Tour de Fleece pile

I spun just over a kilo of fibre and just over 2km of yarn from that fibre.

Clockwise from top left:  Haunui in Daniels on Dk Grey, Barrier Reef long colour run on Haunui Grey, Rainbow gradient on merino, Inky Mix long colour run on merino, Blue Gum merino and angora which I drum carded and then plied with lurex thread, pom pom using Barrier Reef on dark grey Haunui, Bollywood on merino plied with Rose on merino, Bollywood spun as thick n thin (this needs work), Twilight silk hankies plied Twilight merino/silk, Alpaca long draw 2-ply.  Everything except the alpaca is by Heavenly Wools.

Top down:  Gotland plied with a Corriedale batt by Doe Arnott, Gotland plied with leftovers and Merino/linen from Vintage Purls.

I spun all the fibre in my last blog post bar one thing of silk hankies and that was because I still wanted to be able to use my hands afterwards.  One silk hankie bundle is enough for a start.  
I had to add a few extra items to fill in the time and as a result my boxes of next spin are now able to take the overflow from my overflow bin (blush, I have too much fibre)

Now that TdF is done for the year it's time to do some other things, so today I cleaned the oven (ick), tidied the lounge and cleaned that too (still a wee bit to do) and picked up the stitches for the neck on my current jersey.  Once that's finished I need to concentrate on Dh's socks and tying up the new loom properly.

Tour de Fleece and FO's

Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow and I'm starting with some fibre I was gifted from Heavenly Wools as part of the 6 month ambassador role I've been offered.  I'm going to spin it as a fractal gradient.  I've already prepped one bump.

My planned spin pile, all Heavenly Wools

and this is my ambassador fibre, it's the colourway Daniels on Dark Grey Haunui.  I can't wait to get started on this!

I've also finished some weaving, my tea towels are off the loom and all hemmed and washed.

cotton, not perfect but I'm pretty happy.

I've also finished a pair of jeans and a sewn cardigan, but there will be no photos of that until I've taken them and posted them on the Monthly Stitch blog which I can't do for almost a fortnight.  There's a dress too, but it's been too cold to take photos of that, it's more of an autumn or spring weight.  I will try to get photos this weekend of that.

I've also got a lot done on my handspun jersey, down on the ribbing hem at the moment which then leaves the sleeves and the collar to go.  I'll take photo's of that once the ointment on my hands has properly sunk in, the chilblains are not a happy thing right now.

They're actually worse now, this was yesterday, now they're properly red and like little sausages stuffed too firmly.  Hate the itch so much!

Woolfeast

Today was Woolfeast, the first large trading day with traders from all over NZ and a heck of a lot of knitters and spinners etc.  I popped in first thing this morning and there were tonnes of people already (it opened at 10am).  I went in with cash and came out with yarn and other things, no cash left and I might have used the card for a couple of items as well, which I now have to pay for from my spending money.   It was worth it though, we've never had one before, but I suspect it may become an annual thing; I certainly hope so.

I got to meet new people, some of whom I knew from Ravelry including Doe Arnott, one other parent from the boys primary school (that was cool), some I don't know at all, but it was easy to talk to everyone despite my normal reticence.  Also saw a lot of people I knew from guild.

And here's the haul:

Clockwise from top left:  Maniototo Wools Aran which will be knit into a coat for me, Chiao Goo Mini's (really wanted these), Knit Pro Blocking set (wanted these for some years), a Doe Arnott Corriedale batt, Zauberball which I'll use in weaving, Outlaw Yarns Bohemia Sport for knitting the Zelda Shawl by Truly Myrtle, Dark Harbour Merino in light fingering, Spinning a Yarn merino/silk fingering, Vintage Purls DK for socks for Dh, Hollyberry Yarns in a gradient for socks for me.

Next two pays my spending money will be going to pay for the final bits from this, I won't need much else though, just some silicon dots and a double boat shuttle.  Will be either taking lunches to guild or coming home early to eat.

Must start all the things!

This is how I'm feeling at the moment, I have (had) 3 projects on the needles and the loom was being slowly warped up plus one dress cut out (not the wrap one) but I've now had a case of wanting new things. 

The loom was easy, I finished warping it up and am now having fun weaving a brown cotton teatowel.  I looked at the instructions for the project and objected to the suggestion of cream and salmon, I remember what happens to white and cream teatowels when you dry an aluminium oven tray and it's not pretty.  Luckily my stash had most of a cone of brown cotton and I felt the dusty pink I also had would be a nice accent.

M's and O's in 8/2 cotton on my Bartlett Countermarche 4-shaft loom

I did have to take a break from this for a couple of days to get ready for youngest's party, he turns 12 this week and he invited a couple of friends from his old school (only one could make it), plus his Teacher Aide from last year (was overseas on holiday) and his teacher from this year (she came).  It went well, the kids enjoyed themselves and it meant Dh could meet the teacher for the first time.  This is the cake I made:

It's a snake cake, the duck and chook are doing a runner while the snakes slither through the undergrowth after them.  It went down well, there's one piece left for this year's TA.

I've also cast on for a new jersey for me in handspun, the pattern is Eased by Alicia Plummer and is going fairly well so far, though I'm not used to bulky yarn.  I spun the yarn especially for this pattern.

The jersey so far

The remaining yarn (my phone hates night photos), the yarn is on different bases so goes bright to dark muted.

I'm also working on ignoring my shawl as I'm just not in the mood for cobwebweight at the moment.  In the meantime I've done some work on two pairs of socks

Lucy in the Sky Socks.

Plain vanilla socks

And I've planned my next knitting project after all these are finished

This has been in the queue forever, but I have the yarn coming, Mary at Maniototo Wools has dyed me up 1kilo of Aran weight Merino in a good blue red; I get to pick it up at Woolfeast next Saturday; can't wait.  This is the same yarn I used for Strokkur which I loved knitting.

On the sewing front my next projects are:

The dress is already cut out, I'm doing view D again in the burgundy you can see under it.

And of course the Outlander pattern.  The pinstripe wool at the top is going to be the skirt and the jacket will be in the pinstriped cotton velvet at the bottom of the photo.  Luckily I already have all the underpinnings.  I wanted a plaid, but nothing to be had in my current pricerange.

My next weaving project?  Wavering between the next item in Anne Field's book (placemats) or a floor rug.   We don't really need placemats, but it says linen can be used (once you have more experience) so I really want to try that just cos it's supposed to be more challenging.   However I also need a floor rug and I've got all the yarn I need so it'll depend on what challenge I feel like once this one's done.

Oh, and I now am in the hospital system, I'm on the wait list to be seen within the next 3 months by neurology.

Sewing a Wrap

This is the Olivia Wrap Dress

I really like it, though I would have been happier if I'd finished it while there was still light outside

• Since this is the New to You Challenge I decided to go with one of the patterns from the Chill Out Capsule and since it’s winter here the Olivia Wrap Dress by Named  appealed.  I don’t have a wrap dress at the moment and I had the perfect fabric in my stash, so that was another point in its favour.
• The fabric was some merino/nylon from Levana Textiles bought off Trademe and in a perfect colour for me, I might have had to buy a little more as I'd used some for another dress and only had 2.4m left.
• The pattern was mostly good, the fit is good for me with no adjustments but I would do the pockets differently in future.  They are inset after the side seams are sewn, normally I put them in before that and the result would have been much smoother that way.  I stuffed up a little and cut the fronts out with the wrong side of the fabric so had to change which side the dress fastens to fix that as I didn’t have enough fabric to recut.  I also changed how the elastic in the waist was sewn in and just sewed it over the seam and through the dress rather than attaching it to the seam allowance; what can I say, I’m lazy and I figured it’ll be covered by the ties anyway.  Finally I made the opening for the ties smaller after seeing comments about that being too large on Pattern Review.
• I’m actually surprised at just how much I like this now that I’ve finished it and I think it’s going to be a staple in my winter wardrobe.  It fits well and is flattering too.  I want to wear it with my Caterpillar boots for some reason, and if it gets super cold I’ll wear a shawl to fill in the neckline.
• Overall this was a fairly straightforward make, but did have some tricky bits and the instructions while fairly good didn't always choose the best way to do things in my opinion.
  
  Next up for me is another dress, a pattern I've made in the past for a fit and flare style dress using some cotton knit that's been in my stash for aeons, plus finishing warping up the loom (almost done).

  I've also installed a new waste disposer as our one died and cast on a jersey in handspun; no photo yet as it's not far enough along but there should be one later this week all going well.

Finally I'm now waiting on a referral to a neurologist, my MRI has some areas of demylenation on it, MS was mentioned as a possibility.  I'm not worrying too much yet but am still working towards clean eating and adding some extra supplements after my next GP appointment.  Despite that news I've actually been feeling pretty good over the last week aside from the side pain which wont' go away; it's improved a little, but still there.  I'll take the little improvements I think.

Interesting

My doctor tested my liver enzyme levels and one was a little elevated, but not as high as it had been, hence she doesn't think my pain is from my liver; however the other doctor who did lots of prodding noticed my liver was sensitive to being prodded.   Either way the elevated levels do suggest a slightly grumpy liver so yesterday I started taking Milk Thistle, it's from the seeds so not estrogenic (the leaves, stems and roots are).  I certainly hope that's right as I don't want to increase my estrogen levels and am in fact tapering out the HRT.   I did notice this morning though that my right side pain was reduced so have taken another one today and will continue to monitor the situation, this all started a month after starting the HRT, my doctor agrees I should taper off the HRT.  I'm taking some of my information from a website called Endo Empowered and some from various forums and some medical websites as well as my doctors.  The plan is to take this for a week and see how things go before adding anything new.  The next supplement will be DIM which is a hormone balancing suppliment best taken with a liver supplement (milk thistle and will add curcurmin which is the active part of turmeric).

My left side pain is still there, but not as bad as it was, suspecting adhesions from the surgery for that one as it feels like gas has got stuck and I've been burping a huge amount and despite the amount I'm drinking I'm having to resort to gold kiwi and prunes to keep the mail moving; this points to something interfering with peristalsis which also won't be helping my poor liver.   Today I've also started taking psyllium again, which means I need to drink even more.  I'm also hoping to get in to see Maree Frost who is a pelvic floor physio and can work on adhesions as surgery for them tends to be a cyclical thing and can cause more adhesions, oh joy!

I've also got back on the bike yesterday, did a 4.5km ride in between rainstorms.  None today as it's cold and windy and wet, but hoping it might calm down enough for one tomorrow as exercise will also help with getting things moving and reducing inflammation etc.

Right, if you've got through all that I think you deserve a reward, so here's my current projects; starting with the one keeping us warm now the weather has finally turned.

For the first time ever this is actually getting the house warm, I'm putting it down to the extra insulation in the ceiling since it was topped up and the double glazing.  We're running it at half at the moment, normally have to have it on full and are still cold!

Not much light for this photo, but this is the singles I'll be plying next; Heavenly Wools in the Great Barrier Reef colourway on light grey Haunui base, hoping it's the final lot for my jersey

and my current spin, also Heavenly Wools this time the Empress of India colourway on dark grey Haunui, this will either be left as singles or Navajo plied.  I'm leaning towards Navajo; it's a gradient.

Part of the new loom, I've got to do some more varnish on the bit on top, there was mildew so I've sanded it back to remove that and I need to do more sanding and 2 more coats of varnish.  I'm missing a couple of bits for it, waiting to hear back from the lady who gave it to me to see if she has them, otherwise I'll have to try to source them myself (hoping it's all metric).  I'll also be changing some parts with the loom I'm currently using, this one is 8-shaft but has some damaged parts in the wood, luckily they're the same parts with the same size as the other loom so I can swap them out seeing as this is the one I'll use most.  Unfortunately the loom maker passed away a few years ago so I can't go to him for parts.

Oh for some decent light!  This blurry mess is my colourwork socks, pattern is Lucy in the Sky and you can find the project on Ravelry.  The yarn is Wandering Cat Yarns Tabby Cat Fingering, which I don't think Val does anymore; loving how this is working up though.  It's one of only three current WIPs.

And this is my current travelling sock using Regia Galaxy; not sure yet if this will be for me or for Ian.  Longer leg than normal and I'm just past the gusset at the moment.

And my big project, this is about about 2 years old now and got put on hold because cobweb weight yarn is so fiddly!  I have to get onto it again though, it'll be my "when I'm feeling better" project as it requires some concentration.

And this even more blurry mess is my older loom which is mostly warped up.  I've just got to get the reed threaded and the yarn tied on to the front and then I can start weaving.  The light out there today is awful though and it's cold so it'll wait till a nicer day.  

More health issues

I'm back to the doctors again with side pain.  My original pain has been dealt with by physiotherapy, but this one doesn't want to leave.  More bloods taken to check inflammation and liver levels; looks like they may be thinking gallstones.
One good thing, apparently I'm easy to check out manually, I don't tense my stomach muscles when the doctor is poking around so she could feel my spine from the front!  She's also told me to start taking Panadol (tylenol to those of you in the US) to help with the pain.  I'm wondering if it's related to me being on HRT, according to some information I've found HRT increases the likelihood of liver issues and this all started after 1 month on it.  Will be checking with the doc tomorrow about going off it if it is liver, not making any decisions till I've got the blood results though.  If it's not then it might be endo back again, so once again I'd need to ditch the HRT (slowly and safely).  Funny thing, I thought after having my surgery all would be well, looks like I was wrong.

On the funny head thing, I've been told it's called "disequilibrium" according to the ENT and he's ordered an MRI to see if anything structural is going on in there.  If not then I go see another physio who deals in balance issues and possibly a neurologist as well.  That seems to have improved, though not gone away on the HRT, however I'd rather that than the pain.

I have managed to get some knitting done through all this though, I finished Strokkur just in time for the first cold snap

You can see how it fits here, a nice flattering line over my hips and it's warm.

and a very unflattering selfie, but the colours are showing up better, pain is not a flattering look either.

I want to make another of these, but a cardigan this time using the same yarn in different colours.  I'm not buying it yet though, want to be all caught up on my WIPs (only 3 left atm) and I also want to be feeling better too.

I've also almost finished warping up the loom, and got the bits of wood and so on that I need to make some Angel Wings to go on it; can't afford to buy them in from the USA with the exchange rate how it is, so going to make my own instead.

Just a quick update

1. the hip pain it seems is from my back, I have an exercise to do to fix this and I'm not supposed to bend.  I've been cutting out fabric and scrubbing shellfish which have involved bending, but both had to be done.

2. I've also got the side pain back in the place that landed me in hospital last year, though it's not as bad.  I'm suspecting it might be related to my elevated liver levels and I also suspect that my high sugar intake may well be part of it, so, I am not stopping sugar (again) and going to start exercising (again), the exercise I have to be careful with until the physio clears me for it.  The doctor is monitoring the liver levels, but I'll have to tell her the pain is back.  I need to do this for me (I want to be healthy, bugger the weight) and I need to do it for my family as well.  

3. I've been sewing (see #1), have got over halfway through 2 school shirts, the type with stand collar and cuffs etc.  These are for Ian and being white are boring, but necessary.  I also cut out a dress for me for winter in fabric that's been in the stash for aeons.

4. Have had to order yarn, this was not by choice, it was due to a case of yarn chicken that I am going to lose, I have a small lump of yarn in my main colour for my Strokkur jersey and I need more than that so had to order another skein, which of course means you need to order something else to go with it so you've got a chance of getting a project out of the leftovers.  I waited to do the order till I was certain of the yarn chicken thing, I'm just starting the colourwork section tonight.

5.  Been using the breadmaker most days, not yesterday or today though as I had to soak the pan cos the paddle wouldn't come out.  It's now drying so there will be bread tomorrow.  Going to try making rye bread as I'm hoping it's higher in fibre and lower in white carbs.

Frog pond

I've just finished the first of the next Sock Madness socks, unfortunately I won't be knitting its mate and this one will be frogged.  Very tight gauge with lots of increases in the middle of cables.   My hands are very unhappy after one sock, I suspect after two they'll refuse any further knitting for some time.  Also said sock is really hard to get over my heel so it won't get worn. 

As a result this beautiful sock will be frogged so I can reuse the yarn; I wish I hadn't cut it, but that's ok, it'll just lose me a few centimetres, not enough for the colour to change.

The yarn is Wollelfe gradient from Austria and I am in love!

Falling off bikes is bad for you

I mean I did know that, the bruising was a dead giveaway, but it now seems that there was more damage done.  Since the bike accident I've had pain in my right side, just where the hip bone changes to fluffy bits.  I'd not thought too much of it, but it's not been improving so I trotted off to the doctors today and now have an ACC claim in for it.  Turns out I've likely got a hernia as a result of the fall straining that side and of course it would be weaker than usual after the surgery too.   I've now got to take things easy for the next 3 weeks which will get me to 6 weeks post accident and then go back for investigation if it's not fixed itself.  Worst thing is it feels best if I'm slouching, so my posture is not being helped at all!

I tried to put something on the Visa this morning (online Lotto ticket for this week) but it got declined, found out why shortly afterwards, someone had stolen the card details and the card had been stopped due to suspicious activity at 3.30am this morning.  Only thing that had gone through was $2.50, they blocked the next transaction and its siblings, just as well really, they were over $1000!
I rang one place whose transaction isn't yet showing as it's going through Paypal to let them know it might bounce and that they can contact me directly if it does so I can pay them by internet banking.  They are sending my needles anyway which is nice of them and will call me if there's a problem.

I have been very busy with my knitting and spinning while all this has been going on and have made a list of things that need sewing as well.    On the sewing list I've got winter dresses for me, school shirts and trousers for the boys, work trousers for Dh, curtains for our rooms on the garage building and a cover for a shoulder roll to go in my pillow.

My Slip Stripe Spiral socks are finished and well in time so I'm doing Sock Madness in a team!

I finished Missandei too, I believe the pattern should be out around the end of this month; I've still to take action shots but the weather here hasn't been good when Dh has been home to take photos

And I finished youngest bear's plain socks as well

This is all my latest spinning, all 3-ply or Navajo and every one is for a specific project too.

This is from Wollelfe yarns through their Etsy shop (I wanted gradients) and will be for socks in Sock Madness

Also from Wollelfe but this is for a shawl, obviously a watermelon themed one.

I've got one more lot of yarn on the way, but I won this one from the Made In Home blog, I chose Socks Yeah in the Iolite colourway as my prize; can't wait till it arrives, so pretty!  It helps make me feel better when I win yarn.

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.