The Trouble with Adriene
The trouble with being on medical leave is that it isn't anything like being on vacation: you spend a lot of time trying (and failing) to feel normal. It's not relaxing by any stretch of the imagination, but I hit a corner about a week ago when I finally did start to feel normal.
The trouble with feeling normal again is that I was also ready to go back to work... but not without a couple of days of actual relaxing.
So, last week was my time to have a little bit of "vacation time." I scheduled myself to return back to work on Thursday, which gave me three days to myself. I made sure I had lunch at a place that isn't open on my days off. I made sure I visited the local bakery and treated myself to some of their goodies. I also made sure I went on a little yarny adventure on my own.
I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. My doctor is in a place called Duncan, which is about 30 minutes' drive from where I live. I usually go to Duncan every couple of weeks for my regular grocery run, but I don't spend a lot of time exploring while I'm there. This time, I had all the time in the world. I made sure I stopped at a tea shop that carries some of my favourite teas (oh, Prince Vladimir!), and I also wanted to stop at The Loom at Whippletree Junction. I wanted to stop in because a friend had given me some bits of washed fleece.
The trouble with people giving me fiber-y things is that I want to drop everything to do something with it. The photo below shows some roving my friend prepped for me (which is begging to be spun), and the washed bits of wool (that is begging to be prepared). Leola at The Loom had a couple of carders that she was willing to part with.
Whippletree Junction is an interesting place. It is a bunch of old buildings that were moved out of the old Chinatown in Duncan in the late 1960's. Since then, the buildings have been home to cafes, studios and interesting shops, including The Loom and Leola's Studio. I don't have a picture of The Loom itself (though, it is a wonderful yarn shop, filled floor to ceiling with a fantastic selection of yarns), but here's what the Studio and gallery look like from the outside:
The trouble with me visiting art studios is that I want to see and touch and try everything I find there. The first time I'd ever visited her studio, I stood slack-jawed and amazed at what I found there:
You can take classes at Leola's studio to learn to weave. It would be a really cool place to go and hang out as well, I imagine. It's the sort of place where you could learn by osmosis, I think.
Not that I need another hobby... do I?
In the meantime, I secured a pair of used carders. They have a good, well-used, well-cared for look about them.
I've had a go at prepping some of the fleece, but I think I'll need to sit down with someone with some experience to figure out what I'm doing. Still, it's been lovely to feel the lanolin on my fingers and to watch the fibres slowly align themselves. It's made me want to make sure I go back to my spindles and do some proper spinning, which I haven't really done much of for a while now...
The trouble with that, though, is that I'm back to work now. I guess I need to fund these hobbies somehow, but oddly, I feel like I have more time than I ever did for my yarn hobbies, even with my normal gym-work-home schedule. My projects have been such a great comfort to me that I feel like they have re-secured more of a place in my day. I hope it continues that way.
Speaking of, I'm going to get off the computer now and knit for a while, and then I might play with my spindles, or maybe look at some embroidery, before I get myself into some other kind of trouble. Adieu!
The trouble with feeling normal again is that I was also ready to go back to work... but not without a couple of days of actual relaxing.
So, last week was my time to have a little bit of "vacation time." I scheduled myself to return back to work on Thursday, which gave me three days to myself. I made sure I had lunch at a place that isn't open on my days off. I made sure I visited the local bakery and treated myself to some of their goodies. I also made sure I went on a little yarny adventure on my own.
I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. My doctor is in a place called Duncan, which is about 30 minutes' drive from where I live. I usually go to Duncan every couple of weeks for my regular grocery run, but I don't spend a lot of time exploring while I'm there. This time, I had all the time in the world. I made sure I stopped at a tea shop that carries some of my favourite teas (oh, Prince Vladimir!), and I also wanted to stop at The Loom at Whippletree Junction. I wanted to stop in because a friend had given me some bits of washed fleece.
The trouble with people giving me fiber-y things is that I want to drop everything to do something with it. The photo below shows some roving my friend prepped for me (which is begging to be spun), and the washed bits of wool (that is begging to be prepared). Leola at The Loom had a couple of carders that she was willing to part with.
Whippletree Junction is an interesting place. It is a bunch of old buildings that were moved out of the old Chinatown in Duncan in the late 1960's. Since then, the buildings have been home to cafes, studios and interesting shops, including The Loom and Leola's Studio. I don't have a picture of The Loom itself (though, it is a wonderful yarn shop, filled floor to ceiling with a fantastic selection of yarns), but here's what the Studio and gallery look like from the outside:
The trouble with me visiting art studios is that I want to see and touch and try everything I find there. The first time I'd ever visited her studio, I stood slack-jawed and amazed at what I found there:
Not that I need another hobby... do I?
In the meantime, I secured a pair of used carders. They have a good, well-used, well-cared for look about them.
I've had a go at prepping some of the fleece, but I think I'll need to sit down with someone with some experience to figure out what I'm doing. Still, it's been lovely to feel the lanolin on my fingers and to watch the fibres slowly align themselves. It's made me want to make sure I go back to my spindles and do some proper spinning, which I haven't really done much of for a while now...
The trouble with that, though, is that I'm back to work now. I guess I need to fund these hobbies somehow, but oddly, I feel like I have more time than I ever did for my yarn hobbies, even with my normal gym-work-home schedule. My projects have been such a great comfort to me that I feel like they have re-secured more of a place in my day. I hope it continues that way.
Speaking of, I'm going to get off the computer now and knit for a while, and then I might play with my spindles, or maybe look at some embroidery, before I get myself into some other kind of trouble. Adieu!
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