MoonBound Vlog January 20

MoonBound Podcast 11 - I don't read patterns.

Monday's musings coming on Tuesday

I didn't get to the musings yesterday so here they are a day late!

This weekend...
We played board games, I did lots of dishes and knitting, the kids worked on cleaning their rooms. The grownups realized that mostly the problem really was too much stuff in too little space. We are going to have to work on this. We had a quiet and pleasant weekend.

Right now...
I am sitting with me leg up, I did a bunch, but not all of, errands this morning and am tired! My shoulder is hurting so no knitting right now. Soon I will make bread for dinner - we are having turkey - I just finished eating lunch. I made salmon pate and ate it on whole wheat crackers with pickled onions.

Plans, how last week went.
I knit on both the socks and the tank top and resisted the urge to cast on a Lillietind Hat. I did not cut out skirt fabric. I did darn Bunny's bunny socks. I did read the Handspinning Art & Techinques book and it is a slog! most of the info is out of date so reading it is really work. I did work on my German every day, but mostly really late at night. I did not do inventory or film a tutorial. I did work on the house, but not on the 4h stuff. I did not write in my book.

Plans...
I want to cruise on one or both knits so I can cast on the Hat soon! I want to spin the yarn for the hat - only about 75grams - I want to spin for a little bit each day to work up my endurance again. I think I should clean my studio before starting a sewing project. I need to decide if I am continuing to read this book or switching to another. I want to work on my German in the early afternoon so I can focus on it better. I think I will set up a time in the week for writing. I am going to remember that I am still healing and try to go for a walk each day and to be gentle with myself.

Prayers...
I am praying for calmness and strength this week. 

Yarn along

 Joining Ginny and the Yarn Along today.

I am knitting my Split Back Tank by Allison Griffith. It is coming along, but all this stockenette is a slog. I like the blues colorway and the drape of the fabric and think the white is just heavier enough to make the tank hang really nicely. This is part of the Year of the Garment KAL with Yarngasm.

I am also working on a pair of sock for the box of sox KAL though I doubt I will finish twelve pairs in a year.

I just finished read Yarnitexture by Jillian Moreno and it was awesome. I have lots of ideas and things I want to try now.

I am starting the Handspinning Art & Techniques By Allen Fannin this week. Both are reading towards my Certificate of Excellence in Handspinning.

Happy Knitting! ~Julia

MoonBound Podcast Episode 10

Yummy Things

 Getting back into the swing of life here at the MoonBound Home and that means making tasty things. I would show you the finished bread but it was gone before I could take a picture!

 I am trying my hand at fermentation with cool lids my parents got me for Christmas. This will/should be apple cider vinegar when it is done. I have made pineapple vinegar before but not apple so we shall see.

This is something I eat a lot. Basically it is potage. Sort of based on a soup a friend made, hers was very Japanese in style, mine - well sort of. I boil the dickens out of leftover rice, in chicken or beef stock. After the rice has broken down I beat an egg and toss it in then top with green onion and peanuts. The egg thickens the broth. I have been adding other things but always add those things. Lately, I have been cooking onions, mushrooms, and cabbage in with the rice and garlic is especially nice in the beef broth.

Hope you are cooking tasty things!
~ Julia

Mondday Musings

New for this segment next week I will cover how well I met my expectations.

This weekend... Friday night was school movie night, Jim took the girls to watch. Mouse stayed home with me and did homework. He is a brilliant boy but has poor time management skills and is often in some imaginary realm when he should be buckling down and getting the work done. That in combination with advanced topics and the expectations of a self-directed school program lead to many nights of me asking if his homework is done. If one of us sits next to him and re-collects his attention when he drifts off he can get the work done quite quickly, and sometimes we do that, but we want him to learn himself too and notice when he needs to refocus. This makes the lesson less of Geometry and more about self regulation and knowledge.
Saturday was kind of a Jonas day for me, I was woken suddenly and believed it to be in anger. I couldn't shake the idea that those around me were upset with me and mostly for for things I couldn't reasonably be expected to have done. This is on me. I am frustrated with my body and healing - yes it is coming along but it has been so long and so much has been left undone because of it. I ended the day having made everyone around me upset.
Sunday we were all easy with each other, I have a cold and dosed off and on throughout the day, Jim and the kids played many board games and it was nice hearing them play.

Right Now... The bread is cooling. The sauerkraut or rather what hopefully will be sauerkraut is macerating on the counter. My parents bought me some fermentation lids for Christmas. The kids are doing homework, Bunny while signing. I have a cup of honey lemon tea for my cold and I don't intend to leave the house again. Jim is taking the girls to violin. Soon, I will be re-taking all of these duties but not just yet.

Plans... I want to work on my socks and my spilt back tank top. I would like to cut out fabric for a new skirt. I need to darn a pair of Bunny's socks. I want to encourage more music practicing. I need to read another book for my COE - This week Handspinning Art & Techniques by Allen Fannin. I have been refreshing my German on Duolingo and want to continue on with that. I need to get some organization brough back into my business which I mostly have not done much with, in specific to take inventory and make new listings to launch a shop update.I also want to have Nate help with filming a tutorial while he is home. There is also some clean up work I need to do for our 4h club. I am slowly cleaning the house and plan to also slowly de-clutter everything. I want to set a small amount of time aside every week to write a novel that is rolling around in my head. I don't know if it will go beyond getting it out of my head but I want that.

Prayerful Intentions... I pray for understanding and healing. I pray for friends who are struggling with family members terrible health.

Where I am now.

 My cast came off a week ago and this picture is what my foot looked like underneath it. All the steri-strips are gone now and so is a bunch of dried skin - though not all. I am getting used to walking again first with a set of crutches and holding most of the weight off the foot, now with a cane for balance. I am walking around the house and resuming picking the kids up from school. It feels good to slowly get my life back. My husband, the kids, friends and family really helped out and pulled together. Two ladies whose daughters are friends with mine and an old friend of the family did all the kid pick ups for six weeks. They are amazing! It is very cold right now and when it warms up a bit I will be walking outside. I have an old walker and will be taking that on outside walks to help balance especially with ice and snow on the sidewalks rather than count on a cane. Each step still hurts but not as badly as they did the first day.

I am slowly taking back household duties and very glad of it. I have often struggled with the idea of self-worth as a homemaker in today's career focus world. I have had woman angry with me for being a traitor to the women's movement, not realizing that the whole point was choice. This is my choice and I accord you the privilege to make your own choice regardless of your gender, identity, or upbringing to make it. I mourn for those whose circumstances do not allow for any choice, most especially those who feel trapped by those circumstances. Still it is hard to feel your self worth tied to very repetitive and often very unappreciated tasks. Seeing the impact of my labor, effort, and care being removed from our lives has focused my understanding of the value of my labor. So hobbling along in my boot, I am reclaiming my role, blessing my family with my labor. I am also working (or planning to work) toward simplifying, streamlining, and setting systems in place to ease and safeguard against future problems. A lot of that means more work but that is okay.

I want to value my work more and value myself more. One of the ways I am doing that it to focus on my health and to make clothing and things for myself that make me feel good. I will be making for my family too. 

The first cast on of the year is for me, this split back tank top. The photo is of my computer screen and is the designers image. I am making this in a white recycled cotton yarn for the edging and a cotton and seacell - rayon made from kelp - yarn in blues and mauve. I am really loving it.

Fingers crossed that I have enough yarn as both are discontinued and have been for years. This is also a stash busting project! I bought these yarns years and years ago from Beading Heart Studio which is also long gone! Miss it and the community of ladies who supported it. It will be the first project I make for the year of the garment kal with Kristen at Yarngasm podcast.

~Julia

Where have I been?

I last posted in September.

Also in September I was walking down the stairs at a violin lesson for the girls, I stepped down and everyone heard a loud popping noise. Luckily, I was holding the railing - I am a clutz and always hold the rail - as there was suddenly intense pain in my left ankle. We got downstairs to the room the class was to be in and there was a note stating we needed to go back up stairs as Badger's teacher was ill and his wife, Bunny's teacher would be covering our class. We got upstairs and that teacher had arranged for a different teacher to cover the first part of the class, so back down we go. I slipped a salonpas (love them btw) on my ankle and thankfully sat down. A half hour past and back up we go. The ankle is not doing well. I propped it up on a chair and realize it is twice its normal size. Badger's class ends, and again thankfully, I don't have to move for Bunny's class. Except when it is time to leave I can barely bear my weight. The car is quite aways away and Mouse helps me get there. Jim is on a business trip for the week and it is Monday night. We get McDonalds, no complaints from the kids, as I know I will not be able to stand long enough to make dinner. The kids tucked me into a bed they made on the couch and put themselves to bed.

I wait until Thursday to see a doctor, thinking rest, ice, and elevation will fix it. This whole time I leave the couch only to get the kids to and from school and activities and for the most basic of necessity. Thursday, I know that I can't do violin lessons again. I call my parents to come help. Mom says sure, but when she gets here says but Dad is taking you to urgent care.

My ankle had broken and I may have  - I did - torn a tendon. The break was minor, but likely the cause of the tendon tear and all the pain.

It was an ordeal. it took a week to see the surgeon. Another to get an MRI, then another to see the surgeon again. Surgery is the only real option. Through out this time, I am not getting around well but wearing a boot to help and using a cane. I wanted my own Doctor's opinion on this and needed his approval for surgery. it took two weeks to see him. He agreed. So on November 17th I had the surgery to repair the tendon. Part of the problem was it was torn lengthwise with another tendon pressing it open again with every step I took. So even with as little walking as I was doing it couldn't heal.

This was incredibly frustrating. Not being able to do the normal things for myself, for my family was really awful. Birthdays past and the girls or my mom made the cakes, the kids wrapped each others presents. that doesn't sound so bad and in itself it wasn't but I felt each thing I couldn't do as a weight. and each thing I did was a struggle. My husband did more but one person can't do it all.

After the surgery I was in even more pain and not allowed to even place the foot on the ground. I had a scooter to kneel on to move around but everything was exhausting. I want you to think for a minute about kneeling on one leg and standing on the other. Now think about taking your pants down to sit on a toilet  and then getting them back in place all without every letting your foot touch the ground. Did I mention I am a clutz?

This lasted for Six weeks. It took Thanksgiving, and all of Christmas. I knit and I made quiet a lot of videos. (they are on my youtube channel) I did not write.

The cast is off. I am back in a boot. Walking again with a cane. My left leg is half the size of my right and each step hurts. I am not yet getting the kids to and from all the things. But today and yesterday I did a load of dishes and made myself breakfast, I bathed without help (although Jim was listening should I call) and I walked for the purpose solely of walking and retraining my body. I am still in pain, but I am getting stronger.

I hope you are well. I hope you realize it. I hope if you aren't you are holding on to what you can.
~Julia