Oops & Birthday Celebrations!!!

Here are the finished lovely Evolution bedsocks :) Lovely and cozy to wear. Unfortunately they only lasted a week! Read on........I have a couple of stupid things to own up to!

The first would be putting the bedsocks in the washing machine. It does say gentle machine wash on the label, and I've put plenty of socks in there before though not STR ones as I learnt from that mistake! Although they never ruined the socks thankfully ;)

So I was rather suprised when they turned out like this........DH was laughing his head off though I think he's more bothered about it than I am. Not much I can do about it is there. So if anyone has a little girl that wants some felted socks, just let me know. They were lovely while they lasted....... and now I know Evolution felts like a dream :(

The other stupid, or daft thing just shows why I can't follow patterns any more. I'd been working on and off on my Colinette Point 5 jacket and decided to sew up the ends on the final 2 pieces left in the lounge. The rest I'd already pressed in a mad half hour ironing spree. So there I was, trying to make sure the ends didn't show on what would be the zip sides of the front, but I couldn't understand why I had so many joins on those sides. Usually I only join in yarn on fronts where it will be hidden in seams. Anyway, as puzzled as I was I carried on quite content. I then laid out both the fronts and got totally freaked out as I couldn't get them to match up. One seemed to be shorter than the other and I just couldn't work out why. I spent 10 mins trying to match them up but eventually gave up and went to bed, figuring I'd try and work it out the following day.

The next day arrived and whilst I was pottering about it suddenly dawned on me. I'd been trying to 'match' the sleeves to one another. The fronts were upstairs already pressed!!! I never used to be stupid, honest. But its one of the side effects of either the illness or the meds. It's rather funny when you think about it, but slightly worrying how long it takes me to figure out what on earth I've done.

But I have been getting better and am managing to make the Firebird socks from the STR kit quite nicely thank you ;) Curly Cable inspired me when I saw how lovely hers were looking on Ravelry and I've already finished one sock. I only knitted the cuff for 5" as I don't like my socks too high, but realised after working the foot long enough to try it on that 5" would have been ok as the sock has a garter stitch heel which is alot shorter than my usual heel flap heel. It didn't matter anyway as when I tried the finished sock on, it fit perfectly :) I'm now working on the 2nd sock and can't wait till their finished. I thought I'd taken a pic of it but haven't so you'll have to wait till next time ;)

The lovely Curly Cable nominated me for the You Make My Day Award a while back and I was chuffed to bits so thank you very much :) My nominees are:

Knit Only But Also for her fabulous style (we like the same things lol), wacky humour, awesome knitting, superb finishing, kindness and for being my blog friend ;) She always makes me laugh and goes on fab trips and makes me jealous with wonderful photos.

KnitDevil for being a wonderful cyber pal who's so much fun, generous beyond words, incredibly kind and makes me laugh even when things get tough. She got me my KP Harmony's AND my STR sock blockers. KnitDevil also has a wicked stash which I love to watch grow on Ravelry!

I could nominate some more but then the post would never ever get finished.........

And the reason for another post so soon (for me anyway) is that its my 40th Birthday on Wednesday! I know, I'm quite shocked too. How did this happen? Knowing how long I usually leave it till posts thought I'd announce before rather than weeks later..... I'm going to a local spa for a top-to-toe day and DH is coming with me until after lunch when he'll come home and clean the house whilst I continue being massaged and generally pampered. They know I've been ill a while so its no problem if I need to crash out at any time. I have to get up earlier than I'm used to so that will be quite a shock. I'm looking forward to it and my homeopath did suggest massage therapy :)

I had a good doctors visit last Friday and she was really pleased with my progess. The black bags and listlessness are gone and its nice to have someone notice improvements. We discussed ME/CF again as my energy levels are still pretty non existent. But baby steps are the way to go and I'm managing my 5-8 min daily walks quite nicely. In addition CF would be treated the same way as depression anyway, so I continue on the meds, take plenty of vits and go on my little walks. She also suggested trying yoga or yogalates too. I've done yoga before and really enjoyed it so that will be good for rainy days. Like today!

Of course I can't go without leaving you with with this unusual animal video. Our animals are all well and healthy and currently Roxy is sat in his new sand bath looking really cute and trying to chew the ceramic edge. He's rather puzzled why he can't. Bless. There is a reason we bought a ceramic one to replace the chewed plastic one!

Is It Spring Yet?

I had in my head the idea that I'd post once a month. Seemed fairly reasonable. Until I got the cold from hell that quite a few people have suffered with and it managed to wipe me out for over 2 weeks. Not fun at all. Needless to say, very little knitting got done ie. even less than usual! I have my DH to thank for the cold as he generously passed his on to me.

I got my own back though on his birthday by being really ill so we couldn't go out for a meal. The culprit this time looks to be an egg yolk. Trust me, you do not want to suffer from allergies and food intolerances. The egg caused another week of illness and flu like feeling. None of which is helping my weight gain. I'm already lactose intolerant and have to be careful with egg , milk & cheese, but for some reason I react much more to the tiniest amount of dairy nowadays so thats it for me with dairy from now on. Apart from butter which seems be ok.

On the good side, my strange red, blistering tongue allergy issues seem to have cleared up. One day I just looked at my tongue and could hardly recognise it. Its been a couple of years since I had a normal tongue, but there it was, all looking lovely as it should be. I have to thank homeopathy for that and am so pleased I can eat without getting blisters. Wonderful! Fingers all crossed it continues ;)

I had a review with my doctor and she's pleased with my current dosage. And taking the meds first things seems to work much better and I've had hardly any nausea or side effects. Yippee! I'm still trying to put on weight but haven't lost any more so thats a start.

I have to apologise for being behind on replying to posts and reading blogs. I'm the same with household post and bills too. They just seem to pile up and up.........

And for some knitting news. Not much but here we go. I got my 1st STR kit of the year and am super pleased with it. Makes me even more glad I rejoined. Isn't is pretty? I've actually just got the 2nd kit (can you tell I started this post a while back but never managed to actually post it....) which is gorgeous. As its newish I won't post a pic yet, but will do next time.

The lush Jailhouse Rock STR socks are done and dusted and have been several times. I love them. Can't get over their amazing colours.

Remember the Evolution I showed last post? Well they're being knitting into bed socks and I've finished the first sock and working on the second. It was real slow going for a while, they yarn is really soft but has no elasticity, and I started to lose interest. But now I've tried the sock on, I love them. Boy is this stuff soft. Won't be hardwearing, but I don't need them to be. So hopefully it won't take too much longer to get the 2nd one done. It's already taking forever as it is. Then I can get back to my favourite STR ;)

I didn't buy any yarn at all in Feb or March. I thought the new Rowan mag was uninspiring and neither VKI or IK had anything that really excited me. I managed to find a preview of Rowan Studio 9 that has Calmer designs but didn't like that either. Oh well, at least I can't spend what I don't have. But surely there must at least a booklet I can get! I mean, to go another month without knitting purchases is unheard of. I don't count subscriptions but I've even cut down on those. And may cut down on Let's Knit as well if the next issue is as awful as the one before last. Shame as that one seeemed to be different to the others at first.

Update: I managed to make knitting related purchases - only small ones and not yarn but much wanted.

This is just a perfect easter picture and just made me laugh. Can't imagine Thunder like that :)

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter. We had a nice quiet one. Wasn't the weather awful though? Thank god it won't be that early for a long time.

This is a photo of what my windscreen looked like after being vandalised a week last Friday night. Yes, it was outside my house and CSI have been and taken photos and measurements as there were footprints all over the bonnet. As well as scratches and dents. Hmm, teenagers are definitely not my favourite species at the moment! As if we haven't got enough stuff going on as it is! But its now been replaced so once more driveable.

I'll leave you with this video. I don't whether to laugh or cry. It takes spoiling animals to a whole new level. The last part is just unbelievable! And there's more on this one, it looks all quite normal at first, then just gets crazier and crazier....... the quality isn't great and the sound track is urmm, not my thing but you have to just watch it :)

A New Year

Happy New Year! Can't quite believe it's the end of January already. But I always find Jan & Feb fly by and to be honest, I'm rather glad. Cold, wet gloomy weather really doesn't do it for me funnily enough! Roll on spring please...........

To prove I've been knitting here are my last 2 FO's of 2007 which brings a grand total of 26 . Substantially down from previous years but never mind. I've given up knitting anything that requires reading a pattern so that really leaves just plain socks. But combined with STR yarn they are the perfect project for me right now. The gorgeous STR colours keep my interest and I don't have to (mis)read a pattern and so don't make any mistakes. Good news all round ;)

The scarf is gorgeous and is the Purl Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. A fab stashbusting pattern too and would also make a lovely gift :)

The final FO are my Cherry Tree Hill Louet Gems socks which really seemed to take forever. I kinda went off the yarn a little when knitting the second sock, something that doesn't happen with STR!

Check out the gorgeous Blue Moon sock blockers sent from the lovely Madge. Aren't they just beautiful? And they arrived in the most perfect packing too! How cool is that!

We had animal shennanigans again just before Christmas when Roo and Chilli had an 'encounter' resulting in more being bitten off from Chilli's paw. Yes, it was the same paw Roo bit off again! So another vet visit and 21 days of antibiotics ensued. He seems to be ok now though not sure either of them have learnt their lesson.

Thunder has been super cuddly and generally pretty good apart from his new trick of jumping onto my laptop - when I'm using it! He's not a small rabbit and has taken a couple of keys out. Luckily I put them back ok. To make it worse, Chilli and Roo have decided this is a also a wonderful game and do the same. Luckily they don't weight much but really, come on guys!

The last STR kit of 2007 took4 weeks to arrive (cheers UK post!) as they got caught up in the xmas post. Though I have to say I love the kit and have loved being part of it. Pre illness I'd already decided I would rejoin but after becoming ill and leaving work started to wonder if I would rejoin. Money issues and the fact that I can't read patterns anymore (correct that, I can read them, just can't follow them correctly anymore) made me think it might be better to leave it. But I couldn't bring myself to let Blue Moon know and ummed and aahed about it for 5 days till me & DH had a discussion and agreed part would be Valentines pressie and the rest from birthday money. So I rejoined and once I'd done it felt so pleased and actually rather relieved. So I'm in the 2008 club and the first kit should be arriving any day soon ;)

Here is my current WIP that is keeping me happy. Gorgeous STR socks in Jailhouse Rock. I can't get over the colours in the yarn and how different it all looks knitting up compared to in the skein. You can never see all the amazing colours till you start knitting with it. I've made good progress too and am now on the 2nd sock.
I ordered the extra Harmony sets as soon as they were in stock at Get Knitted and how have the complete set. I love em. But I am on a cutting down splurge. I've cancelled 2 of my knitting subs already and may do another 2. I'm also planning on selling some more yarn on Ebay that I know I'm unlikely to use. After hearing about various yarn diets I've decided to record all the yarn and yarn related stuff I buy this year. I don't think I got that much last year but reckon if I added it all up I'd be quite surprised. I'm not on a yarn diet, oh no, but more of a 'only get it if you really need it' type of thing.

So obviously buying a pack of 10 balls of my much-loved Rowan Calmer for £24 is perfectly fine. It's the only yarn I've bought this year and was reduced from £65 to £30 and then an extra 10% off. I try and steer clear off sale yarn these days unless its a couple of balls or so. But this is Calmer, and there is always an exception with this gorgeous yarn ;)

Healthwise there have been quite a few things going on. Asthma is under control though I'm still on a high steroid dosage. Virus and tiredness has improved so that I'm not spending half my life (or more) in bed. My homeopath recommended a light box and that has helped my excessive sleeping. She was pleased with my progress and I had some more medication sent to me. My lovely GP has now left the surgery and I saw another one in a very long session. We went through everything but she wasn't happy with my current antidepressant dosage which had been reduced a month ago as I'd lost a lot of weight due to them making me nauseus. Which was quite a surprise as I thought I was actually doing ok. But thinking about it she is right, I have been getting more and more upset for longer. So I'm back on the higher dosage and hoping no more weight loss occurs. Or nausea as I'll then have to change meds and I'd really really rather not go through all the side effects again.

It's kind of funny that after Christmas most people are thinking about dieting but I actually have to put on a stone in weight, which isn't actually all that easy. It would be nice not to be called skeletor by DH really but I can understand, bones that stick out are really not that attractive (or comfortable either).

It's the new knitting season very shortly and I'm hoping my Rowan mag arrives quickly and gets my creative juices flowing. Even if it doesn't, you can't have enough socks can you lol?

Here is the gorgeous Evolution bought at the Knitting & Stitch Show from Jo for part of my xmas pressie. Lush isn't it? And the other 2 yarns I got for xmas are from The Natural Dye Studio and some more Tait & Style.

I'll leave you with a cute iPhone Cozy I made to keep my lovely new iPhone snug and warm. Yay - my first FO of the year. The iPhone was my BIG christmas present from DH and I absolutely love it ;)

Merry Christmas

Just a short post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and hope that Santa brings you all you wish for!

I wanted to especially thank everyone who commented on my last post. Words can't explain how much it helped me and I'm so grateful for your comments.

I have been doing a little knitting most days and finished these lovely Cozy House Socks from 101 Skein Wonders. I loved them so much I've cast on for another pair in cream. I used Jaeger Matchmaker Aran from stash which is machine washable and so nice and easy to care for.

And I finally finished the Log Cabin Blanket from the Mason-Dixon book. It's only been a WIP for over a year! But it's lovely and snugly and perfect for cuddling up on the sofa with.

For my lovely Harmony needles I found this lovely DPN/circ case on Ebay which holds them all perfectly. I know have the larger additional sizes and so have a complete set ;)

See you all in the New Year!

A Difficult Post

The latest Socks That Rock Club Kit arrived just before I did my last post but as they were still arriving didn't want to spoil it for anyone so waited till now. Hard to photograph but a very unusual colour and gorgeous in the flesh. Notice the little friends attached? They really are a little lifelike......

The pattern is lace and we know lace isn't my thing so I'll use something else. I did start the Firebird sock kit thinking it would spur me on, but I find the pattern a little beyond me right now so thats sitting waiting patiently.

I have managed a little progess on the 2nd CTH Louis Gems Merino sock though. Eventually it will turn into a complete sock and join its pretty brother and make a pair! It is a lovely colour but fingering weight yarn and teeny needles aren't what I need right now so its gone into hibernation for a while.

I started making this shrug from the latest Yarn Forward magazine while I've been ill as it was so simple even I could manage to knit it without totally messing up. Brain fog you see ;) I wasn't sure whether I'd like it and thought it might get frogged but once I'd finished the main body which is just a rectangle, it kinda looked rather good. Perfect for just slipping on when its a little nippy indoors or maybe for wearing in the car. And the yarn is from stash that I've had years. I like using yarn from stash ;)

I still haven't managed to take a picture of the almost FO blanket.......which is now having its ends sewn in, as I just keep forgetting. DH glued the defective Harmony which worked a treat, so I was able to carry on using it.

Ravelry forcing me to face up to my stash mountain has been good in some ways. Time to get rid of stuff that I've had for years, especially anything with manmade fibres in it. Not the Calmer of course, that doesn't count! And realistically, now matter how much I'd like to make Bomber, the jacket in Rowan Denim, it is never actually going to happen. It gives me chronic arm ache and the pattern is a pain as its not a standard rib so mistakes are far too easy. And even worse, you have to knit it longer than normal to allow for shrinkage! Knitting should be fun, and though it might be painful selling the packet of 20 balls I fondly remember buying in House of Fraser, I think I'll feel a lot better when its frogged and gone. I hope so anyway.......

Is anyone else feeling maybe its time to destash a little or sort out after Ravelry has made them face the reality of the size of their stash? Or is it just me......

I don't really know quite what to write about my illness. It's tempting to ignore my blog as I actually have to write stuff and at the moment I find Ravelry easier as I can just post pictures and say nothing. It's been a difficult time and rather than recovering, the minute I attempt to do anything requiring energy, I end up worse. As yet another failed attempt to go into work a few weeks back for an hour or so proved. Not helped by boss saying 'so you won't be doing end of month then' after telling him I wasn't better. I broke down in tears and more doctors visits ensued. I've been diagnosed with post viral fatigue and depression on top of the severe asthma. The fatigue explains a lot. The depression I've found hard to accept and deal with, but am now on medication and not so embarassed about it as I was. Neither have been helped by my asthma being the worst ever. I'm now on another lot of new medication for that too. My peak flow was so low when I saw the asthma nurse I was totally shocked. So, all in all, things haven't been good. I've been signed off by the doctor again and now won't be returning back to work. I never thought I'd suffer from depression, but the stress of my illness and the pressure of being forced to keep returning to work was just too much. I have no trouble standing up for myself but when you're already unwell you expect more from your employer than a load of stress and pressure. I wasn't even going to mention the depression on my blog initally, due to embarassment. I'm past that now. Funny how we react to things sometimes.

I have been to the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital though as I managed to get a cancellation which I was pleased about. Unfortunately the effort of getting to the hospital totally wiped me out and I'm still recovering from that. But the process has started and I've had my first remedy and have my next appointment at the beginnning of January.

So the knitting, blogging and leaving comments will be sporadic for a while. You'd think I'd get more knitting done but there are days when I can't manage a stitch. So I'm sticking to simple quick knit projects that aren't challenging and are easy to pick up and put down. And finishing something always gives you a boost doesn't it?

And this is one of my quick knit projects from 101 One-Skein Wonders (how I love that book!). the hat is really cute and I'm really pleased with it. It's called Ela's Favourite Hat for anyone interested and just uses a skein of Noro ;)

I also got the wonderful 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders which recently came out and is just as good if not better than the first book. There are several designs I already have plans to make. It's the perfect book for me right now, small, simple projects. My homeopathic doctor was quite impressed with my felted bag and said knitting was really good as it uses the other side of the brain. We already know that its good for us, don't we?

I also came across this book by Maggie Pace, who of course designs the Pick Up Sticks kits and patterns which I adore. She has a newer book which I'll get at some point. Meanwhile this book is full of patterns I'd like to make. Not yet, but hopefully soon.

Refusing To Give In

I'm determined to show some knitting this post and not have a post just about my latest problems. No doubt you're as sick of hearing about it as I am of being ill! So briefly here we go - I reacted to the scented? air purifier and ended up on steroids in the end anyway. Couple of days later I had breathing problems again and my nose was blocked. So back on antihistamines and nasal spray. Made it to work on Tuesday, coughed all morning, should have left work early. Didn't. Big mistake. By the time I left the glands in my neck were swollen and throbbing and I got home in a terrible state. Back to the docs on Weds and left with another additional inhaler, sick note for my asthma and the news that I now also had a viral infection. That would explain the swollen glands then! Downside to steroids is they lower your resistance to infection.....

But I'm determined not to get more miserable as it just hinders your recovery and am just resting in bed and doing nothing. Apart from a little knitting, playing on my Nintendo DS and of course going on the internet. Things kind of hit a peak on Weds, not a great surprise after everything, and I wasn't happy to wake up in the afternoon to find an email from work asking if I could come in to finish the payments. I realised my health was far more important than work and to keep struggling through when I wasn't right is just making me worse and worse. So I'm not worrying about work anymore.

As I'm still waiting to hear from the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital and realistically may not get an appointment till next year as the referral letter hasn't been done yet. Thanks to the new computer systems at the doctors. So I've booked in for allergy testing with a local homeopath for the time being. She knows I've been referred and frankly, I can't wait and do nothing. I've gotten some books on homeopathy to read up and learn a bit more about it. As my first aid kit consists of aromatherapy oils rather than creams or lotions it makes a whole bunch of sense to me.

My recent hospital visit for my anaemia was fine and the very well spoken jolly doctor I saw looked through my files and said humourously, is there any part of you normal? I thought about it and replied my heart. He's happy for my doctor to continue blood tests and monitoring of B12 levels so thats quite handy not having to go to hospital for that.

You know when things start to wrong, then everything kinda follows? Well.....we ordered a new Animal Dyson vacuum and it arrived and DH was happily putting it all together whilst I was resting. He tried it, it wasn't working properly. So we rang them and they're sending replacement bits. Poor DH, he was so excited ;)

And then I was knitting my blanket with my lovely new Harmony's when the wooden tip came off!! And don't mean the cable unwound either. So blanket is on hold and KnitPicks are sending a replacement to my US pal (sorry!) They were really quick getting back to me and apologised for the defective needle. Thats great customer service for you. So thats it for the blanket for the time being as they're OOS till the end of Oct......and it was doing so well. I only had 2 skeins left to go. It will be a lovely big blanket though not exciting to photo which is why I haven't for a while. I love my new Harmony's so much I did a bad thing and changed from my Denise circs to the lovely Harmony Options. Bad because they're not exactly the same size as Denise are US sizes and Harmony proper metric ones. But as its a blanket I'm not too worried. The difference was amazing. The stitches flew along instead of dragging and it was so much easier to knit.

I'd even got the hang of screwing them tightly enough so they don't loosen. I also wish I'd asked my lovely US pal to get me the larger additional sizes too. Seeing as some of the sizes are OOS already, I'm worried their arrival at Get Knitted might be delayed you see....... and I'm not going back to the Denise circs now!

I also had to throw away the stinky plastic case that the Harmony's came in as that gave me a headache straight away and instead ordered a lovely needle case from Pavi Yarns instead. Which I've just been told is sold out. Would have been nice to have been told earlier, as I ordered it a week ago. Oh well, never mind. I'm sure I'll find something else.

So back to the promised knitting. Here's a pic of the sleeve on my Crochet Trimmed Hoodie. I finally managed to start tackling the crochet edging a few weeks ago before I got ill and found it a real challenge. A total learning curve for me as I've no idea what I'm doing not having done many of the stitches before and its all a bit of trial and error. It does look lovely though, but takes forever and needs a lot of concentration, which is just beyond me right now.

Here's a close up of the edging so you can see it in full. I'm rather pleased with it myself. Good job the photo doesn't show the edges as they flare out....but hopefully that can be sorted when I sew it up. If not, flared sleeves look lovely anyway ;) I do wonder how long the front and back will take, seeing as how long just doing the sleeve took......

Last Saturday DH drove me to Get Knitted to get me out where I did a little yarn therapy which was just what I needed. Isn't the Malabrigo gorgeous? Just had to have it. And I changed some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn for the Sea Wool in a similar shade as the LL has nylon and with all the recent troubles have decided its not worth the risk. I can usually get away with nylon in sock yarn but never in normal yarn without risking an asthma attack. So all sock wool with nylon will shortly be disappearing from my stash...... I much prefer sock yarn without it anyway so no loss there. DH also drove me to my favourite Fresh & Wild Store where I got a new pretty organic lipstick which I love. Shame the retail therapy boost didn't last longer but it was lovely while it did :)

If you haven't seen this video of the outrageous dancing cockatoo you MUST. The end bit just cracks me up. Honestly, I laughed so much and had to watch it again. After I'd seen it, it appeared on Cute Overload as well. Gotta be the best video ever.

And you gotta see this too. Wonder if Thunder would let me knit him one? I think not.......but boy that made me smile.

Lastly, a big thank you for the lovely messages. You have no idea how much they really help when you're feeling lousy ;) And take care too, all I seem to hear at the moment is bloggers being ill or suffering allergies or allergic reactions. It's all very odd.....

Autumn Tales

Phew what a busy time its been! Not much knitting done yet again for a variety of reasons, more on that later. My life seems to be like my knitting, up and down and not much progress happening.

Firstly the computer crash is a whole lot better and I'm almost back to how I was. Not helped when I discovered all my iTunes songs had vanished. I got them all back but like everything, it took some time.......

My savings account issue has been sorted. My credit card not and makes me fume. An official complaint has been made and yet again, I'm told to wait for a reply. Oh I can't wait till I get to close the account.

Despite the postal strike this gorgeous Hyacinth Handspun Yarn from Etsy seller Pigeon Roof Studios finally arrived. The seller forgot about me so kindly sent some extra yarn, the colour is Dovecote. Believe me, this stuff is well worth waiting for. I saw the handspun made into socks somewhere in blogland and immediately HAD TO HAVE SOME. You will of course understand this. But the seller doesn't dye the handspun to order and I kept missing out on buying it due to time difference. Finally I snagged myself some and can't wait to knit them. They will make gorgeous bed socks indeed ;)

I very nearly never made it to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally last Thurs as I was very poorly indeed and had been in bed for 3 days without the energy to even make myself a drink. Things were not looking good and I couldn't cancel either the train tickets or the show tickets. But I did make it and though very tiring had a great day and very glad I went. I'm afraid all I bought are 2 balls of Tait & Style and 2 magazines, the new Let's Knit and Yarn Forward and a KP needle gauge. I really like the look of Let's Knit and find its more trendy and contemporary compared to Simply Knitting and so far has no boring reader letters, horoscopes or other rubbish womens mag stuff. Let's hope it continues ;)

Yarn Forward was ok, better than the last issue which I didn't buy and has a much better layout. I wouldn't bother subscribing but will look at each issue when it comes out to see if I want it or not. With Ravelry and the amount of patterns available on the internet I think I'd rather have one of the UK mags full of lots of lovely adverts for even more yarn........

Thought I didn't buy much it was great to chat to other knitters and have my Fletcher coat oohed and aahed over. It was funny to see knitting whispering.....is that Noro to themselves as we were leaving. Obviously it was too hot to wear at the show but at Socktopus they spied it in my bag and I had to get it out. It really is fabulous and so great to have other knitters appreciate it too ;) It was also wonderful for all the travelling I did and kept me nice and snug. And what kept my fingers from burning and the cup of tea nice and hot on the way home? My latest FO of course, the Coffee Mitt from 101 One Skein Wonders in Malabrigo. A super quick knit and very handy if your partial to buying hot drinks.

My best friend Joanne though bought me several lovely yarn purchases for Christmas which was why I didn't really need to buy much myself. It's not about how much you buy anyway, its just nice to see whats new and whats about and did I mention the chatting! And the downside to taking stash photos for Ravelry is the realization of just how big you're stash is and that there's no need to buy stuff just because its there........no matter how tempting the Marshmallow at the Colinette stand was! So for Christmas there's more Tait & Style that I've never come across before and who have amazing colours, some Natural Dye Studios Mirage who haven't exhibited at AP before and had a great stall. Lastly some Evolution from Socktopus which is all prettily wrapped so you can't see the lush colours. But believe me, it was oh so soft!

And also as I'd only just gotten some fabulous Harmony Options from my wonderful US pal that actually arrived the morning I went to the show. I expect that gave me the boost I needed to manage to get to the show. They're absolute gorgeous and I love them. Funny how it was only a while back that I mentioned about Options needles hitting the UK at Get Knitted and how not interested as I was as they were metal...... and then KnitPicks bring out the Harmony Options! Get Knitted will be getting them towards the end of the year but of course I couldn't wait that long. I have Snugs to be made and needed a nice harmony circular. Plus the blanket I'm doing is on Denise circs and I don't like using plastic needles for long either and I'd really like to finish it this century.........

Back to my illness. It started with itchy eyes on Saturday and then my asthma was bad Sat night. By Sunday I was listless so we didn't go out the door. I wasn't sure if it was an allergy or virus so we had a think about what could have caused an allergy and came up with 2 ideas. The needle felting I'd been doing that week - quite possible if the fibres started to irritate - though I'd been doing it for several days. The other possibility was a new dressing gown I'd started to wear on Friday. Never happened before but the only other new thing I'd done.

So I put both away but on Monday spent all day in bed in the most miserable mood. I ached so much and couldn't stand for more than a minute without needing to sit down. It was awful. Tuesday, more of the same though I felt a little brighter mentally, though not physically. More miserable on Weds though my asthma started to settle down thankfully. I'd already upped my meds and antihistamines in case it was an allergy but as they didn't appear to work thought it was a virus.

Then I washed the new dressing gown on Friday and put it on in the evening. Immediately I started to get a headache and my chest started to hurt........yup, it was the darned dressing gown! Some internet searching found 'chemical sensitivity' a well known problem and often related to food intolerances and allergies which of course I already have. I've had to avoid all chemicals in perfumes, cleaning products & toiletries for several years and only use organic or natural products already. At work they know not to wear perfume when I'm in but reacting to clothing too was a bit too much.......I got really down after as I couldn't believe how ill it made me. I avoid so much already and its like what else now? Just ridiculous.

So back to the docs I went after only managing a few hours at work this week before I got worse again as I was just reacting to absolutely everything. To say I was unhappy is a gross misunderstatement! But my doctor is absolutely superb and offered me more steroids if I wanted (I'd rather not if I can manage though) and has also referred me to the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital. Conventional medicine can't do anything to help so it's time for alternative treatments. I've absolutely had enough of feeling ill, especially as it takes so long to get back to normal. Allergy UK have also been great and gave me a lot of helpful advice and also suggested a personal air purifier which I can take to work with me. If it helps, it will be well worth it! The dressing gown was polyester, which apparently often contains formaldehyde which explains the reaction. So no easy care, polyester clothing for me. Which I don't actually wear apart from fleeces. So bye bye dressing gown. It'll be back to cotton thanks very much from now on!

So, apologies for the long post and the lack of knitting. Hopefully everything will settle down again soon and I can get some much needed therapeutic knitting done. At the moment I'm on a stop, start, frog mission and can't settle. Maybe I need to start a STR sock, all those hypnotising colours might just do the trick..........