Things are not as good as they might be on this Windswept Acre, so please forgive if blog coverage is patchy for a while.
My back continues to trouble me but that is not what keeps me awake at night. The last couple of weeks of feeling generally “off it” and full of nothing but lassitude now appears to be resolving into a recurrence of my thyroid problem. I can’t get blood tests done until Friday, despite the standing instruction that I was given to go in for a blood test as soon as any symptoms showed up. So I have plenty of time to fret in. If they come up positive I understand that there will be no messing about; it’s straight off to Aberdeen for the radio-active pill and replacement hormone therapy for the rest of my days. Inability to sleep is a symptom but may just be caused by the fretting…
… and I am fretting about much. A new discovery, that kept me awake all last night, was the state of my mouth. It looks like a very expensive state, as we couldn’t even get onto the waiting list for a NHS Dentist when we came here. Some kind of horrible gum problem. Too awful to contemplate.
Anyway, if you’ll forgive me dumping the awful details into the blog (I need to unload somewhere and Mr L has too many of his own stresses right now), one of the reasons I suspect my thyroid has kicked off again is the massive production of tartar on my teeth. I’d noticed this happening last time and observed it again last week. Anyway, Mr L had a Google and it is a known symptom and it is known to lead to gum problems.
So, add that to the overheating, the sleepless nights, and the 4lb weight loss… what have you got? An urgent need to check your TSH levels.
But what the hell am I going to do about a dentist ?
I think that I need to spin. Spinning is very good for soothing the fretful. But the fretful with a bad back? I’m not so sure.
C’mon, this is meant to be a fibre blog, not a litany of personal misery!
Knitty Progress
The Red Emperor makes slow forward progress. I actually found it too challenging while befuddled by painkillers. Spent much time going backwards, and one day spent on it resulted in a null result, having reworked every stitch several times over, it all got pulled out again in the end due to three dropped stitches running.
Two Aestlight shawls completed and blocked. The third one is in production, with the garter triangle almost complete – I need/want to spin some dyed fleece for the lace border before I progress further with it. The back objects but I do want to finish before Sunday.
Desperate to complete the Emperor and leave an opening for the Shawl knit-a-long that I am joining on Sep 4th. At least I know what I want to make now – and it is nothing that I thought that I was planning: Evelyn Clark’s Icelandic Poppy shawl. I shall be making it in Kelpie cashmere yarn from the Yarn Yard. I’ll start a post series and document it in full.
Spinning update
The third Aestlight shawl is being knit from the Shetland skeins that went into this year’s Show. That’s all ready and waiting, but I do need to spin the dyed Shetland.
Carding is a challenge. I so need a sturdy table to work on. An old painted pine table would be ideal. A proper place to work would help productivity no end.
Why Sunday? It’s the annual Craft Exhibition and I would like an example of knitted handspun to display.
Frighteningly, we are adding a sheep to blanket demo to the day. Something else to fret about.
Shopping
The Zwartble fleece that I scored on eBay has arrived. So have the two bags of alpaca fleece. There must be something wrong with me because I haven’t yet ripped my way into either parcel for a good look.
Tomorrow
Spinning tomorrow and I don’t know if I can be bothered to go. Oh, my. I think I need some sleep.
Later
Had hoped to avoid it but as Mr L has now booked leave and booked the car onto the ferry – I have to go to town on Friday. We are looking for a new multi-fuel stove for the sitting room. I’m glad that I talked him into taking the car because I have no idea how I would make it to Hatston on foot! The trade-off though is that we have to do the supermarket shop and that is a truly awful prospect for a woman with a sore back!