Challenge 4: Gender Bender

The idea with this challenge was to make something either for a member of the opposite sex, or something for yourself that was inspired by clothing for the opposite sex.  An example of that latter would be a riding habit with military inspired trim.   I had originally intended to make myself something, but with George needing the cowboy outfit I decided to make him a vest in the style that was worn in 1870ish.

Leather vest

What the item is:  A lined leather cowboy vest

The Challenge:  Gender Bender

Fabric/Materials:  Leather from stash and a very incorrect piece of polyester for the lining and back

Pattern:  Burda 9812 altered to be more period correct (removing darts for a start)

Year:  Somewhere in the late 1870's to 1880's

Notions:   thread

How historically accurate is it?  From what I've seen the pattern probably isn't far off, George didn't want it to fasten or to have the faux pockets which may mean it's less accurate than it could be.

Hours to complete:  Probably about 6 hours to cut and sew, another 2 to trace and adapt the pattern.

First worn:  Will be worn next weekend at Scout camp along with the chaps I made last week.

Total cost:  The lining fabric is ancient and the leather was the third of a set of 3 skins that cost me around $20, so probably around $10 total?

So that's my next Historical Sew Monthly item finished, the next one is May's holes challenge.

Knitting:

I'm working on my Sock Madness starting pair, needs to be finished by midnight on the 14th (not NZ time, so I have longer) and I'm less than 40 rows off being done at this point, hoping to get close to finished tonight 

The yarn is Vintage Purls in the colours from  my mitts that I finished not that long ago and the pattern is exclusive to Sock Madness at the moment.

Once the socks are finished I'll get the shawl Missandei finished, I'm over halfway through the knitted on border so it shouldn't take long.

See, almost done!

On the recovery front I went backwards slightly due to overdoing things (I don't learn apparently) so have taken some time out from exercise to let things improve again.  I'll start biking again this week, 5k rides for the week and then work up again.

Protection Challenge

What the item is:

A pair of leather chaps for horse riding through the bush like American cowboys wear from the 1870's to 1890's which is when this particular style was popular

The Challenge: Protection.

Fabric/Materials: 2 lambskin skins, real ones would be made from cowhide but lamb is what I had in stash and eldest won't actually be doing rough stuff in them, it's a costume for Scouts camp.

Pattern: drafted by me

Year: 1870 ish.

Notions: Polyester thread

How historically accurate is it?

Hard to know, I had to approximate a pattern from images on the net and I think many were fastened rather than sewn but I couldn't get a good enough look at them so went with sewing.

Hours to complete: Probably about 4 hours

First worn: Will be worn 3rd weekend of this month for the last night at Scout camp, costume is required and the theme is cowboys this time.

Total cost: I think I paid about $20 for the skins on Trademe, they certainly aren't great quality but for the job at hand they did fine.

Tucks and Pleating

The Challenge:  Tucks and Pleating
 
Materials:  An old sheet from Gran's stash, some bobbin lace from stash, some weaving cotton used to make the ties.  I may have to redo the under bust tie, it's not quite long enough despite allowing a heap of extra length!

Pattern: From Janet Arnold's Patterns Of Fashion 1; it's the first Chemisette on the page.

Year: 1810

Notions:  Polyester thread

How historically accurate is it?  The pattern is 100%, I've made some changes though, no mushroom pleats, instead I used lace and pleated that on.  Added some pleats to the neck too, not mentioned in the description, but the pattern looks like they're there and it wouldn't fit the neckband without them.   My fabric I suspect may have some poly content going by how it acted under a hot iron and the lace looks more like crochet than would have been available then so I'd say maybe 60%.  My cords are all hand-braided.

Hours to complete:  I don't know, but it took a couple of weeks from cutting out to being finished due to my procrastination skills.

First worn:  Not yet, I can't wear my corset yet due to the remaining swelly belly from my surgery, it could be up to another 8 months before I can get into it.

Total cost: Everything was from stash, much of it from a very long time ago.  Maybe $10 for the lace as that came from China (I think).

My next project for the Protection challenge is likely to be a pair of leather chaps for my son to wear at Scouts for their next camp; they're supposed to be cowboys and a costume is required.  I can't find a free pattern so I'll be following an approximate tutorial and keeping my fingers crossed.  Chaps have been worn by cowboys since colonial times in the US so it's definitely in keeping.

In other news I've got 2 hoods cut out to add to the boys school raincoats, still can't believe the uniform rainjacket doesn't have a hood!
I've also got a decent amount through the test knit, I'm about halfway through the second to last chart at the moment.

We've put a new fridge on HP, the old one wasn't really big enough and had some issues with bits breaking, it's been bought by a trader and is now gone.

I got this one from Harvey Norman's clearance centre which meant is was quite a bit cheaper as it was an ex display one.

And I've been exercising, either doing housework or riding my bike or walking most days.  I managed 10.2km on the bike yesterday!  Now to stop the sugar, which won't happen while there's a partial tub of Tip Top Hokey Pokey icecream in the new freezer.

Procrastination Challenge

The Challenge:  Procrastination.  This was originally cast on 1.5 years ago and I just didn't get any further; so glad to finally have it finished and wearable!

Materials:  Sock yarn (Vintage Purls in this case)

Pattern: Little Skater.  This is a modern pattern, but is very similar to an 1855 pattern in Godey's Lady's Book called Knitted Mitten and Bracelet

Year: 1855 I guess, the first thing I've made for this period, but will be worn a lot this coming winter with modern clothing.

Notions:  2.25mm circular needles and stitch markers

How historically accurate is it?  The actual colourwork pattern is from a modern pattern, but if seen in the time it would probably pass quite well.  Pretty sure not everyone then liked frills on their mitts and fingerless gloves have been around since Roman times.

Hours to complete:  A lot plus 1.5 years, lol.

First worn:  Not yet, too hot at the moment, but in winter it's going to be a staple.

Total cost:  $33 probably for the cost of the original yarn club.

Blocking on my glove blockers.

Knit Meme

I'm taking this from where I found it, which was Wandering Cat Studio.  She didn't start it, but without her I wouldn't have found it.   It's basically a small number of knit themed questions which I am going to answer, hopefully you're interested!

Do you have a bad habit?

I spend too much money, especially when starting a new craft and I eat too much sugar.  I also tend to put off exercise, but that is changing this year.

Do you have to hide your knitting from your pets.
From Star, yes I do.  She's dissected the odd ball of yarn and has a very nasty habit of making a "snick" sound with my knitting needle cables; that's a sound you don't ever want to hear, especially when said cable was holding a project.  Ray isn't interested in knitting, she prefers paper and cardboard.

Do you cheat when you cable?
No, and I panic if I lose track of where I am, cables are one of the few things I have real issues reading my rows for.

Do you not really listen to your family when you are knitting intensely? Or blogging? Or buying yarn online?
If I'm counting I don't listen, I just count louder.  The rest of the time yes I do, if I'm reading however it might take several minutes for it to sink in that someone in the real world is trying to communicate with me

Do you fall for Knit kits?
Not normally.  I have 2 in my stash.  1 is a kit for Henry VIII by Alice Starmore (only way to get the pattern at the time), the other is a custom kit from a shop in Nelson in Rare Yarns which is yummy and my husband bought for me while we were on holiday.  Otherwise I prefer to choose my own colours and usually local yarns.

In other news I've been cutting and pinning for our quilt which has been sitting in the drawer for some years now, knitting on fingerless mitts (my lace mojo has temporarily retreated, but will be back) and dyeing the dress I did the block printing on as even with that the colour was not good on me.

This pile will become disappearing 16-patches

The colourwork on the Little Skater Mitts

and finally dyeing in progress, the colour of the fabric is pretty accurate, it was greige.

Better post this quickly, sometime this afternoon Spark will be around to upgrade us to VDSL, much as I'd love fibre, it's not available here yet and it could be another 3 years yet.  We need faster broadband if we can get it, so fingers crossed!

Oh, and I'm feeling much better.   Overdid things slightly yesterday (most of the day on my feet), but bounced back overnight and have done some vacuuming and dishes today as well as some tidying up.   Also may have picked up a heavy box by accident and so far it doesn't seem to have done damage (nor did it hurt at the time).  Not quite ready for a core workout, but am hopeful that once my doc clears me I'll at least be able to hit the rowing machine.

Goals

The coming year is mostly going to be a time of healing and working towards good health for me.  No resolutions as such but a definite goal which is to get healthy and enjoy life and family.  I've already been working on this for the last few months, but of course my health took a turn for the worse and surgery has put some of what I wanted to do to the side until I'm cleared for exercise again.

On the food front there's been a lot less sugar involved and I've been trying to eat more fruit and vegetables.

On the craft front I want to reduce my WIP's as having too much stuff hanging around impacts on how I feel, so I want to finish 3 things first being my travel socks for youngest, the test knit I'm working on and a pair of fingerless mitts.
I also want to finish spinning for a jersey, and warp up my loom for several projects as well as doing some historical sewing.

Mojo Hat

My new handspun hat, I'm not good at selfies but I like the hat

Feeling better today, doing a fair bit of wandering around the house and have started taking magnesium as I suspect I'm low in that (I'm also taking iron as I know I'm low in that after bloods).  Got the restless leg thing going on which is a sign and also the leg pain could be related.

In other news I'm thinking about next year's Historical Sew Monthly plans

• January –  Procrastination – finish a garment you have been putting off finishing (a UFO or PHD) or make something you have been avoiding starting.
  
  Not sure on this one, I have a KAL to do with a UFO, but it's not really historical.   Might do some research to find out if fingerless mitts were around in the suitably distant past.
  ETA:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-mitten-and-bracelet is proof that they did exist and although my pattern is modern it wouldn't be out of place.
  
  
• February – Tucks & Pleating – make a garment that features tucks and pleating for the shape or decoration
  
  I've got the bits for an 1810's bonnet so I think this might work for thisChange of plan, cos SQUIRREL!  I'm now making a chemisette and the tucks will be in the lace on the neckline


• March – Protection – make something to protect yourself (from weather or injury) or your clothes (from soiling etc.)
  
  I do need an apron for my 1810's dressAnother change, eldest needs a cowboy outfit for his Scout camp, so I'm going to see if I can make him a pair of chaps; they were in use in the 1870's for cowboys so will fit well.
  
  
• April – Gender-Bender – make an item for the opposite gender, or make an item with elements inspired by the fashions of the opposite gender
  
  I'd love to make something for my husband, but don't know that he'd wear it.  Might go with making a military inspired coat for my 1810's outfit instead
• May – Holes – sometimes the spaces between stuff are what makes a garment special.  Make a garment that is about holes, whether it is lace, slashing, eyelets, etc.
  
  Hmm, another hard one, might go back to the 18th century for this and start my 1745 outfit based on the Outlander series
• June – Travel – make a garment for travelling, or inspired by travel.
  
  I really want to make a tartan skirt for 18th century, I think this would be a good practical travel skirt too.
• July – Monochrome – make a garment in black, white, or any shade of grey in between.
  
  My socks for 18th century in grey Perendale handspun.
• August – Pattern – make something in pattern, the bolder and wilder the better.
  
  Will have to investigate the stash before making a decision, or the fallback would be mitts or a pocket with embroidery in the Oriental style.
• September – Historicism – Make a historical garment that was itself inspired by the fashions of another historical period.
  
  Will have to think about this one.
• October – Heroes – Make a garment inspired by your historical hero, or your historical costuming hero.
  
  Something else for the 1745 Outlander outfit
• November – Red – Make something in any shade of red.
  
  This is easy, I have (hopefully) enough boiled wool to make an 18th century hooded cape, this will also cross over to my 1810's outfit.
• December – Special Occasion: make something for a special event or a specific occasion, or that would have been worn to special event of specific occasion historically.
  
  1775 red silk Robe d'Anglaise, I have the fabric and the pattern (Larkin)

Ups and Downs

In general I've been improving, still get pain from time to time and my legs are having pins and needles and cold pain which I believe is due to the surgery as well and will hopefully improve over time.   I've also had other leg pain, but I had that prior to surgery, have had one swelling and heat issue which lead to me having an ultrasound, luckily it wasn't DVT, but I do have sluggish veins so more walking is needed.   I'm super glad of our free healthcare though, didn't cost me to go to ED and even the scan was free which I didn't expect!
I think my remaining ovary might be struggling too, been getting hot flushes from time to time, it may be in shock and if that's the case it should start working again later.   It could be a lot worse though!

The bills for surgery arrived yesterday, so I have now forwarded them all onto Nib and am super glad I have health insurance, it was a little less than expected, but still a huge amount of money!

In other news I've started doing a little crafting.  Before my surgery I bought a linen dress in a colour that is guaranteed to make me look ill, so today I did some block printing on it.

I used a carved block from India and I think I'll be doing more of this in the future.

I've also cast on for a Hill Country Hat using my handspun, I'll be making some changes to the pattern, mostly that there will be a turn-up brim using handspun alpaca with feathers in it.

The main yarn is Romney with some sparkle.

I've also got past the heel turn of youngest's new socks while waiting at doctors and hospitals etc
I may even be thinking about getting back to lace knitting once the hat is done, will see how I go with comfort for sitting.

This is an older Regia yarn, should wear well for my active boy.

Merry Christmas everyone and all the best for a fantastic new year as well.   I'm looking forward to a new year with wellness as my focus.

Been home for 2 days now

Pain is pretty good now, there's the odd sharp pain which I'm putting down to gas moving around traumatised areas.   I've been walking a reasonable amount and (TMI) my bowel movements are happening 2-3 times a day in the morning and I'm not constipated for the first time in ages!
I now know why I was constipated though, according to the bowel surgeon we were really close to having a total blockage due to the endometriosis which would have been a medical emergency and also explains why my health was so crap for a while.

I've not felt like doing much in the way of knitting or anything else crafty, been on the Xbox instead.   I think there might be a few more days of that as I'm still feeling pretty drained, but definitely improving each day.  I'm not going to push things too much though, but there may be a walk to the local pharmacy today to get some Difflam lozenges for my throat as I'm getting the cough tickle at bedtime and at the moment coughing isn't something I want to do much of.

Update

Well there are no more tubes attached to me, just a single lure. Yesterday started badly with hideous nausea, but that has settled now and is apparently a side effect of losing bowel.
Tummy pain is really low, but I still have some shoulder point pain and a headache.
The bowel that got removed was in a bad way. Some of it had been invaded to the point where it was almost blocked and the it above it was so thick with muscle due to having to work so hard that I believe it came out too.
I've been getting up to go to the loo from yesterday evening and has a reasonably independent shower this morning, hopefully I will get to wash my hair tomorrow!

D-Day

Surgery is complete, I'm a little woozy and very tired but the pain isn't any worse than period pain at the moment and it only gets that bad if I move around too much. My eyesight is currently a little doolally for which I blame the fentonyl and remaining anaesthesia in my system.
I am down by several inches of bowel but no stoma was needed which is great!
I'm also down by one ovary which had glued itself to one of my erethras and was in a very bad state indeed, it's blood supply had to be interfered with too much to save it.
My surgeon believes he got all the endo though which is wonderful news.

Tomorrow I will get to eat, I picked the fish for lunch and shepherd pie for dinner.

Tomorrow

I'm pretty much ready, waiting for the picoprep to take effect now and hungry as a bear after only some boiled eggs for food today (allowed on my diet plan for today).   Birthday party went off pretty well, all the kids seemed happy and that was the last thing to worry about.
Tomorrow I need to put the iPad in my bag along with the charger for it and my cellphone, plus the meds I need while I'm in there that I'm still taking now and then I'll be completely ready.

I got my final lot of spinning finished

Lovely polwarth/silk Navajo plied.  This will be sheep in a Baable hat.

 I also got my warp wound for my next weaving project, it's not on the loom yet and won't be till I'm sufficiently recovered.  My head isn't in the right place for warping up.

8/2 cotton in brown and pink for tea towels; don't have to worry about them getting dirty this way.

So tomorrow I'll be in late morning and then it all happens.  Will get to see how I go with Tramadol and if the pain is better or worse than it was with giving birth; I'm picking better at this point.  I'll be walking as soon as they let me to help with healing.
I'm definitely not anxious at this point, was earlier in the week but not now, no doubt that'll change tomorrow morning though.   I know I'm still stressed though, neck is tight and sleep is poor and I desperately want to buy more yarn despite not needing it; Vintage Purls has the perfect colours for me at the moment.  At the moment I'm being strong and although I'll have the iPad with me in hospital it doesn't have the passwords for banking or for Paypal so I am safe.   I figure being doped up on painkillers is a bad time to be able to shop.

5 Days to Go

The nerves have started to kick in a little, first thing in the morning mostly before I get busy.  I get busy fairly quickly though with getting reluctant youngest to school.
Today was blood tests, groceries etc, yesterday I did my packing and tomorrow is the last minute purchases like the Christmas ham, ink for the printer, possibly some fabric as I have a coupon for $20 off a purchase over $50 and as we all know something you can make things out of is always a good cure for nerves.   I probably won't do that though as we can't really afford it and I did just order some yarn from Europe.

Friday I'll be busy baking for eldest's birthday party, at this point I've heard from 2 of the 4 invited to say they're coming.  It's lunch and there's hideous red sausages (why do kids like those things, they're yuck!) and I'll be making chocolate cake, chocolate brownies and chocolate muffins; there seems to be a theme here.  I need to make them all dairy free for one of the guests, but luckily my recipes work well with coconut instead of dairy so that's all good.   The one thing I'll make dairy is bubble log simply because that doesn't go anywhere near as well without butter.  The bad part about all this?  I'm on a liquid diet on the day he's having his party which will be shear torture.   The good thing, I'm not taking the prep stuff till after everyone has gone.

Keep fingers crossed no illnesses venture into our house for at least another 5-6 weeks and that everything goes smoothly from here.

Busy times

Suri and angora yarn. 

 I spun the suri worsted and the angora was long-draw.  This has all gone to the Advanced Spinners Group for the annual challenge.   I've got more angora to spin here and this was the first time spinning angora ever, no recovery at all meant I needed something to ply it with that had the same characteristic.  Suri is lovely and shiny, but drapes with no bounce; perfect!

Top is merino/silk, the bottom is suri plied with silk

 Just like the previous one I wanted to ply the remaining suri with something that had no recovery and draped well, silk to the rescue.  I need to spin more of it as I have only plied about half the suri; that will be an after surgery spin I think, I'm getting low on time.

My next knitting project - it's a test knit for Valerie of Wandering Cat Yarns and I wanted to get it started before surgery.  The yarn is Touch Yarn's 4-ply Merino and it's yum!  The beads are from stash, and perfect.

Forgive the fuzzy shot, eldest was using my cellphone and had issues focussing.  This is my third dress for post-surgery wear.  It's cute, but not something I'd normally wear.  Fabrics are a quilting cotton for the yoke and some very old rayon from stash for the rest.

And my final finished dress with quilting cotton around the neck and the body is a merino/nylon blend; the colour is perfect and I might actually wear this in the winter as well.  The pattern is a frankenpattern as the sleeve for the dress pattern wasn't right, so I did some re-drafting to use the Ottobre t-shirt sleeve.  It fits so much better!

Before and After next!

My hair before hitting the hairdresser last week; for the first time in at least 2 years

and after!  Much easier to take care of post-surgery and everything is about that at the moment.

As well as all the above I have finished spring cleaning the house now, done a list of upcoming stuff that Dh needs to be aware of while I'm out of action and have almost finished reorganising the studio. I'm not sure if I'll have time to warp the loom, but I'm going to try.  We've also organised eldest's birthday party for the day before my surgery; I won't be able to eat anything, but I'll cope and it's important for him. 
One thing he wanted to do was to decorate pillowcases using fabric crayons.  I've got the crayons but had to order in pillowcases; could only get European ones in decent quality on special, so spent yesterday and today unpicking and then cutting and re-sewing to make them normal sized.  I hope he realises how much I love him!

A little over a week to go now, really hoping I don't come down with a cold in the next week; am taking echinacea at the moment, but have to stop that on Sunday to ensure there's no interactions with the anaesthesia or anything that could increase bleeding.  Sounds good to me, don't want to mess with that at all!

Finished the week feeling better

In part due to physically feeling better, my stomach is feeling less unhappy and in part due to further testing ruling out gallstones.   I'm still having stomach pain, but it took till about dinner time to start going ouch properly, whereas yesterday it was like that all day.   I'm still really tired, but hopeful I might be more me tomorrow.

I did finish my socks a couple of days ago, and then washed them in the wrong wash by accident so had to wear them to bed last night wet to reverse the felting that happened.  Aside from that they're lovely though

this is the yarn from Wales, love that they don't pool!

Also today I visited a friend.  I've not seen for for quite a long time and before that we'd only met once properly, but despite this we're still friends; not acquaintances but real friends.  I really enjoyed the morning spent there and we got to connect again.  We have some things in common that a lot of other mums don't, we both have children who will find it a little harder to make their way in the world than neurotypical children do.  I think she's doing an amazing job as a mum (yes, I really do!) and although she's suffering some self doubt as we all do I can see that she's got the right attitude and enough love to pull through.   All parents have dark days, even those without the extra challenges we face, but the bright days make it worth it.   We'll meet up again, I don't think I'd realised how much I needed to talk to someone who got it until I saw her today.  Yes, I get to talk to other mums at school, but pretty much all of them have neurotypical children and although they have empathy, they don't really understand what life can be like on bad days for us.  I really hope we get the chance to sit down again before my surgery, it's amazing how much better friends make you feel and I hope she felt the benefits too.   I know she'll read this, so, when you do read it, remember you're a great mum and you're doing an amazing job with a young person who will one day get on in life because of the effort his parents put in at the beginning, believe in yourself, I certainly believe in you!

And on that note I'll sign off for the night, do a little spinning or planning for sewing or maybe kill some nasty creatures on the Xbox; Dh is out with the kids at the Scout fireworks and youngest has strict instructions to stay with dad and eldest has strict instructions to tell dad if youngest forgets his instructions and I'm wondering where in the heck the cats have got to cos the fireworks are already going off despite it being daylight!

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.