Friday, September 4, 2009

Next Shawl Warp

Next shawl warp


I had originally purchased this yarn - a blend of merino wool, bamboo and silk - to re-sell, but there were some problems with the shipment and I don't feel comfortable offering it to others. :(

So now I have to figure out how to use it up myself. Once again I'm working on stash reduction.

I finished the first shawl warp last night, and even though it hasn't been wet finished it's looking good on the beam. Good enough that I decided to go ahead do another shawl warp. Again this will be a fairly simple twill, the weft will likely be either one of the pinks or corals. I may be bold and go with a light purple for one of them, just to see how it looks. ;)

This time I wound the warp a bit shorter (15 yards instead of 20) so that I could have a wider width, this time for squares instead of rectangles. One benefit of this wider warp is that I can use the fly shuttle instead of a hand shuttle. The down side is that the yarn is a bit too thick to use in the industrial shuttles, so I have to use the AVL shuttles instead. But since the warp isn't the full 60" width, the lighter weight AVL shuttles should not be too bad.

On a personal level, I convinced my doctor to let me stop taking the diuretics last week, and my bp has responded by leaping upwards. He wants me to start taking them again, but now it's too close to my departure for Seattle, so I begged off until I get back. (I can't change any medications for 7 days before leaving the country or my travel medical insurance is voided.)

In my heart, I'm hoping that by the time I get back on the 15th my body will have gotten used to not taking them and that it will settle down again. My bp had actually been excellent - even a bit on the low side - which is why the doctor allowed me to stop taking the diuretic. :}

I've just not been feeling great for the last couple of months, and was hoping to reduce the amount of chemical intervention in my system. The good news is that since stopping the diuretic I've been able to sleep through the night, which I'm hoping will help alleviate some of the fatigue that's been plaguing me.

Barbara commented on my reading. Well, I do a whole lot of things rather than clean house. :) Reading is one of them.

5 comments:

Peg in South Carolina said...

Lovely. I enjoy seeing lovely things woven using simple structures, both for myself and for those beginners who think that you have to weave complex structures to weave beautiful cloth.
I so hope that your system settles itself out and that you don't have to go back to the diueretic. Sleeping well could help here. If BP doesn't go back down, could he try a different medication? I don't remember if you are doing aerobic exercise, but regular aerobic exercise has been proven to reduce BP significantly. It certainly has for me. My doctor says 30 minutes a day most days of the week. Some doctors say 45. Good luck!

Anne Niles Davenport said...

Wonderful colors! I'd love to have some of that Bamboo Rain, purely to help you reduce your stash, of course. I'm pretty experienced with unusual fibers, and would love to work with this blend. I live on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, south of you. Let me know if you will/can part with a bit of that lovely stuff.

Glenda Andre said...

A thought on diuretics, there are many natural ones out there. One weight program I was one in the 70s had a slogan used by the techs "Parsley tea makes you pee." It really isn't bad either. Asparagus is another as is caffeine. And you don't have to have prescriptions for any of them.

Laura Fry said...

Hi Annie,
email me at laura at laurafry dot com and we can discuss a deal.

Cheers,
Laura

Laura Fry said...

Hi Peg and Glenda,

I'm trying really hard to get off as many of the chemicals as I can. I don't like what diuretics do to me. :( I didn't have a water rentention problem - I think the dr just started me on them because that's what they usually do! And now my body has gotten dependant on them - so I'm hoping that by the time I get back from Seattle that it will have gotten used to *not* having them again. :)

Cheers,

Laura