My old neck and shoulders problem raised it’s ugly head after New Year and hasn’t gone away. The Saturday before last I started driving and within five minutes there was an invisible ice pick hammering the side of my head. The following Monday I sat down to work and the same thing happened. Ow.

I took the week off, spending five days avoiding or reducing to a minimum sitting at a desk or a loom, driving a car, evening craft, reading and even pegging clothes on the line. I massaged my neck and shoulders, stretched, applied anti-inflammatories internally and externally, used a heat pack, lay down flat when it got really bad, double checked the ergonomics of my desks and chairs, and had a physio session at the end of the week.

It got a little bit better. Nowhere near as much as I hoped.

The frustrating thing is, my upper back was in good shape through the middle and later part of last year. Possibly thanks to a month’s holiday followed by lots of short regular stints of gardening. But it’s only taken less than two months of daily work on a computer for that to reverse.

It seems like the benefits I get from time away from work last for a shorter time each time.

Before the week off, I was reducing other activities more and more. I did manage to finish warping the table loom by spending ten minutes here and there, threading 72 or so ends every couple of days. I’d just got to the point of weaving when I had to stop completely.

This project has thrown up all sorts of hitches along the way. I discovered I had nowhere near enough yarn, but Bendigo Woollen Mills were closed for the holidays, so to keep things moving I decided to use two of the sample colours for the weft and the navy for the warp. I wouldn’t have enough navy, but by the time the warping was done more yarn would have arrived. However, Bendy don’t sell 200 gram cones any more, and if I was going to get 500 grams and have so much left over I may as well get black, which I’m more likely to use.

I’m not sure I like the black as much. It doesn’t go as well with the white gold metallic bands I’m adding at each end of the shawl. But I’m sticking with it.

I also had trouble with the shuttle falling through the warp, no matter how tightly it was cranked. Looking up advice on Weavolution, I figured it was either bad shuttle throwing or imprecise string heddles, or both. I fixed both by tying a piece of wood to the reed to use as a race.

I just got it working when my back started playing up. Hopefully I can get back to it soon.