Surgery

Well, I haven't been able to post very much for the past month or so because I have been ill. It seems that my liver is leaking bile into my body because the valve leading to the gallbladder is full of "sludge" (technical term). So after more than a month of intense itching and nauseousness I have surgery in Vermont Friday afternoon to put in a stent I guess to widen the valve so it can be flushed out. Phew. Finally. And Gary is bringing me and one of my wonderful sisters is an RN and will meet us in Burlington, VT and stay with us throughout the surgery and after. This is done on an outpatient basis so we will get a motel room and spend the night before driving the three hours back to Potsdam. All I can say is it can't come soon enough.

xo Cait

Studio Tour!!

This is rather a late post about the studio tour but I have been feeling unwell for the past three weeks and have really fallen behind updating my blog!! My friend Edie (on left) and I went to visit Mary Harding who lives nearby to see what her studio was like. Mary makes the most amazing jewelry with clay pressed with botanicals, fused glass, intricate beading. She lives on a beautiful river and shares her studio with her charming husband. Mary let everyone play with the little pieces of glass and make a pendant which she fired after the tour and mailed out to everyone!!! We had so much fun we only made it to one other studio! :) Mary also has a beautiful blog http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com and sells her wonders on Etsy at http://www.maryhardingjewelry.etsy.com Please check it out!!

I'll post a picture of my pendant tomorrow when the sun is out!!

xo

Weaving Outside!!

Sunshine and Shimmer III scarves on a 22" floor loom


A triangle scarf in the making!


Oh dear you can see the dead pumpkins behind the loom!



Almost finished!



Today was just an amazing day!!! I woke up and everything was frosty and sun kissed. After a wonderful riding lesson on Dommie, I came in to weave but I felt like I was working in a cave and it was just too nice out sooooo I moved one 22" floor loom and my triangle loom out to the porch. I banged in some nails to hang the triangle and alternated my weaving the rest of the day... How often is November like this! Tomorrow I will try to get Katie (model) over to photograph the triangle scarf on her and the Sunshine and Shimmer III scarves are also ready to be photographed. Ahhhhh, feels like such an accomplishment! Now I have some wonderful green chenille warp to put on! And there is chili in the oven just waiting--it doesn't get better than this!!!

xoxo!!

Horses in My Life

I grew up in the suburbs of southern Connecticut and my Dad was the woodworking teacher at our high school. My Mom stayed home with the 8 of us and having a horse was just out of the question. I never gave up. I used to ride any horse that would stand still long enough for me to get on. A bunch of us used to ride our bikes miles and miles just to look at a horse. To say I was in love would have been an understatement. Eventually, I put away my dream, had a job, married, had my first son, divorced and finally in my late 30s I met Gary. And our dreams meshed. We had two more sons, he wanted a farm and I got my first horse.

Then I found out that the reality didn't quite match my dreams! I took lessons but I was scared. Scared? How could that be! What happened to Annie Oakley? But I learned how to take care of a horse, pick up their feet, groom them. I went to natural horsemanship clinics and watched completely enthralled and came back and tried it at home. I continued lessons in dressage and though I still sometimes have reluctance riding alone I usually manage to push though. Dommie is my 3rd horse, and I've had him for 7 years. He and I are still learning and though he likes trail riding better than working in the ring, I'm a firmer and more confident rider and he respects that. Duke is a buddy horse and so calm anyone can ride him!

So we are still working on dreams and adventures and sometimes 60 doesn't seem as old as I thought it would be!

Happy Monday! xo

My Model Weaving for the First Time!!

Here is my wonderful model, Katie, weaving for the first time!! I put on some black rayon chenille with subtle streaks of blue, fuchia, and purple for four scarves and helped her get the hang of the weaving!! She did beautifully--not one broken thread!!! -- and I think her mother will be very happy this Christmas! Katie has been so helpful to me, coming over when I need her, riding Duke when I ask her, and all for free!! I can't thank her enough for helping to make my first year on Etsy a success!!! It's too bad you can't feel this scarf because it is soooooo soft and black is sooooo hard to photograph!! :)

Have a wonderful weekend! xo

Quietness and my Chocolate Mocha Chenille Scarf

Well, for some reason I'm all subdued lately--Sometimes I am too close to all those colors and I have to go to a quiet place to refresh my spirit. This weekend Gary and I worked outside--I brushhogged with my walk behind DR some horse paths in my field and a path leading out to the field. We now have a tractor boarding in our barn which we can use! YAY! So we are making more paths through the woods and getting firewood at the same time. This morning I rode with my friend Anne and we checked out the new paths! It was around 60 degrees out!!! Feel much better when I ride in the morning!

My paths in the field bordering on our woods...



Path down from the barn going over to the field...



In our woods we have a pond--and the woods are full of crunchy leaves--love the sound of the horses walking through the fallen leaves! And the pond is a lovely, serene place to think!!



And so my palette for today is chocolate!! Finished one scarf and I have washed it. Now just waiting for it to dry then I will toss it in the dryer to soften and see what it really looks like!!



Ahhhhh, I needed some quiet...

Happy Monday! xo

Dyeing Day Completed!!

There...all those skeins are made back into balls and I love looking at them and imagining scarves of the future. I still have to work in the purple/violet family and maybe some more greens and blue and I'm trying for some brass and copper, too...I think maybe Friday will be the day! Meanwhile, I'm happy gazing at all the color!!!!!

Short post today--I think I'm fighting off the flu--very tired. So I'm off to sip tea and hope that my husband comes home soon to get the horses in because it is getting very dark and I'm too beat!! Not that they can't stay out all night but then they eat all night and we all know they are too fat to begin with!! Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow and can ride!

xoxo