Phew.

What an improvement a night's sleep makes. Last night was a beeping tablet night - yes I have read the current research into people taking sleeping tabs being 4 times more likely to die. Reading further, it seems this is linked to sleeping tablets and depression, also the side effects the following morning and driving or using machinery.
But whatever, it has to be balanced against NO sleep.

Tuesday night was horrendous - I gave up at about 4.30am and came downstairs. The pain (knees, foot, hand, back) was off the scale. Most of yesterday was spent on the settee under throws, snoozing and taking tablets.

So a full night's sleep last night was bliss, and today has been easier. Thank you lady Tramadol et al.

I spent some of the afternoon in the teenytiny garden, absolutely loved every moment. We have had the mild temperatures here but no sunshine, just lots of cloud - today the sun has shone allllll day long!

Snow, ice, frost, rain, wind all forecast for next week so I am making the most of it at the moment!
I pretty much gritted my teeth and got on with it - potted up lots of bulbs and a few plants, more to do tomorrow unless my poor bod refuses after today's exhertions!

I repotted most of these, I think there are 60 or so bulbs in now (late daffs and tete a tete galore), and added a fresh layer of compost to the rest of the pots where shoots are poking out left, right and centre. I love this so much.

Also these pots (behind the lillies). The lillies (Stargazers, my very favourite plant) were from the market, about £2 for the pot - it's been in the living room but was just on the turn so I thought it might enjoy being outside until it pops its clogs.
I did a bit of sweeping and binning, trying to tidy one side of the garden into a nicer area to sit in.
The bench was moved from one side the the other, much nicer where it is now.

PSidney came out to sit on my knee, he scoffed loads of cucumber then snuggled in and started singing away to himself. Lovely! He loves being outside - he lives inside, but seems to love the feel of the sun on him and who can blame him.
So I took my camera, a book and put my feet up on a pot of Rosemary and cuddled my singing piggy.
Rosemary wafting up and the smell of the lillies, and PSid singing.

Definitely made all the pain etc ease a bit.
I slept like a baby on the settee when I came back inside! And I suspect I will feel it tomorrow.
The grey floofy thing I have on is this:

my slouchy grey striped jumper, I love this.
Not at all flattering, I look like a short arsed pink haired tank in it - but it is soft, warm and like wearing a big cuddle. Perfect in the house jumper.

Based on Bumble from Kim Hargreave's Shadows book, but longer and I played with the stripes. I had a lot of grey Alpaca Cotton to use up, and bought 4 balls of black and 1 mid grey, so not a terribly expensive knit but a very snuggly one.

Next knit - something for a surprise, and I have half a plan to make myself a long black jumper with skelly bones on the front. 'Cos I am sophisticated.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Ouch!

My poor hand is having a bad flare up, so have some piccies.

 1. some spring pretties
2. current knitting project - loving every minute of this! Almost finished
3. gluten free cheese, cashew nut and cayenne flan
4. spinnyspinspin
5. a visitor, Mr Snuggles - in need of legs asap!

It's on the way.

Spring.
Slowly but surely.

I love it.
I can't wait to feel the warmth of the sun on me, bliss.
To sit in  my tiny garden with a book, knitting, a drink and PSidney.
It has of course poured down all day ;-)

No!

Please stop asking me.
My phone has gone non- stop all evening.
No, I say, no!

I will NOT take over from Capello, no.

Sheesh.

Illness-free post.

Plenty of pretty pictures instead ;-)

Right - more spinning. Rainbow stuff which is going to be something for a friend's baby.

Ah the joy of big photos - now I can see all the faults in it!

Ah well, it's soft and pretty. So there.

I am aiming to spin myself enough wool to knit a cardi - I settled on Grey Masham (massam), partly because it's a lovely shade and 'proper' sheepy wool, and partly because Masham is a rather lovely little village / town in Yorkshire where I have spent many a wild (ie drunken) night, It is also the place I managed to get my FOOT stuck in one of those post-box-in-a-wall things. Don't ask.

It isn't as soft as I had hoped for (the wool not my foot or the post box) but it smells wonderfully, softly sheepy and I like it, Great shade of grey too.

It has come out when plied as a pretty decent, consistent DK weight which is perfect. I think cables, maybe a tree, cardigan. Bright pink buttons?
Ahead of myself somewhat as this is the first skein of it - a HUGE  amount to spin still (I bought a kilo!).

What else?
This lovely assortment is going to become a bag:

Booootiful colours in reality. I had some of this colourway a while ago and it scoffed by moths, resulting in a mega wool inspection / bagging session the other year. Bloody moths.
Anyway, again cables, own design, making up as I go sort of thing planned.

Not wool obviously, but my bargainous buy - this is a lovely vase for an equally lovely £1.99. Excellent. Please ignore any muck on the window sill.
I am.

And for me, a throw of many cables blocks. Half way through the second block and I became a bit bored, so this has been shoved to one side in favour of some mitts and a scarf (scarf finished, mitts almost finshed).

There - not a single mention of illness.
Sorted.

Hospital.

Update.
Last time I was there was to see the RA nurse. I was a bit concerned about this as at that point I was taking nothing more than Tramadol and paracetamol, no DMARDs etc but she reassured me she could go and see the consultant there and then.
She's very nice, as are all the staff there but I couldn't help feel a bit 'don't know what to do with you now so let's fob you off a bit'.

As I have had a bad reaction to so many of the DMARDs they have started me on a low dose of an older medication, Leflumomide, taking them on alternate days for a month then every day if I can cope with them. Same precautions as other meds as they reduce my immune system - and no soft cheeses! So much for making the world's best white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake ... can now make it but not eat it. Pah. If this fails there are Gold injections (which I don't want) or - er - nowt. End of the line. They won't start me on biologics such as Enbrel unless the next scans show increased bone damage.Thank you NICE.

What bugged me - not so much at the time but later on when I thought through everything - was the implication that my ME was making me less able to cope with the pain. In her words, 'if we do a touch test today you will come out scoring extremely high, which says your RA is very active indeed, no matter what the actual blood tests say. But is wouldn't necessarily be true.'

That's all well and good, I totally accept that.
BUT at this point my poor left hand was swollen and bruised, my nurse the previous day (blood tests) had commented on how bad it looked. The worst it has been so far - I can't make up or imagine swelling and redness like that!

Anyway, the swelling and pain lasted a good week after that which really got me down. I went to the Dr again last week after a chat with the receptionist who thought I needed an appointment in case something was broken or infected. Dr (grumpy monosyllabic woman with a hairy lip, not the world's best bedside manner!) took one look and said it looked 'terribly painful'.

I KNOW IT IS!
IT HAS BEEN FOR TWO BLOODY FEKKIN WEEKS!

Anyway, miserable cow she may be but she gave me some new anti inflammatories to try, one daily, and something seems to be easing, Whether it has run its course or it's the tablets I really don't care, it's just wonderful to have some use of my hand again. Typically my feet have decided to join in now and my knees (poor kneesies!) !

Another thing that had me thinking was can I distinguish between the ME and the RA tiredness (not the pain as such, the tiredness side)? This is something the Prof asked me right at the beginning of my treatment.
Yes.

RA - feels like the flu. Whole body feels out of synch, legs like Bambi on ice, that sort of thing. Want to nod off all the time.
ME - feels like someone has pulled the plug out.

Right, moving on, Which at the moment I wish I could literally, would have loved to get out for a walk in the snow yesterday, along the canal and the park. But never mind,

I am thrilled that I can spin, even when my hand is bad - thankfully it is the left hand, which means all it needs to do is gently hold the fibre while the right hand does the pinching work. So spin I did.

I am so pleased with this - I know it isn't perfect (if I want perfect I would buy it) but I am really chuffed. I think this will become mitts maybe for my sister. I usually spin thin and tight - this is about aran weight and wonderfully soft.

The colours - absolutely not me but aren't they gorgeous! It's an alpaca / merino blend. Love.
I also have a rainbow that I spun the other day, piccies to come - we have sunshine today so I must take advantage and get some photos.

So life's not all bad. And as my fingers are feeling more with it at the moment I have knit a soft floofy grey scarf and started matching mitts - again piccies to come.

Keep warm! And don't fall on yer bums on that ice.

Not Dead.

Hands too bad for much typing, hopefully new tablets from Dr yesterday will ease it. Swelling was so bad my hand was checked in case it was broken.

More later - keep warm and well.