Night Stalker 🦉

This is a Barn Owl     They are silent on the wing and all you might hear is a slight swoosh of air through the tips of their flight feathers.  How do I know this?   It was some years ago and we lived near the dyke in Richmond, BC. We went for an evening stroll along the dyke to Steveston  (an old fishing village and home base for fishing boats.)   We walked back home in the darkening evening light and paused by a notice board and post to watch the sunset. Suddenly, I had something fly close to my head and I felt the breeze of something against my hair and looked up to see a barn owl settling in on the top of the post.   I never heard a thing!    It was absolutely gorgeous  and showed no signs of leaving so we watched it and then moved on up the dyke to home.    That experience has never left me. 

So when I saw the "Nightstalker" rolags at Fellview Fibres (UK) with all the colours based on the markings of a barn owl, I ordered some.   Spinning it up was like working with a cloud !   Its a blend of superfine merino, baby camel, muga silk, eri silk and penduncle silk.

All done and spun up, wound up! I would order this again in a heart beat and perhaps ply it with creamy bombyx 20/2 silk?

At home we are busy with irrigation system tune up including replacing the manifold, the programmer and many of the old spray heads. We will be on strict watering orders this year and we want to get the best use of the watering system.  No one wants to be that person watering the sidewalk.   😥

Since we had issues with leaky skylights this past winter, we are getting some minor roof / vent issues dealt with and a natural spray treatment for moss on the shingles done. That was awful this past Dec / Jan with roof issues!    The contractor said our roof is basically in great shape but it seems who ever did the replacement back in 2010 took some shortcuts and those are showing up now.  We bought in 2016.... and no one went up to check it over. It was only 6 years old then, and 13 years old now. 

I started my first physio appointment !  Just small 'seated' exercises designed to increase my range of motion in my lower back.  My lower back is pretty rigid and it's going to take some coaxing, with resulting increase in aches and pain as we pry it loose.    Baby steps for now.    I will be getting an MRI sometime in July according to the diagnostic booking nurse.

I also saw an orthotist and we discussed my poor feet and I had plaster casts made of my feet.  They looked like little ballerina shoes when all done.   I was born with flat feet and so this is more about supporting the bones into a better position and more like cradling my feet.  It will be  3-4 weeks before I get them and then we'll see how they fit and feel and make adjustments as needed.

I'm being good and getting all my adult stuff lined up and ticked off: had a mammogram done, booked eye exam appointments and seen my opthalmologist too.    Care and maintainance of this older model human is extensive ( and expensive 💰), but the pedicure and time spent at the hairdresser was pleasant. 

Long weekend here; Victoria Day and the semi official start to summer.  I've made potato salad and Hub is busy cleaning the BBQ.     🍹 ⛱️

Just William

 

So when you buy a batch of rolags from Fellview Fibers, Carol slips in a complimentary rolag to tempt and tease you!    She added one of these beauties and what could I do?     I ordered some more!  😁  I was a total push over as I fell for the jewel colours. 

I don't know the story behind the name "Not Just William".... I'm sure its a good story.

I got busy and soon had three skeins of plied yarn. Here's a skein to show the colours and two have been wound into cakes. 

There's a variety of blues and turquoise, a dash of green and some black.   I'm very pleased with it and would order again.  But after I've tried some others of course. 🤩

On the personal front:  I'm waiting for a MRI  for my lumbar spine (which will take months to get) but in the meantime I have a physio appointment scheduled and also to see someone to talk about orthotics.   According to the orthopaedic surgeon "your feet and ankles are a mess.... and sadly there is not much that can be done".

So.... I will be making some changes in the studio and so have started making a list of what is going to find new homes and owners  down the road.    I knew this day would come sometime, I just thought it would take longer!   

Cuddle Bunny 🐰

 

Meet Naomi, my new cuddle bunny!   Isn't she adorable?     I have 'borrowed' these pictures from my friend's instagram account (with her permission).   Her creator / mother is Tracy who is technically my hairdresser, but after 8 years we have become good friends.   

Tracy is aware of all our trials and tribulations this past winter and decided I needed some soft companionship to help during rough patches.    Her name is Naomi.

She is crocheted with the softest yarn and is actually quite large. Most of her are those floppy ears but she also has a cute bum. 

I picked her up at my latest hair cut appointment two days ago and she is all settled in nicely here at home.   She was put to the cuddle test almost right away when my back x-ray results appeared on line that evening.    I knew something was up as if it was a normal strain  or pull, it should have settled down by now. It's been some time after all.     I have grade one anterolisthesis which is essentially shifting of my lumbar spine, due to arthritis.    

What the heck is that?

Anterolisthesis is an abnormal alignment of bones in the spine and usually affects the lower back. It occurs when an upper vertebra slips forward on the one below, leading to pain and other symptoms.

And that can look something like this.....

So it's going to take some time to settle down.  My disc spaces are normal which is very encouraging!  There are no signs of fractures or boney osteophyte bone growths which is also very good.  Work on better posture, and lose some weight is always good etc.

My idea of selling the Spring loom is still being considered as even if I lift the loom up onto crates, I still sit on my stool and lean forward to do the tie up's. Right now, that hurts to even think about! 

Hubby says to wait on a decision for now as it's very patiently waiting.     Using the Megado means no tie up's to do at all and will at least keep me weaving.  

I have no idea if or when this condition will progress?   I did have a great aunt who had much the same arthritis of the spine and she lived to 100. 

So I plan to downsize more in my studio, spin on my Hansen and work on resting my back. 

This is my friend Tracy with Naomi.  

Silk Road Red

So as I explained in my last post, spinning is all I can do for now while my back heals and I have been enjoying the time.  I have become much more familiar with my Hansen e-spinner and how to get the best out of it and my spinning / plying has improved.  It's a different approach to a regular spinning wheel and takes some time to get used to. (Or it did for me at least).  Anyhow, it has saved my arthritic feet and I enjoy the portability of it.    

Some how I found this web site: FellviewFibres on line and bought some of their rolags to spin.  There is always a little bonus rolag as a tease and it sure works!   Her rolags, puni's and batts are literal works of art and a joy to spin!   Each one is prepared by hand and takes time to build an order, and she's very popular..... so orders can take some time to arrive.  (Subsequent orders get a 10% discount which is nice.)

I spotted this selection called Sogdian Rolags and the inspiration really spoke to me. I'm a huge fan of ancient textiles and so have researched the Silk Road, the various cultures along the route.   The Sogdians were a very sizeable empire along the silk road and controlled a great deal of the traffic along the Road.   They faded into obscurity and their descendants live in the general area still..... and a tantalizing glimpse of their history is in grave goods and mummies and some ancient city sites.

click to enlarge and read the inspiration

I have 'borrowed' these images from Fellview's web site as I failed to get decent pictures of the rolags before spinning. You can see how rich the colorway is.  It's a fine micron merino and tussah silk and a touch of ruby bamboo. 

I had approx 400 grams of rolags (or just under a pound.... 454 grams is 16 ounces or one pound)

I got four skeins of varying weights and they are simply yummy. Its difficult to photograph skein and red ones  properly so it will take me some time to find the right method to show them to their best advantage.

I recommend this book if this sort of ancient textile 'mystery' appeals to you. 

I discovered that my little Royal ball winder is not up to the task of winding the skeins into cakes so I have this ball winder on order and due to arrive this coming week.  Fiber Artist Supply Company made my fringe twister (with 10 clips) and they also now produce and sell Woolhouse Tools table looms.    

So that will take care of the winding....

Plus I have one of these yardage counters from Stanwood so I can tally the yardage properly as I wind them up.

Then next task is to design a paper sleeve to wrap around the cakes to have all their data listed ahead of (gasp!) selling them.  

 I'm not a knitter, an occasional crocheter and while I do plan to weave with some, not all will be kept.   I spin as I enjoy the process and find it calming, relaxing.   After the winter we had, I needed all the stress reduction I could get!

On a personal note:  Hubby is doing much better and we will soon find out if he is infection free, and a CT scan in late May will show how effective the kidney stone laser treatment was.    He back to puttering in the yard, and doing odd jobs, albeit with a daily nap.

Me? well the sciatica has reduced so it doesn't involve my entire leg and seems more localized to the hip area, but I'm still relying on pain meds to get through my day. So it's improving, but ever so slowly.....

It seems to be time to take a long hard look at how things will be going forward once I can weave for a time. I doubt whether I can be working two looms as quickly and often as I did before and must take a more sedate approach. I'm leaning more and more  to reducing to one loom only.   The Louet Spring would be the choice to sell as even with lifting the loom up and sitting on a stool, you still need to bend forward to do the tie up's.    I don't think my back will be so forgiving anymore, and I certainly don't want to go through all this again!    

So more downsizing to come......

Winter Wallop

 Yes, I'm still here....

I'm not even sure where to begin really.....

It started with my mother in law dying November 30th at age 100.    

Then I hurt my back in mid December. How?  I bent over to pick up something off the floor and felt it go. My lower SI joint / disc on the left side and it came with a big helping of sciatica.  Dreadful pain..... and I'm still dealing with it.

Then the sky light above our hallway started to leak and there were no roofer to be had over the holidays so there was a classy plastic bucket set up in the hallway.  Our house painter friend Glen did what he could and it worked for a time.  It was finally 'fixed' in mid January when a roofer (the only one) called and asked if we still needed help?  Seems the roofers in 2013 when they replaced the roof took lots of little shortcuts and one was to not silicone under the flashing near all four of our skylights. They also didn't leave a run off trough for rain at the leading edges   This was before we owned the house, but a homeowner can hardly be expected to climb to the roof and inspect everything they do!    All fixed now.  (except for some interior painting etc)🤞

My husband was not all that well over Christmas and New Years as he had (has?) an infection they just couldn't seem to find the root cause of.     A diagnostic test called a pyelogram eventually showed he had a pocket of pus behind a very large kidney stone and it was right at the opening and about to try to exit.

On January 25th.... I had oral dental surgery and had: a filling, a root canal and filling and my last wisdom tooth removed. I guess my dentist is saving a crown for another time...   🦷💉

Before doctors could do anything about my husband's big stone, he went into renal colic and had two ambulance rides in 24 hours to the local hospital .... where there is no urologist. It didn't help it was the weekend as you know, you shouldn't get sick on a weekend in BC!  They fixed him up with pain pills and sent him home.   The third ride  came January 30th when he went to get up and simply collapsed.      I had paramedics and even fire fighters in the house to get him up off the floor and onto a gurney and off again.    This time they sent him to Nanaimo about two hours drive away and he had a stent inserted at 3 am.  There he stayed for a week. He had a large stone stuck midway and was delirious. He couldn't control his muscles from the waist down.   

He was seen by a specialist in infections and received special IV antibiotics that are held in reserve for resistant cases.   Once released and home again, he had to go daily to the local hospital for the IV meds for 16 straight days.

I still have my ongoing back pain issue  and we finally had to ask for some help from friends, who generously stepped up and helped us where needed.    I simply can't thank them enough.  There's no family here and just the two of us and this time, that sadly wasn't enough....

February was a time of healing and getting our stress factors down, regular blood tests and working out a plan on what to do with my husband's kidneys.    On March 11th he had a two hour procedure called lithotripsy to go up into his kidneys and laser / blast stones and removed as much debris as possible. His right kidney was simply FULL of stones and took an hour and a half all by its self. The left had only one stone but it was a lunker.     Tomorrow has has the two stents removed and then we'll see where we go from there...

There has been absolutely NO weaving since the day I hurt my back and I even considered that my days of weaving might be behind  me.    My back pain has reduced but I can't manage without some pain meds on a daily basis. I also don't want to set this off again and want it to completely resolve.  There has been no time or opportunity to do more than talk to my doctor and get a back x-rays ordered.  Simply too much going on with Hub.   The infection specialist doctor told both of us in a phone consultation that Bruce was within an hour of dying at one point.  I think I knew deep down how serious this was this time. 😢

So what helped me de-stress and calm myself was my Hansen e-spinner.... and I have put hundreds of miles on it.

I will share posts on my finished spinning for the next while as that's what I'm doing now for the foreseeable future.

I'm also mulling over the possibility of downsizing from two looms to one and I would keep the Megado and upgrade the dobby with the proceeds of my other loom sale.    Time to pause and take stock and plan a new road forward.

I talked with a lovely woman via phone the other day and she told me that she's 84 and still can't see a day where she doesn't weave anymore.   It gives her joy and so she'll keep on weaving for as long as possible.

Me too..... me too.

My husband's birthday flowers. He earned them!  🌹