a new batt - its only 1oz but I've used handdyed lemon BFL, white BFL, gold merino, silk and sparkle. Have another 5oz of the mixture to make more batts up with:



I was stroking Sparky this morning. He has a bit of a love relationship with my floofy pink dressing gown so was in a blissful state. This is the face of a jealous hound. She did cheer up somewhat when Grandma turned up and took her out to the Ridgeway for an hour:



I'm really enjoying watching the TdF this year. Exciting speed trials today. They are dropping like flies. I am still sore, still tired but cheerier today. (big hugs Lynette - you are such a good friend, but you could have shot me with the Tirau dump rats when we were 14 and put me out of my misery then. Vache.)

Luke got a swimming badge on Saturday and I've sewn it to his blanket. As he doesn't go to Scouts he hasn't got many chances to earn any more. I've bought him some Star Wars ones off ebay but if anyone has any fabric badges hanging around that they don't want let me know!

Here's todays and yesterdays efforts for Tour de Fleece. On Saturday I made my first batt (!) and yesterday evening pulled it into roving and tried to learn how to spin low twist singles.


I carried on a bit today but are not making much progress yet. They keep breaking off the bobbin and driving me nuts. Just need more practice I guess.


Really really frustrated with my health. Have been SO exhausted and aching yesterday and today after feeling OK on Saturday.

I had a crack at sorting out my Romney fleece today ...

look mum, my fleece is better ...

this is before the first soak. it came out really clean except for some of the tips

its currently sandwiched between some net curtain and drying on the trampoline

I received a very big box from the USA the other day - a Strauch Petite drumcarder!!! Mike sold one of his motorbikes and bought it for me. I was so knackered the day it arrived that I undid the parcel, looked in the box, squealed and went straight back to bed lol! I had a very happy companion assisting me though:




I haven't used it yet. Just admired it and thought about what I want to card on it first. Sparky is running scared though just in case he is first through it! Here's a photo of him running scared:


I've dyed up a big vat of cheviot, merino and merino silk in a chocolate colour to use in the carder. The cheviot was grey, the merino was chestnut and the merino silk was a yucky pinky brown from a previous dyeing experiment. They've all come up ok and are currently drying on the trampoline:


they are not as red as in the photo. more a milk chocolate colour. mixed from purple and orange.

I managed to get to Woolfest last week. I didn't really feel strong enough to go but Mike said on the Friday night that we were going anyway even if I only spent 10 minutes there. He knows how gutted I was that I couldn't go last year due to migraines. He is a keeper.
So we left at 5am on Saturday morning and got there at 10am. Luke loved the scenery through the Lake district. He couldn't believe how big the hills were.
Woolfest was fabulous. Luke loved seeing the animals especially the rabbits. I felt really rough and had to sit down every 5 minutes but managed to buy 2 beautiful turquoise braids of superwash BFL from Fyberspates, some bunny fur and some commercially dyed merino.
I met some of the wonderful girls from Ravelry which really made my day.
We stayed 2 hours and then drove 5 hours home again.

here is the hard evidence that I win as the slowest knitter in the world. This bag is approx. 6 inches wide and it took me most of a day to knit the stockinette part at the top! Luckily I adore the colours so can live knitting them for ages:


Generally I have been exhausted this week and then have had a migraine the past 2 days. Its killing me being so tired as I am desperate to wash and dry my Romney fleece while the weather is so good.
My roses in the garden are looking fabulous. Luke's pumpkins, tomatoes and sunflowers are also growing well. I love summer!

I've finished the outside of the Cabled Purse from Last Minute Knitted gifts so now have the easy part of knitting the lining in plain stockinette.
I am really happy with how the Pigeon Roof Romney is knitting up, considering I completely overplyed it, being one of my earlier efforts. Its not next to skin soft though which is why this is a great pattern for it.
I love love love the colours. The depth and tones are gorgeous:


One of the ladies on Ravelry keeps Romney sheep and I had ordered a fleece from her. I've just had a message to say that its ready! Rosie is going to be delighted - she is like a glue sniffer when there is fleece around. Can't keep her snout out of the bad!

The doctor still can't decide whether I've got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFIDS) or fibromyalgia. I'm taking between 700 - 800mg tramadol today to deal with my muscular and joint pains. The tramadol seems to really keep me awake during the day which is fabulous.

I overdid it on Monday and had to stay in bed yesterday as I was so weak I could hardly pick up a cup of tea. I feel so pathetic! The muscle in my right forearm where I did some gardening on sunday morning has gone solid. My neighbour was amazed at how hard it is. weird or what?

I've finally finished spinning the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep to Shoe kit that I received for Mother's Day. Its my first 3 ply and is light worsted/ aran weight. I totally overspun it when plying so after washing and drying it I ran it through the wheel again and its much improved. The roving was lovely - slinky superwash merino. Its just waiting for its second wash and set:


I've managed to do some work on the jacket I started last year and only managed to get one repeat of the cable chart done. I love knitting cables.

Healthwise I'm struggling. I stopped taking slow release tramasol for a day to see how my underlying full body muscle/ joint pain was doing ... and I could hardly get out of bed the next morning for the sheer pain. So I've restarted that one.

Then yesterday I was feeling better than I had been, so took the dog out for 15 minutes and went shopping (which is a big deal because I haven't been out for weeks by myself or for longer than 10 minutes). I wandered round the book shop and supermarket for about an hour and this morning was really suffering with BAD pain everywhere and unbelievable fatigue.
So I've spent most of the day in bed. Its like my migraines have moved from my head to the rest of my body. My arms hurt so much I can't even read a book in bed as its too painful to hold the book up.

So I'm not going to push it again for a while. I need to be able to spin and knit with the energy I've got or I'll go insane!

*spunky club spoiler below*

I’ve just today been to see the GP and she agrees that I’ve either got chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia ….. I think its more likely to be chronic fatigue syndrome as a) I was diagnosed with it about 4 years ago but got over the really bad patch and b) I’ve got rrecurrent sore throat and had a low grade temperature when I was really ill in hospital about 8 weeks ago.

My main problems at the moment are crippling fatigue and bad muscle/ joint aching. I spend about an hour or two out of bed and need to go back for a rest/ sleep for 2 hours.

I was really worried about seeing her about this as you don’t quite know whether Dr’s are going to be supportive or not but she was really really good. Signed me off for 2 months and referred me to a specialist clinic run by a retired GP, who apparently is very nice and interested. And gave me some really good slow release painkillers for my muscle/ joint pains.

Once they kick in I am hoping to get on with spinning again. My arms have just not been up to it this week.

I received this months fibre from Spunky Eclectic. Its Romney wool which I love spinning. I used to have a little pet Romney lamb called Tarzan who I adored. He was very naughty but good fun.



... and this gorgeousness from FreckleFaceFibers may also be living with me after 'accidently' hitching a ride on Mike's credit card. Its merino/ silk and just gorgeously coloured: