Still plugging away

Yes, I’m still here. I haven’t really had the time nor the energy to post much during the last couple of weeks. Things have been crazy, both at home and at work. For those of you who know where I work, it’s not what you think. It’s just regular, old, everyday, work. Although, the other stuff has been a big distraction. But, in general, it’s been work as usual. And plain busy.

And on the home front. It’s been nerve wracking. Martin’s Dad went back into the hospital on Tuesday, with dizziness and loss of motor skills. It turns out that it was a combination of dehydration and the return of a brain tumor. We went through this, right about this time last year. It was resolved with rehydrating him (he just won’t drink water), and steroids. The 3 cm tumor has now shrunk down to a size where the doctors aren’t worried too much about it. Just continue steroid treatment and keep hydrated. Why aren’t they worried? Well, it’s sitting on the brain stem. Cutting would be more dangerous than just keeping an eye on it. He was released from the hospital on Friday afternoon.

While Martin was on the phone with his brother, who just took his Dad home, I got word from my Dad that my stepmother was just diagnosed with Leukemia. She goes in for chemo on Monday.

Add that to the madness at work, it hasn’t been a very good week.

But I have been doing some fiber stuff. Here’s a skein of yarn that I spun and navajo plied. The roving is from Color Me! (colorway Playful), back with Michaela was still running Spinster’s Cottage. There’s enough for a child’s sweater or some socks for me. I haven’t decided what to do with it yet.

And I finally finished Martin’s socks that I started months ago. I had to rip one of them back, because it was too long. And they ended up in a knitting kit that I took with me to the yacht club to work on during lulls in various functions. Unfortunately, I haven’t been to the club that much recently, and when I have, it’s been to work the event. (Northern California Jr. Olympics in Sailing was last weekend, where I was part of the kitchen crew that made dinner for 70 Jr. Olympians and their family. Whew!) Anyway, it was a great time, and these socks are finally done. I absolutely love this yarn (Mountain Colors Bearfoot). Note to self: make an entry on the yarn at WiseNeedle.

What else have I been up to? I’ve been playing with my drum carder that I received last March (ordered from Fiberworks April 2003). Over on the left is what one of the batts look like. I put some of the lincoln/corriedale cross that I had through the drumcarder, just to see what it would do. I was advised against it, due to the staple length, but I wanted to see exactly why. Well, now I know. The staple length on this is around 4-5″ long. It’s nearly impossible to get a clean break on the fiber on the drum to start pulling it off. But it sure it pretty, isn’t it? I didn’t fully load the drum, and it came out at 1.25 oz. (approx 40 grams). I think I could make up 3 oz batts with this. Of course, it all depends on the fiber.

Someone asked me where I found the room for a navajo loom. Well, I’m actually using a tapestry loom that I borrowed from the instructor. To give you some scale reference, the weaving area is approximately 14″ wide and 16″ tall. The total loom size is about 2 feet wide by 3 feet tall (? guessing here; too lazy to go to the other room with a tape measure). As you can see, with all the other stuff going on, I haven’t been working much on it. However, I am loving it. It just take a bit more concentration that I don’t have right now.

I’ll be posting again when I can.