And another thing happened.
The day before my birthday – Friday – I called to see my doctor as I was concerned about something. As a rule I am not fond of doctors, so I had waited a couple of weeks before actually making the call. The young doctor gulped, prescribed strong antibiotics (which meant I was being arty in Edinburgh whilst combating awful nausea) and made another appointment for me Monday morning. And so by Monday afternoon I was admitted to hospital awaiting emergency surgery.
I am very thankful for the British National Health Service. They were quick and efficient: I had my operation and I was discharged again by 6.30pm. If you live in the UK or are a British citizen, please consider signing this petition urging the British Government to rethink its Health and Social Care bill.
Whilst waiting around, I managed to do a lot of work on my crochet shrug.
The pattern is Fifi from the new Rowan Holiday Crochet booklet. The stitch pattern looks quite complex, but is actually a relatively easy two-row repeat worked with double trebles (US: trebles) which makes progress very quick. Apart from still needing to check how to turn, I have memorised the pattern – and I am very pleased by how much I have managed to do on just a few days.
And the colour is gorgeous – I cannot seem to get away from mossy greens. I actually picked up some Liberty needle cord earlier this month which has an accent of mossy green – I wonder if I’ll actually manage to whip up a skirt or if my nerves will betray me once I face cutting into Liberty needle cord.
Later this year I am going to a wedding celebrating my wonderful friends Elaine and Steve. I was going to make my own dress, but then I found a silk dress in John Lewis reduced from £150 down to £10. How could I resist!? However, I have not forgotten my pledge to wear handmade to the occasion. I am going to design and knit a delicate shrug – and I am going to make my own fascinator.
Fascinators are so utterly British. I think the rest of the world noticed them last year when tuning into the royal wedding. Not being British, I have never had the chance to wear these flippant hair pieces before, so I am actually rather excited about the prospect.
I bookmarked a few tutorials and pinned a couple of pictures to Pinterest before having my first go last night. I used this tutorial to make the piece in the photo.
It was fairly easy, actually. I used some silk flowers I had found ultra cheap on Ebay and added a few beads I had lying about.
The flowers are not the right colour for the dress (a radical departure from the usual Ms Bookish uniform of green and/or red!) and I’ll be wanting to add different beads to the actual fascinator/hairpiece – but I am still satisfied with the outcome. I’ll be trying to reverse-engineer this hairpiece next, though, as I am not sure I’m a Big Floral Thing On My Head person.
Which reminds me: do say hello on Pinterest.
hope you’re feeling better now, that shrug is a great colour. One of these days I’d love to have a go at full blown millinery, looks fun.
I’m intrigued by the dress! And just to reassure you that health is a devolved matter so any changes that come about as a result of the health bill wouldn’t affect us in Scotland. Which of course is not to say that we shouldn’t support people in England who would be affected. And that’s probably all I should say on the matter until a real-life conversation!
Oh I beg to differ. Fascinators are massive here (both in popularity and size!) and have been for years. They are standard Race Day wear and are a bit of a joke for those who don’t get the Race Day obsession. I wore one as a joke to a wedding last year and was stunned to find out how expensive they are. $70 for a polyster flower and some netting?
Hope you feel better soon!