Christmas morning!!!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Family Time
Christmas morning!!!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Update
I am traveling to Sloan Kettering in NYC on January 4 and spending the 5th (my Noah's 19th birthday) enduring tests at the hospital. On the 6th I will have the Whipple procedure and we hope to stop this cancer from spreading. Right now the cancer is confined to the pancreas and has not affected any lymph nodes or invaded any other organ as far as they can tell. So I'm hopeful and determined. Hopefully we can afford to take my sons down for the time I will be in the hospital and they will get to see some of the city with all the Christmas decorations and window shop and visit with me as I get stronger. I will be in the hospital they say for at least 7 days and then we are travelling to Keene, NH to drop me at my Mom's. I have sisters nearby who will help and I will probably stay there a week or so just resting.
I hope to use my sister Meg's laptop to keep my blog updated for any who are interested!! And I will be closing my Etsy store for the duration.
Thank you all for your caring comments and all that healthy energy and healing coming my way! It means the world to me!!
xo
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
More Surgery
xo
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Surgery
xo Cait
Monday, November 30, 2009
Studio Tour!!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Weaving Outside!!
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!!
Monday, November 16, 2009
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.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
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!! :)
Monday, November 9, 2009
Quietness and my Chocolate Mocha Chenille Scarf
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...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
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
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Dyeing and Scarves!!
Short post today because I have sooooo much to do!! Here are some scarves waiting for their labels to be sewn on hanging from one of my looms...after I sew on the labels I will make a tiny knot in any thread I think might untwist in the fringe causing it to be fuzzy. Then I iron and I take one picture of each type of scarf because I make 4 of each. And then I pin the hang tags (one tag about the scarf, one on materials, one business card) and off to the storeroom (ok Guestroom) !!
Skeins by the woodstove from the last dyeing! I might have time today to wind these back into balls and make skeins out of more of my naturals stash. I still have everything set up so later this week I have a friend coming over to dye with me!!! Will take more pictures, hopefully!! :) And Wednesday the weaving meeting is here! Yikes!!! Cleaning!!!! UGH!!!
Happy Sunday! xo
Friday, October 30, 2009
Pumpkins!!!
I invited middle child, Alex, over for dinner (he lives on campus at SUNY Potsdam) with his girlfriend, Victoria and they promised to carve for food!!! YAY! I am not much of a carver and it is fun to see what they come up with! Victoria insists she can't carve either but the boys just laugh at her and she came up with demonic eyes and a wide smile on hers! Too funny...and Alex came up with the scary pirate and Noah with...hmmm...tooth monster! So they earned their dinner then Alex and Victoria went back to school! I miss having my kids around, the pushing and shoving and playing that boys seem to love! "Someone is going to get hurt!!" Sort of bittersweet to see them so grown up!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Dyeing Day!!
Well, a new friend came over on Monday and we dyed all day!! I got ready the day before, winding skeins from my naturals stash, laying out all the jars (some of which had to be washed from the last time and I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was!) and all the dyes and the plastic wrap, gloves, measuring spoons, soda ash for setting the dye and urea for mixing the dyes. Oh, did I mention that my Noah actually cleaned my workroom so I could get two people in it? :) (He did that so I wouldn't move everything downstairs to the playroom and make a mess that his friends might see!!!!) :D I have big pieces of plywood covered in heavy plastic set up on tables so we didn't make too much mess. After the actual dyeing we rolled each skein up in plastic wrap and put it in a bucket to set for 24 hours. Then rinse---an rinse, and rinse, etc. on and off all day. Right now I'm ready to hang the skeins up to dry (even though it is raining AGAIN!) and will take more pictures!
I really had a wonderful day and it was so much more fun with Sue! Thanks for bidding on and winning the dyeing day, Sue!!!
Happy Wednesday!! xo
Monday, October 26, 2009
New Triangle Scarves
Finished two warm triangle scarves and have to take more pictures before I load them onto Etsy! These two are not as dressy as the other ones I have done--they are thick and warm and yummy, I think!! I haven't had time to do more triangle work though I have a class to teach on this in early November--maybe I will bring one to work on while I teach because I hate to have nothing to do!!!!
Just finished a dyeing day with a woman who won this in an auction to benefit out local arts council in Potsdam, NY. We dyed many, many threads which I had made up into skeins and soaked in soda ash for 1/2 hr or so. She also brought a length of cotton which we soaked and put in the middle of the table and we used it to mop up spills and she will use it to make confetti quilts! I don't know how she will do it but I want to see the end result! She has promised to come back in a couple of days when she has rinsed and dried her piece and I will take pictures of my threads when they are finished "cooking" in plastic wrap!
It was a wonderful day spent with another fiber person and on top of that I got a lot done! Have a happy Monday, everyone!!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Chocolate!!! Well, Sort of!!
Monday, October 19, 2009
My "Neutral" Scarf!!
Finished the scarf!! AND got it photographed and loaded on Etsy!! Quite a productive day because I also wove 4 cuffs on the green warp. I know, I know, this is green, too...sigh...The other warp is greenER. AND I'm thinking about CHOCOLATE!! A scarf, not the candy...though candy would be good, too...My chocolate hat has inspired me and I'm off to see if I can find enough threads!!!
Hope everyone is having a creative, wonderful day!!
xo
Winding on my "Neutrals" Scarf!!
Then I sit in front of the loom and pull each individual thread through the heddles in the order I previously prepared on the warping mill and then through the reed. Once that is complete I tie it onto a bar attached to the front beam and I'm ready to weave!!