Health update

 I thought it was time to post an update on where I'm at with my health.

1. It looks like I've developed Sjögrens syndrome, an autoimmune condition where your immune system attacks glands that make moisture.  This explains my swallowing issues (which seem to be due to a dry mouth, and have gone away since I've been a bit more careful about drinking regularly).  The dental hygienist has suggested some products I can try if it gets worse.  It also explains my dry and scratchy eyes.  For that I'm now using eye drops every 1-2 hours, which helps heaps but is a pain to do!  I've been given new drops to try that might work for a bit longer, but I decided to finish off the current bottle before I open those, as they go off pretty fast.
2. It also seems that I've had a recurrence of my concussion symptoms, which is where the brain fog and nausea fit in.  There's some medical controversy as to whether this can actually happen, but my symptoms are responding to the treatment that helped with the concussion, at least.  My GP is of the opinion it doesn't much matter why this has occurred, seeing as I've found something that's helping!

Experiments in visible mending: darning

I don't think the term 'visible mending' existed when I was growing up, but it was certainly something my mum certainly practised.  My childhood clothes sometimes sported cool patches that I was allowed to pick out at the sewing shop, and the acid burns on my university 'chemistry' jeans were covered over with hand-embroidered flowers.  Darning, however, aimed to be largely 'invisible'.  It was also something I found fiddly and hated doing.

I've recently come across the idea of darning for visible mending.  I love the idea of mending things.  It fits well with frugality and good stewardship: two things I value highly.  And maybe attractive darning (combined with some new pointers on how to do it well) would be more fun?

We have a chair cushion that I'd like to try visible darning on, but I decided to practise on an holey towel first.  In a bit over an hour this afternoon, here's what I came up with:

The first attempt

The second - and a crude black one in the corner as I was getting tired

The section of the towel with the two mends

I'm pretty pleased with how they worked out!  I'm using very fine wool thread that I picked up from the op shop in Whangaparāoa when we were there in September, and following ideas from this video.  I learned a few things from these first attempts and may well move straight onto the chair squab next :-)

And, if I take to it, I'll probably buy a little darning loom (a tool I only very recently came across) which should make it easier to do neat darns with fine wool. 

A month of traveling - and lots of sewing!

We've been away for most of April, one way and another.  We had two weeks' with Martin's parents in Whangārei, followed by 10 days at home then a week in Taupō and Napier.

Here are a few highlights from Whangārei...

Kamo fizzy spring