The good, the bad and the...

The good?  I've been sewing and spinning, there will be pics further down.  I've also been selling stuff on Trademe and made enough to get an Xbox One,  G had saved $260 over the last few years from birthday and Christmas money so I had to get the rest together and since we're not buying that sort of thing from T's salary this year it had to come from other means.  It meant I also reduced my stash boxes by 3 in fabric and yarn, though some of it still hasn't sold so it may have to go back or be used in order not to go back!

I've also started a core workout to strengthen my middle which I think may be helping with the pain issues I've been having, hard to tell yet as I've only been doing it for a week and I've had pain free periods of that long before.

The bad?  Well, despite the exercise and the increased fibre in my diet (chia seeds and prunes) the mail is not moving as much as it should which is resulting in pain of its own. I've even resorted to the prescription my doctor gave me which I really didn't want to have to.  I'm pretty sure that things are all tied up inside so have an appointment with my surgeon to discuss the pain and this problem next month.  Really don't want to have to go back to surgery, but may have no choice.  Myofascial release doesn't seem to be doing enough to fix it.

... The selling of stuff on Trademe has inspired me to go through the house slowly and get rid of stuff.  I biffed 4 tablecloths yesterday.  We never use them but I still kept several, the ones that were past their best were the ones that went, I kept those with sentimental value.  There will be a heap of other things going I think, I want less stuff and if I can more money to pay for my dental work.

Anyhow, the reason you're here isn't to hear me go on, it's to see piccies of what I've done, so here you are:

My 1970s peasant skirt

with an exposed zipper which I love

 This was using Simplicity 4499, which is a nice enough pattern, but unfortunately has at least one flaw.  The yoke is too long which is unflattering and uncomfortable.  I will have to unpick and shorten it at a later point.  I made it as a nod to the skirt I made in primary school in the 1970s which was an elastic waist peasant skirt and got worn to death, literally!  I had to make some changes to the pattern, upsizing it for a start as my copy only went to size 14 and I changed the order of construction.  Putting the zip in before adding the tiers made sense to me and was a heap easier than wrestling the whole thing around the machine to get it in.  I also changed the zipper from a lapped zipper to the exposed one.

845m of Heavenly Wools Haunui Halfbred in the blackberry and speargrass colourways plied together.  I'm yet to check WPI but I'm thinking heavy laceweight

and some Southern Alpaca with silk plied with suri alpaca, I think this was called blackcurrant, but I could be wrong on that.  Much thicker, but has a nice drape to it.

And finally the hat I finished from my second ambassadorial spin.  This is Okarito which was plied with more of the suri alpaca and modeled by my eldest, it rather suits him too.  He won't get it though, he's got enough hats already and doesn't tend to wear them.