Miss Ellie

Well...it's been a long winter so far and I've had a lot of time to think...maybe too much time...but in any case I think I'm putting Miss Ellie up for sale.  I absolutely hate giving up.  On her.  On me.  But she still needs a lot of work before I am comfortable riding her alone in the fields, on the road, in the woods.  And I just can't justify spending another spring and summer and fall working with her solely on the ground and only riding her when my trainer comes (again $$$).  If I was younger I wouldn't mind so much.  But after cancer you pretty much wake up surprised every morning that you are still here...and I really want to ride in my remaining time.
So, Saturday afternoon she is going over to a hunter/jumper barn where she can be seen and ridden by younger (braver) girls and maybe there someone will fall in love with her and have the patience to work through the rest of her training.

Duke will be lonely, I know...But I am looking again for another...this time back to geldings.  Older (like I am), friendly, calm and steady.  I am a little depressed by the whole thing but it might just be the unrelenting cold that has got me down.  And actually Duke always kicks at her and now she has a cut over her eye.  So I guess that isn't such a good match as well.  I might be looking at a gelding over near Burlington, VT on Sunday if the weather cooperates.  A 12-yo gelding.  We'll see.

So.  The stove pipe got ripped off during the ice storm for the downstairs (cellar) woodstove.  The showroom/workroom developed leaks because of the flat roof addition the idiots put on before we moved here.  I had to move a loom and tons of yarn out of the room to mop up.   Waiting till spring to fix that roof.  And the hot water pipe to the washing machine froze and broke last week so we tore up the floor and Gary is fixing that.  A hard winter.  At least everything is fixable!

Hope everyone is warm and dry!
xo

Supplemental Warp Scarf..."Gypsy Dance"

I'm having fun with this one...Two more to weave but I threw off some of the middle black chenille to make it skinnier...about 8 inches finished or so instead of this one which is 10 inches wide.  

Designing the warp

the back of the loom

Weaving

Washed, dried, done!

Hard to photograph black...

The photos don't show how soft this scarf really is.  But I'm loading this onto Etsy anyway.  "Gypsy Dance" is perfect for livening up the winter blues!  Off to weave another!

xo

Catch Up

As some of you know this is a hard time of year for me...anniversaries of cancer diagnosis, Whipple surgery, infection surgery...I try not to dwell on it but when it is cold and dark, it sometimes sneaks back into my brain.  The good thing is I just passed my 4th anniversary of the Whipple even though the surgeon only "gave" me two years.  And I'm feeling pretty good.

We filled the house for Christmas with Noah and his girlfriend Sofia and music and good food...maybe a little too much food but it was good. Alex came over to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with us.

We dealt with an ice storm...never lost power but lost part of one stovepipe and developed leaks in the store/show room from the stupid flat roof.  Who puts a flat roof on an addition in the North Country??  We have fixed it three times!

Noah shoveling the roof

Gary had come in by the time I took the picture.  I moved yarn and my 8-harness into the guest room out of harm's way. Still have buckets ready and waiting because we can't really fix it until spring...

Noah's 23rd Birthday

Victoria finally gets her Christmas present

And a dyeing day (actually three days) and enough to last months.  

And in using up the dye I recolored some old loopers from a 40 year old rug I had originally bought at the hospital I worked at...woven by a psych patient, and washed so many times it turned a pale gray and had broken threads.  So I took the rug apart, dyed it, and warped for a new rug and rewove it.  Feels so good to still keep the memories and have a new rug to actually use.

So I've started weaving again after taking a short break...working on wide chenille scarves with a supplemental warp.  I'll take photos soon.  Meanwhile, Happy Friday, everyone!

xo