Quick Update

Healthwise I'm still not doing as well as I'd like.  I've been on the MEVY diet for some weeks now, but can't source the supplements I need as they're out of stock and the ones I was trying gave me a sore stomach (I'm suspecting the tea tree oil as the culprit here).  So despite the better diet I'm not feeling better yet.  As well as the funny head and sore side I now have a neck that tends to feel like I'm being strangled which is most unpleasant.  The antibiotics didn't help with the sinus thing, so it looks like I probably have chronic sinusitis and as I'm not prepared to throw more antibiotics at it (which probably wouldn't work) I have to live with it and hope that it'll improve with diet/supplements etc.  I'm also getting a hair test to check for heavy metals, more money but if I do have mercury issues from my fillings I need to know, the final 4 fillings leave in a few weeks.
I'm seeing a chiropractor, an osteopath and an acupuncturist to try and get on top of it all with mixed success.  The chiro has helped with my neck, but I'm going to need more than 2 visits, today was the 3rd, but I won't see how that's helped till tomorrow going by past experience.
Both she and my osteopath believe the side issues are related to my ribs/intercostal area, so there's been some work on that.  She's hoping to get my neck more balanced as she thinks the strangulation effect is actually from my neck muscles at the front being very tight so I'm also doing stretches on that.
I was going to change GP, but have had to put that off after a phone call to say I need referral to get more investigation after an "atypical" test result.   Not going to go into that further since we don't yet know why it's atypical, or what type of atypical, so I just need to try not to think about it till I get more information.   I hate waiting!  Once that's moved on then I'll change to a new practice.

On the loom front I've started working on Maire.  The wood has been cleaned and then polished with a beeswax polish and I'm starting to remove rust from the jacks.  Once that's done it'll get a wipe down with meths and then some silicon spray to protect it for the future.

Spinning has been mostly working on my Tour de Fleece combo spin, I've not yet managed a decent daylight photo due to heaps of rain here, but this is reasonably close to how it looks in real life.

A mix of merino, ramboillet, alpaca/silk and unknowns

There's 1500m here, so plenty for a jersey, haven't worked out its weight yet, but I'm suspecting DK/worsted.  I've also plied some perendale

still got quite a bit of this to go, both spinning and plying

The first sock for youngest (was going to be for Dh, but youngest needs it more) is now halfway through the foot.  The pattern is Barrel Rider's sock and was gifted to me by the designer.  It's an enjoyable knit and coming along well.

and the yarn is Schoppel-Wolle Admiral in Burgund.

Finally my shawl is growing, the pattern is Aisling and the yarn is Sikkim by Happy Go Knitty which is a merino/silk/yak singles yarn.

Loving these colours together, the photo does not do them justice, the brownish colour is actually a rich burnished copper and is called Gingerbread Man.  It'll be glorious when finished.

Unfortunately the way I've been feeling and school holidays have combined to impact on how much I've been getting done.  The loom should be finished by now, as should both those knitting projects and I should be partway through my cardigan instead of merely swatching done.  Unfortunately the world doesn't go as I'd like sometimes so I will continue to muddle through and do the best I can.

Oh, and I finished the second pair of Portlander pants which I'm enjoying wearing, lovely and warm since they're merino.

New Horizons Portlander Pants

With school holidays starting I was jump started into doing some sewing since youngest doesn't seem to have enough trousers.  I had enough left of the fabric to do something for myself as well so chose the Portlander Pants by New Horizons.  I've not used any of their patterns before so it was a great choice for Indie Pattern Month on The Monthly Stitch. These are a great pair of relaxed pants for just relaxing in, now by rights I should have finished youngest's pants first, but I can't find my elastic, so...

I don't normally wear my top tucked in, so it's normally a little more flattering, also not helped by the fact that it's cold and wet and dark here at the moment.  I've got another pair almost finished, just the waistband and hem to do, I'll finish them tomorrow, they're in khaki coloured merino sweatshirting.

This pair is from deep stash, I owned the fabric for probably 14 or more years, I bought it before my youngest was born and originally had another colour in it.  That went to my mum to be used to make Gran something to wear in the resthome.   I think the fabric might be cotton, it's got a good weight to it and is a knit on the side I've used as the right side and a terry loop on the back.

You can see the front of the fabric here, I did take a photo of the back, but for some unknown reason it's disappeared from my computer/phone.   It's a hard fabric to photograph at the best of times, and the lighting at the moment is awful!   You can see here the pocket on the front which I've overlocked for a more rustic look.  It doesn't sit quite as well as I'd like, but overall I'm pretty happy, I suspect the other pair will have better behaving pockets since the material isn't as heavy.

Will I make more?   Not yet, with the two pairs I've just made my casual pants drawer is now full, however the pattern is one I'll definitely revisit when I need more trousers suitable for winter slobbing.  It also comes in a shorts version so I might try that for summer, though at the moment it's hard to imagine summer, this winter's been cold and wet and horrible!

This is the other fabric, not a flattering colour for me, but it's on my bottom half so it doesn't matter.