Working on the Stash

stash reduction proceeds

On Tuesday afternoon I dyed the last 7 silk gimp warps and the last few skeins.  Today one of those warps was dry enough to dress the loom and using one of the skeins dyed at the same time as the warp, I wove off the shawl.  I think there are 13 warps left to do now, so at the rate of one per day, I should finish weaving these in a couple of weeks.  Next Tuesday I have clinic appointments and then, hopefully, treatment #4 on Wednesday so won't likely do too much on those days.

latest skeins

The last few days I've also managed to get some spinning done.  The white/beige had been spun a while ago but I got it plied and wet finished.  Then I started on the hand dyed blue.  I found a pale blue wool/nylon in my stash that seemed to work well for the plying.  The two skeins were not spun the same but there is quite a bit of yardage in each skein so there should be enough to use as an accent yarn with something else.  I think one reason the two skeins are so different is because they were each spun on a different wheel.  I'm not a good enough spinner to control each wheel to get the same results, so I just spun as the wheel and fibre dictated and didn't fret too much about the inconsistency.

Rather than dress the loom again today I've been knitting and watching tv.  After I have my dessert I think I'll spin a bit more.  I've got loads and loads of spinning fibres to reduce out of my stash, too.

Currently reading The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt

...and now we return to our regularly scheduled programming....

Today I went to the annex with 8 shawls that needed a hard press as part of their wet finishing.  There were six from a blue/green warp and two left from the coral/peach I'd done a few weeks ago.

Four of the blue/green had a very fine worsted wool used for weft in either black or dark bottle green.  Two of them had a somewhat thicker woolen tweedy yarn of a pale blue/white.  Both turned out beautifully.  Nice weight, nice drape, nice feel.

The peach/coral shawls were more of the wool/mohair/angora singles with the high twist energy and as with the others done previously, tracked beautifully.

Today is a grey, muggy day and after spending time at the press I'm not feeling terribly energetic.  I think I'll see if I can fill the bobbin on the traditional wheel and then ply that off on the Joy.  I've loads of recorded tv programs to run while I spin.

Currently reading Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb (read Dragon Keeper on my trip to Quebec)

Don't Stop Now!

Assuming that Life had thrown all the crap at me it was going to - at least until I was through chemo - I was totally unprepared for the news last night that my mother needs "immediate" heart surgery to fix damaged valves.  So damaged that they cannot do the surgery via the femoral artery - which I am assuming means open heart surgery - unless there has been some technological advance I haven't heard about.

On an 86 year old.  With diabetes.  In a hospital 450 miles away.

In an emotional tail spin I thrashed most of the night wondering what on earth was going to happen until around 3 am when I finally remembered that as a cancer patient I have access to the clinic social workers.  If ever I needed to talk to one, now would be it.

After gathering myself to the point of reasonable functionality this morning I phoned and left a message for one of them to call me back.  Which she did not long thereafter.

She affirmed that, with a compromised immune system, sitting in a distant hospital was pretty much the last thing I ought to be doing and even though the information wasn't for me personally, gave a list of resources for someone in mom's condition.  I knew about most of them, but had no idea how to make contact, so she will print out the contact list and give it to me once we have a surgical date and find out things like whether or not mom will even be able to fly or if she will have to endure the 10 hour road trip via the health bus.  How long she will be in Vancouver for recovery after surgery.  Whether they will kick her to the curb and let her make her own way home or if they will discharge her to the local hospital, which I'm hoping would mean a flight home via air ambulance and follow up care at the cardiac unit here.

Right now we are in a state of stunned disbelief, but at least I have some resources to offer mom.  Now to find someone to accompany her for the trip down and the immediate aftermath.

A couple of hours before I got the above news a friend gave me a piece of wisdom penned by St. Theresa of Lisieux.   Little did I know how much I would need it, and how quickly.

"May today there be peace within.  May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.  May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.   May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us."

Thanks Karen.  That was so much needed and so much appreciated.  Your timing was impeccable.

Slow But Steady

A few years ago I bought a traditional style spinning wheel because I had fond memories of my first traditional.  Unfortunately the wheel had a funky tensioning mechanism that relied on friction between the flyer assembly and a large metal 'staple'.  Which was fine - until the wood dried out and shrank and there was no more friction!  The flyer assembly just flopped over and died and there was no more spinning to be done on the wheel.  Which was a great pity because while it worked I'd quite liked spinning on it.

Earlier this year when I decided to downsize and get rid of my wheels I asked Doug if he could figure out some way to make it work.  Well, the wheel finally rose to the top of the 'honey do' list and today he completed the repair.

Which meant I had to first empty the bobbin, which I did by plying it on the Joy, then find some roving I didn't mind if I messed up in order to test the wheel and see if it was going to work.

I found a few small bags of a hand dyed roving I bought from Joybilee Farms that had been dyed by Sarah as part of several years worth of science projects investigating dye material from woad grown at their farm in southern BC.  Since there was not a lot of each colour I figured I would use it and what ever happened I would figure out something to do with it.  Between the three colours there should be enough to do something nice and if I messed up a little of it, it wouildn't be a huge problem.

The good news is that he did get it fixed and I can spin on this wheel again.  Now to decide if it keep it or try to sell it.  The jury is still out on that.  ;)

One other thing to share - I got a really pretty orifice hook from Jude Pilote.  You might just be able to see it stuck into the ball of light blue roving.  (Click the photo to biggify.)  When I got the Joy, it came equipped with it's own hook and I thought I would give Jude's hook to a friend.  However I still need a hook for this wheel and since I haven't decided if I will keep it or sell it, I'm keeping the hook too until I decide.

In other news I'm finally done the anti-biotics, my ankle is greatly improved - enough that I wasn't too worried about sitting spinning, finally - and hopefully my energy will return so that I can be a little more active.  Still not pushing myself too hard, but if I don't do something productive during the day I start feeling too much like an invalid.  :^)

Currently reading Timbuktu by Marq De Villiers and Sheila Hirtle

Softly, Softly

tied on ready to start spreading the warp out

throw three picks before bringing the beater forward

weave 6 picks in total.  The wedges between the warp bouts will have evenly filled in and you're ready to weave!

These shawl warps have turned out to be the ideal 'recuperation' projects.  The cloth is very loosely woven which means that although the warp is 20" in the reed, there are actually only 200 ends.  Threading is a straight draw, so no thinking required - just put my brain in neutral and keep threading, 4, 3, 2, 1 over and over until done.

The actual weaving is also very easy.  Since the cloth is so loosely woven, beating is not so much a beat as it is a gentle squeeze to get the weft pick to lie nicely in the cloth.  It's a slow, rhythmical dance, perfectly suited to my reduced energy levels this week.

I think I've shown how I begin before but thought it would be nice to show it again.  So many people weave inches of paper towel (or toilet paper!) or use up 6 or more inches of warp weaving sticks into the web in order to get the warp threads spread out.  In reality, all you need is 6 picks to spread the threads out to their proper width.

Throw three picks *before* bringing the beater forward, then weave 3 more picks and voila!  You are ready to weave.

It is possible to use the length tied to the apron rod as part of the fringe, or leave it as loom waste and measure the length of the desired fringe and weave four more picks before beginning the textile.  Either way works.  In the case of these warps, they are more than long enough for a shawl so I'm not trying to save any warp length and just let the tie on length be part of the 'waste' yarn.

The whole point, after all, is to get these warps woven up and reduce stash!

Round 3 and Finding Emilie

Round 3 has knocked the stuffing out of me, probably due to the good - and bad - stress of the trip - the infection, anti-biotics etc. - on top of all the rest of the stuff that goes with chemo.

Although I started to feel a bit better yesterday morning, by night I was punky and this morning phoned the doctor.  Thank goodness for a wonderful receptionist who fit me in and after a trip to the pharmacy, a lie down, a long afternoon of reading letting the meds kick in, I finally felt human again.  :}  Human enough to tackle the next warp by 5 pm.

I'd dressed the loom with another of the varigated silk gimp warps and did something I don't usually do - used a varigated weft on it.  The way the skein was dyed the varigation was 'random' - and between the length of the skein and the width of the warp, I figured that the colours would not pool unattractively.

I'm not entirely sure I like the results, but hopefully someone will.  To keep the colours in order I carefully preserved the bobbins in the order they were wound and wove them off that way, too.

I finally got a copy of Finding Emilie by Laurel Corona and spent much of the day reading about 18th century France society and mores.  While I'd learned about Emilie Chastelet in high school history, it was more a bit of titallation than information - her affair with Voltaire, her scientific brilliance.  Corona's story is not about Emilie but a fictional account about her last daughter born when Emilie was in her 40's, and how her daughter (who actually died as a toddler) discovers her mother's brilliance.  Through Lili's search to find Emilie, we discover her, too.

Laurel Corona includes details of life at the court of France - the intrigue, the negotiations for beneficial marriages, the role of women in that society.  I'm finding it quite fascinating.

And the good news?  I finished the streroids yesterday and ought to start feeling much better now.  My goal is to once again 'forget' I'm sick - until round 4.

A Quiet Day

Spent a very quiet day yesterday, mostly in bed.  Today I'm feeling much improved, well enough to weave a bit, so I got this blue shawl woven.  The fell line looks a bit wierd because the knots are just about exactly lined up with the fell line - something I didn't notice until I went to load the picture here.  :}

The weft has a very slight varigation which I'm finding pleasing and should look good when the shawl is being worn, I think.

A friend has loaned me a book on nutrition for people going through this current adventure of mine.  There is at least one recipe that looks attractive - a blueberry smoothie.  If I'm feeling up to a Costco run tomorrow I'll buy some frozen blueberries and maple syrup and borrow a blender from my mom and see if I can make a nice treat for myself.

Feedback from those who have trodden this road before me indicates that good nutrition will be crucial and while I do eat as healthy a diet as possible given my myriad food allergies, I can't take my super duper nutritional supplements right now because they will interfere in the treatment.  So I am going to have to eat my way through the process.  :}

Good thing I like fruit and veggies that I can tolerate!  :D