Fresh Starts 🥂 🍾

 New Years Day, and we have more snow falling.  Our back yard looks like a clean white slate.

Today its being blown in by gusty winds, so a stormy start to the year.   It's calm and warm in the house. Perfect day for reading by the fire or work on a weaving project.   Yes, I'm still weaving but really have just made a start again.   Why is that?

Well, not trying to sound whiney or anything but it was my left big toe.  It started last May and became infected.  I'd do a ten day course of antibiotics and it would be fine.... then after a week to ten days of being okay, it would start all over again.  With no in person Doctor visits, it became  a cycle of phone calls, prescriptions and repeat.  Not good but with covid, there are many people dealing with far worse on their own and more in need of care than my big toe.  Canadians are like that and wait their turn.  It never gave any painful indication of being a hang nail and I have been cutting my nails 'properly' for years.  It meant I wasn't able to treadle with my left foot and so I wove using my right leg on the Megado and completed the set of towels you saw in my last post in October.   

I also pulled a muscle in my back that interfered with me throwing a shuttle so ice packs and anti-inflammatories became my new best friends.   Needless to say I got rather discouraged about it all and basically lost my weaving 'mojo'.  🥺  I just needed time and a more definite medical  fix.    So I booked a small medical procedure for December 7th and a doctor froze my toe and cut down the side of the nail to the base and took that section out.  Then they cauterized it and wrapped it up and sent me home.  I wore sandals to navigate home with snow on the ground. I haven't been able to wear shoes, and it does get me out of snow shovelling and other activities.    We also don't heal as well at a more (ahem) advanced age so its been a slow recovery.   I'm happy to report that I have recently resumed weaving on the Spring loom and some runners  are under way again.  The toe feels good, even if it looks awful still. (My apologies for the nasty picture. This is the least icky one and current. Oh for a pedicure!)    By the way.... there was NO hangnail. The doctor said it was just bad luck.

So weaving has resumed on the Spring:

10/2 cotton, 28 epi and draft from Strickler's 8 shaft pattern book #246 for table runners.  There are two blocks woven and one is all left foot and one all right.  I haven't been pushing it but it feels good to be able to use the Spring again.

I normally do a weaving year in review for January 1st but I will have to forgo it this time.   I had a computer 'issue' and lost 6,000 pictures  which included all my weaving photos, family pictures, along with all my weaving drafts on Fiberworks.   That was quite the loss and took me a few days to adjust to.  I do have a back up drive and the plan is to get the drive and my elderly Mac to the computer geeks soon and have them work their magic.  *fingers crossed*    So I have been hanging around handweaving.net again and anything I really need has been accessible as I print up a copy of all my drafts and store them with a sample.  The ultimate back up!

This computer loss also caused issues for my Megado as the new operating system would not run the loom so I had to bribe my husband with a newer 2020 Mac to get hold of his old 2013 Mac that still had a suitable operating system on it to run the loom.  Naturally, he's a happy man!  

I got it all set up and immediately turned off wifi and all updates to ensure the old Mac stays isolated and happy.  Its a dedicated computer just for that loom.    My other Mac (2015) is the one that lost all the pictures etc.  First world problems eh?     You might be beginning to understand why I lost my weaving mojo.....

I have two 16 shaft scarves that came off the Megado and completed and waiting for better days ahead to photograph for you.  I also put on a warp for two shawls:

 I'm half way through the first shawl and mulling over colour choices for the second!   I'm having issues with a continually fraying right floating selvedge which seems related to the hanging thread unwinding and then making it more prone to fraying with the reed abrasion.  Its annoying as heck but I do plan to cut off the first and re-lace back on again.  I'm not happy with the tension in some areas.    To that end, I have a set of soft weights and large S hooks coming to assist with even tension while winding on.

Fresh starts and new beginnings ......   I wish you all much happiness and good health in the coming year.  Smooth warps and fast shuttles.   

I'll close for now with more new beginnings.... our granddaughter Madison showing us her new teeth  over FaceTime.  The Tooth Faerie has been hit hard in the last month and she's a happy little girl.   💰

Anemones Belong Under the Sea

Sorry if I alarmed some of you with a partial post.... I was away from home and tried writing a post "on the fly" and discovered I had hit publish when I meant draft.... and a quick scurry to fix it, well didn't!

I haven't stopped weaving or blogging.  Trust me, if that day ever comes, I will be honest and tell you that I'm stopping or taking a break.

You have to know that there is a private side to my life that you don't hear about but I have been overwhelmed recently with emotions and feelings that are hard to put into words and share.... especially share with the world.   After talking with my husband Bruce, he's given the all's clear to share.  We hope by telling the story of his diagnosis and coming treatment to help demystify the process.

When last I wrote,  Hub had a kidney stone 'missing' and assumed that it had passed into the bladder.  The Urologist wanted to scope and double check where it was for sure.   Sometimes they can get jammed up somewhere, cause no pain and the other kidney takes over all duties and that's not a good situation to be in.  

So three days after I last posted, Hub had the scope thing done.  The stone was not blocking anything, or even in the bladder. Where it went to, no one knows !  You'd think Hub would notice a 6 mm stone 'leaving' wouldn't you?

The first sign of trouble was the funny sea anemone that appeared on the monitor screen.  You are not supposed to have those in a bladder.  While Hub was trying to mentally work what it was out, a voice from beside him said "that my friend is a malignant tumour.... cancer".     We have been in some weird headspace ever since.   We did go over to visit friends directly after and had a cup of tea which helped immensely.  But the doctors  send you home with a "we'll be  in touch" and and nothing else, and then there's a big time period of nothingness.

While we waited for any information,  we talked things through and we have gone from full on pep rally mode to some deep dark places and back again. We have avoided googling things and instead saw our family doctor who gave us his best run through of the process.

Suddenly you become aware of the vagaries of Life....  a search for a missing  piece of crystal 'stone' turned up a silent visitor.  We are grateful that it was found early and so are optimistic.  Surgery is May 3rd  for cancer removal and lazering of stones ....and there will be many follow up medical appointments for some time to come.

So in the days and weeks while we have waited,  Bruce has a new estate model train collection to inventory and find buyers for which has kept him busy.   I have to say that having a warp on the loom was a life saver some days.  A twelve shaft point twill, a painted 8/2 tencel warp by Iridescent Fibers called Midnight and a simple treadling gave me a place to come to and just watch the colours change as the shuttle flew back and forth.

It slowly shifts from a blue violet to a grape and then it evolves into a magenta....

I added eggplant and old gold to the edges to frame it and used black as weft on this scarf.   The second scarf I used a twill progression that resembles feather (to my mind) and used eggplant weft.

I had to pay closer attention to treadling this scarf!  The eggplant is nice but black makes the colours really pop.  I did audition navy blue as well and it was just blah.

So they are woven, fringes twisted and washed / pressed and first sunny opportunity they will be photographed and I'll post them here.    So not too long a wait....

I have a second painted warp on I call Dark Chocolate Cherries.... and its quite unlike my usual colour range.   You can see a version of it at Iridescent Fibers link under 3.5 yard warp : "Dark Chocolate" I'm trying to be more inclusive of other colours on the wheel.... and in between.

Well, we're home again now and I have a pile of laundry to wade through today and since Hub's at a train show today, I can weave while I wait.    

So please don't worry.... we are optimistic about the coming operation and recovery.   We'll be staying close to home this summer   😎