On The Needles

First so I don't forget, I want to tell you about two special offers. To celebrate spring there's 10% off everything in my web shop. Use code: springfling. Valid until end of March 2015. There's also 3 for 2 on patterns in my Ravelry Pattern Shop until end of March 2015. No coupon code needed.

I've really not been feeling very well since we came back from Unravel. I suffer from severe back/neck pain and get frequent headaches because of that. I'm in a lot of pain on a daily basis and need to plan my work around that. Doing shows and teaching really aggravates the pain and it takes me several days to recover. The weekend after Unravel I was in Wales to teach then the following Friday I had to go to Cardiff again. This time I went up on the train and met Vanessa to look at student accommodation. She's doing a year's work placement there which is part of her uni course. We spent 6 hours walking around Cardiff. My bag was too heavy as I'd bought stuff to do on the 8.5 hr train rides. A few days after that I was teaching again. So every time I've started to feel better something has set me back.

The main problem has been severe headaches every day. I take a bucket load of painkillers every day so there's not much more I can do to manage the pain. I have regular massages and have exercises and stretches I do which help a bit. (Please don't leave lots of advice re treatments. I know it's meant well but I've really tried everything and I mean EVERYTHING! I've suffered from neck/back pain since I was 14 years old and have tried every treatment I've come across including some very weird and painful ones (Hundreds of injections of steralised water along my spine was the worst one. I've also tried chiropractors, osteopaths and more conventional treatments).

The headaches and upper back pain has made work very difficult as doing computer and desk work makes the pain a lot worse. It's the reason its taken me so long to get my online shop re-opened again and I've been late with a couple of pattern deadlines. The March Easy Lace Club parcels will also be a bit late. I'm hoping to get them out by the end of this week. I've been better today and don't have any teaching till Sunday or any big deadlines this week, although I still have a ton of work to do. I'm trying to pace myself so I can get a few things done. But if you're waiting to hear from me, please be patient. I'm finding computer work very difficult. I originally started writing this blog post last Thursday.

Early last week I finished a magazine design. It was a garment in a lace weight yarn and I started it late so it was a bit of a rush the weekend before last to finish it. While I was working flat out to finish this sweater, I was dreaming of what to cast on next. I also finished another Between The Lines design last week. It's still waiting to be blocked.

This gorgeous yarn from Kettle Yarn Co arrived last week. Westminster is a baby camel/silk blend and has nearly 600m per 100gr skein. I had an idea for another Between The Lines design but my plan didn't work so I cast on for something else.

I decided to try out a circular shawl idea I had originally cast on with a different yarn earlier this year. I'm loving this. I've just finished the second colour section and will be changing back to the pink. I've tried a few ideas for the next section but it wasn't as I'd imagined so I ripped it out again. I have a rough guide for this one but I'm basically designing it as I go.

Yesterday I cast on for another new design which is kind of secret. It's Lotus Forest Dew which I'm loving. There will be more lace, another colour of yarn and beads later on in this design. It's a fairy easy pattern to keep track of so I can knit this even with my current headaches.

Oh and I finished my first green rainbow Fab Funky Fibres sock. I haven't cast on for sock no 2 yet. I'm thinking maybe I should knit the rainbow socks I promised Vanessa first.

Have a good week and hopefully it won't be as long til I blog again. I've got a couple of blog posts planned this week. So as long as these awful headaches stay away I may manage to stay on track this week.