It’s been a long seven weeks…

If you follow along on Instagram, you know that way back on March 11, I had ankle surgery. They cleaned out the detritus from bone-on-bone arthritis and tightened up my slacker ligaments. Sure, I’ve never broken or even sprained the ankle; I spent a lifetime walking all those turns off. I just didn’t realize how my ankle was being destroyed from inside.

Hence, there was a forced convalescence of sorts during those weeks. Initially, I had a big honker of a plaster cast on the left leg. A few days after feeling like I was going to bust that sucker open – swelling – they took it off and replaced it with a slightly smaller fiberglass cast. A week after that, the doc checked the wound and okayed another slightly smaller and bright purple cast. Crutches quickly gave way to Blue, my sweet, little knee scooter, and I became a bit more mobile.

But while I wasn’t so mobile and had to keep the leg up pretty much all the time, I needed something to do. My ass was glued to the couch. Sadly, I’d finished a hooked piece right before I went under the knife, so I didn’t have that. But that hooking was an experiment. I was looking to create a kind of “vessel” with it. Before I had a chance to really think it all through, I picked up

some tiny bits of “waste” wool and cotton, watched a little YouTube, then looked to make a kind of vessel out of them. It worked! So well, I went right on to stitch another one. Eventually, yadda yadda yadda, I got around to the hooked vessel and finished it. Now I’ve started stitching a new cotton one.

Sadly, during this time, we lost the original High on Hooking dog Tynan. He’d been slowly losing ground the past year and a half but was still very much a presence and always on the lookout for something to eat. We haven’t moved his bed out of the living room yet, and Bowyn studiously avoids it. But a bright spot arrived in the mail a week or two later. If you haven’t seen Kay LeFevre’s work, head over to her Facebook page. Within days of Tynan’s passing, Kay had created this incredible pillow in his likeness. Tom and I are incredibly touched by her kindness. You can read more about it in my Instagram post.

Last year, long before I discovered I’d need surgery, I’d contracted with Interweave to teach a couple of classes up at YarnFest in Loveland, Colorado, in April. Fortunately, I was able to schedule the ankle work between that and other classes here in New Mexico. So, Tom and I traveled up to Colorado a couple of weeks ago. Having a CRV-full of

frames and fibers and all the crap necessary to teaching both hooking and punch needle workshops, I definitely needed a sherpa. Sure, I could drive, but getting the STUFF from the house to the car to the hotel room to the classroom was more than I could handle with only one good leg. THANKS TO TOM, both classes were successes, and there are now fourteen more people in the world who can hook and/or punch. It’s all about spreading the fiber arts gospel!

Meanwhile, I learned during the winter that I’d been accepted into an arts fellowship here in Albuquerque. Surprise and…YAY! ABQ peeps, this is what the Arts Hub is all about:

Arts Hub’s purpose is to unleash the power of the arts as a tool to engage the community, create solutions to urgent issues, and drive the creative economy.

​The arts are a thriving part of Albuquerque’s culture and community, but artists continue to face barriers to work in this city. Besides a thriving arts community, sustainable artistic creation has an added benefit: it also sustains a class of creative problem solvers. Art is a powerful tool to engage community members and catalyze positive social change.

Consider applying for a fellowship next time around. It’s been truly edifying and a great way to make new connections, particularly outside of the fiber arts world. We’ve got two more meetings. Business plans are up next week!

So, while I’ve been mostly lying low, there have been bursts of activity the last seven weeks. But the best is tomorrow! Tomorrow morning at 10:40, the cast comes off! Yes, I’ve definitely been counting down. Seven weeks of dragging a cast around when you’re almost 60 is definitely a different animal than when you do it in your 20s. (Then it was a broken wrist.) My whole body is out of alignment despite doing yoga since after the first week (okay, with a butt-load of modifications).

After tomorrow comes the rebuilding. There will be physical therapy, for sure. Bowyn and I are both bursting to get back to our regular miles-long walks in the Bosque. But I know I can’t push it for a while. If the surgery didn’t work or I mess it up in the coming months due to unnecessary roughness (sorry, Tom’s watching the NFL draft behind me, and I do have my Patriots cap on), I’m looking at an ankle replacement. Collective shudder!

But enough about that, tomorrow is all about the giddiness of losing a couple of pounds of fiberglass and walking on two legs, albeit in a boot. And getting a pedicure! I’m planning on the giddiness freedom can bring me. Oh, and Tom taking me out to celebrate after I make my toes human pretty again.

Yes, it’s been a long seven weeks, but now I can start looking to the future. The Patriots will draft an excellent quarterback, and, along with a new coach, we have a new lease on life… I digress. Nah, really, I’m looking forward to getting back to my walking and hiking with Bowyn, especially now that he’s an only dog… I’m having fun with this vessel phase I find  myself in… I’m loving where teaching has been taking me. Colorado this month, Convergence in Wichita in July. (FYI – class is almost full!) And more to come! Keep an eye on our calendar and social media.

Going along, collaborations are on my mind. I love the hooking community, but there’s an even bigger fiber arts and mixed media arts community(s) out there. Given all the issues challenging our shared world these days, I think it’ll take everyone jumping in together to get messages out and find solutions. It’s time to mix it up and work out of the box.

Also taking up my time – planning for In the Studio Online’s Workshop Week 2025. You’re hearing it here first; we’ve decided on the dates: February 6-16. So, mark it in your calendars and keep an eye out here and on our shared social media for details. For info about WW2024, see HERE.

I give my sincere and profound THANKS to all of you who have kept my spirits up these seven weeks. To those who expressed their dismay and sympathy when we lost Tynan, especially Kay. To my students who had to deal with my wheeling about the classroom rather than easily moving back and forth to help. THANK YOU! And I’ll toast everyone of you tomorrow while I’m out celebrating. You all have a great weekend too!