Play

Sometimes it is just fun to play and relax. Sometimes you need to do that.... it's called rejuvenation.

It is good.

Going Forward

Hi! I'm back after a day of relaxation yesterday.... a nice lunch out with my Hubby for Valentine's day and back home for a really long snooze..... I think the stress of the last few weeks finally caught up with me. Today I wasn't able to get my body out of bed.... my back gave out on me... go figure. Spending 15 hours a day over a loom, spinning wheel, or sewing machine will do that to your back. I'm trying really hard to get my train back on its tracks after the derailment of the weekend. It's hard. I'm pretty hard on myself generally and look upon my failures as just that.... failures... but like a Pheonix I always raise up from the ashes... not always better but at least up and running. I have a bunch of fleece washed for spinning for the sleeves that I screwed up and tonight, if my back can hold up I am going to spin a little silk for my knitted sample for my level 3 homework. I also need to do the write up for the silk woven sample which turned out to be a study of two different spinning techniques. I'm pretty happy with that actually.

We had an awesome day today, weatherwise. The temperatures soared. At one point the water was dripping off the eaves and snow was falling from the roof in clumps. Even now as it heads for 7 p.m. the sky is a lovely shade of blue and it really lifts the heart. It gives me such pleasure to know that we are having a lovely lull in the cold temperatures of winter. I've been watching the birds that have been visiting our bird feeders and I am really enjoying their antics. One day I watched a bunch of Red Polls on the snowy roof of our shed.... they were playing chase in the snow and it was really cute to watch.

It's been a strange few days though, as Hubby, being a wonderful man, has stepped in to allow me plenty of time to work on the big j.c. It's hard coming down off the ride and getting back to the schedule of a normal household, but indeed that is what has to happen and at the same time I cannot let the big j.c. go yet... I still have work to do.... I still am having trouble trying to get my pictures up and posted.... I just don't have the heart to look at them yet but maybe tomorrow. I think a little positive work on the big j.c. might spur me to have a better feeling about it all.... Hubby says baby steps, so baby steps it will be.... wash fleece that's a start.... I have to take off one pocket and resew it as I am not happy with it's placement.... it is slightly askew and while most people wouldn't notice I do and I am not happy with that.... so I will do that and of course I still love spinning so that is always something to enjoy. When you fall off the horse..... get back on and keep riding.... so I guess that's what I will do.... I guess I just need to wear a helmet!

The Big j.c. Saga

Arggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Damn.... are you getting the drift on whether I finished or not???!!! Yup... my friend who commissioned the big j.c. is winging her way to South Africa less one jacket. I can't think of it without feeling like a total failure. I worked so hard and about 8 p.m. last night everything was coming together nicely and then I went to full the sleeves. I had already fulled the fabric for the rest of the jacket and it had turned out really well. Now I'll be honest... I have not got a lot of experience with weaving.... I keep saying that I am not a weaver and that I have tons to learn about weaving so with that in mind I hope you will read my tale of woe with an open mind, and not judge me harshly.

Yesterday afternoon I started cutting the fabric I had spun and woven for this great project..... I stared sewing and it was looking great. I had been weaving the last little bit of fabric all morning.... but I felt I needed to full the woven fabric first.... I mean lets face it all the great weavers say it is not fabric until it is fulled.... Fulling is a process of washing the fabric so that the individual warp and weft threads will bite together and actually cling so that the fabric has more of a face, with that in mind I called my friend in FSJ who has way more experience than I do.... and she said..... (this is important)..... "when you full you have to stand by the washer and check it carefully and often because in a matter of a few seconds it can go from being fulled to a felted mess in no time, make sure you watch it really carefully!".... are you getting the idea yet..... no...... well let me enlighten you...

So I am almost finished putting the jacket together last night and all I needed to do was full the fabric for the sleeves.... the sleeves, that was it.... I checked it after four minutes and it was looking good but not quite as nice as the body of the jacket, which had been fulled earlier in the day. It needed a little more fulling. I popped it into the washer and went to pee...... just pee (which I was really needing to do).... that's all.... I came back and checked to see the progress and just like that .... felt! I now had no sleeves and no more fabric to finish them.... yup..... pee ruined my jacket. Just like that I was out of the running to meet my deadline. I wanted to jump off the nearest cliff. Six weeks for a vest and a lump of felt, instead of a beautiful jacket. I called my friend to tell her the bad news. She was so gracious about it and I even woke her up.... double whammy. As a result I have one month to finish the sleeves so that when she gets back from South Africa she can send her Mom a jacket with sleeves for the South African winter, instead of taking it with her...... And I have to wash more fleece, card more fleece, spin more fleece into yarn.... and then weave sleeves for the said jacket....

I have loads of pictures to show but I just don't have the heart today to post them..... I'm just going to post one.... and that's the one of my sleeveless jacket so that she can show her Mom what she will be getting some time in April... here it is.... I think I'll go cry some more, while you have a look.....

I'm Having My Doubts

Ok I'm in a crunch.... I shouldn't even be taking the time to write this but here I am... I have terrible shoulder pain from leaning over the damn loom.... oops I not supposed to say that but I am so tired I don't care....

I was working on the big j.c. last night till 11:30 and back at it again at 6 a.m. this morning.... I have a lot of weaving to do today but it is looking good....really good! I spent the day spinning yesterday and setting up the warp on the other eight harness loom. This morning I started weaving and so far so good.... but I'm down to the wire on time and it will take all of my skill and effort to get this done. I am listening to The Book Of Negroes on CBC podcasts..... while I work and it really does help me concentrate on what I am doing.

I must say though that if anything goes wrong today .... and I mean anything.... even a phone call at a bad time will screw up any hopes of getting this done. So I am off to work and listen to my Book Of Negroes podcast and turn off the radio because I am sick of listening to Olympic stuff.... Blah!

Wish me luck.... I'll need it!

Onward And Upward With The Big j.c.

"Kick the dark till it bleeds daylight." I love that line. The only way it could be better is if I said, kick the dark till it bleeds sunshine. It is from one of the Bare Naked Ladies tunes. I'm starting to think that I should have been an Egyptian.... I would have worshiped Ra the sun god. Ah well.... only a few weeks and we will be into the spring.... woo hoo!

So here it stands.... I'm taking the three bottom panels off the loom today. (Actually I just did.) I just finished them last night and 11:30 p.m. after working like a demon all day.
Can you tell that I was really tired... I felt rather like a blob! It looks awesome though. I am putting the warp on the other loom today for the sleeves and shoulders. If I can get the bottom fulled and sewn today and with the warp on the other loom and a little weaving done, then I might have a fighting chance at getting this done. I've run out of weft and fleece to spin more and so I just washed a bunch.... it's still soaking. I'll leave it to soak for a half hour and then rinse a few times, before dropping it on the furnace vent. It should be dry by noon. If I can get all the rest of the above done by lunch time..... I'll be a zombie.... I mean happy. : ) The afternoon will have to be devoted to spinning the last of the weft.

I'm like the Little Red Engine..... "I think I can, I think I can... huff, puff..." I might have to pull an all-nighter yet to get this done.... but I am determined...

I think Hubby is thinking that I am demented! Totally and completely! Perhaps.... We will see.

In the meantime.... I just can't get over how nasty is an alpaca fleece. Alpacas roll in the dirt.. they love it and do it a lot and because they don't have grease they are really hard to shear. They go through blades like two per animal.... so when I went to wash out some more fleece today, I thought I should show how much dirt is in the wash water to my blog followers..... so here are a few pictures of fleece water after the fleece came out of the first wash water,
and then there is a bunch of dirt down in the bottom of the sink that looks like this....
..... this picture just does not do justice to it at all.... and the finally this is the little bit of waste that came off the loom after my panels came off last night. This, among most spinners and weavers, would be considered really good, only a very small amount of waste however it really chokes me to know that the waste on the floor is the stuff that I spent hours spinning and washing etc.... argh.... The nice thing is though, that I will be doing a short seminar next month on creative recycling for the spinner and weaver. So I am going to scoop up that stuff on the floor and put it in my waste bag and save it for the day when I get a chance to recycle. Cool!

So there you have it.... the sky is light, the dog is wanting in, my tea is gone, the fleece is soaked and it is time to get down to it baby!.... sorry... that "baby" part was really not cool... o.k... I'm off to work! How's that better? I thought I was reverting there for a moment to the 70's... scary thought indeed!

See ya'll tomorrow.....

Groundhog Day

A week ago Canada had it's annual groundhog day. While the official Groundhog Day is on the 2nd of February, Groundhog Day in this house was just yesterday.... and I'm the groundhog.

You see the sun came out yesterday and a welcome bit of light it was.... I was spinning away for the big j.c. and I suddenly had the desire to check out the temperature. But instead of walking over to the window where we have the thermometre I decided to step out on my deck... I looked out the window and saw that the snow that Hubby had shoveled off the deck was glistening like it might actually be melting in the noonish sunshine. I carefully opened the door and bravely stepped out on the deck. Hmm I thought... then the cold penetrated and I quickly reopened the door and stepped back into my nice warm kitchen..... I think I will stay here for another six weeks!

It's Morning?!! Already?!

I've come to the conclusion that a comfortable mattress might not be such a good thing. The story of our mattress is long and, as with most things in this house, a convoluted one.... and when you hear it you will think we are saints, I'm sure.

Four years ago Hubby and I took a wonderful trip down the river here in our valley. We spent a day packing and getting everything ready to go. Packing for a canoe trip is not easy as you have to make sure that things are packed as small as you can make it and you only take the things that are truly necessary. We had things all over the floor of our living room and it was quite a confused mess here for a while... but eventually we got everything packed and we were ready to go. Pops came to pick us up as the Daughters were staying with them while we were away, and his vehicle was easier to pack up for our trip. We made sure the cat was out (at that time we only had one), and that the dogs were with us. With the back of his van loaded down with tent, water, sleeping bags, food, dishes, paddles and life jackets and with canoe brightly sitting on top in all its yellowness... we headed off to our push-off place at the Landing.

It was a lovely day during an awesome summer of sun and heat.... we packed the canoe once it was in the water, and settled the two dogs in their places, and pushed off, stepping into the canoe as it drifted out into the current. We turned to wave goodbye to the Daughters and Pops and began what was to become one of the most idyllic times of our marriage. It was like a second honeymoon.

It was only after we had paddled about 15 minutes that I realized that I had left my drop spindle and fibre home on the couch and that I would be spending the next three days with nothing to do while Hubby was fishing in the evenings... argh! Hubby was gracious though and since we had to pass by the road that lead to our house he suggested that we could pull in off the river for a half hour while he climbed the hill and headed up the road to our house to retrieve the spindle and fibre for me. Of course I was going to take him up on that!

I sat there enjoying the sun and shortly Hubby returned.... spindle and fibre in hand. We pushed off again and the rest of the three day trip was truly wonderful.

What does this all have to do with our mattress you ask?.... Well, that fateful walk up the hill to the house was more fateful than you can imagine..... while Hubby and I were having our idyllic trip, the cat that we thought was out, had slipped between Hubby's feet when he opened the door and had hid away to an unknowing Hubby. A cat in a house with food and water and no way to get out for three days is not a good thing. As you all know cats like to dig a hole before defecating and we don't use litter.... (I'm allergic to it).... and so it was that after our three day idyll, we opened the door to our very hot house.... (we had plus thirty degrees the whole time we were away).... to smell.... OMG, What A Smell!!!! Plugging my nose I searched the house looking for the terrible mess..... and there it was... poop on our bed.... !

Suffice it to say... three day old poop on a mattress is not conducive to keeping said mattress.... the smell had penetrated.... there was no point in trying to clean it.... we would have had to rip the mattress open to do so. As a result, the mattress made a one way trip to the dump. Hubby and I slept on an air mattress for a couple of nights and then when my back was in terrible anguish I went to the tent trailer and pulled out the foam mattress there.

Surprise surprise the foam mattress from the trailer was more comfortable to sleep on than the one that we had just taken to the dump which was not a cheap mattress by any stretch of the imagination. Well, being summer, and with Hubby a teacher, and pay not being regular, we decided that we could manage on the foam mattress from the trailer until we could afford a new one.

That was four years ago.... and it was only this sumer past that we shelled out the money for a new mattress. When we finally went looking for a mattress we went looking for one of those memory foam ones.... it was not cheap.... but it was well worth the money. My back, which is really sensitive to what I am sleeping on, as is Hubby's (remember last winter?... see previous posts) is really happy with this mattress. Memory foam.... ra ra ra!

Getting up this morning was not easy.... the bed was warm.... the bed was comfortable... the bed was attached to me.... the bed was not letting me go..... Hubby had to give me the boot!

"Waaaah, it's not fair... it can't be morning already......!!!"

Sigh! and so my day begins while all the time, upstairs the mattress has my name on it.... I just want to sleep in occasionally.... well ok maybe every day.....