Summer briefing

Tags

blogging, country life, crafts, creativity, exercise, fatigue, garden, gardening, health, intention, life, summer, weather, weight loss

While I’m cooking up that promised weaving post, I’m going to drag you through a bit of a general status update of life at the cottage.

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If I were to move

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blogging, fatigue, floorplans, life, pain

Not that I’m planning or hoping to, but these many weeks of disability lately has made me question, as usual, whether I’m ever going to utilize my garden, my studio, or even survive for another 30 years. Chronic pain does a number on your thinking, not just your outlook but the simple ability to form coherent thoughts and carry them out.

6 months fitness update

Tags

5:2 fast diet, exercise, fatigue, health, intention, life, weight loss

Official start date: December 2016. Goal: to battle fatigue and pains, dial body shape back 5 years. That’s minus 25% body weight and/or measurements whichever comes first.

6 months later I had hoped to report being halfway, but: 7 kg lost, 1 trouser size. That’s roughly 10%. 9-10 kg/15% to go and 8 cm around the hip for my 2013 form. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, it’s not like I’m trying to turn the clock back 30 years. (I weighed just 42 kg when I was 20, hard to believe now!)

Mini status of an elliptical nature

Tags

exercise, fatigue, health, intention, life, weight loss

This week I discovered that you can block neoprene knee braces in hot water to accommodate thunder thighs and super calves. Because XL would have lost the actual support function, and I’m not going to sit still for a little “patella syndrome”. (all those dots mean my muscles are improving)

@Kerry I’m still at 60 second planks because of my shoulders, but my sideways are improving in style!

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I’ll see if I can squeeze in a studio update soon, but I’m working (when I’m working) on mostly longterm projects at the moment, so there’s not many interesting tidbits for a blog post.

I’ve considered a newsletter instead so my most hardcore readers don’t have to check back to see if I’ve updated anything yet…

See you soon! ❤

Keep going

Tags

5:2 fast diet, exercise, fatigue, health, HIIT, intention, life, weight loss

Another two months since my last exercise update. G started work again in Feb. so until the evening light came back on courtesy of daylight savings, our brisk walks were reduced to weekends or not at all because of sucky weather. I simply don’t get up enough steam when walking alone, a long legged companion is just the thing for keeping your pace! So crosstraining it is, which of course isn’t as time consuming or needs to be coordinated, so I get more studio projects done finally. Sometimes. I did imagine I’d feel more improvement on the energy front by now, find that second wind.

Exercise update

Tags

5:2 fast diet, exercise, fatigue, health, HIIT, intention, life, weight loss

Just thought I’d let you in on how I was doing with my self torture project of becoming slightly fitter: I’m still at it, I’m pleased to say. I can do brisk 1 hour walks most days of the week now, and without my hips or knees crying halfway through, pulse down from 150 to 130; or 20 min on the crosstrainer at level 5 (started out at 2-3, 10 minutes). Physical antics leave me pretty exhausted most days, and sweaty as a galley slave. Sometimes I simply do short bursts at a very high setting for 5 minutes, then collapse on the floor panting, but not as dripping wet.

Hard work, even less talk.

Tags

exercise, fatigue, health, inner conviction, intention, life, yarn

Spinning chunky yarn on my Elizabeth has proven quite an ordeal, since I can’t get the ratio low enough and still make the wheel wind on the yarn, but my back is ready to give it another go for my little rug test project. And if the future I’ll have to figure that issue into yarn designs.

Well, did she make it then?

Tags

autumn, CFS, colourways, determination, drive, fatigue, health, intention, life, longread, nature, plants, relax

I left you last Monday saying I wasn’t quite up to speed in the sleepiness department. Spent the afternoon trying peppy music (I usually prefer spending the day in silence) and preppy activities such as winding yarns for dyeing, and cutting up an old fiber board for taping papers onto while painting. Thank goodness for power tools, brrrrm, zoom, done.

Then I was extra careful not to vaccuum up any of my good pens with the saw dust, but proceeded to do just that of course, getting it stuck somewhere inside the machinery. That extrication process took longer than all the rest, but such happenings are just part of any normal day around here. Gets your pulse up.

So I need something for Monday

Tags

CFS, determination, drive, fatigue, health, intention, life, longread, relax

Last week I was utterly exhausted, beginning, funnily enough, on Monday morning as if by schedule. After waking up by myself all summer around 6 or sometimes earlier, I’m suddenly barely able to raise my lump of flesh at 7, left to its own devices it’s still lying there as if hung over around 8 where I simply have to roll it out of bed or die of shame (unless I’m gnawed on by hungry tigers first).

More clothes changing

Tags

clothing, fatigue, iron sulfate, life, sweater, WIP Wednesday, wool

Mum broke the flash on her new camera, it has fish eye distortion!

Waiting for sweaters to dry

Rhubarb in the jungle

I’m having severe painting withdrawal symptoms (ie temper tantrums, surliness, self pity and alround discomfort), but I’m also too knackered to do anything really involved today. Napping a lot sounds fascinating! I’m only halfway through my house&garden chores, so it will perhaps be at least a week before I pick up my brushes again, depending on when I wake up from this fatigue, finish the chores, wake up from the next fatigue, yadda yadda more chores having arrived. 😉 I have taken some time this weekend to play a bit with my old macro lens and flowers, that helps in soothing my nerves and itchy fingers.

Today’s program got cut down to one physical assignment, needing perfect weather which will end tomorrow, and then I thought I could do little short sessions on my wardrobe situation. Not all necessarily, just a suggestion, mind.

1. Fix those sleeves on the denim dress.
2. Fix some other sleeves and then dye the offending sweater – see below.
3. Cut my green saori fabric for assembly (knit piece to be done) – I’ll show you that when it’s done.
4. Seam my blue woven tunic (which I haven’t shown you yet either)
5. Hem a pair of pants that I had already done with an iron-in clever thing that glues the fabric together until it’s been washed…
6. Wash my holey sweater before deciding if I want longer sleeves, YES, it is done, just need to weave in ends. When it’s dry. Unless I decide to shorten body and lengthen sleeves.
7. OMG there must be rhubarb in the “jungle” now, I need to cook something with it. Yum. I also have some lactose free cream that expires next week, fresh vanilla…

All done in little increments, such as:

• Put holey sweater in really hot water in sink. Leave it until you can touch it.
• Get the sewing machine from upstairs.
• Have coffee with PC while boiling a very large pot of tea and red onion peels.
• Measure and cut all your fabrics and do the zigzagging. Or one at a time.
• Reheat coffee in microwave. Watch funny video.
• Pin saori jacket together, try it on Mimi and determine whether the knit piece is really really going to be 15 cm wide.
• Lunch
• Nap in garden unless the wind picks up.
• Dogwalk. No shopping on the way home, eat leftovers. Or corn flour pancakes with extra eggs. Or both.
• Interwebs clicking
• Sew the denim sleeves (in portions of drawing wedges, zz’ing wedges, attaching wedges, find ribbon edge for sleeves) and the side panels on the tunic. Perhaps. Oh well, the machine is out anyway.
• Clear table in hopeful anticipation of some painting session or other. Put all the plants back that the kittens had knocked down.
• Put up electric fence on all window sills Daydream.
• Take pictures of projects with new broken pocket cam and post them on blog.
• Garden walk sit and dig up offending dandelions and thistles.

Anyway, on to my latest modification. Remember my orange sweater? While I love the pattern, I never really loved the sweater. I’d been too enthusiastic with my sleeve decreases AND it turned out the yarn is crazy itchy on the body. It’s cotton/alpaca and you’d never guess just touching it, on the contrary. And then there’s the colour. It just feels like an orange version of beige on me, not flattering. So all in all, I didn’t use it much.

So first I decided to frog the sleeves. Yes, I could have knit them again, wider, but I’m not in the mood, and it really looks best with nothing under = crazy itchy.

And now it’s a vest, and it’s had a large pot of tea. I’m always cold, but too many layers of sleeves really get in the way when you’re working with either water or paint. What do you think? The onion peels were a stupid idea since the vest isn’t mordanted, in fact the tea didn’t take either except to activate the iron afterbath. I guess I can always add blue acid dye at some point, or woad. Or green, since it’s already khaki. Pocket cam has horrible colour balance fwiw.

It may be an ongoing theme however, this remodelling of old clothes! Btw I didn’t have to worry about the dress I wanted to change for a smaller size coming out too small, it appears the whole return package (5 items) has gone missing and never reached the company. So much for buying cheap stuff when you can’t get your money back. That’ll teach me. Or not, possibly. Now that I think about it, we haven’t had any mail this week either. Odd. I’m waiting for a very special package.

It’s 4 pm and I’ve at least done the napping and the PC part of my list! No dog walk I think. Picked the rhubarbs earlier, now I’ll consider cutting them up and throw them in a pot with a pod. And I’m going to see if I can cut, zigzag and clear the table before bedtime. At least when I’m this poorly there is a greater chance of painting because I have to back off completely on the harder work for a while. My hands need a bit of mending too! More on the wardrobe mods at a later date if anyone is interested. I’ll try to get a photo of the blue holey on me, so you can help me decide on lengths?