Know When to Fold 'em

Making bobbin lace is my hobby. I like it because the tools are minimal and the bobbins are pretty. :) Making lace is about as slow as slow cloth can be - barring perhaps tapestry.

I do it as a passtime and for relaxation.

Before I take my blood pressure I'm supposed to sit quietly for 20 minutes so recently I pulled out my lace pillow and have been puttering away making a little lace. (All my lace supplies got packed away last spring while Doug re-did the floors and I've only just dug them out again.)

Unfortunately when I pulled my pillow out last week, I couldn't find my stash of lace yarns or my prettiest bobbins so I made do with my student bobbins and some 80's cotton a friend gave me that I found in the same box.

Now 80's cotton is very, very fine stuff. Think 2/80's. Think 33,600 yards per pound. Approximately. Tiny, in other words.

The pricking I chose was one I'd done several times and enjoyed working. It makes a very nice pattern in the centre with plain weave fans.

Imagine my dismay when I got to the 3rd centre motif and ran afoul of a combination of things - teensy tiny pale green thread nearly invisible against the white background of the pricking, plus trying to see where to set the pins in the forest of pins already in place.

And this was an activity intended to lower my bp, not raise it!

After three attempts to weave the centre, unweave it, start again, etc., I asked myself why I was continuing.

The investment so far: Let's be generous and say 50 cents worth of materials. Three hours of winding bobbins and getting to the current state of affairs (about on hour of that unweaving and weaving again). Frustration level - much too high.

This morning I cut the bobbins from the scrap of textile and stripped them. Took a larger version of the pricking and pinned it to my pillow. Perhaps tomorrow morning I'll wind a 2/20 merc. cotton in red (so I can actually see the threads) and begin again. Since I found my pretty bobbins and my stash of threads I have a lot more options now. :)

Currently reading In the Shadow of Death by Gwendolyn Southin

Fringe Binge

Three buckets full of fringe twisting to be done

This is a view of my pile of fringe twisting that needs to be done. Yes, that's more on the table in the background.

As you can see, my living and dining room are not really living and dining rooms, but more work space. :( The only way I can deal with fringe twisting is to do it while watching tv. And there's rather a lot of it because I picked up everything my fringe twisting elf had because her life got too stressful to deal with my pile of ft.

Since I've got such a backlog of of it to do, plus the afghans that will be going onto the AVL next week, decided I needed to do something that didn't need to be ft'd!

So the next warp going onto the Fanny will be placemats. I'm low on appropriate yarns for mats, but decided some of the high twist bamboo would work just fine for warp with some cotton novelties as weft. And instead of fringes, I'll weave hems. At least it will be something different than ft! And more portable as I can bring hemming to coffee with friends or to guild meetings.

Got all the kits made except for the orders received today. Decided I needed a break from kits so I'll wind the placemat warp tonight. May even get it beamed as Doug is working until 8:30 pm.

The 'buy one, get one free' option on Art Fire works really well - except of course I didn't do it the proper way and allowed people to choose a different colour from the initial kit ordered! :D However, it was an interesting experiment and one I may repeat in the future. For now, however, the offer is over.

The good news is that my energy seems to have come back, even though my bp continues to spike for no known reason. :( If this continues I really will ask the dr to change my bp meds - perhaps my body has gotten used to the ones I'm on and they aren't working properly? Who knows.........sure would be nice to get a users manual with clear instructions on how to help one's body work healthy and well! :}

Get Up and Go

Leclerc skein winder for winding yarn for quills - and a couple of proto placemat warps in amongst the rubble

For the past few months I have been 'suffering' from a serious lack of get up and go. I've been blaming this lack of energy on a whole list of things - the unremitting stress in my life, my health issues, adverse drug reactions, yadda, yadda.

Whilst whining about this last night over coffee with a friend and moaning about the diuretics and Plavix - the current suspected culprits - she commented that her mother had taken diuretics for much of her life and found that she very quickly became deficient in potassium and had to supplement it. My friend also said that if that was the problem, it would become very apparent very quickly once I started supplementing potassium.

As it happened, I had some bananas at home, so I ate one last night. This morning I was reasonably productive but was reluctant to give too much credit to one small banana. :}

However, feeling somewhat better, I decided to pick up some potassium supplements while I was at the store this afternoon and took a first tablet with dinner.

And have been working steadily for two hours getting quills wound for the kits. Plus I don't feel so fuzzy headed and - well - squashed is about the only word I can think of to describe how I had been feeling.........

My bp continues to fluctuate and spike for no real reason, which is worrisome but not terrible, so I won't think too much about it for now. If it continues to be this erratic by the time I see the doctor in January, I'm going to ask about changing out one of my bp meds and try something else. You know - the one that causes weight gain as an adverse effect? I'd sure love to lose some weight and nothing seems to help. So right now I'm blaming those pills......... :^)

The colour gamp kits are nearly ready to ship - should be able to get most of them into the mail tomorrow. After that I will start working on the afghan warp for the AVL, finish the rayon chenille warp on the Fanny (two more scarves), then begin making placemats. And start back on transcribing WeaveCast episodes. I've gotten very far behind on those. :(

I haven't seriously made placemats for many years - people still come up to me at the craft fairs and say their 20 year old placemats still look like new - but this year I had people coming looking for them so I guess it's time again. Perhaps people are wanting a new colour, if nothing else?

Currently reading The Night Visitor by James Doss (gave up on 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr - too gruesome for me)

On Re-Discovering Plain Weave

....or the joy of being able to weave without thinking....

A few weeks ago a friend asked if I had any of my painted warp scarves woven in plain weave that she could use to illustrate an article she was writing. (Hi Tien!)

I didn't, but assured her that I could and set about dressing the loom with a scarf warp, intending to weave one scarf in plain weave, the rest in a 'fancy' four shaft twill.

Well, this was about the time my bp had gone all wonky and being able to just sit down at the loom, treadle plain weave and throw the shuttle was great therapy. Mentally as well as physically. :) Not to mention that I was really liking what was happening on the loom. So I wound up weaving off the whole warp in plain weave!

Since then I've done several scarf warps - all in plain weave - and it's been wonderful. The current warp is shades of pale turqouise to a dark royal blue. The first two scarves were woven with a turquoise (almost cyan). The last two are being woven with a darker mid-range blue.

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about the 'future of weaving' - how to encourage more people to take up the craft, on-line resources, such as Weavolution, WeaveZine, WeaveCast etc., etc.

And last night I talked myself into ordering a rigid heddle loom. I know, I know - me of the "if I'm going to weave just let me toss that shuttle and weave as efficiently as possible" philosophy!

But given the cost of floor looms and the state of the economy, I'm thinking that a whole lot more people are going to be open to weaving on a rigid heddle loom as an introduction. Sooooo - I guess it's time for me to take that step and really learn how the tool works so I can - perhaps - offer classes.

So which loom? Well, an Ashford because a friend is an Ashford dealer and is willing to give me a really good price. The rigid heddle (not the Knitter's Loom) because you can get the two heddle kit with two 12.5 dent heddle - which means being able to weave a lot more than plain weave - joyous as that is.

In the end, I may be heading to Syne's for lessons on rigid heddle weaving............right, Syne?

On the bp front, that seems to be stabilizing since the last tweak in medications. And the regimen of weaving plain weave for at least an hour every day. :D

Best Foot Forward

My battered feet in my battered ballet slippers...

In my 59+ years I have been very cruel to my feet.

Starting with ballet and doing point work at age 14 (and then again at age 30 something) then track and field (discus, shot put and hurdles), various and sundry other physical activities such as aeorbic workouts, and last but probably most significantly - years of pounding the treadles. So to speak.

When I say pounding the treadles, I am of course, referring to the many years of production work on the AVL.

It did not take me very long to realize that weaving on the AVL was going to take a very high toll on my feet. My foot, actually. My right foot to be specific.

On top of the point work, the history of arthritis in my family, my allergies with elevated inflammation rates - all pointed toward a strong potential of developing arthritis in my feet.

So I always wore some sort of footwear while weaving - beginning with ballet slippers for regular floor looms, then aerobic exercise shoes for the AVL.

It didn't take very long at all for me to realize that weaving for 5+ hours a day on a regular floor loom was going to leave my feet sore and aching if I didn't protect them somehow and since I had ballet slippers decided that they would fill the bill.

Since I slide my feet up the treadle, I needed a shoe with a leather sole and ballet slippers have a sturdy leather sole up the middle of the foot, with a thin flexible upper that allows me to feel the treadles so I can keep my place in the treadling sequence.

But when I went to the AVL, I knew that ballet slippers simply would not be sufficient protection from the weight of the shafts being lifted (15 shafts for Bronson Lace tabby b - 14 shafts for huck and Summer and Winter tabby). Since I was taking an aerobic class I had aerobic shoes handy so tried them and felt that they would do the trick.

Unfortunately I did not avoid arthritis in my feet. My right foot developed arthritis in the ball joint several years ago. This year I started developing arthritis in my left foot. :( The bad news is that this is the joint that gout usually manifests itself. Did you know that gout is a form of arthritis? I didn't! And since two of my medications can encourage gout......

I have started taking glucosimine in liquid form and have found it to be quite effective. Unfortunately with the onset of colder weather, I'm feeling it in my feet. :(

So, long story short, I am not a big fan of weavers weaving in bare or stocking feet. If they only weave for a little while now and then I suppose it's no big deal. But if they weave for any length of time on a regular basis on a jack type loom, I really hope they consider protecting their feet in some manner.

The good news is that I saw the doctor today and we have adjusted my medication, reducing the Plavix which I felt was beginning to have adverse effects (this is one of the meds that can encourage gout). And I've ordered more of the Cardio Cocktail which I hope will be the solution to my currently very erratic bp. While the numbers are not terrible, I'm blowing spikes almost every day that I have to work very hard to get to come down. :(

I'm also wondering about deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D - so along with a check on cholesterol tomorrow morning he's also ordered tests for those and a check on my liver function to see if there's a problem there.

I am very grateful that my doctor takes my concerns seriously, and allows me latitude to try alternate things like nutritional supplements. :)

Currently reading Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Thrumming Along

Bucket of thrums (weighing 15 pounds)

On Wednesday I'll be meeting the surface design artist to whom I give my thrums, so I dragged the bucket out from under the table where it lives tonight so I don't forget to bring the bag with me.

I haven't weighed it, but the bag holds the last 6 months worth of thrums - a not very heavy weaving schedule. Normally I'd have filled the bag much sooner but between having students, travelling and not feeling much like weaving it's taken much longer than usual.

Once Laura (the other Laura) finishes taking what she wants for her surface design, she'll take her scraps plus whatever thrums are leftover to the Salvation Army. The local branch has a recycling program for textiles.

I'm pleased to say that today my bp was *much* improved (thank you chemicals) and I hummed right along making significant progress on Mount Everest. Still a long way to go, but at least the barrier has been breached, or base camp reached, I suppose I ought to say in order to not mix metaphors!

And I finally did some actual weaving today. Weaving a colour gamp or two doesn't really count as aerobic weaving! Unfortunately it's been two weeks since I did any 'real' weaving and my thighs are letting me know I've been ignoring them. :}

The current issue of Handwoven has articles about studios. Madelyn suggested I participate in this issue, but I blushed to think that anyone would see the chaos that my studio is in reality and declined. :}

My four students saw it and my house at less than it's best this summer and that was bad enough!

Currently reading Brida by Paul Coelho

First Gamp Woven

Plain weave gamp

Today's progress has once again been slow. :( Wound three pastel warps and got one of them onto the Fanny and finally managed to get the plain weave gamp woven. I expect to weave the twill tonight while Doug is out visiting his buddy.

While I've done nothing about the two Mountains on my job list, I did tackle a separate issue that had been plaguing me. Unfortunately my blood pressure shot through the roof doing it, but at least it is now dealt with and not festering at the back of my mind. And for that I feel relieved. :)

I reviewed my blood pressure readings and made an interesting discovery. My bp settled down in June with readings that were not only good, but even a little on the low side. They shot up in September and have been very irratic since then.

In June I switched from Ezetrol to Niacin for cholesterol and in September I stopped taking the diuretic. When I reviewed the dates when my bp settled down and went ballistic again, I realized that in June I had also started taking a nutritional supplement, and in September I ran out of my supply and stopped taking it.

Ding!

So rather than try and change my medication again, I'm going to ask my doctor if we can wait until I can get another supply of the supplement to give that a go and see if it is the missing piece of the puzzle............

The downside is, of course, the fact that nutritional supplements aren't covered by my medical insurance while pills are. :( We'll see what the dr says on Wed. when I go in to get my Rx's renewed. I'm sure he'll have words about my bp readings, especially the one this afternoon when my bp really went ballistic. :( I hate being such a 'fragile flower'! :P~

I'm also hoping that getting my bp settled again will mean I'll feel more settled in my own skin and once more feel like working.

Currrently reading The Shack by William Young (read Sand Sharks by Margaret Maron and Fire and Ice by J. A. Jance while I was away)

Stash Reduction, Daily Exercise

2/8 cotton warp with cotton/linen slub for towel body, 2/16 cotton for hem weft - note cutting line - two picks of twill

Got home from doin' the Puyallup about 9 pm last night. Today I tried to get organized - banking and such - and in between wove on Fanny working on the tea towel warp I left on her.

The bad news is that just before leaving on the trip my blood pressure went wildly upwards, not even coming down after exercise, with a 'resting' pulse rate of 102. Not exactly the numbers we want to see. So I started half a tablet of the diuretic daily, hoping that would do the trick.

Unfortunately, this morning my bp still wasn't good, but I'm going to continue on half a tablet for a few days and see if it is just the stress of travelling that pushed it up. Seems like I can't live with them, and I can't live without them. I've got a doctor appointment on Monday for the arthritis I suspect is developing in my left foot. I don't doubt he will have words about my bp, too. I just hate the thought of having to take yet more chemicals to counteract the adverse reactions to one chemical! :(

I'm still thinking about what the future may hold and what path I want to meander down, but right now it would appear that my two priorities are to continue with stash reduction and make sure that I get at least an hour's worth of weaving in, every day. Having two looms, I ought to be able to keep them going in tandem so that I can always have loom time - each and every day. When I'm home that is.

Tonight I finished off the cotton/linen slub I bought at ANWG in Spokane this June. :D

There is enough warp for two more towels on Fanny, but I'll spend tomorrow morning at the guild room talking with a new weaver and getting her started on one of the guild looms. And possibly start getting ready for the next Study Group. I've been dressing a loom with the weave structure of the month, present an evening lecture on that structure, then they sort themselves out to weave a sample on the prepared warp.

Karena dressed the AVL while we were away, and got the warp about half threaded. So I'll try to finish that off tomorrow too. I've also promised someone some samples for an article she's writing so as soon as Fanny is empty, I'll put the first of those warps on. Since it's something I already had intentions to do - sometime - having a firm deadline means I'll actually get to that now. :D

My friend The Deadline.

Sensational Sixties

more camo cloth



When I turned 49, I told friends and family that I was poised to enter my Golden Years. Little did I know.

Now I'm 59. A year and a bit after my angiogram, a month and a bit after changing my cholesterol medication to the Niacin, I am not only feeling better than I have for a year, I am feeling better than I have done for 10+ years. Because truth be told, upon reflection I now recognize that the CAD had been creeping up on me for more than 10 years. Talk about slow and insidious!

It's been 6 weeks since I started the Niacin, and after a bobble in my bp for a week - no doubt as my body adjusted to the chemical - my bp has been pretty darned good. My doctor somewhat reluctantly agreed that I could stay on the introductory dose for a further three months, at which time we'll check my cholesterol level and then decide if we push it up any further. Frankly, I'd much rather have a slightly higher cholesterol level than the basement low they are recommending and stay on the lower dose of medication.

As for the two blockages left, I'm supposed to monitor my 'symptoms' and go back when I have some. Since my 'symptoms' were atypical, it will be a matter of staying aware and then insisting on the stress test as soon as I feel it is necessary.

In the meantime I'm taking the Cardiac Cocktail - rich in omega fatty acids, amino acids and all sorts of stuff good for the cardio-vascular system, maintaining a high fibre diet, drinking the pomegranate juice and trying to weave for at least 30 minutes or more every day. For me weaving is aerobic, I enjoy it, and at the end of it I've got cloth to show for it. What's not to love?

We will also be heading back to the gym soon and I will try to do more aerobic stuff and build up stamina - something I lost over the last few years when I simply didn't have the energy or breath to maintain it.

So, now I am 59 and looking at the big 6-0 next July. I think my sixties are going to be Sensational!

Encouraging a Healthy Heart

Given that my heart has not had an 'attack' in spite of a rather large 70-90% blockage in a major artery, I can only assume that it's a good sturdy muscle. And given that I have further blockages, one of which - at 60% - is not treatable via angio-plasty due to it's position, let's just say that I am highly motivated to encourage my good sturdy heart to stay healthy. :)

As a non-smoker, non-drinker, reasonably active person who eats as healthy a diet as possible given a long list of food allergies, I found myself with few options in terms of lifestyle changes. Apart from adding more fibre and reducing the quantity of meat I eat, that was about it.

Genetics trump lifestyle.

After my diagnosis of food allergies and subsequent Calcium Deficiency Syndrome a number of years ago, I have done a fair amount of reading into nutrition. Since my diet is so restricted, my best option is to take handfuls of nutritional supplements to make sure I'm getting all the good fuel I need to stay as healthy as I can be.

It was with interest that I heard about a test called Digital Pulse Analysis which checks the health of a person's cardio-vascular system. The company also sells a nutritional supplement designed to encourage a healthy c-v system.

Last Wednesday I went to be tested. After discussing the previous 15 months and explaining what the DPA machine was all about, plus other nutritional approaches to a healthy c-v system, the retired RN ran the machine and discussed the print out with me.

I don't think either of us expected my c-v system to test younger than my actual age! I know that after the events of the previous months that *I* was surprised - and pleased.

So I bought a bottle of their Cardio Cocktail, will take it for 3 months and then get re-tested. Their website lists all of the ingredients so I knew there were no allergens. I also knew from previous reading that many of the listed ingredients were good, and learned about a couple new ones that I hadn't heard about before. Arginine and pomegranate juice.

I bought two types of pomegranate juice to see which I preferred - one with blueberries (which I find a bit syrup-y) and cranberry (which I haven't tried yet). I may also get some CoQ 10 enzymes which I'd read about previously and which Ann suggested would help speed the rest of the nutrients in their work.

Since getting off the Ezetrol and starting the Niacin therapy, my blood pressure has been - in a word - great! I'm thinking the Ezetrol was also causing me problems because I was only off it for a couple of days when my bp dropped and it's stayed nicely below 120/80 ever since.

It would seem that I finally have the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle right, and given the apparent health of my cardio-vascular system, I can look forward to a good many more years of weaving. Goodness knows, I've got way too much stash to give up weaving yet! :D

I would like to thank everyone who encouraged and supported me, especially those who are walking the same path. You gave me hope when it seemed hopeless. It would appear that I have finally found that 'new woman' so many medical professionals promised! While I had to dig deep to find the silver linings in amongst the clouds, they were there. And one of the best silver linings was knowing that so many people cared what was happening to me, and let me know.

Thank you. Thank you.

Playing Hookey

The THUD you may have heard last week was me falling off the energy wagon.

For the past couple of months I have been feeling more and more exhausted, which I attributed to a hectic travel/teaching schedule, poor sleep, what have you.

May 4th, when the specialist confirmed my suspicions I felt myself teeter, and subsequent minor irritations ground at me for the rest of the week. By Saturday when I was trying very hard to be upbeat and positive about the future, I kept mulling over the events that had brought me to where I am in the here and now. And found myself sinking futher into a funk of feeling - well, just plain bloody tired. (Apologies to any Brits out there.)

Sunday after lace I fell into bed at around 4 pm and dragged myself out at 6, feeling worse than before. Needless to say, doing anything productive was beyond me.

I managed to pull myself together while Karena was here and finish off the first shawl warp and beam the next but after setting up the guild loom, essentially crashed and burned.

It's taken me several days to think through why this happened. My conclusion? During the course of the past year I never had time to stop and deal with what was happening, because it just kept on happening. My blood pressure has been pretty good for the last two months, and essentially things have been under control. Which means that I haven't been focussed on trying to gain control.

You know how they say you never have a nervous break down during the crisis but after it? Well, my crisis is pretty much over - until the next one - and my body was finally able to make me pay attention to the fact that it was tired - exhausted - from all the stress, turmoil, pain and grief.

Even when I said I was going to cut back on my working hours, I got two special orders, and found myself working just as much as I had been. :}

So now, in spite of two critical deadlines coming up, my body has said "Enough." And this time, I'm going to listen.

I've been watching tv (egad - even daytime tv!) knitting, making jigsaw puzzles. And if I feel like heading down the stairs to do a little puttering, I do. But if I don't - well, I don't. :)

Today all I managed was to pack up an order, trim and tag the placemats I pressed on Sunday and deliver them to the local consignment shop.

Hopefully I can at least do the weaving/writing for the project for Handwoven I'm trying to pull together. That deadline is one I really don't want to miss. :)

A Pressing Matter

I had every intention of threading the AVL today with the warp for the throws (afghans, whatever you call them) but realized that one of the piles threatening to topple over in the studio was the tea towels I've woven and that Karena has been diligently cutting apart ready to be wet finished.

Decided that I would really like to see a little floor in my studio, and one way would be to deal with the wet finishing. Unfortunately it isn't going to get done all in one go, so on the theory that doing a little bit every day (every other day?) will eventually see the pile in the studio disappear, I started with one load. It turned out that the aqua warp was exactly one washing machine load's worth so here they are on the drying rack after pressing.




Once those were done, I turned my hand to some of the towels that had been wet finished and hemmed and got a few of those pressed and ready to be tagged and priced, too.



I was a bad girl today and woke up feeling so muzzy headed I had a small cup of real coffee. Unfortunately my bp wasn't real happy about that and spiked, but it wasn't too high and since I knew what had caused it didn't cause much grief. But I did feel like I needed to do some exercise and wove one chenille scarf on the Fanny this evening. I'm hoping that the exercise and my evening dose of meds will bring things back to normal. And I promise to be good and not have any more real coffee. At least for a while. :}

The good news is that I finally got a phone call from the specialist's office today and I'll go in to see him April 14. I have some questions about what the future holds and what sort of treatment I should expect given the two other blockages.........

Next Towel Design

One of the challenges in photographing textiles is getting them in focus. This looked fine on the camera, but I suspect it's blurry. OTOH, the design is blurred anyway, so it's really hard to tell. :}

This is the same threading/treadling as the first design, but I've changed the tie up from twill blocks to the good old 1:3:1:3:2:2:3:1 twill tie up I like so much. Since there is so little of the fine linen left, I'm going to finish it off in this pattern. I think there's enough yarn left to do two more towels. And then it's history! Yay!

But I found another cone of natural yarn on my shelf, so now I'm thinking that instead of using either the singles beige linen or the singles 6 cotton that I'll use up this cone of mystery yarn. It's marked 30/5 and appears to be cotton. Not terribly tightly spun, so should make good towel weft.

Well, I hope to use up one more cone from my stash, regardless.

The good news is that after my usual chemical cocktail, plus the Micardis (which I took as soon as I got home from the doctor and pharmacy at 10:30) and 30 minutes of weaving, by bp was about as perfect as I can hope for. :) So once more we'll see how it goes. One thing I've learned is that my allergies play havoc with my bp, so I guess I am going to have to be resigned to chemical modifications.............

Busy Day

Today was my usual brunch and errand day with mom. Not too many errands, but we did go to the library and I got another big bag of books. Not sure why when I haven't been having much time to read the past few days. And with travel preparations needing to be done, doubt there will be much time for reading for the next while. :(

When I got home, the snow removal crew had been by and on a rather bitterly cold March day (-31 C - spring is supposed to be coming, soon, right?) they widened the streets and got rid of some of the ruts in the compact snow.

While this isn't a record year for snow accumulation by any means, I've been spoiled by being away to warmer climes not once, but twice so far this year, and I'd be just as happy if the March leonine winds arrived and started working their magic on the snow piles......





After having coffee with the neighbour and coming home to take my bp (which is spiking way too high - AGAIN! - I decided I needed some exercise and wove off the chenille scarf on Fanny.



I have several 'tapes' of various standard lengths that I use to track the length of my weaving. I had already woven one scarf yesterday, which can be seen on the cloth beam, and you can just see the cut line I've woven between the two scarves. (It probably shows up much better on the enlargement of the photo.) I cut between the two so that each scarf has several picks to help hold the fringe in place until the scarf can be fringe twisted. You can also see the fugitive picks at the beginning of the scarf which will be cut and pulled out as the fringe twisting is being done.




After dinner I finished sleying the warp on the AVL and started weaving. Here you can see the hem area and the first repeat or so. This photo has washed the colour out, so see a better representation of the colour in the photo below.





I've got less than a pound of the linen left so this 25 yard warp will definitely use that up. I will decide between the heavier natural (beige) linen singles and the natural single 6's cotton for weft once the linen is used up.

I'm seeing the doctor again tomorrow and I suspect I'm going to have to go back onto the Micardis, which I went off 2 weeks ago, or in some way tweak my medications. I've got a week until I leave for Boise, so if we make changes they have to be done tomorrow. :( I am not a happy camper my bp has gone wild again.................

Waves

in the cloth, and for saying 'goodbye' for a while. :)

In this photo you can just see the hem area at the bottom as it is rolling around the beam, and then a faint undulation in the towel itself.

I was anxious to have this warp ready to weave on before I left because I'm going to be away for two weeks, and won't be able to get my daily exercise. Since my bp has been erratic for the past 3 weeks, but better when I exercise, I figured it made good sense to be able to leap right on the loom as soon as I got home. :)

The Fanny is currently naked, but Karena is winding some chenille warps for scarves, so I should be able to get some more chenille scarves made for sales this fall. It's been several years since I've offered chenille scarves, so thought maybe it was time to try those again. Besides, I've got all this chenille sitting on my shelves. More stash to use up.

The good news is that the snow fall of this morning has stopped, the skies are clear, and I should be able to leave on schedule at 5 pm. I'm meeting a weaver in the Vancouver area this evening for a late dinner and some good visiting. I don't get to see her often enough, so I'm really pleased it worked out to meet tonight.

I'll be staying with friends part of this trip, so if possible I'll post some road reports. :)

Cheers, and happy weaving etc.

Variations on a Theme

I revisited one of my earlier drafts, changing the tie up to create twill blocks. The twill blocks give a much bolder pattern so I'll probably finish out the rest of this warp (maybe 8 more yards left?) using treadling variations with blocks.

Today is a better day than the last couple of weeks. I've been having sleep disruption due to hot flashes (power surges?) which interfere with getting a good night's rest. After seeing the doctor yesterday, he has agreed to change my chemical cocktail when I get home because my bp has been bouncing all over the place again. And I'm just plain tired from poor sleep. :(

The good news is that one of the accepted bp medications has the 'side effect' of reducing, if not eliminating entirely, hot flashes. Huzzah! I can live with that side effect!!!! So I'll finish out the Micardis, and switch to Clonidine (sp?) when I get home and hope that this time the side effects will be beneficial instead of detrimental. :} I can hardly wait! :^)

The doctor said that even people who don't have problems with bp will have high bp readings if they are having poor sleep, which I thought was interesting.

Anyway, my bp hasn't been 'bad', but it's been far from good, which it was for a couple of weeks after Christmas. :(

The good news is that I continue to be able to weave like I used to do - no pain, no struggling - so my productivity has been pretty good. I didn't think I'd come close to being able to finish this warp before I left, but it's been going so well I may even finish tomorrow. Sunday for sure.

Stash Reducing

Finished the last of the doubled fine cotton warp tonight. I could have woven on this warp for a long time, partly because I still have so much more stash that would have been perfect as weft on it, partly because it was just so dern purty. :^) But all good things come to an end, and so has this warp as of 8:30 pm tonight. Hooray!

I'll get Karena to cut and serge the towels on Monday and then I can wet finish a batch of towels in preparation to hemming etc.

Since I brought a bunch of towels with me to LA/Tucson and managed to get them all hemmed while I was away, I'll probably do the same on the next trip. ;)

I didn't actually get very much done today as I spent a good chunk of the morning waiting around at the lab to get blood drawn, then a meeting in the afternoon sliced a good portion of the rest of the day away as well.

However, I did do an article for WeaveZine I promised, (if Syne likes it, it may appear this spring sometime - watch for changes in WeaveZine's format) prepared some handouts for the bobbin lace Show and Share scheduled for this Sunday and made the proto-type bracelet the students will make for themselves, and last but not least, pulled some more warp yarns for the Boise Magic in the Water part II workshop. All that's left for that is to wind a couple of warps, write the intro letter, make a list of the warps and the equipment required (table or floor loom, how many shafts, how many shuttles/bobbins), pack it all up and get the box into the mail on Monday. If you say it fast, it hardly sounds like anything at all. :}

While I was staying with one of my hostesses in Tucson, we had a talk about cholesterol and it turns out she can't take any of the Rx medications but she can take a dietary supplement called plant sterols and has been having good success with those along with a good diet and exercise. I did some research when I got home, found an interesting article published by what looked like a reputable medical journal and brought that in to the doctor with me yesterday.

He had been concerned because after I got home my bp had spiked again, but when I told him I'd used my ashtma puffer to try to control the inflammation in my lungs (due to a severe allergic response during my trip - the good news is that it worked - whew!) he told me that the blue asthma puffer will definitely spike bp so I'm going to stay on the same regimen that I've been on since Dec. 22 as that seems to be keeping things pretty much under control (except for those dratted allergy response spikes). :(

At any rate, I've also added a supplement with the plant sterols, so in addition to checking my liver (still tenderness under the right ribs, more annoying than anything else), he decided it would be a good idea to check my cholesterol level and monitor to see if the plant sterols help. My goal by using the plant sterols is to keep the Rx medications at as low a dose as possible.

I was a little bit leery when I found out the plant sterols are also called plant 'statins', given my body's response to Rx statins, but decided to try them and see if I can tolerate them. So far, so good, so we'll see how things continue.

The weather here has gotten cold again, so I am really looking forward to my trip in February to Birmingham, Tampa and Columbus, OH (although Columbus could also be cold.......) Can hardly believe that January is nearly over!

currently reading: Tony Broadbent - The Smoke

Road Trip

Well, I'm nearly ready. Still have a few personal effects to pack. And I fit everything into one suitcase, albeit a very heavy one. I may wind up paying an overweight surcharge when I get to the airport. :(

There are things left undone because this past week I have been reveling in the fact that I am now able to weave like I used to. :D

After the angioplasty, so many medical professionals took care to assure me that I would be 'good as new'. And I wasn't. And I wasn't for so long that I began to doubt that I would ever be able to weave again without struggling and pain. So for me to be able to weave without that has been just - well - I can't think of a good enough word - wonderful? glorious? stupendous? None quite convey how I have been feeling this week.

And so I have been ignoring all except that which could not be ignored, and simply weaving.

A trip to the pharmacy today to pick up some essentials for the trip, and one of the pharmacists made a point of coming to ask me how I was doing. She has been keeping track of me for the past few months. I told Doug that you know you're sick when the pharmacist starts worrying about you! :^) It felt so good to tell her that things finally seem to be on the right track. Since a couple of days before Christmas, my blood pressure has been just about as perfect as one could hope for - other than a couple of days when I appear to have encountered an allergen. Even then, it wasn't particularly high - just higher than target - and an 'extra' anti-histamine seemed to do the trick.

So I am more than ready to head south in hopes of warmer weather, sun and NO SNOW! :D

I'll be back late on the 17th. Will no doubt have a road trip report on the 18th.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great week and finds a little time for fibre work.

Cheers!

B-b-b-blue Christmas

When I moaned about how long it was taking to use up the the red cotton, I had obviously forgotten how much blue I had! It seems like I've been weaving predominantly blue for a long, long time. Of course, such fine thread weaves for a long time, so.....

This won't likely be the last blue warp as there is easily enough to do one more. But I think this is the last warp that will combine the 2/40 and the 2/20 - the 2/40 should be about used up on this warp. The dark blue is about as used up as can be - what's left will go to my lace buddies for making lace. While 2/20 is considered fat in the lace world, it suits us just fine! :^)

I haven't chosen a threading yet, I am just going ahead and beaming the warp wide enough for tea towels. Probably I'll use one of the 12 shaft drafts from ARS Textrina. Something 'fancy' - snowflakes?

We kept a very quiet Christmas, having an early dinner with mom. Then we came home and I started beaming this warp.

The best Christmas present is the fact that since I took myself off the Crestor (statin) about 10 days ago, my bp seems to be settling down nicely. I had one day last week with a small spike, but am suspicious that it was due to an allergic reaction and/or the fact that I didn't weave for three days. Anyway, since that small spike, my bp has been just about as perfect as one could hope for. Very reassuring as I set off on my teaching schedule in a couple of weeks.

When I saw the doctor on Monday, he agreed that I could just stay on what I am taking now for the next month - he didn't try to increase the Ezetrol (the other cholesterol medication) - for which I am grateful. It has equally nasty adverse effects, and I really didn't want to increase the dose. No doubt we will check my cholesterol levels - and liver - in the near future (the pharmacist said about 3 months was usual for cholesterol).

Since my cholesterol was not particularly high to begin with, I'm hoping that they won't get all firm about getting it way down.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday and finding a little time for some fibre activities.

Blue Towels

After trying several different treadlings, I've settled on this one. What can be seen is the hem portion at the bottom, with one repeat of the pattern at the top.

It's subtle but pleasing, I think.

It's been a challenging day as I got news that didn't please me from the doctor. My cholesterol levels, which had been very good after a trying time on Lipitor, went from very good to bad in just 3 months. So I'm back on medication - another statin, unfortunately. :P~

This one apparently is better tolerated than Lipitor, so I'm on the lowest possible dose along with a companion medication which when taken with a statin drug makes the combination more powerful than either one taken alone.

After the horrid 6 months I had on Lipitor, I'm not best pleased to be taking a statin of any description but neither can I stay off medication, unfortunately.

He also told me to double the Norvasc as I've been having bp spikes. Not anything dreadful, but not recommended over the long haul.

So after I got home I turned for solace to the loom and finished the last of the chenille shawls, then started messing around for tea towels.

The corn fibre yarn is thicker than the chenille, so I will have to change the pick wheel to weave with that. The linen is the same grist, or close enough, that I didn't need to change anything but my tie up and/or treadling. And since therapy and solace was what I needed most, I just wove, not being too concerned about the fact that I didn't like the first two options. They're towels - they will function just fine. Someone, somewhere will like them.