Tour de Fleece days 1 to 3, + Other Exciting News
Tour de Fleece days 1 to 3:
this is the fourth year in a row I have managed to take part in the TdF, a magnificent achievement, I feel quite proud and even though I've only been able to sit down with my wheel for a very small amount for this year's contest, the beautiful naturally dyed falkland fibre you see pictured above is now almost a fully spun aran weight fractal yarn which I estimate to be somewhere between 95 and 110 metres in length. Its beautifully fluffy and the softness is exquisite. I can not wait to be able to knit with it after a good soaking to get it to fluff up even more.
I have two more falkland braids to spin this week, both of them are whispers type colours soft pink with greys hints of blues hidden in amongst it. One braid is slightly darker than the other so should make for an interesting project knitting up afterwards, I'm thinking one of those Spectra curvy scarves by Stephen West like this
I have about 480m of Noro Kochoran left to go with the more subtle shades of handspun falkland so it should be beautifully feminine to wear
I also have two fluffy batts bought for my birthday last year from my good friend Chris and two braids of Shropsland MHE Creative madder root and cochineal dyed dark pinky red to spin as well, lots of choices for this TdF as I have also found a stash of undyed various beauties too. Will see what I manage to fit in to the tour, so far so good I've almost finished the first yarn so feeling quite proud and will post pictures once its spun and soaked to fluff it up a bit later in the week.
On the weaving front I finally managed to purchase and download PDF instructions to make my own 8 or 12 sided Ojo de Dios Mandalas by Jay Mohler
Jay Mohler, Ojos-de-Dios.com Facebook Page is packed with beautiful inspiring images:
"Presenting my artistic work, spinning out complex Ojos de Dios, and encouraging and sharing the work of others who also create and enjoy this art. Be sure to also see or join the facebook group, Ojos de Dios, yarn mandalas of the World
Biography
Born in Cleveland Ohio. Lived in PA, WA, CA, NM, and currently in South Carolina. I've also stayed for 6 months or more at a time in both India and Mexico. I started making Ojos de Dios after seeing startling similarities between ojos I saw made by Huicholi natives of Mexico, and those sent to the USA by the Dalai Lama of Tibet. During the 1970's, when Ojos de Dios were a popular folk art in the American Southwest, I lived near Albuquerque NM, and made and sold ojos to many gift stores in that area. Much later, in 1999, I again took up the art, and now sell and promote my ojo mainly via my website and etsy.com."
With handspun yarn the extra specialness of energy, light and love that goes into each and every metre, I can't think of a better way to celebrate being able to spin my own yarn than to make wall hangings for my meditation space at home. I'm very excited about being able to do this, the red yarn I am making will be the basis of the colours, will choose the others accordingly as they come to me but so far I have the merino in dark aubergine and grape shades I did last year plus some grey, just looking for a type of sage colour now to lift them and some undyed which I'll do this year as well, possibly in mohair or silk mohair blended by my own hands like the 'pudding' yarn I did last year.
My son's weight loss is really coming along, he's been on Orlistat now for four weeks, I can already see improvements around his face, he doesnt want pictures plastered all over the internet of himself but they are already starting to look impressive, I think he's just going to make a movie at the half way mark showing what he's done so far, good on him I say, he's been making a real effort, finding it difficult to cut down on bread through but he can have one weakness, mine was cheese not sure if you remember but I could easily give up chocolate it was english cheddar and italian cheeses I found hard to resist.
Languages, oh boy, so as well as the super crash courses I've been studying to converse in Russian, Polish and German over the past year, I now have to add French to that lot as well, no one has mentioned Italian but in order to go work in Europe at some point over the next two years for a bit I apparently will get higher points on the league table for visa applications if I can speak the language fairly fluently, so into French I go. Luckily for me two things have happened by sheer random over the past two weeks, a beautiful French lady is my sensual dance partner for Belly Dance, Tribal Dance and Ballet Fusion Classes, I have sent her a text and facebook message asking her that when I take her to lunch each week for our bowls of cappuccino and nibbles, she speaks with me only in French so that I have to answer in French too. Plus that we increase our lunch time treats to twice or even three times both our work schedules allowing of course so that I can really get a crash course out of it. I say bowls of cappuccino because this little quaint bistro I take her to for lunch each Tuesday they bring us the most enormous round cups filled with freshly ground freshly made cappuccino coffee, we always laugh because it takes us both about an hour to finish one cup between us. The other extra special thing is that quite by random I've made a new connection with someone who actually lives in France, so exciting times ahead I just know it. If I do get to go over there for four weeks work at a time I will be just completely excited I will dance all the ay there. Another dream I have always had since I was about six was to swim the English Channel, suddenly over the last month more and more French things have been popping up in my life its quite bizarre, sometimes I dont question things I just let them happen ride out their natural course because why question things that are just amazing or feel amazing? just enjoy them right? so I've been very much enjoying this not questioning it at all, more and more French references have popped up so I'm thinking with all the health and fitness stuff I have been enjoying of late I wondered about speaking with one of the Coaches with regards to training to swim the channel in a year or eighteen months time.
For the first time in a long time I've had to actually buy proper clothing that wasn't to go to the gym or take part in sporting events, its quite funny but I've come to realise that a kid in a sweet shop has nothing on a woman who has lost over a 150 pounds in weight who can now go into a shop and everything laid out there will be my size included, not like before when I used to hate shopping because I was so large that the only shops I could go in that carried my size would have like one small section right at the back of the shop with little choice. Suddenly now with taking a size 12 mainly, the clothing options have completely been opened up to me and I'm in a world now of choices, I never know what to pick because I've never had these choices before, on top as my assets are a bit on the large side sometimes I have to get a medium or 14 but who's complaining, its the number one question I get asked pretty much daily, how did I keep my bust size large with loosing so much weight and giving up smoking last year. Exercise, exercise and more exercise, usually involving heavy weights, 2kg bags of rice, tins of beans or largest size cans of dog food in pillow cases, anything that will pull the ligaments upwards thus shortening the fibres in order to hold up what are essentially hollow bags containing little soft tissue. Its the supporting structure that holds and lifts them, not the cup size itself, the surrounding tissue is what you need to target. I used to embarrass the hell out of my personal trainer each week when I used to say to him dont forget I'm not loosing these, he never understood why I was so adornment at hanging on to them but now I've lost over 150 pounds and my body is a totally different shape with curves, he understands why finally. Its just something very personal to me, I've always had them on the large side and had no intention of giving them up without a fight, now I'm glad that it was one of the first things I asked about when I first stared pulling myself upright to exercise before I could even walk, then carried on doing exercises specifically for just them to keep the tissue nicely tight not sagging so they can be held up. I spoke to one lady recently who was saying that she can roll hers now they are so flat and loose, I really felt it for her because I know what that would mean to me to become flat up and down front and back, I'd hate it immensely.
My new glasses both pairs still are not back at the opticians yet. The hospital phoned me this morning to discuss de-registering me as legally blind, they've not done one before so I was happy and proud that I'd swatted up on the procedure and could tell the lady how to go about changing things for me, so as of July 1st its official I am not registered disabled anywhere in England or Wales, I've worked so hard for this, it feels enormous and should be celebrated so tonight I'm actually going to travel down to the cinema and watch a film just because I can and sit up in the high up seats not in the front row any more because a) I can now walk up to them and b) because I can finally see the screen to enjoy the movie. Out of anything I could have chosen to do tonight to celebrate this somehow seems the most fitting because when I was a wheelchair user going to see films in the Odeon was one of the things I could manage quite often and really enjoyed. So Hummingbird action movie starring Jason Statham it is and I can not wait.
Busy week ahead starting tomorrow, I am glad in a way because it will get my mind off willing the days to fly by quickly, I have so much to look forward to, the tv program comes out in just over two weeks now, its quite nerve wracking, later this week I have photos and the daily mail interview for the paper and mail online, I've been asked this morning to do a tv interview as well live, I said yes without giving it much thought at all so then started to think oh my, what on earth will I wear, no two ways about it then, I will have to go shopping, oh dear! well if I have to I guess :) I'm loving the way everything is going so far, the reason I didn't think about it before agreeing to the tv interview on the sofa is because just yesterday a good friend said he expects to see me on there and then first thing this morning I got a call! an omen or gift horse, either way I used my 20 seconds of insane courage theory and just said "YES".
I've had to have a rather difficult conversation this lunchtime with my children, now that I'm technically a professional I no longer qualify for a lot of the financial things I did before, so starting this week several changes have to be made, I am digging deep to pay for Angelica's education now I no longer qualify for the tuition fees for her course, she's been signed up and passed the interview but that was before I accepted my new job so now I have to somehow find the money for the deposit or loose the place, therefore I've reluctantly sold my treadmill today, not given it much thought I want her to have the best further and higher education she possibly can have, its either that or send her to the local college of Mid Kent where the highest grades to obtain a place there is a D E or F. Where she is going you needed 2 x As and a B or 3 B+s to get in on to the course she chose for herself. Same with Joe's uni, he needed 6 x As and an advanced BTEC Level 3 ND with distinction distinction merit as a minimum grade level to apply for the course then had to pass several stages to actually get in for what he is doing, I'm so proud of him for making it through the first year, he's finishing up some projects right now and then can relax for the summer until September. He and Lionel have taken Harvey and Ivan to the park to tire them out a bit so that when I go out later they will be able to relax as both boys should be able to watch a film and sit still long enough to not mess about as they'll be tired. I have brought the phone answering shift for the crisis center forwards today I start shortly I've swapped with a very nice lady and I'll do a late one for her another evening. Angelica will be home from Aerobics shortly and Imogen is doing her homework right now whilst the house is silent.
I am about to go do my hair ready to go out when they all get home. Things are definitely beautiful at the moment, far far different to that of this time last year, the year before and certainly all the years before these as well. I am so blessed and completely proud to have turned it all around the way I have, its just incredible.