I’ve been so busy spinning and photographing and posting my progress to Ravelry, that my poor bloggie gets left in the dust!
So here’s more photos of what I’ve been doing. I finished spinning Beargrass from Raven Ridge Fiber Arts (my favorite indie dyer). I learned how to use an Andean plying tool from Gift of Grace Handspun, and Noelani supervised everything. The Andean plying tool is made from Curly Koa from Maui, and I love it so much.
…I’m scheduled for a partial knee replacement on September 10th. Scary, yeah? For the last year, my right knee, which is actually in better shape than my left one, has really been hurting bad. I had to give up spinning for awhile…horrors! Last year at Oregon Flock and Fiber I was hurting so bad I hardly saw anything at all. It was very disappointing, though it was wonderful being in that atmosphere. My primary care doctor gave me a cortisone shot, which took the edge off, but ultimately he referred me to an orthopedic surgeon… Continue reading
Okay, this is what’s happened so far. Yesterday, Day 2, I finished spinning half of one braid and started on another. Kalakoa was helping by modeling my first bobbin. I saw one almost ripe blackberry in our driveway, too.
Day 3. Keola was my companion while I did more spinning.
The two bobbins don’t look that much different, but I did spin for about 45 minutes.
Okay, pau the nostalgia and sadness for awhile. It’s Tour de Fleece time.
Yep, it’s that time again, folks. That time of year where we handspinners attempt to try new spinning techniques or attempt to spin prodigious amounts of fiber into yarn. This year, I’m in the second category. Continue reading
A week after we got to Los Gatos, a week after the initial shock of my mom’s death, Leilani and I headed home. We were exhausted. When we’d first gotten to town, we’d stopped by Mom’s house to drop Patty off and to spend a bit of time with my sister and brother. Then we headed to our motel. I’d originally made reservations at a nearby one for us, but when we got to our room, we were aghast. It was awful. The room was tiny, the bathroom almost impossible to get into, and the room old and musty. Bless my amazing daughter. “This will not do,” she stated, and found a hotel in town for us to stay at. She was so competent, going to the check-in desk at the motel, getting our money refunded, and directing us to the hotel. A hotel, mind you. I’d never stayed in anything so elegant before. Ever. I was in awe of her competence and determination. When we checked in, I was exhausted and tearful, and told the lady at check-in that my mom had just died and she immediately gave us their bereavement rate. What a blessing after over twelve hours on the road! Continue reading
(As I post this, I saw that the very highway we were on has been closed between Ashland and Yreka because of wildfires. I’m feeling grateful that it didn’t happen with us, but it almost did on the way home.)
Going through my old posts, I realize I never posted the photos of the trip Leilani and I made down to my mom’s; it was a pretty hectic time, obviously. It was such an unplanned, really fast trip down there. And I’ve always been so grateful to Leilani that when I told the family I was going to drive down there, hoping to get there in time, she just said, “Mom, I’m going with you.” And in a very short amount of time, I was on the way to pick her up. We only got as far as Salem because my mother died unexpectedly, but we started out again early the next day. Continue reading
It’s hard to believe itʻs been this long, but on this date ten years ago my mom died unexpectedly. She’d been in the hospital for a week with unmanageable high blood pressure/low heart rate, and on the 3rd of July, her doctors installed a pacemaker for her. The next day she was transferred to a rehab place; we expected that she’d be there for a couple of weeks and would then be able to go home. We were happy about that. During long discussions, three of us siblings talked about how to manage her care once she got home, but several hours after getting to rehab, she had a massive stroke. She was rushed back to the ER; my brother and sister, who were there, hours later made the decision, which Mom had stated she wanted should the situation arise, to remove her from life support. You can read the whole story here, and the story of our road trip back to California six weeks later for Momʻs memorial service here.
