Despite it all I finished a top!

Despite the sinus thing I've done some sewing and I finished a t-shirt I really love.  The main fabric is merino from The Fabric Shop which I got for $10 per metre.  I had to cut around a couple of holes, but it was worth it, the colour is gorgeous!

Tunic length (horrible lighting).  It keeps raining here so all photos are indoors with no decent lighting

And close up of the neckline (and the birdie) with equally horrible lighting.

On the health front I was worse yesterday and ended up at after hours again (to those from overseas this is like a walk-in clinic I think).  New antibiotics and another nasal spray with an antihistamine and the hopes that this works.  Yesterday was horrible!  Today I'm feeling a bit more human so have hopes for the future and am about to get 2 singlets sewn for youngest.  He's not so young now, 13 this month and we had his birthday party today which went off well despite having to cancel the visit to Willowbank (a local zoo) as it was raining quite hard.  He invited two friends from his old school who now go to the new school as well and they watched Fantastic Beasts and decorated pillowcases.   I'm now all out of decent cotton pillowcases so will have to come up with something new next year.

On the knitting front I'm up to the first heel on Dh's new socks, have just started a new shawl and got youngest to choose one skein of yarn from Vintage Purls to order for a new pair of socks.  I was expecting he'd choose green, but he chose lilac instead.  Looking forward to knitting those, just have to decide on a pattern.

Dh's Barrel Rider Socks

and my Aisling shawl which is being done in a merino/silk/yak singles yarn.

On health and teens

Well I finally have an answer to my funny head issues, I have a sinus infection with a reasonable amount of inflammation.  I'm now on antibiotics which I didn't really want (candida loves them), but considering this has been going on for 2 years now and flared much worse recently I'm biting the bullet.  I'm following up each antibiotic capsule with garlic and then probiotics to hopefully limit the damage the antibiotics do, and I'm keeping up my clean diet.  Lunch today:  grilled chicken with kale with apple cider vinegar for a dressing.  No sugar, no carbs and no clue what I'll eat on Saturday when I'm out at guild.

Teenagers - youngest was a troll tonight, he recently turned 13 so we now officially have 2 teens.  He's being a bit of an emotional rollercoaster both at school and at home, tonight he didn't want to go to bed and was hitting things on the way there.  I did not have a great deal of sympathy when he hurt his hand, does that make me a bad mother?  I figure the fact that he's lived to be a teenager makes me a good mother, I've kept him alive!  Now to try and keep the waters relatively calm until he grows out of the volatile stage in several years, sigh.  His brother is a little better, at least he doesn't hit things, though I'm pretty sure he called me something very unpleasant earlier when I refused to let him have toast 10 minutes before bed.  One day I'll look back on all this and laugh, now I just pray to survive intact.

I've been doing a little sewing, and swatching and cleaning of the new loom, but nothing much to show yet, photos will come when there's something worth photographing.  My swatch needs larger needles, so that's a wee bit away before I can start the cardigan too.

Socks finished!

The one good thing about the funny head was I got more knitting done since I was avoiding the Xbox.  I'm now back on the Xbox a bit and it's not making things worse, but it is harder than normal due to the fizzy head.  One good thing, it's better today, however I'm still going to the doctors tomorrow since it's not yet gone and I've got an earache which sometimes goes headache so I have to get it checked.   Kind of hoping that there's an obvious pressure issue and they can pop a hole in my eardrum to let it out, guess I'll find out.

Anyway, you didn't come here to read all about my woes, so here's socks!

On Health

A step backward.   About 3 weeks ago I went down with a cold, courtesy of eldest who brought it home from school.  I thought I'd got over it, but seem to have some sort of viral complication, last week I had what felt like palpitations, the after hour place confirmed it wasn't (thank goodness), but it made me feel very unwell, and then on Sunday while I was on the Xbox I got a repeat of my funny head thing I got 2 years ago after a cold.  No visual disturbance this time, but the fizzy and off centre feeling head is back.   I've not gone back to the doctor for this, after over year going back and forward to them I got no answers at all.  I've booked in to see a balance physio in the hopes she can help instead.  Going by it being post colds both times it's more than likely inner ear, and of course the MRI I had didn't point to any causes for it either which helps set my mind at ease, even if it doesn't help my symptoms!  I've not been on the Xbox since.

Next week is busy on the health front too, back for another mammogram to check out an odd breast symptom; probably nothing, but you don't leave this sort of thing.  An MRI to check my rectocele in preparation for getting that surgically corrected and then my lipoma removal.   Mum is coming along to the first and last appointments, I'm very blessed with my mum.

I'm also starting a candida diet, I've bought 3 books, but the one I'm following is the Candida Crusher one by Eric Bakker who is a NZ Naturopath who's been treating candida patients for 25 years with a lot of success.  This week and part of next is the first step which is called Warm Turkey, you basically remove all the bad stuff from your diet slowly and then move onto a Meat, Vege, Egg, Yoghurt diet for 3 weeks or so before adding a few more things in carefully and starting the supplements to kill the candida slowly and replace the good bacteria.  None of it's cheap of course, but it's one of those things I need to do if I'm going to get healthy again.  Exercise will be starting again too, it went on hold while I wasn't feeling well and although I'm still not right, I have got back into the housework and a little rowing to hopefully help me feel better.

Oh, and the reason I think I have candida?  The list of symptoms matched me very closely, I have most of them, I had oral thrush as a baby and I've had problems with thrush most of my adult life.  Also add in being on the pill for a very long time, having had 2 babies, some very strong antibiotics and my very sweet tooth all pretty much guarantee I have it.  I really want to get past this, to get healthy and I don't think I was truly ready for this earlier.  Now I am, and Dh has said he'll support it as long as I keep exercising, this I can do, exercise is part of the programme anyway!

The good thing about all this sitting around feeling sorry for myself?   I've been weaving and knitting a lot.  The dining room loom is now empty and up on Trademe to find a new owner, which means Mairi (my Macomber loom) is closer to being fixed up and set up.

My fabric which has been fulled in the washing machine and made from carpet wool

 It will become a bag, the pattern is already bought, I'm making the Vivian handbag by Swoon Patterns

I also finished the plain socks for Ian, he's now worn them for 3 days straight and I'm going to have to steal them in order to wash them!

And last, but not least I'm now partway up the leg for my socks too! 

 The socks are my final WIP, I've frogged the big shawl.  I just hated knitting with the yarn too much to ever finish it, cobwebweight yarn is too fine.  The yarn will be something beautiful on a loom one day instead.  This means I can start my next project with no feeling of guilt, I need a cardigan!