Be still my textile geek heart!!!

I have just found the most amazing podcast on traditional textiles from a wide variety of cultures. The podcast is called Voices on Cloth - Maiwa Podcasts. The episodes are from lectures given at past textile symposium sponsored by Miawa. I've only listened to a few of the podcasts so far but I've enjoyed what I've heard. The first one are excerpts from a lecture on Slow Clothing.

There is another symposium coming up this Sept-Oct. One of the lecturers is Dr. Elizabeth Wayland Barber. Dr. Barber is the author of Woman's Work - The first 20,000 Years. The book is my favorite book EVAR!!! and should be required reading for anyone who is a spinner and/or weaver. The book will be the topic of Dr Barbers lecture. That high pitched noise your heaing is me squeeing in delight!!!

There is also a series of stores in Vancouver BC. You can find the website at:
http://www.maiwa.com/index.html

TTMMH - Podcasts

One of the things that makes me happy are podcasts. You can find some of my favorites if you scroll down the page. I got into listening to them because I was interested in the subject matter which is the reason why most people listen to them. But recently I have come to love them for another reason. I've spent several months of forced inactivity. Either I've been to tired or in to much pain do the things that I'm passionate about. It was making me really sad, but at some point I worked on reframing my idea of what being creative meant to me. By listening to people who are passionate about a particular subject, like knitting, Buddhism, or Creative Arts Therapy, I can participate vicariously when I can't in reality. But its more than that. I've been able to fill up my creative well with ideas that have come to me while listening. I've been able to (even thought its rather one sided) connect with folks who love the same things I do. That feeling of connection has gone a long way to help me deal some of the isolation and loneliness that comes with being sick. I've laughed and you know they say that laughter is the best medcine. So if you've never listened to one just plug a word into Google or Itunes and I just know that someone out there has a podcast that will suite you. If you haven't listened to one in while come back to them. Perhaps you'll even be ispired enough to create one of your own.

Things that make me happy

I haven't talked at all about psychology since I graduated from school last year. That's been for a couple of reasons, one of which was I was rather burnt out by the time I was done. Being so burnt may have in some way contributed to my having RA. We may never know for sure but I am sure all the stress didn't help matters any. Since my diagnosis earlier this year I've been going back and re-reading some of the books on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfullness, and Positive Psychology. I've been able to look with fresh eyes and a slightly different perspective on how these approaches to psychologic health can be used to help clients with chronic illnesses, well, since now I am one.

One of the simplest things to do (either on your own or with the help of a therapist) is make a list of things that make you happy. By spending just a little time refocusing your thoughts from whats wrong to whats right with you, about you, and in your life you can change how you feel emotionally as well as physically. So for the rest of this post and in future posts I'm going to share things that make me happy.

Todays happiness is: My Ipod. Yes one of things that makes me happiest in the world is my Ipod. Of course the music can help lift my mood, but its more than that. I have always had trouble turning my brain off when I'm trying to fall alseep. I find that if I have some background noise I'm better able to that. I used to fall asleep in front of the TV in the living room or have the radio on next to my bed, both of which was disturbing to my husband. When I got an Ipod and the right set of head phones I could have my back ground noise and not disturb my husband. An Ipod uses less energy than a TV and I can easily set the sleep timer feature which is something I could never figure out how to do on our TV. The memory capacity even, in some of the older models of Ipods, means that I can have a variety of media at my finger tips. I have a wide range of music, I love audio books and I even have some TV shows on my Ipod now. I love not having to choose a group of CD's (or way back in the day tapes) to take with me when I go out. When I have to sit for 2-3 hours getting my Remicade infusion I have everything I need to help pass the time. When my husband gave me this device I don't think either one of us had any idea of just how helpfull I find it. Yes, my Ipod is truly one of the things that makes me happy.

Summer of Socks '09

Yesterday was the kick off party for SOS09. We all plugged in thru stickcam and cast on at 10:00am. The conversation was pretty quiet while we all counted our stitches. It was nice to see the folks who showed up all though not all of the folks had webcams so I didn't really see all of them. We chatted and knit and had a very nice time. It ended to early for me because most folks had father's day obligations. But we'll have other virtual play dates. Here's the progress on the sock I started. It's a plain toes up sock knit out of Panada Cotton. The socks are for my friend Alys. It had to be frogged once because I lost track of the increases but now I'm well into the foot. I think it looks like a big red tounge at the moment.

I tend to knit cotton very tight. In fact to get guage I'm up two needle sizes and spot on. If I wasn't on Remicade I know I wouldn't be able to knit this because I would just hurt way to much. I'm not totally out of pain while working on this but if I keep my Handeze Gloves on (think support hose for your hands) and an icepack on my left shoulder then I'm fine. Its nice to know I have some way of knowing that the drug is working.

Today was interesting

This is the view out my front door as we were having a huge thunder storm that brought hail along with it. In all the time we've lived in our house (more than 10 years) we've only seen 2 or 3 hail storms. This one was a dussey!

Today was also a good mail day. I bought this book off of Ebay on the recommendation of someone on Weavolution. The concept is really cool. You can create 4 harness pattern weave by using three heddle on a riggid heddle loom. I had heard about doubling the thread count of an RHL by using 2 heddles which is something I definitely want to try. Eventually I try this three heddle stuff. Now I just have to get more heddle for my 24" RHL

I also received some fiber from Freckle Face Fibers! Their both the same colorway but the fiber on the left is a blend of Merino and silk while the fiber on the right is plain Merino. I decided that this is what I'm going to spin up for the Tour de Fleece that start on July 4th.

If you don't know what the Tour de Fleece is; its basically a bunch of crazy spinners who will be using their wheels (and spindles) while the Tour de France is going on. I'm part of Team Plurk along with a whole bunch of friends.

I've also decided to participate in the Summer of Socks '09 which is a knit-a-long that my friend Jess started a couple of years ago. This years theme is "NO STRESS" so I'm not going to set any goals. I'm just going to knit what I can. I've got my next Remicade infusion on Wednesday. I'm going to take some sock knitting with me and hopefully we find a place to put the I.V. in that A) will allow me to knit and B) not bruise me as badly as the infusion did.

I think I'm ready to go back to my wheel now

I've had some fiber from Crown Mountain Farms for a couple of months that I haven't been able to spin due the pain I've been dealing with. I'm still in some pain and having bouts of overwhelming fatigue but I have seen some improvements since getting the Remicade. I did this in several short bursts yesterday. Its about half an ounce of the fiber I just got from Pigeonroof Fibers on a spindle made for me by Bruce Campbell. FYI Bruce doesn't have any spindle up on his Esty shop but just drop him a note and let him know Cheekyredhead sent you. He can make spindle in a wide variety of wood. Even though the one I'm working on may look a little plain its now one of my favorite spindles EVAR to work with.

Since I can do this I should be able to pick the CMF back up and get the spinning right. I found out with one very unfortunate pound of CMF that if I'm spinning and to much pain I just can't get the gauge of the yarn right. So it just seemed better to wait and get the yarn right rather than to just get it done.

.6 oz = 250 yards








I'm planning on weaving this at a sett of some where between 24 and 30 but I still have to figure some things out before I commit to the sett. One of the things I also need to wait on figuring out is what the weft is going to be. I've 4.5 ounce of the fiber left to spin and if I have enough yardage I'll weave it on its self. If I don't have enough yardage then I need to choose a color that will suit the warp and spin that up too.

I love dreaming in fiber!

Sometime I can be such a newb!

I had taken the camera my friend Katy had passed on to me, when she got her new one, to an SCA event but I forgot to put the memory card back into it. All the pictures I took were on the internal memory and I forgotten until this morning to take them off via the cord. This is now one of my favorite pictures:

From Left to right: Me, Engracia (kneeling), Lissa, and Muffin

I taught both Engracia and Lissa how to spin and I've taught Muffin how to use hand cards. It makes me so happy to finally have a picture of all of us together.

Its was a good mail day!

No bills! Look what did come! The colorway is called Circus and was dyed by Pigeonroof Fibers. I'm going to spin it for a SAL that's being host by the Spindlers group on Ravelry. The theme for the SAL is Bollywood and I really think this fits the bill. There's 5oz of merino in this lot and I know I'm not going to get it all spun. I just need to get a small skein of it finished.

I got something crafty done today!

Today has been the first time in over a month that I tried to spin and weave. I didn't do it for very long because my hands and shoulders still hurt when I do it but aside from a little pain it was wonderful to have fiber in my hands again.

This is the Cloudy Day Shawl I started using Jess's (Zarzuleasfibers on Etsy) fiber. You can scroll down to see how I spun the yarn.

This is some merino I've been spinning to create fabric for some 14th century style liripipe hoods. This project will be the first time I've used handspun singles as warp.

While I was working on that Dr. Schrodinger has been at the front window looking for birds. There's a robin that I swear has been taunting him.

Farmers markets

So I was surfing around the net today and came across Buy Fresh Buy Local. You just plug in your zip to see whats going on in your area (sorry this is just for PA). I found that my town has its own market that will start up July 4th weekend. Lansdale, who have thought!

You can also go check out Farm to Philly to find local eating, sustainable agriculture, and other resources in the area.

Nom nom nom!

Been waiting for this!!!

www.Weavolution.com has opened for business. Its kind of like Ravelry except its for weavers.

Crafty Day and other stuff

Last week Lissa had half a comp day so she came over to have a crafty day with me. She worked on a scroll that was being presented at an SCA event that weekend. I cut out and started to sew on some poofy pants for CheekyHubby. I don't normally sew clothes for him but since I'm still home and a little limited in what I can do I figured I might as well put my time to good use for him.



We were both able to work at the dinning room table. You can see two bags of Jacob fleece in the back ground of the picture. Lissa and I bought them at this past Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I need a time when there is both sun out side and I have the energy to sit down to sort and pick the fleeces for washing. Lately when I seem to have the energy it's also raining.



Last Wednesday I had my first dose of Remicade for my RA. I had two choices when it came to how I was going to get it. A) an I.V. infusion given at the Dr's office or B) giving myself a shot. The shot was right out! I'm sure I could give myself a shot if I HAD to but since I don't I spent 2 hours getting the infusion. Actually getting it wasn't so bad as long as I didn't look while the nurse put the I.V. in my hand. What has been a royal pain is the bruise on the back of my hand. It's still a dusey after a week! I should start to see some improvement in my pain after I get the next infusion next week. I hope so! But the next time I have the I.V. I'm going to have her place it in my arm.



Dr. Schrodinger has been doing his best to easy my pain by being his funny old self. In fact he's been down right clingy for the last week or so. Its wonderful to be so loved!