Warping a loom and weaving is not always the easiest thing... mostly the warping. Things can and will go wrong sometimes, especially if you are as new to it as I am!
I thought I had the warp correctly applied to the loom, only to learn that I was wrong. I had to unweave a nice chunk of the scarf to fix the warp and then start over again. Thankfully, I have an amazing friend, Annette, who is helping me to learn this wonderful craft. 
She was even trying to explain a color change technique that meant I would not have to cut threads on the more minor changes, and the words were not making sense. I'm a visual learner for things like this. She was telling Molly, a wonderful woman who is also a guild member, and Molly made a little video for me! I am using the technique.
So here are some photos, including those showing the warp messed up.

Everyone that knows me knows that I also do many different types of crafting, not just writing.
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For my next crafting project, I will be attempting to weave the scarf from Season 18 of Doctor Who, the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, on one of my looms.

I’ve researched quite a few websites about it and driven to quite several shops to try and find the yarn I need. The brand and colors used in the 1970s when created are discontinued, so I will use what I can find in 2023.

You might be wondering why I would want to attempt this on a loom. Well, for starters, there is no way in Hades I have the time or the inclination to try and crochet a 26-foot scarf! LMAO, Plus, I don’t think it’s been done that way yet. The directions I can find are for either knitting it or crocheting it. I also am genuinely wanting to get better at using my looms. I seem to be collecting them, so I better start using them!

I have the warp created. The warp goes from the front to the back of the loom for those who don’t know. In movies where they’ve shown people weaving, the warp is what gets altered by moving the heddles up and down and holds the weft together.

The weft gets shot through the middle of the warp; this is the colored part and is also what you use for creating designs within the weaving.

I will be using a four-harness table loom to create the scarf. I sincerely hope it turns out, as I’ve never tried anything like this. I will post photos as the project goes along. To start the images, I will post the warp still mounted to the warping board, the yarn colors I will use for this creation (weft), and the loom I will use for this project. I will also post some images of Tom Baker, the 4th Doctor, wearing the scarf I will try to recreate.
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Wish me luck!​

​Today was a good day.

Anyone that suffers from a chronic illness knows that sometimes having a good day seems like it will never come. A good day can be something as simple as getting a few loads of laundry done, dishes and a lovely walk with my husband and our dogs.

Chronic illness can make one feel isolated, even with family and friends around. There are so many things that we miss. Family time, going out for any reason life can be difficult when there are things that you want to do and physically can’t.

It can be even more difficult when your chronic illness is one that is invisible. People look at you and see a person that as far as appearances go, you seem like there is nothing wrong with you. Not all forms of illness are visible; they do not manifest in an outward appearance that one can see.

Those of us with one or more of the many invisible illnesses that are out there sometimes wish that they were visible. We get told we are making things up, of faking pain to get attention. We are told to change our diet, exercise more, drink this, try whatever the newest fad is that has everyone talking.

We must try to explain to spouses, children, parents, friends why it is that we can’t do something that we would give anything to be able to do with them. We have to fight with doctors that don’t want to listen because they are the ones that went to school, so they know it all. Even though no two people are alike, and the same illness affects every individual in similar yet different manners.

Some learn to grit their teeth and fight through because life goes on and will not wait despite the agony one is enduring. Others have no choice but to maintain just enough that they are not curling into a ball of tears until the pain has passed. We don’t want this; we don’t want to say no, sorry I can’t do that today. We want good days when we have them; we cherish them.

My chronic illness has been controlling my life more than I would like to admit for the last few years. Controlling it to the point of it affecting my job, my writing, my entire life. Thankfully, over the last couple of months, that seems to be changing.

I know that I am one of the lucky ones. I have an amazing husband who is supportive and does his best to be understanding when I can’t do things. I have amazing friends that also get it, many of them sadly because they suffer from a chronic illness. I have a doctor that listens, who encourages questions and loves having a patient that is proactive in their care.

After a few trial and error issues with medications, my regular doctor and I agreed that we seemed to be onto something that will help me get my life back. A referral to a specialist was even set up and a new plan, expanding upon the one my GP and I started has been instituted.

I am happy to say that so far it seems to be working. I’m not saying it has been all fun and games so far, but at least it seems we are finally heading in the right direction. How do I know? Well for one I am feeling better, for another, I am writing again.

Today was a good day.

As many of you know, I have battled with having Chronic Migraine from a young age as many people do, especially women the ratio of women to men for migraines is something akin to 3:1. My migraines have gotten to the point of 16-19 attacks in a 30 day period, some of those days were single migraine days and others I would have two or three in one day.

I finally received a referral to see a headache specialist and that appointment just before Thanksgiving. The two medications that have seemed to be helping me the new doctor said to increase the dosage on them. So now the once daily med is BID or twice a day for those unfamiliar with medical terminology. The PRN, or as needed, medication dose doubled from 50 mg to 100 mg.

Yesterday had marked eight days, eight blessed days, where I had not suffered from a migraine. Let me tell you, having just one day without a migraine is a miracle in and of itself for those who suffer from Chronic Migraine. To have more than one day is like hitting the lottery for us.

So, I was sad when my sweet Tala alerted on me with a warning that a migraine was coming. That sweet girl of mine gives me a good heads up in time to take my meds before I’m feeling any of the effects a migraine can cause. Like a good little patient, I did as I was required and took the PRN medication and I took the new 100 mg dose.

Now, let me state right here and now I will try that dosage one more time, BUT if the side effect is the same, I will be contacting the doctor’s office about it. Once I was able, I did post in the chat group I am a part of on an application called Migraine Buddy. Side note, I love, and I mean love, this application! My doctors, including the specialist, are happy I am using it. One of the other ladies in the group stated that she had the same side effects that I did and she always has – not sure what I think of that.

The side effect from the 100 mg dose that has me leery of taking it again is that approximately twenty minutes after taking it I felt like I had fire ants crawling around under my scalp. It felt like the crown and back of my head were on fire at every single hair follicle and it would move about from location to location. That pain was worse than the actual migraine pain was! Sadly, the only slight relief I could find was to dig my fingers into my scalp or pull at my hair a bit. This, of course, caused it to transfer from that location on my scalp to another, it also lasted for at least an hour. However, that was not truly the end of it as my scalp was still so sensitive that even ten hours later it hurt to brush my hair.

I am truly on the fence about taking another dose at 100 mg because of the episode yesterday. I would love to hear things from any others that suffer from this horrid disease as well. If you are not comfortable discussing it in a comment below, I understand. I do highly recommend the app called Migraine Buddy though. It is FREE, who doesn’t like free right, it is amazing for how it helps you to track and log your headaches. It even has a feature for getting reports you can take into your doctor. I know it has greatly helped with moving my treatment forward.

I wish all of you a wonderful weekend and safe holiday season.
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Blessed Be.