Our 2025 Health Hiatus

It’s been a few weeks of an impromptu hiatus, and I am so glad to be back and writing blog posts again. There was nothing more frustrating than having a blog post sitting in the wings – not more than 10 minutes away from being completed – and being too sick to even get out a USB.

Let’s answer some questions: What happened? Will we be getting back to markets? Will business be resuming as usual?

So… What happened?

On the 18th of July, I went to bed not feeling too flash. I was very sore, which isn’t an unfamiliar feeling, but there were certain symptoms that really weren’t adding up to my usual health flare-ups.

Based off of my symptoms, I was able to discern what was going on, and because it wasn’t considered typically life-threatening (unless there are complications), I figured it was safe enough to go to sleep.

Bubbles AKA Michael didn't mind I was couch bound - it meant lots of cuddles for her!

Morning eventually arrived, and when I woke, I was in a world of pain that couldn’t be cured by ibuprofen and paracetamol. In some stupidity, I convinced myself that I would be alright and went for a Bunnings trip… That was a bad decision, and looking back, I am not sure how I managed to walk around, or even tolerated sitting in the car.

Sitting, standing, walking around… It was all misery. Laying down with a heat pack was the best and only option for me.

The weekend came and went, and everything was a challenge. I was trying to get by, but the pain wasn’t dissipating in the slightest like Dr. Google recommended it would, so we made the decision to visit an urgent care clinic on the 21st of July.

From there, we were quickly recommended to visit a hospital, which prompted a visit to the ER, leaving us wondering: Would I be staying there overnight? Would I be needing surgery? Should we have come sooner?

10 and a half hours and many tests later, and they determined I wasn’t dying of infection, internal bleeding or some kind of torsion. And so, I was sent home in the middle of the night, absolutely exhausted and – thankfully – with stronger pain medication.

Jasper made sure I had lots of cuddles too! Excuse the messy hair - it only grew to be longer and far more disheveled because I was too unwell to sit for a haircut.

In the following days, I updated the Facebook group, which was well beyond what I was capable of. The next 2 or so weeks were more or less a blur that I spent laying on the couch, made dizzy by my pain medication. I couldn’t sit for more than 15 minutes at a time without my pelvis feeling like it was being crushed, and walking from the couch to the bathroom and back was enough to exhaust me.

It's safe to say… It’s been a lot. I have gone for many appointments and tests, slowly getting on top of the issue and working toward a more accurate diagnosis for the regular pain I am in.

There was definitely a period of time in this hiatus, when I was still too sick to do anything but not sick enough to just dissociate the day away, that I felt like this experience was never going to end. It certainly felt never-ending. The pain, the exhaustion, the ongoing ‘what-ifs’… And let’s not even get onto the crafting side of things.

I couldn’t knit. I couldn’t sew. I couldn’t work with clay. I couldn’t draw. I couldn’t write. Ultimately, I lost every single creative outlet that I rely on.

Admittedly, I also purchased myself some new gemstones too! These bags of gemstone confetti are from Eyersie The Strange on Etsy!

The one (and only) plus side of this hiatus was I had plenty of time to revisit my gemstone collection. As I healed, and regained energy, I was able to mindlessly sort through some of my newest additions that I had purchased at the Magill Sunrise Market just the weekend before my medical episode. And when I was feeling better, I was even able to consult Google and learn more about them!

It took a month, but I was finally able to knit more than one row of a project before having to put it away out of exhaustion.

As my health improved, I was also able to make plans and sketches for projects – a lot of which have been based around my most recent health flare up. I’ve been designing a new heat pack for myself and a lap blanket for my heat packs, to use up scraps and protect myself from how hot my heat pack sometimes needs to be.

So now that the Antoinette behind the accessories has recovered… Will we be getting back to markets?

The short answer is: Yes!

The sunrise from the last market we went to. I miss the sunshine and the laughs, and catching up with fellow stallholders and our wonderful customers!

We have missed markets so much. Between the unpredictable winter weather and our health, luck truly hasn’t been on our side. But right now, we are back, and ready to resume regular markets!

We have so many amazing events to look forward to as we approach the final months of 2025, such as the October Vine and Dine market, the Blakes Crossing Twilight Markets and the One Tree Hill and Magill Sunrise Market Christmas events!

We are going to be working on restocking for these events, including some market-only accessories. And we will also be finishing up on commissions during this time as well!

On that note, blog posts will be resuming as normal! Every Thursday, 10AM ACST – you will find a new blog here on the website. And of course, I will post weekly reminders in our Facebook Group, and monthly blog summaries on our Facebook account and Instagram page.

I will be starting with the two blog posts that were meant to be posted for the remainder of July, when we were reflecting over our sixth business birthday. And from there, I will be continuing with other blog posts that I had lined up for you all to enjoy. A part of me debated picking up where we had left off, but I felt you all deserved an explanation for our unexpected and rather lengthy hiatus.

As this blog post comes to a close, I want to give a massive thank you, not only for reading this post, but for being so patient over the past month and a half. This certainly wasn’t planned – then again, are 10-hour ER visits typically planned?

To celebrate being back, and finally returning to normality, for the month of September 2025, we are offering a discount code to all online website orders. Use the code HIATUS25 for 10% OFF your next online order. This will be active until 11:59:59 on the 30th of September, 2025.

Our fingers are crossed that there are less hiatuses in the future, and we hope to see you at our next market events!

Kimberley (they/them)

Accessories by Antoinette