Its been lovely having Luke off for the summer holidays. He is such a noisy bundle of fun. I haven't had much time to do any fibre stuff but I'm almost finished the Milkweed shawl, have resucitated a half knitted cardigan I found in the dresser and have spun some of the lovely merino/ silk peony fibre I got from FreckleFace Fibers on etsy. I made it to my spinning guild group on Saturday and it was just so nice to be out chatting in the sun about fibre etc. I love the ladies in our group and it really lifts my spirits to go for days afterwards.


I've actually almost got Maeva's 40th birthday present ready to post. I'm just not sure how I'm going to ship it all. Sparky is determined to go as well!


We took Luke quad biking. Luke doesn't like motorbikes at all but it was Mike's idea. We had a 2.5 hr drive to get there. Luke went 50 yards, fell off and refused to get on again. So that was a bit of a unfortunate event. But we went to the beach (I use the term 'beach' very loosely - Eastbourne is mainly pebbles, not sand) and had fish and chips on the Victorian pier.


We also took Luke to the fossil beach near Lyme Regis. The boys had a great time. I mooched around near the car as I couldn't keep up with them but it was nice to be out. I was almost in tears on the way back as I'd well overdone it and was in such pain and felt like I had bad flu. thank goodness Mike is so kind and understanding.



Luke's vegetables are growing OK, except for his pumpkins which are rotting as its rained so much. We did find this massive slug though. I've never seen anything like it!



This chronic fatigue is kicking my butt. I have about 2 days of feeling about 60% ok and then have about 5 days of being totally exhausted and in extreme muscle and joint pain. These days I can't knit or spin as I hurt too much. That really frustrates me.

And then I have 1 - 3 migraines during the week just to keep me on my toes. Luke went to stay with Grandma's last week so Mike and I could have some quality time together. I had a really, really bad migraine for the whole time he was away. I was not very happy about this!

Not sure what to do about a specialist. the local one is on long term sick leave and I really don't know if its worth chasing to see anyone.. As far as I can tell, no one is particulary interested and there is not much the medics can actually do apart from advise on pacing yourself.
I've started taking Vitamin D as there is some evidence it helps with chronic pain. I did have to laugh when I received the bottle of capsules though - the Vit. D is extracted from wool oil! Even Mike laughed.

I did discuss with Mike the option of me moving out for 6 months to a little flat nearby to give him a break from me and my constant ills but he wasn't having it. I do feel guilty about what its doing to his quality of life.

Saying that, at present there is a really happy little 9 yr old boy sat on the floor in front of me making a massive lego model with the money he received as holiday pay (I am too ill for us to go away so I split what I'd saved for a holiday into thirds and we all got it to spend on whatever we want).

I accidently won a 32" Ashford rigid heddle loom on Ebay so thats was my treat - I put in a low bid and thought I'd never win it but did! (I think it was because it was pick up only). I've only got as far as looking at it. How the hell do I think I'm going to learn to weave when I can't even find enough pain free time to knit and spin?

take one piece of freshly washed and dried Romney fleece, add one pesky Ragdoll cat and it = ultimate comfort. Bloody animal. I'll have to make him a nice bed for the winter with some now.



I've started knitting the Milkweed shawl and are really enjoying it so far. Its a really well written pattern. The MadTosh sock is lovely to work with too:



I bought some fabulous green sock yarn to make another one. Its from Saffron Dyeworks and is really beautifully coloured:



Generally I've done not much more than sleep this week. The pain is more under control. I managed to get to Luke's sports day which was most important. I also managed to win an auction on ebay for 39 Yu Gi Oh magazines for a tenner! so that will keep him busy over the summer holidays.

I've finally finished my little cabled handbag made using Pigeonroof Studios Romney. I adore the colours so much. Making the i-cord strap went really easily too:


I haven't done any TdF spinning today yet but may have a crack at my singles again later. I've stroked my lovely lemon batt if that counts?

I've joined a knit-a-long to make this shawl called Milkweed. The KAL is being run on The Backwards Loop Ravelry group. I will be using Madeleine Tosh Sock yarn in the Home colourway which I bought months ago. Its really yummy soft yarn.

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!