2010 - Would you believe it!

Well another year has almost passed before I have got around to updating this Blog - sorry folks!!! Keeping up with the forum at http://www.lovinghands.org.uk/ is a daily job that needs to be done or everyone gets all worried about me - bless their cotton socks xxx We are now over 1000 members and have five groups on the go (Kelty, Carrickfergus, Portsmouth, Stonehaven and a new one starting in Glasgow West on the 17th June !). Hopefully we will get some more before too long as well.

We are almost ready to build our new HQ (or a large shed style workshop at the bottom of my garden to be less grand !) it is to be 12 ft by 18 ft and will give me back space in the house - thank goodness! Our donations are flooding in daily now so it is a labour of love to keep them sorted, photographed, . listed on the forum and repacked and then sent off to our charities (who are all extremely grateful for all we send them). We are now sending to Blythswood Care, Linda MacDonald Foundation, Scotia Aid, SANDS, Hope4Children, Hope & Aid Direct, Algerian Action, UK maternities, Boobs for Breastfeeding (Tommee Tippee), Animal Shelters, Funsani orphans project and more. (Our latest challenges include coats for chickens and knitted donkeys to help raise funds for the donkey sanctuary!!!).

We also had a wonderful day out at Scotland's Knitting Only show which was up at Perth Racecourse again - there were over 20 members there this year and we all grabbed loads of lovely bargains! This was the third time they had had this and we have been to them all - not to be missed if you want a chance to meet up with other Loving Hands members and buy lots of great knitting bargains!

As for me - my wounds are healing very slowly so they are soon to begin my reconstruction. They are going to take me to Livingstone and there put 4 'balloons' (tissue expanders) under my skin - two on top of my head, one in my forehead and one in the side of my neck. These will be gradually filled with saline solution over a period of 6 to 12 months to allow the surgeons to harvest enough new skin to use to rebuild my cheek and close the gap in my hairline. This is apparently a slow, painful and very uncomfortable process with lots of risks and worries along the way but it will be worth it in the end I am sure. My family and local members are standing by ready to make sure I do not try to do too much during this phase as I need to be pretty much sedentary and protect the balloon filled areas at all costs - Suzanne and Rab (DH) have decided I should be wrapped in cotton wool and then bubble wrap so that if I fall I will be well protected and the sound of the bubbles popping will alert them to come and pick me up again !!!!! You see what I have to put up with !

Sadly this will also mean that I will be unable to go out to my daughter's primary to give knitting lessons till this is all over - I do love those little treasures and they work away making blankets for the kennels amidst lots of very bad joke telling and song singing - we do have fun (and the first class informed me that it was a 'life changing experience' ! ;0)

Once the eye socket has completely healed they plan to drill in and place clips to hold in a new prosthetic eye complete with eyelid and eyebrow so it should be much nicer and more secure than the original plan of having one that I had to stick on with medical grade glue each day (didn't like this idea as I had a vision of a very hot day and the eye dropping off into the potatos in Asda and causing some unsuspecting old lady to drop dead with fright in front of me - I definitely do not want to be responsible for that !!!!).

OK enough of the gory stuff - just had to update those of you who have been anxious for news.

So here we are - gloriously sunny again and I am going off this afternoon to Jenna's sports day at school. We are also having a weekend away on the 18th to Wemyss Bay (one of the those Sun newspaper cheap breaks - great bargain!) and on the 2nd of July we are off for a 10 day holiday which will involve crossing the border again so I am not telling anyone where I am going till I get there (don't want to tempt fate as the last time when I booked a holiday cottage in Staffordshire to visit Alton Towers I had my accident and didn't get!).

Keep knitting and crocheting away and do remember if you want ti knit, crochet or sew for charity get yourself over to the loving hands website and join the forum there - we need all hands we can get to keep the aid (and the love) flowing to where it is needed most xxxxx

OH - by the way - the photo at the top is from my 50th birthday celebrations in July last year - I decided to go for a blonde wig that night to shock the family! My DH is at the other end of the photo and the motley crew include daughters, Kelly, Zandra, Roxanne and Jenna, Sons Andrew and Johnny and Grandaughter Cassidy xxx