handbag. An awesome oven glove and insulated box just right for packed lunches with a can of pepsi max. Mmmm, pepsi max. Plus some brilliant cup cake cases and cherry green and black chocolate. Mmmmmm. And finally....saving the best til last.....some dotty yarn yarn bonny. It's so pretty and perfect for the vanilla socks I wanted to make.

Thanks Secret Pal! I love everything!

Oh my god! Look at that!

This is what my colleagues kept saying to me on monday when I slept badly and woke up with a really stiff neck. I couldn't turn it to the left at all and it was inclined at about 20 degrees off centre. So of course they thought this was a gift from above and spent all day trying to trick me into looking to my left because it either hurt me or made me turn my whole body like an old-school robot (I work with 3 guys). Three days later and I've now got about 70% movement back but I'm very achey. I went for a walk-in massage yesterday and that helped a bit although about 30 seconds in she (the masseur) paused and said "I don't think 10 minutes is going to be enough for you". I hear you, sister.

This week was potentially going to be quite stressful:

• work
• time of the month
• starting new meds (changing anti-d)
• sian moving in

Instead of the above the main stress has turned out to be my neck - so it just goes to show there's no point worrying as however bad you think something might be it will be something else that ends up biting you in the arse. The changing meds in particular has gone very well although I'm only three days in but I had a week's break from the other one first and haven't had any side-effects so I'm counting myself as lucky. It's never gone this smoothly in the past.

Of course there has been the occasional ray of sunshine. This is where one of the baby blankets has ended up.

Laura and Blanket. It's a strange name for a child but there you go. Laura is looking great and the baby look like an absolute honey. I was hoping to go and visit them this weekend but the Pooch has deadlines coming out of his hedgehog ears and so will be working for the whole thing. I thought to cheer him up I might make him one of these, which Mingled Yarn has made for her loved one. Just need to find a towel large enough.

On a warm day in August.

As a Secret Pal hostess I try and check the blogs of my group once a week, usually at the weekend. One of them has posted this photo....THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO LIVE.

Polka dot house. How cool?

Something else I've found - a knitting survey from a real research project. Takes about 10 mins to do.

Meanwhile, boy! Can I knit stocking stitch!

It's yet another baby blanket. It started out with butterflies on but they were rubbish so now it is stocking stitch with a leaf border. And to go with it I'm doing a leaf motif cardi and hat in green - they don't know yet whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Knit on.

I think that's about it - my sister sian has moved in with us temporarily. We shoe horned all her stuff into the spare room yesterday although she has just discovered she's taken her good clothes down to my mum's and only got the second tier stuff with her. I can't help suspecting that it's an excuse to shop.

Achievement Badges

I came across these amazing socks on ravelry and that lead me to the designer's blog where I found these knitting scout badges. Awesome. So then they led me to these science scout badges. Double awesome. I suddenly feel like I've really achieved something today.

I claim I am worthy of the following badges....

The Proselytize Knitting Badge

For bigging up the knit at every possible opportunity. I will be trying to teach my sister AGAIN this weekend despite her repeatedly threatening me with violence if I bring it up again. (There were two sisters at SkipNorth last year who knitted and made each other jumpers and stuff. How cool would that be?)

The McGyver Badge - Level 1

For repeatedly using a 2.5mm to reset the wireless thingy. Plus giving Pooch a limited edition 9mm to fish his wedding ring out from behind the china thing surrounding the foot of the bathroom sink.

The Host a Knitting Podcast Badge

A la la.

The I Can Be an Asshole When It Comes To Knitting Badge

What do you mean 'can we talk about something else'?

The Knitting While Under the Influence Badge

Enough said.

The I Will Impress You With My Math Prowess Badge

Physics degree - has to be good for something.

The I Will Crush You With My Math Prowess Badge

Physics, people. Physics!

The I've Knit Items With No Conceivable Practical Application Badge

I did ponder claiming this one. And then I remembered this.

The Knitting Got Me Through My Divorce Badge

There was a little something last year that we Do Not Talk About, but which saw me making my 'That which does not kill us surely makes us stronger' Mittens.

The Arts and Crafts Badge

I is crafty.

The “my degree inadvertantly makes me competent in fixing household appliances” badge

I know what the different coloured wires in the plug mean! Plus I am better than the average at unjamming a photocopier. I think this may just be a woman thing though.

The “I’ve done science with no conceivable practical application” badge

In my final year project I made a ruby laser. It was rubbish. It flashed once and then essentially blew up in an unimpressive way.

The “I know what a tadpole is” badge

Which just goes to show I can do biology as well as Physics.

Who let the stash out?

Um.

Sometimes I think I have too much yarn. And then I go to knit something and don;t have anything suitable in my stash. Mmm, well. I put it all away again afterwards. It's just sometimes it's good to get it out for an airing.

This is just a quick post to check in and say hello. And also to post a stupid picture of myself. It took 7 attempts to get a photo that looked even this good. It's very difficult to take a decent full length pic of yourself you know. Yesterday was the brilliant hen-lunch for ym best friend and on the way back I dropped in to Kew (the shop, not the garden) and found this tunic dress and belt. I've been getting compliments all day so I decided to record it for posterity. This grinning blur (I was laughing because the photos were coming out so badly) isn't quite what I had in mind but what the hell.

Happily Plastered

I got a delivery from Artbox today. I love their stuff. So ridiculously cute. Most of it was for my Secret Pal but there were two things for me. The first was a box of plasters.

I hadn't hurt my hand - they were just too cute not to wear. Cats!

The second was a too too cute panda drawstring pouch. Of all the Artbox stuff the 'happy panda' range is beyond doubt my favourite. I have most of the panda socks, a bag, postcards, a keyring, pen and pencil. I love my happy-panda.

Plus you've got to love that it has polka dot ears *and* a polka dot lining. You know how much I love my polka dots. It is a bit small but should be able to hold a ball of yarn and a sock-in-progress.

I have been continuing on my fungus socks but have also started the baby blanket for my sister-in-law who is due in October. She loves butterflies so I went through all the patterns on ravelry tagged with 'butterfly' and drew up a chart.

I started knitting and got a few inches in and then paused to reflect.

It's not exactly clear that there's a butterfly there is it...? Yeah, so I frogged it. Meh.

So it's back to the drawing board. I think I will try lace but goddammit woman, I will be swatching.

For the Love of Fungus

I am horrified at how few people have graced their feet or the feet of their loved ones with these amazing socks. This really is one of all time favourite patterns for socks. These are destined for my Secret Pal, to be in her 'reveal' parcel so I'm safe blogging about them until then.

I've been trying to take better photos of the pattern, closer up, but I think the light is wrong.

I just absolutely adore them! The purple is Yarn Yard and the variegated is lorna's laces.

Mmmm.

Meanwhile Pooch is over his swine flu and I show no symptoms at all. I really am wonderwoman. Must knit myself one of these.

Sew not ill

Pooch actually does seem to have flu. It seems impossible to tell whether it is swine flu without an autopsy (and he's not that ill) but he definitely has some form of something. I have a very very sore throat but that's about it. I feel like it is about to get worse but then that feeling goes away and it's just a sore throat again. Meh. It does bring into question whether I go back to work on monday or not. Policy is to stay off for a week if your spouse/child etc gets it even if you don;t. But the reality of having me sitting on my beautiful arse when I'm ok may not go down so well with my manager. Especially since remote access has been turned off since we got hacked.

Pooch has established himself in the spair room in what he is calling his 'den'. A la.

He has the cricket on the radio, his laptop and me bringing him tea and "beena" (ribena, to the uninitiated) in rotation. This of course leaves the front free clear for what he refers to as "one of your craft explosions". In essence I get a load of stuff out and spread it around without having to worry about him trampling it. In fact, I've kept it relatively neat. I took my vast collection of fat quarters...

....cut large parts of them into the stipulated rectangles (I am now at one with my rotary cutter)...

...and got to it:

I'm following a pattern from the book I have blogged about before and so have photocopied the templates onto 'vellum' (in reality tracing paper that they call a posh name to get scrapbookers to pay more for it) and am now sewing the fabric onto the paper. The patchwork and applique I've done in the past had always used paper pieces - like hexagons - or just strips sewn together and cut into squares, so this sophisticated paper piecing is a new thing for me. I'm also not very good at sewing curved pieces together. But despite the newness and lack of expertise I have managed to produce a quarter circle.

I'm not entirely in love with it but will do a whole block (the whole circle with 4 corners to make it inot a square) before I make a judgement. The whole quilt in the book is 9 squares with an elaborate applique border but mine is going to be 12 squares (3x4) with a simple border.

Always assuming I get that far!

Anyway, only another 47 quarters to go.

My Secret Pal experience is now complete - as a hostess I have got my group started and they all seem to be getting on ok. I have looked at all their blogs this morning and left little comments for them all. As a spoiler I have been in touch with my spoilee several times and have a parcel gaining shape for her. And I have heard from my pal and can not wait to be thoroughly surprised and spoiled!

I leave you with this which was outside the tropical fish shop a few doors up from my office on Thursday. The shop has your more usual fish on the ground floor when you walk in and then the unusual and more sensitive downstairs in the basement. Some acquisitions though, deserve to be advertised.

Don't shout or everyone will want them.

It's important not to mock others....

...but then someone sends you this link for a really random reason and you start reading the headlines.

An article about bikini lines?

"Her crop is hot stuff!"

Cattle love.

"How compact calves keep her moving!"

I don't know - it just tickled me!

Pooch might have swine flu (but probably not - I think he's just tired)

I went to a knitting course at IKnit on saturday called 'Weird Techniques' to learn all sorts of crazy things like knitting backwards, cabling without a cable needle, sewn cast off, purling with the yarn in the back, continental knitting and an added extra of kitchener. I think I might actually have got it this time. I didn't add to the stash except to get a tiny thing for my Secret Pal, but I was tempted by the malabrigo ....

and the nearly solid cherry tree hill.

I haven't had much of a chance to try my new techniques but the cabling without a needles is worth the class fee by itself. I can feel my Chuck Cabled socks calling me.

My knitting recently has been on the Buttercup Top which I got to about 6cm below the armholes for and then tried on to find it was much too big. There can't be many more times in my life when I'm going to find myself knitting the extra-small size.

It's a lovely colour and I like the pattern too.

I have been thinking a lot about colour recently as I have been gathering fabric for a quilt. It's not often I embark on a big sewing project (and even more rarely do I finish one) but it was love at first sight for me when I saw this quilt on Thimble's blog. So here is what I had at the weekend.

I identified a few gaps in the colour and light/dark tone scale and so a trip to Liberty after work today brought these home with me.

Fabric arranging, knitting and learning weren't the only things I did this weekend. Oh no. Now this really has to be tasted to be believed.

This is the recipe - which comes really near the top when you google for chocolate cake recipes. It is amazingly calorific (500+ per slice apparently) but OMG. Tastes so good. And you've got to love ganache overhang.

It was going to be my birthday cake for work last week but I didn't have time to make it so I took it in with me today. The first slice was gone by 9.10am and most of the rest by midday. Mmmmm.

So I think that's it, other than a quick Pooch update to explain the title of the post. He spent a very leisurely weekend listening to the cricket on the radio and taking up all of MY sofa. I had to knit in the armchair.

"Bring me another tea, Byrne?"

Sadly such things don't last. He's feeling tired and so has convinced himself he has swine flu. I've taken his temperature and it is 36.6 instead of 37 so goddammit it's serious. Really I shouldn't joke because we're all bound to get it soon, especially in London with the tube to spread the germs around. Hopefully when we do get it it won't be too serious. But for today, I think we're safe.