My Hands!

So if you have been watching my instagram I have been posting about this but I realised that I hadn't posted anything about this here. Each year in winter I react to the cold and my hands can start to peal and get quite painful. I thought that this year my hands were doing the same... oh I wish! 

This was at the start of it all... you can see a reddening around my palms and some light red dots... this was the start. This is usually where it stops. It's a little painful but otherwise fine. I piled hand creams on and continued about my day.  

This year it became a LOT worse. I ended up at the doctors a week ago because I was in an extreme amount of pain. Essentially constant pins and needles through my whole hands. It turns out I was having an allergic reaction! The only thing I can pin it down to that I have changed recently is the soaps I'm using at work. We work next to a doctors surgery and the soap in the toilet got changed to one that has the antibacterial stuff in it. Which it appears I'm allergic to!

This is now my hand after a week of steroid creams and anti histamines. I didn't get photos at the height of the reaction but lets just say they were more red than anything and extremely painful. So now I carry my own soap to the toilets... and try and avoid washing my hands as much as reasonably possible because it makes the reaction worse. I have to use a steroid cream up to 4 times a day and they are getting better. Not healed yet but better. Unfortunately for me the reaction was on my hands and it's the worst spot for doing anything. 

Would you believe that this is actually less painful than my hand before? The pins and needles over my whole hands are pretty much gone which is fabulous I'm now just dealing with pealing skin. Which means new skin beneath which is a different pain. 

So just letting you know that any stitching/crafting from me is taking a LONG time at the moment I start working and then have to stop very frequently if not just give up for the day. 

Happy Stitching, 
Caitlin

Friday Finds: Boogie Woogie with a twist :D

Good Music to make you smile!

Happy Stitching,

Caitlin

Final Exam!

You guys have been with me through the long haul. I started this blog after I finished my Bachelors degree so you thankfully didn't have to deal with me during that!

But when I started my current degree 4 LONG years ago I knew I'd eventually get to this point but I didn't think it would take so much out of me. I did my bachelor full time and it wasn't as exhausting as I was only doing a casual/part time job during it.

This time around I have been working full time and doing part time University. It's been a bumpy few years. I have been exhausted and drained trying to get everything done. This semester alone has been crazy! I started off going to classes and that lasted about 4 weeks then all of a sudden we had to move our classes to online. One of my subjects (thankfully the group work one) did that beautifully. The lecturer organised weekly zoom lectures and workshops and it was great. The other subject was much worse. He would record the lecture on a Tuesday morning and post it up and at SOME point over that week I would have to find the time to watch it. (I would often struggle with this) There is a reason I do on campus because I struggle to motivate myself when I am online by myself.

Then to make it even harder we had to move house just at the point when I had a tonne of assignments due! Thank goodness for my parent's internet!

So why am I talking about this today? Because yesterday morning I finished my FINAL EXAM!!! The last exam for my Master's Degree is now complete! I still have to wait for the results but I'm fairly confident that I passed :D

For those that don't know I did a Master's in Business (Professional Accounting) which is kinda the equivalent of an accounting degree at the Bachelor level but shorter and with a Master's expectations on your abilities. But it means that I can go forth and eventually get my CPA once I have recovered from this! It may take a while.... 

I don't know what exactly I am going to do with all my free time but I already feel lighter and I know I will have a lot more that I can do and so many craft projects that I've been putting off! I am going to continue to happy dance over here and I wish you the best!

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin

RANT: Annoying Comments

I love comments on my blog or on my facebook and instagram. They make me laugh and smile and just generally make me really happy that my words have interested someone else. That said I have had to add comment moderation on for a while now and I was so excited when I had an influx of comments this morning until I read them....

All they are is a superficial advertisement. It's people who think they can use my blog to advertise their business or their blog. It hurts. One of my more popular posts is the Accountant vs Magician pattern. I can't tell you how many comments I have had on that post that don't read the post and just see Accountant and make some sort of vague reference to how accountants are awesome and leave a link to their firm. They don't bother to read the post and see what it is about. They don't bother to even notice that it's a cross stitch pattern or to even comment on the artwork. All the want is to use me as free advertising.

This is the comments section for that post. You can see that I have let some slide but I'm actually going to go in and delete these ones because they offer nothing.

I might be a bit more willing to accept it if it wasn't so blatant. The other ones that annoy me that I get the most on instagram is the fitness companies. They send me emails/PMs that go I like what you do I think you would be a good fit. Well guess what ... they all just want me to spend my money on buying the clothes and advertising them. I do look out of curiosity but honestly none of the clothes interest me. They all look the same as everyone else's but they charge $70 US for a pair of pants. So not even taking in shipping or exchange rates it's ridiculous because there are aussie brands I can get for better prices. Even after their 'discount'. You can see by the pic below they make it seem like they are offering you this amazing deal when really it's just a way to sell you clothes. You only get a discount on their items. No money, nothing else. That's not a sponsership! But I get that they're trying to compete with the 30,000 other fitness brands out there at the moment so I don't blame this company just the industry that pushes this!

This doesn't even include the random guys that I get messaging me going 'hey cutie' ... I'm happily partnered up and although I don't show many photos of him because I don't have a huge amount (he really doesn't like his photo taken) You can see evidence of him and the kids all around my social media. I just out of respect for them don't post much with them in as it's there choice if they want to be shared. (random tangent sorry!) But I have had the messages going hey what's your name ... what do you like to do? ... on my craft instagram! With my NAME on my profile! With my list of hobbies ON MY PROFILE!!!! I don't hide things and I have made some beautiful friends through this blog and instagram but COME ON! HOW DUMB DO YOU HAVE TO BE NOT TO AT LEAST READ MY PROFILE AND FIND OUT ABOUT ME BEFORE TRYING TO HIT ME UP????!!!!

Here is one of the messages that I received last year... No hello, no hey I saw your profile and thought it would be nice to meet you... just Happy Valentines Day. Have we forgotten basic manners?

I don't know how to stop this and I don't know how to deal with it but it's just sad that so many people feel that they can treat me and what I do so casually. The guys on instagram and facebook piss me off. They don't want to know me, they just want attention and they're hoping they'll get it from me. I get it at the moment in the my French Groups. I am very vocal and happy to talk and discuss grammar but I get PMs all the time going I want to learn French/English can you teach me for free?! Although my favourite used the phrase 'I need to learn how to French' ...

I don't know why it is but these sorts of comments just make me feel dirty. They make me feel icky. All these sorts of comments don't care about me. They don't care what I want or do. They don't care how I feel and despite appearances they really don't want to. With a little bit of time spent they could know enough about me to start a conversation. Comment on a post about the post and start up a conversation. That's how you talk to people. And while I'm willing to admit there is an English barrier sometimes surely even in their own language you don't treat women like this?

Anyway I hope you fabulous people who have actually read to the bottom of this ranting post are well! I hope you are staying safe and stitching or crafting or just enjoying yourself. I do love to hear from you when you are able. I love to have conversations and know more about what is happening in your journey. I value your input. And I want to hear from you more often.

Happy Stitching,

Caitlin

Point De Croix and more French Terms

I did mention at the beginning of the year that I was learning French. It has been a lot of fun so far and has led to an obsession with French music. I figure more music to listen to is not a bad thing. If any of you are interested here is my Spotify playlist. Also here is my current favourite song... I love a good duet!

But outside of music I have been trying to broaden both my vocab & reading comprehension. So I joined a few new cross stitch groups on facebook. Except these were point de Croix groupes. Which is the French term for cross stitch if you hadn't guessed that already!

Once I joined these groups I realised how much I really didn't know. That even simple things like some of the words made no sense. You can't directly translate the English words into French. It just doesn't work. I found it particularly confusing as everyone was talking about their 'grilles' which directly translates to 'grid'. It took me a while (way too long really) to work out they were talking about the pattern. So I decided to put together this list after asking for some help from the awesome stitchers in these lovely groups. Facebook will translate stuff for you which does help but it's not perfect.

Point de Croix - Cross Stitch Terminology

Broderie  -  Embroidery

une grille - Pattern

le diagramme - the chart

un tambour - Hoop

un tambour à broder - Hoop

métal ou plastique - metal or plastic can be added to the end of hoop to specify the kind

un aiguille - Needle

Le tissu - the fabric

toile étamine - Cotton evenweave

Toile de lin - linen evenweave

aida - aida

échevette/écheveau - skein

le fil - thread

coton mouliné - thread / 6 stranded cotton

brins - strands

divisé en six brins - divided into six strands

Point de noeuds - french knots

Le demi point - half cross stitch

le quart de point - 1/4 stitch

Le trois quart de points - 3/4 stitch

le point arrière - back stitch

Travail en cours - work in progress

frog - frog (yep this word doesn't get translated.! No grenouille 😊)

These  are the words I got translations for. It's not everything you will use while stitching but I hope it will help someone!

Is anyone else as crazy as me? Or do you have more words to add to my list ?

Happy Stitching,

Caitlin

Me and my Knitted Bunny

I had to get dressed up for work :D So this is my idea of dressing nice to impress. I think I managed it but still in a very me way. I don't do fancy fancy. But I even managed lipstick and mascara. I did feel good all day. I've also been doing some work trying to get my hair to curl more. I have hair that is naturally wavy and I'm trying to bring that out rather than making it straight. It is a bit of a process but I'm liking how my hair is reacting. 

My bunny is all finished. Except for a few threads to sew in. She's all wonky and weird but I love how she turned out. I have been working on this project since 2015... so it has been WAAAY too long for such a simple finish. Particularly since all I had left to do were the arms! 

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the eyes to look the same but it still works. Now all I need to do is make a little pinafore dress for her and it will be perfect :D 

I hope you don't mind the lack of cross stitch at the moment. I haven't been settled enough to do much stitching and I find either knitting or crochet helps when I'm in this mood. I do have some designs that I have been playing with though ... I'm kinda excited to see how they turn out! 

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin

Knitting Progress and Board Games

My friend had her birthday over the weekend and it was kinda awesome to see her again. We played board games and had yummy cake! It was nice to enjoy games again. I realised how much I missed my monthly board game nights. 

I forgot to get photos of the games I made for the night but I have been having some fun and finding board games to print and play. It is awesome how many games are available to be printed at the moment. Some you have to buy some you don't.

This is unstable unicorns, this is a copy a friend had but I managed to download and make up a copy as well from the tee turtle website. 

No candles so we had sparklers :D 

Rainbow cake :D

And now to the knitting! I have done all the parts for my bunny and now I'm in the process of sewing it together. 

It looks so cute :D and very lopsided. I couldn't manage to get the eyes to look right.... I've never been good at embroidering eyes on. 

I think I have the legs in the right spot? They're just pinned at the moment. 

Last night the kids wanted to play games with us so we played Bananagrams ... James won which isn't really that surprising. Though I wasn't far off. It's kinda a scrabble type game. 

And also Princess UNO. Because who wants to play with normal UNO cards?

I'm down to just the last two exams and then I'm done with my Master's degree. I will have a lot more time. But I am going to plan another games night with my friends sooner rather than later because I am realising that I have missed this so much. I miss talking with my friends and the interactions that come from playing games together. The reasoning and the ruthlessness .... and losing. I seem to have an innate ability to lose games but I enjoy playing them still. 

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin