On My Mind

I started this blog when I thought I was recovered from my recently diagnosed cardiac issues, not realizing that this kind of thing is never...healed...just managed.

For new readers a recap:

In Feb 2008 my brother, at the tender age of 51, fell over dead from a massive heart attack.  When asked by the coroner if this was common in my family I replied that someone always seemed to be falling off their perch and I was advised to immediately get 'checked out'.

I made an appointment with my family doctor who immediately put me on Lipitor (statins) and blood pressure medication.

Unfortunately I appear to be either allergic to, or cannot tolerate, statins (the effect is the same - they make me deathly ill) and much adverse effects later, I found myself in March in emergency with not chest pains as such, but feeling like I had an elephant standing on my chest.

I was incredibly fortunate in that my doctor sent me immediately (do not pass go, do not collect $200) to emergency.  I was even more fortunate in that the attending doctor who saw me in emergency believed that I had cardiac issues and scheduled me for a stress test.

Because the three times I went to emergency afterwards with feeling ill and chest 'pain'?  I was told I was having a panic attack and not a heart attack.  One doctor told me I had an esophageal problem, not a heart problem.

In the end the stress test 'proved' I had cardiac blockages and on May 9, 2008 (our wedding anniversary as it happened) I was having stents installed.

But!  I had not (yet) had a heart attack.

Life went on, and I carried on taking Lipitor feeling more and more ill until the day I could not force myself to take the two pills (I was on maximum dose at this point).

Much angst followed with my doctor insisting I had to take some form of cholesterol reducing medication and every single one of them causing me all sorts of grief.

Eventually I just flat out refused to take anything.

As part of my 'recovery' after the angioplasty I saw the cardiac nurse and we went through a rather exhaustive questionnaire to determine if my lifestyle needed to be 'improved'.  At the end the nurse sat there, tapping her pen on the desk, shook her head and said "You were doing everything right."  Then why did I wind up here, I asked.  She looked at me and said "You can't fight genetics."

Several years followed and other health issues arrived (getting old is not for sissies) and suddenly I was once again having shortness of breath on exertion and fatigue.  To be truthful the fatigue had never really gone away although it had been less for a while.  But now it very suddenly was getting worse.  I went from being able to walk up four flights of stairs in October to barely two in December.

I requested a referral to a specialist but once again an ECG showed my heart was 'fine' - no sign of a heart attack.  I insisted on the referral but since I seemed to be 'fine' there wasn't any particular hurry to get me in.

Eventually I got an appointment and explained to the specialist what was going on only to be told I was getting old and out of shape.

I pushed for a stress test based on my history of blockages and eventually I got the test.  Which I failed entirely.  No surprise to me - huge shock to the doctor.

Instead of attending Complex Weavers, I was on the table in Vancouver having another angiogram, being told that yes, I have blockages but none of them were particularly 'bad'.  The doctor at the bedside running the wires told me I was fine, there was one last test to run, then they'd get me ready to go home and I could carry on with my life because I was fine.

Cue the test, which took all of a couple of seconds and then doctor says "Oooohhhh.  You need by-pass surgery."

I turned my head to look at him and said "That's not what I wanted to hear."  He looked down at me and replied "No one does."

I asked about stents and he said that the blockages were too close to junctions of main arteries and the stents would then block the main arteries and cause lots of problems.  He said the blockages were ostial in nature (very close to a sharp bend) and therefore were acting as through they were much worse than the 60% blockage they were showing as.  Surgery was my only option.

They then referred me to a surgeon.

I went home, looked up what 'ostial blockages' were so that I understood what was going on, looked up my surgeon and found out he was head of cardiac research at UBC, had pioneered a surgical procedure which would allow him to do the by-pass surgery without putting the patient on a heart-lung machine, and even though I would have to wait some months, decided to just take it easy and wait.

When I was doing intake for the surgery, the anesthesiologist observed with some surprise that I had not had a heart attack.  I told him I wanted to keep it that way.  That I had a strong heart but crappy plumbing.  He assured me that the surgeon was a very good plumber.

The nurses I saw were all very supportive of my having the surgeon I did, every one of them saying he was very good, so I was glad I'd waited.

The moral of the story is this:  some people do not have the 'classic' heart disease symptoms.  They don't always have the chest pain, the radiating pain down the left arm.  They are not always unfit and living unhealthy lifestyles.  Sometimes it is genetic and presents in other ways.

I was having pretty 'classic' female cardiac symptoms, BUT SO WAS MY BROTHER.   I am quite convinced that all those family members who died from massive cardiac issues all had the same ostial nature blockages, both the females and the males.

My symptoms?  Fatigue.  Shortness of breath on exertion but also?  My fingernails had turned a kind of lavender colour, even the whites.  And so had my brothers - a thing I noticed the Christmas preceding his collapse at work.

I am now taking a new medication that is not related to statins in any way.  It is controlling my cholesterol levels and I am hoping that it will continue to work and not present me with any adverse effects beyond what I am currently having, which while annoying are livable.

Not sure why this seemed important today but here it is.

Patience

Life has been trying - for a very long time - to teach me patience.  Unfortunately it's not a virtue I possess...

It feels like Life has been a whole lot of 'hurry up and wait' for a rather long time.  I am a planner and a do-er.  When I can't make plans because I am waiting for more information from someone else, I get a little...testy...anxious...and I can't concentrate.

So it has been for the past few weeks, waiting to hear if I was going to get the new cholesterol medication.  It's an injection and needs to be refrigerated, so I didn't know how that was going to impact my travel plans.

Turns out I can shift the dose as needed, or if I'm driving (say to Fibre Week in Olds) I can just take the syringe in a cooler bag with a cold pack.

I have had such poor luck with cholesterol medications I am really hoping that this one is the one for me.  It is specifically for people who cannot tolerate statins (raises hand) and for people with familial history of cholesterol issues (raises hand).  It's new on the market in Canada so I will be very interested to see how things go.

Now that I've been approved and questions answered, I can go ahead with my travel plans.  We have wanted to get to England/Sweden for quite a long time, and we might as well do it while we are still in reasonably good health.  To that end, we have also signed up at the Y.  I watched my mother become more and more frail as she dealt with one health issue after another,  I know that as fitness decreases, stamina decreases, energy decreases, etc.  So we are going to deal with our respective fitness issues and hope to stay as healthy as we can, for as long as we can.

Personally, I've got SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) and I need to weave that mountain down.  I have no kids to clean up after me.  I need to do it now, while I still can.,

Hurry up patience, I haven't got all day!!!

Simple Pleasures

I can't begin to tell you how difficult the last 10 days has been.  I'm no stranger to chronic pain, but the pain I was having was particularly cruel in that I could not sit or lay down without sharp pain.  That meant I could not sleep properly - which meant Doug couldn't, either - nor could I do anything that required sitting - like tackle the hemming pile.

I had the last statin tablet on Monday night and it has taken until today before I could sit with a modicum of comfort - and I use the term loosely.  I still have inflammation in my right leg which makes walking difficult.  I've been able to weave, partly because sitting perched on my tall stool, sitting high on the sitz bones, was relatively pain free.  And because I have air assist on the treadle.

The bad news is that the new pills my GP prescribed also have 'muscle pain' as an adverse effect.  So does the alternate drug I had been considering taking.  With so much inflammation in my leg tonight, I did not take the first dose of the new drug - rather I'm going to wait a couple more days.

The beginning of improvement gives me hope this will all settle down now.

By improvement, I mean I can actually sit without too much discomfort.  I could eat my dinner.  I could take a cup of tea.  I could even tackle the hemming pile, although Doug brought the blue towels home today after pressing them, so the hemming mountain just grew another range!

I have been managing to weave every day and today passed the half way mark on this warp - I think.  I have sort of lost track.  But ultimately it doesn't matter how much is done, how much is left to do.  The cloth is looking good, the loom is currently behaving.  I can still weave.

It has taken me a few days to begin to enjoy some simple pleasures again.  I just hope we can sort out the drugs to control my cholesterol without making the rest of my life...uncomfortable...

Reading - just finished A View from a Broad by Bette Midler and started Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett

A Little Happy

the 'wrong' side of the cloth

the 'right' side of the cloth - weaving this up-side down to lift the fewest shafts

The past week hasn't been great for a couple of reasons but today is looking up.  The smoke from the wild fires has cleared and we have lovely blue skies with predicted temps in the 70's F.  And after trying statins at the urging of the specialist, suffering with extreme muscle pain for the last week, my new GP said I could go off them.  I'm quite sure the fact that he has also experienced statin muscle pain was a large factor in his agreeing I could quit.  He has started me on a 'new' cholesterol drug - or I will in a couple of days when the statins have been cleared out of my system.

Since I hurt no matter what I did, what I did was finish weaving the blue warp and immediately beam the next.  Yesterday it was threaded, sleyed and tied on and this morning I started weaving.  These photos don't really do the cloth justice, but will give you an idea.

The design is Wandering Vine or Snail's Trails and Cat's Paws but woven in twill blocks instead of overshot.  Now that I've twigged how to easily convert overshot patterns into twill block designs, I may explore that a bit more.  I like the large graphic nature of the the overshot translated into twill blocks.  And I've still got all this very fine linen to use up as weft!

Currently reading the Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (a novel of the Great War)

RED!

Yesterday I was very, um, distracted.  I kept changing my mind about what I would work on 'next' instead of focusing on what I am working on 'now'.  And that is this lovely, very red, painted scarf warp.

I am very affected by colours and today this red is really appealing.  But I also have that blue towel warp to thread on the AVL, so I will be alternating between the two looms.

In the meantime I got Doug to drag four boxes of yarn to the studio from the annex and on Friday I'll ask a friend to help me unload, sort and put it 'away'.  Some of it is skeins that need to be put onto cones so they will be easier to work with, plus easier to see on cones on the shelf rather than a jumble of skeins.  And then I can start designing another line of scarves.

I am on a mission to use up as much of my stash as possible and that objective is coming along quite nicely as I am working on the principle of 'slow and steady as she goes'.  Since I don't know when the surgery will happen I'm trying to get as much as possible done now.  The good news, however, is that several friends who already belong to the Zipper Club have said that recovery didn't take very long at all.  So I'm staying hopeful and positive that once the surgery is done I will be better than ever.

And a big thank you to those of you who have shared your experience.  It really helps.

Olds Fibre Week

We took it easy getting here, leaving Friday, stopping over at Hinton, AB, then continuing the rest of the way to Olds on Saturday.  We arrived early enough that we were able to erect the booth structure and begin setting out yarn before the hall closed just after 6 pm.   This morning we were back by 9 am or so to finish setting up.  Doug has some tweaking to do with the wooden things from Don George but basically everything is under control.

It has been a struggle to dial back my participation and bear in mind that slow and steady is the approach for this week.  

I tell people I am healthy, but I'm not, really.  I have several chronic health issues and one of them seems to have exploded to the point of requiring immediate treatment.  I'm hoping the least invasive will be all that is required but until they do the test, I won't know for sure.  Yes, it could be serious but I'm under care and I just have to get through this week.

So, although I'm not what you might call healthy, I am quite physically fit, more so than many people my age (and less than others - I'm not trying to claim more than I am).   Bottom line is, though, that because I have a reasonable level of fitness I am confident that if the more invasive procedure is required, that I will come through just fine.  

Cancelling my involvement in Complex Weavers is a disappointment, but there will always be another conference.  

The Wire

As in coming down to, home stretch in sight.

Just now cut off the #8 warp for AGY: L and H.  In the photo you can see the 'plain weave' (although there is no true plain weave with this threading) cut line and the mark the apron rod has left in the cloth.  The latter will, of course, disappear during wet finishing and the cut line will remain so that I can easily separate the cloth into samples for the publication.

And here is #9 in the queue ready to be wound and dressed.  I'm just stopping for lunch and may visit with my neighbour if she feels up to it.  But this afternoon the intention is to wind the two warp chains and maybe even get the warp beamed.  We'll see if I get any further than that today.

And some good news.

When dealing with chronic dis-ease (that's not a typo, but on purpose because I'm not sick, just dealing with a body that is trying to be as healthy as it can be given my genetics and the current state of my health), one celebrates in terms of how well one is coping with things.

Today my doctor expressed concern about my cholesterol levels but was happy enough to just up the Niacin to 1500 instead of the 1000 I have been taking.  And I managed to ask some questions about bp before he got called away to deal with something 'critical'.  We are both now satisfied with how my bp is behaving so we will continue on as I have been while I continue to monitor it daily (when at home - I don't bother when I'm away).

Bottom line?  I truly am as healthy as I can be given my allergies, CAD, etc., etc., etc.  So I am eagerly looking forward to the trip.  Two weeks from today I will be in Sweden, hopefully in Vaxjo, not stuck in Stockholm, but I am going to investigate alternatives to the rather, um, iffy customer service I have so far received from the small regional airline that flies from Stockholm to Vaxjo.  And pray my flight across the pond and to Arlanda will not be delayed so I don't miss my connecting flight!

That means I have about 12 days to accomplish everything that I'd like to get done before I leave.  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....

Currently reading Speaking from among the Bones by Alan Bradley (the latest Flavia de Luce)

Towels for Sharon

Perhaps it was my cold, perhaps the many days of hot (for us) weather or the poor night's sleep, but this afternoon I lay down for a few minutes and got up an hour later. :}

However I did manage to beam the warp tonight for Sharon to weave on when she arrives. It took somewhat longer than it ought because I wasn't paying attention and allowed the two warp chains to twist around themselves instead of maintaining a nice flat 'ribbon', making it more difficult to keep the threads straight. In total, from the time I inserted the rough sleyed reed into the beater to the time I transferred the cross was 90 minutes - 11 meters long, 24 inches wide, 16/2 cotton at 32 epi.

But it's done and ready to thread. However tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment (will find out how my cholesterol is doing on the Niaspan) and then I go to look at a loom for a new weaver who isn't sure if the loom is complete. It was given to her, but she really doesn't know anything about it.

I also have some admin type stuff that desperately wants doing, so I may work on that in the morning and try to clear it off my desk.

In reviewing Tien's stay she:

wove about 5 yards on a 16/2 cotton warp (tea towels)
wound, dressed the loom and wove off a 5 meter long tea towel warp 8/2 cotton 20 epi
wound, dressed the loom and wove off a 5 meter long sample warp
wound, dressed the loom and wove off a 5 meter long warp for a shawl which she hemmed and wet finished - based on the sample warp
learned Torchon bobbin lace, making 3 bookmarks, learning 4 different stitches
rummaged through my library looking at books and samples, taking lots of photographs
practised a different way of throwing/catching the shuttle, concentrating on ergonomics
practised beating for speed on the tea towels, then for precision on the shawl
practised a different way of threading and sleying
blogged http://travellingtiger.com/blog


In 5 days. And she called it a 'vacation'. A girl after my own heart. :D

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.

The Efficient Weaver

These are the scarves I've woven since getting home Tuesday evening. I would have liked to see the pile a lot higher but I had several appointments (dentist/dr/etc) and other work that needed to be done (banking, skein winding, workshop prep - unpacking!)

The truly amazing thing to me is that I've been off the Ezetrol since Tuesday, and yesterday I felt great! After the angio everyone kept telling me I would feel like a new woman, that I'd have energy to burn. And it didn't happen. In fact, things got a whole lot worse before they started to get better.

I'm now suspicious that the Ezetrol, just like the statins, was affecting me a lot more than I'd realized. :(

So far I've had two doses of the Niacin (500 mg a day) and so far so good. My bp has actually dropped significantly since getting off the Ezetrol. It's now low enough that I've been having a cup of high octane coffee in the morning! :D

Anyway, I'm going to ask my doctor if I can stay at 500 mg/day for three months and check my cholesterol levels before upping it to 1000 mg/day (the recommended dose is 1000-2000 mg/day).

My cholesterol has never been 'high' - just that since it's so sticky they want to see it down as low as safely possible. But frankly, I'd rather risk a slightly higher level than go through more adverse reactions.

In spite of feeling so much better I've been taking it easy today after a massage treatment this morning. I wound 3 more chenille warps, and dressed the loom with one of those. I've reviewed the workshop materials and will start photocopying the handouts this evening, with the goal of getting everything into the mail next week.

And I've been picking away at my hemming pile.

I had a bit of a chuckle at the conference. I'd brought a bin of tea towels that needed to be hemmed and worked on those during lulls in the vendor hall.

Two weavers came up to me and commented that I was hand hemming - that they'd been getting negative comments from other weavers about hand hemming their wovens and urging them to machine hem.

When I started weaving in 1975, the vast majority of weavers would not dream of machine stitching their hems. In fact I heard of one weaver who top stitched a coat *by hand* because her guild would not allow visible machine stitching!

Now I have nothing whatsoever against hemming towels by machine. For me hand hemming is much like drop spindling. It's portable and something I can easily pick up and set down. It's my evening tv-watching job (not that I really watch tv - more something that I listen to and glance at once in a while!) For me to machine stitch, I'd have to drag my machine out, and then do it in the studio. It would turn into a big committment - clearing off space to put the machine, setting it up, making sure I had the right colour in the bobbin, yadda, yadda.

So for me, hand hemming is a form of efficiency. I get a lot more hemming done by doing it by hand during small chunks of time. I can take it with me when I travel to teach and hem in the evenings (most weaving hostesses understand about handwork!). I brought a bin to ANWG and hemmed during lulls. And I hem in the evening while watching tv.

Efficiency isn't always about working as fast as possible. It's about getting the maximum amount of work done with the least amount of effort. :)

I set up a group on Weavolution yesterday called The Efficient Weaver. Once Weavolution launches on Monday, people can sign up and join the group. It's open to anyone who wants to join. My hope is that people will share their hints and tips for working efficiently, whatever that means to them. I'm particularly hoping people will have hints and tips for studio organization in tight quarters. :)

http://www.weavolution.com/

See you there!

Into Chenille Mode

This variegated chenille is bordering on garish (to my taste) but calms down nicely with the dark purple weft. :)

I had two chenille scarf warps already wound before I left, so I got one of the warps dressed this afternoon, and just barely started weaving before I ran out of steam.

I didn't sleep particularly well while I was away so I'm running a bit ragged. But I did get one copy of Magic shipped, the banking done, the impressions for my crown underway, and the appointment with the doctor to change my cholesterol medication. The pharmacy had to order it in specially for me, so I'll go to the lab tomorrow morning for bloodwork, and see when the pharmacy expects their order to arrive.

For those who might be interested, it's an extended release form of niacin (Vitamin B3) in a very high dose. It's supposed to increase the good stuff while decreasing the bad stuff.

After all the running around I phoned my studio assistant to see if I could come and 'shop' in her chenille stash and came home with about 15 pounds of yarn, both solids and variegateds. Now to start winding some more warps.

I really ought to go wind a few more skeins tonight, but I think I'll call it quits and see if there is anything at all worth watching on tv and knit a bit. There is also a big stack of library books waiting my attention, so perhaps I will head for bed with a book. We'll see!

Home Again, Home Again

So, I'm home again, and trying to get myself organized.

One of the things I had Karena do last week when she was sorting out the storage area was to pull out all the painted warps she could find and leave them on the floor in the studio so that I could see what I have.

What I have is a whole lot of painted warps!

I'm pretty much unpacked and ready to head to town to mail an order for a copy of Magic, hit the bank, dentist and doctor. I'm really hoping that a change in cholesterol medication will work without the long list of 'adverse reactions' that I've been experiencing with everything we've tried so far. Otherwise, my blood pressure seems to be pretty much fine on the current mixture.

I am very greatful that I live in the 21st c. The level of technology and medical options available are pretty amazing. At the conference I talked with a couple of friends who are also going through medical issues and the prognosis now is so much better than it was even a few years ago. It is sobering to be reminded yet again that life is, indeed, fragile and precious.

For anyone else going through medical challenges - my best wishes to you. I am constantly reminded of a quote I read somewhere - Be kind to all you meet. Everyone is fighting a great battle.

I don't remember who this was attributed to, just that it was a Greek philosopher from around 600 BC. The human condition really hasn't changed much, has it?

Another quote I have on my fridge is by Winston Churchill - When you are going through hell, keep going. :D

Currently reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Seeing Red - Again

I seem to be having a red-fest. :) In the past week I've woven a couple of red shawl warps on the AVL, a red shawl on the Fanny, a red chenille scarf warp today and am just now dressing the Fanny again with a black and red warp. ;)

Red - the colour of energy. Perhaps my week of rest has allowed my energy to come back and my colour choice reflects that.

Don't know if I will finish weaving it before I leave tomorrow, but that's okay. The AVL is (gasp!) naked and destined to remain that way for a couple weeks. Well, not quite naked - the last warp still needs to be stripped off, but somehow a completely naked loom always looks so - hmm - pathetic? sad? :^)

I will go away and think about my priorities for when I get back and then decide what to weave on the AVL next.

A huge priority will be to get the studio cleaned up to the point where one can walk without the do-see-do between boxes. I have students coming this summer, and the studio has to be able to hold more than just me!

Another priority (sub-priority?) will be to finish skeining the yarn to be dyed and get that dyed this summer. Once I've done that I will have to decide if I continue to purchase natural yarn and dye it to sell and for my own use. I could get rid of a lot of stuff if I stopped doing that. OTOH, with my Art Fire store, perhaps I can sell it on the internet.

So I will be doing a lot of mulling over options and thinking about how I really want to spend my time for the forseeable future.

That's one of the nice thing about long road trips - lots of time to think without too many distractions.

When I come home I have a number of medical type appointments - I need new eyeglasses, a crown on one of my molars and a meeting with my family doctor to discuss changing my cholesterol medication (and find out what to expect in terms of my blocked arteries in terms of symptoms/treatment).

Bette Davis had it oh, so right - getting old is not for sissies! Who knew I'd reach that stage in my late 50's! ;^)

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.