Compatibility

'Simeon' 16"

What a testing week it has been! My old computer had been groaning every time I tried to do any work on it for quite some time and so I had to face facts, the poor old thing was past its sell by date. Naively, I decided to buy a new desktop pc. It arrived by courier and my son and I soon had the hardware set up, plugging all the right cables into all the right holes ... "job's a doddle," I recklessly thought. However, when I enthusiastically pressed the pretty blue button to fire it up, I wasn't at all prepared for the nasty non-compatible nightmare which greeted me.

I won't bore you with the details, but one awful migraine and two entirely frustrating days later, I finally managed to establish how to make the wretched, sneaky thing work. Oh and in case you are wondering, no I am not a complete computer dunderhead! I'm no whizz kid either, but I can usually get where I want to go without too much trouble. Anyway, to cut a long and painful story short, I ended up having to upgrade my modem, upgrade drivers for all my hardware, upgrade to AOL 9.0VR, work out how to migrate my website and accept the fact that my Microsoft Outlook files aren't ... yep, you guessed it, compatible! GRRRRRR!!!! One thing's for sure, by this point I wasn't feeling particularly compatible either!

'Simeon' 16"

I've spent today installing the new wireless modem, networking the family's pcs' and re-establishing contact with the outside world and at last we are up and running. There was a brief moment when I almost threw a blue fit because I thought my lovely Canon digicam wouldn't work with the new system, but in the nick of time I discovered that if I use the card reader, rather than the usb cable, it works perfectly. Phew ... (and breathe Paula!) In fact, now that I've just about finished fighting with my new 'Vista' system, I suppose I should be honest and tell you, we're actually bonding quite nicely. It's an absolute whizz at opening files, even my juicy photo graphics and it has the most enormous hard drive ... ah, surely you can't blame a girl for having her head so easily turned?!

Baby Erin's pink cardigan finished at last!

Enough of my trials and tribulations, at least I can report one or two things that actually went okay this week! I managed to finish the 16" bear 'Simeon' above, especially for my little knitted vest top and after an hour in the armchair clacking away, Erin Rose can at last wear her new pink cardigan ... no bumble bee buttons though, they didn't match perfectly enough, so I've settled for pretty pink flowers instead. Hopefully my sister will send me a pic of Erin wearing her new cardi soon! Laura, are you out there in the ether listening? Fingers crossed Erin hasn't grown too quickly and this cardi still fits her! ;o)

Oh before I go, I should mention the mohair! Simeon bear is made from some fabric I last used quite a few years ago. I remember making a Christmas bear called 'Yule' from this fabric ... hmmn, I wonder where he is now? (Hunts determinedly through files and bingo! Finds a pic especially for you ...)

'Yule' 20" 1999/2000 ish

Anyway, as I was saying, I haven't seen this particular fabric on sale for a very long time. I do know it was used by Steiff and used to be available in black, white, gold and chocolate. I had this piece of chocolate left over and have kept it ever since, ready to use again when I had an ideally sized pattern designed for it. Well, after all this time, the day finally came!

By the way, the name 'Simeon' flowed as follows ... Easter, hot cross buns, chocolate eggs, Simnel cake .... Simeon! And that dear pop pickers, is how my head works. Worrying eh?!