Felting
At felting group this week we had our AGM and as I still have some dizziness when I move my head and sore back/hips, I didn’t fancy rubbing and rolling that goes on with wet felting, so I took a needle felting kit to start on a Highland Cow. (No I haven’t finished my previous project of my dog but hey ho!). I barely got started so no picture yet.
Knitting
On Thursday I was debating which jumper to do a swatch for whilst watching old episodes of The Grocery Girls podcast when they mentioned Turtle Dove by Espace Tricot. Tracy looked really good in her’s and then in the following episode Jodie was wearing her version, so that decided it for me. I’m a bit nervous with my double chin about the neck…but oooh it is a quick and easy knit so far. I started it on Thursday late afternoon and after a few hours I’m making great progress. I had this West Yorkshire Spinners Re:treat Bulky Roving set aside for a pattern I’d seen on the Knitting the Stash podcast last year (when Melissa was a test knitter), but unfortunately the pattern seems unavailable to buy still and no release date, so I’ve crossed that off my list and using the yarn for this instead and so far so good.
Sewing
My sewing machine is repaired and serviced for the first time. I think I got it before I bought my first house…not 100% sure but think I got it in my early 20s and I’m now 47. Apparently the cogs were pretty stuck solid and the reverse button now pops straight back out woo hoo! I just need to think of something to make now! I’m still tempted by a quilt but must resist, I only just donated a quilting book my mum gave me years ago thinking I’d never sew one…doh! Maybe one day but in the meantime I’ll find something small to make. Open to suggestions readers 😀
Spinning
On Tuesday evening I went along to my first time at the Ben Wyvis Spinning Group, apparently it was started 38 years ago and many of the original members are still going. I wasn’t feeling up to taking my wheel along and so instead took my blending board and some gorgeous fibre from John Arbon Harvest Hues (65% organically farmed Falklands Merino/35% Devon Zwartbles) that I want to woollen spin a jumper quantity! This photo is terrible but the fibre is actually a sort of dusty pink look made up of various shades. (Follow link to see real colour of fibre). I have an old picnic basket with no straps that is ideal for storing them. This is only about 1/3rd of the fibre and nothing spun yet.
Weaving
I have ordered a book that is called “Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom Discover the Full Potential of the Rigid-Heddle Loom” by Syne Mitchell. This is the book our tutor from last weekend’s workshop recommended. It will be interesting to see what is possible, as I can’t see me buying a big 4 shaft loom.
Other News
For the last 3 months I’ve been having chest pain at night, like acid indigestion, so 2 months ago we raised the head end of the bed to see if that helped. On Tuesday I woke at 5am with horrendous chest pain and when I sat up my dizziness was really bad and I felt sick and had a cold sweat. So at 8am I rang my Doctor to get an appointment and they said I should ring an ambulance. I said I think it is indigestion and an ear infection but she said I must go to hospital. So I went along to A&E (not in an ambulance) and they hooked me up to various machines, took lots of blood to test and took my temperature and blood pressure etc. 3.5 hours later I left with confirmation there’s no problem with my heart and some tablets to help with gastric acid and a recommendation to make an appointment with my GP to get the results of a test for a stomach infection that can give you chest pains like a heart attack and creates ulcers. So I have an appointment for Wednesday this week and hopefully will get my ear problem sorted too as I’m still dizzy if I move my head too fast or sit up/lay down. I was a bit embarrassed to have gone along, but they said I’d done the right thing, as women often think they have indigestion and sometimes it is a heart attack. I love our National Health Service, great care, friendly staff and they even gave me a sandwich and a cup of tea! The tablets haven’t fixed the pain but are helping reduce it.
For anyone who asked questions on last week’s post (especially about Billy), I did answer them and know readers using Blogger probably didn’t get notifications.
One final note, for anyone who enjoys reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy fiction, please look out for a new book being published by Emma Khoury, called ‘The Sword and Shield’. Emma is one of the step-sisters of the girls I au paired for in Michigan. This is her first novel and I see that some early hardback editions have been read by her family members and they have all said how gripping it is. I must admit it isn’t a genre I read and haven’t read or watched Harry Potter or Game of Thrones, but if you like this genre then keep a look out in March when it should be available. Once it is I’ll share a link to where you can buy it.
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This is a Year of Projects update. If you would like to find out more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, or you’d like to join in, please follow the link for details. To read what the other members of the YOP Group have been getting up to please click on the latest weekly folder and follow the links to their blog posts. This is a friendly group with a wide mix of skills and crafting interests.
HighlandHeffalump 
Oh at least heart problems were ruled out, now to get that infection sorted. Your sweater looks lovely. I sew a fair bit of my own clothes, but I started by making project bags for myself witb my sewing machine.
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Love that fiber!!! I have gone to the hospital for the same reason. I had taken everything I could to relieve the heart burn and figured they might have something better. But because my family has a history of heart failure, they checked me out for that.. I’m actually on blood pressure meds now, as my meds for chronic illness causes high blood pressure…also on cholesterol meds as a precaution….I’ll look out for that book, as I am a sci-fi fan…
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I usually have slightly low blood pressure but it was ‘normal’ when I went in and after they’d come back with blood results all ok heart wise it went back to being slightly low. Glad you have meds that keep your pressure under control, plus the knitting must help too. Oh that’s great you’ll look out for the book, I’m so thrilled she’s finally had it published after what seems a long time since she got her literary agent. She’s already written the next one too I believe!
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I hope you are feeling better soon. Your sweater is going to be wonderful. I am often swayed to knit something by the Grocery Girls.
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They’ve even influenced me to watch TV shows (Frankie and Grace) and listen to some podcasts (Armchair Expert) and when I next visit the US I will be getting some Hue Loco yarn, luckily no trip planned this year.
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oh gosh. i hope you are feeling better soon. Sounds like we both had a trip to emergency this week. Your fibre is beautiful. I love the colour.
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So glad that the Turtle Dove is a working up quickly for you. Your yarn color is just gorgeous! Is the fiber’s color, Bramble? Thinking it must be so, that is really beautiful. FWIW, you are not alone in going to the hospital with chest pains, only to learn it may be heart burn. I have had similar pain that I was probably foolish for NOT going to the hospital, but I’m stubborn. When I talked to my doctor about it later, he said it sounded like heartburn. I was in disbelief – having, before that, only experienced heartburn higher up in the esophagus, but treatment for heartburn and managing my eating habits better have mostly resolved it. Anyway… even though I was stubborn (or stupid) you did exactly the right thing. I’m glad your doctor told you to get the hospital. I hope you don’t end up having an infection. I’ll be interested in hearing how it sorts out.
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The Turtle Dove pattern is really cool. I love the color you are using for it too. The fiber you have to spin looks so pretty in that basket. Would make a pretty decoration until you spin it. Hopefully you get your pain taken care of soon. That was kind of scary to think it could have been your heart. Glad to hear it isn’t.
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Thank goodness you are alright! Except for gastric pain which can be awful and really disrupt your sleep. Have you checked your diet? Some food can really cause heartburn and you should be careful what you eat before going to bed. Pop is acidic, alcohol, tomatoes…that sort of thing. I hope you get the dizziness sorted out and the stomach infection if there is one. So glad you got things checked out!
Your sweater is lovely and I’ll have to go watch The Grocery Girls. I’ve been wanting to do a sweater but not sure that raglan sleeves are very attractive on me and they all seem to be raglan but then I guess since I have only made one other sweater I should stick with something simple. Your fiber is very pretty and I can’t wait to see your needle felting. I hope you fell better soon!
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So sorry you are not feeling tops. Could you have meiners disease? I have laryngeal reflux. So I was hoarse for weeks and didn’t know why. I was having palpitations. Diagnosis: don’t eat before bed, (I’m awfuL) take pepcid every day and raise my head on pillows … Hope your feeling better soon
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Thanks, I’ve got some different medication to take and that should hopefully help and I need to exclude some acidic foods to see what is perhaps prompting it.
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Hope you are feeling better by now. Do get everything checked and treated. As for the quilt, have you thought about a rag quilt? It’s pretty easy to make, and you can start with just a few squares and easily work your way up to a larger quilt. You just cut squares in your preferred size (I do 22 cm for a quilt and 12 cm for a pillow cover), use one fabric square for the back and one for the front, put a batting square in between that needs to be slightly smaller than the fabric (20 / 10 cm), then stitch the sandwich together diagonally. Sew the squares together so that all seam allowances will be on one side of the quilt, cut into the seam allowances until close to the seam so that you have kind of 1 cm fringes, and throw it into the washing machine once your quilt has the desired size. The fabric of the seam allowances will unravel slightly, and become all raggedy and soft and lovely. It’s so easy to make and a great starter project.
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Thanks very much, sounds interesting, I’ll definitely consider it.
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