A Step Backwards and Some Forwards as well.

I have made 2 dresses I showed you in a previous post, neither of which I'm 100% happy with, but considering they're pretty much only for wearing for 6 weeks or so I'm not too bothered.  1 needs a bit more fabric at the front, and I'll make the next one with more and the other is a stretch fabric dress and the upper arm is a smidge too tight; however the body is perfect for what I want.   I've also got 2 dresses on their way from China which are "linen" supposedly, but are also loose fitting and if they've put the measurements correctly should fit well.   I'm going to make at least 1 more dress which would give me 5 total.

the one that's not quite full enough, will make a lovely nightdress afterwards though

and the one who's sleeves aren't quite right.   I'll make another of these, may compare the sleeve with a Kwik Sew pattern or Ottobre as both of them fit me better in the arm.

I've almost finished the second sock of my current travel knitting too, I need to get that finished and a new pair past the ribbing before surgery as plain knitting will be my limit for a bit I think; that and Ian desperately wants a new pair of socks after a pair I hadn't knit blew out in the heels.  They weren't knit using sock yarn and it showed.

In spinning I've finished the angora spin for the Advanced Spinners Group and I sent it off today, photo to come, it's still on the good camera and I can't be bothered hooking it up to the computer for just one photo.   I'm now spinning plain silk to go with the rest of the suri alpaca, once that's done I can ply and also ply some merino silk Navajo style and I'll have finished my planned spinning for the year.  I need more practice on long draw, the angora proved that to me, but it'll wait till I'm back to normal as there's a fair bit of trunk movement in long draw and my trunk is going to be ouchy for a while after this.


On Friday I had a gastroscopy (or whatever it's called), no sign of the ulcer which is good, however I do have a small hiatal hernia.  They took biopsies and I felt fine, right up till this morning when my stomach started feeling hot and hurting.  I'm still hurting tonight, but the hot is gone at least and I'm back on Ranitidine and paracetamol.  I was running a bit of a temperature as well, but that's now dropping which is good.   More money spent at the doctors due to that, they think the pain might be due to the biopsies effectively causing a new raw spot (aka ulcerlike nasty), but the temperature thing is apparently unrelated.
As well as the ranitidine and paracetamol I've also been taking a little colloidal silver and active honey and sodium ascorbate (vit C).   Tonight I'll take a final lot of colloidal silver and some aloe vera juice to promote healing.   I'd rather get through this faster than last time.  My back is also aching, but I think that's a reaction to the stomach pain and also all the work I've been doing.

In other news I now have all the costings for my surgery, I won't tell you how much, but I will say I'm darned glad I've got health insurance with no excess!  I emailed it all off this afternoon.  I'm now awaiting a bunch of forms and to get an appointment for a pre-op check at St George's hospital.  I'll be staying there from 4-7 days depending on how things go and then home for recovery.  Apparently I can drive after 10 days, I suspect I may disagree on that one when it comes to it, and luckily I'll have my beloved to drive me if I need to go anywhere.  I also have to shave certain areas fully, I've not done that since I was in my early 20's and that was a one-off as I hated the look of it.

In the meantime I'm busy doing spring cleaning and gardening.   All the veges are in, just in time for a nasty cold snap, but at least I can hope they'll survive it ok.   In the house I've fully cleaned the main bedroom, toilet, bathroom and shower room and the laundry.   That leaves the kitchen (including fridge and cupboards), the dining room and the lounge and conservatory.  I've also got more sewing, spinning and knitting to do, plus the school presents before I head off for surgery.