A walk in the woods with Hannah...

The new road down from the riding arena...Most of the time I have

to drag Hannah until we get to the woods.

Her idea of a walk is a lie-down.  I allow

her plenty of time to smell everything on the

way but we have to have a little walk as well!

My riding/walking path...raked and most of

the rocks dug out...Hannah loves it up here just

not the getting up here!  Once we are in the woods

I drop her leash and let her run and roam.

My place of solace and peace...

Hope everyone's weekend was lovely!

xo

Rayon Shawl...

Warp all wound on, heddles threaded...

Sleyed and tied...

And weaving!  Puppy in her crate expanding her bladder control!

 Weaving with a very fine and bumpy rayon twist.

I was going to leave it striped but decided to

lay in pieces of color even though it

slows down the process by

quite a bit...

I at least feel like progress was made!  And Hannah

patiently waited for me until 6:15 this morning!

No accidents in the house for days.  Tolerating her

crate really well.  Being very scheduled so

her body knows what to expect!

xo

New Shawl Material...and Horses...and Hannah!.

Started a new shawl plus enough I think for a jacket, hopefully.  Wound the warp onto the loom today after spending days and days actually making the warp because this new puppy addition is taking up some weaving time, for sure!

White rayon with amazing novelty yarns placed randomly...I have done similar ones before though not as wide and never made a jacket out of the material.

We had to close the north pasture earlier because the horses had eaten it to the ground while we were trying desperately to get the south pasture at least passable.  The south pasture is full of rocks and hadn't been used in years so the grass was tall and the rocks hidden.  First we had to string trim the grass down to a level so the horses could see where the rocks were and work on the fence as well.  So the north pasture is now lovely grass and the horses very happy to be out there even with the biting flies.

And this puppy is taking up all my time!  I need to weave!  I need to ride!  But she does melt my heart...

Hannah

xo

Rest In Peace my little Obie...June 2000 - August 17, 2015

I know...15 is a ripe old age for a dog...He arrived when he was 3 years old...in the winter.  His previous owner was ill and could no longer take care of him.  He was not house trained.  Back then we had our lab, Heidi, who helped us train him.  And at three he was trained in a week...even in the cold.  Though he did used to try to lift all four legs off the cold snow until we bought him boots.  He looked like those lizards on the hot sands.  He was 8 pounds of love.  I used to take him to work when I worked in a local gallery and customers would carry him around loving him.  He was never an ankle biter.  The only command he ever learned was "kennel" and he would run and lie down in his crate.  I tried to teach him "sit" once but he thought I was mad at him and ran off to his crate.  In any case he was so small you couldn't tell whether he was sitting or not. He loved to sit next to Gary or me.  Always on the left, for some reason.  He would tuck in there to keep warm.  And he loved, loved, loved the boys!  When Alex came home he would take him and let him sleep on the bed and when Noah came home he did the same.  Obie was in love with sleeping on beds.

The past couple of years he was deaf and this past year I have had to diaper him because he didn't always have control...This weekend when we were getting Hannah, he went downhill...was retching on Friday night.  I called the vet but he said there was little they would do besides perhaps x-rays and exploratory surgery if he had swallowed something.  We left him in a friend's care when we got the puppy but when we came home he was no better.  By Sunday, I swear he had lost a couple of pounds and we were giving him water with a syringe by mouth.  Sunday night when I brought him out to pee he was so frail he fell over.  Monday we brought him in to the vets and first she gave him a tranquilizer and we put him on a lovely quilt.  She left us with him for a while to say goodbye and then when he was all relaxed she gave him the pink stuff.

So...another loved one buried here on the farm...Obie joins Heidi, Dommie, and Duke...

xo

Hannah Puppy

OK I don't think I will be getting anything done for another year...she is cute but a handful!  Everything is new.  She was the first of her littermates to go...never been in a crate or a car and we had a 3hr trip...never been left alone all night in a crate...not housetrained, of course...curious about everything.

Needless to say we didn't have very much sleep last night.  And she was up at 5...Don't know how much weaving will be getting done!

xo

Student Work continued...

So my student made a little warp, dressed the loom, including a complicated little pattern, and wove it off.  Overshot with two shuttles!  WooHoo!  Great job, Kathy!

Knotting the fringe

A little beauty for her table!

Off to get our new puppy, Hannah, tomorrow.  An English Lab female.  It has been 35 years since I had a puppy.  OMG...What am I thinking.  My rescue dog is 15 years old, deaf, and wears a diaper.  These labs are bred for temperament not really for show.  And I want to raise a therapy dog and go to nursing homes.  I remember when I was in the hospital in NYC a therapy poodle came through a couple of times.  So sweet and comforting.

xo

Hair Flowers Continued...

Just finished photographing four of the flowers for Etsy...

 Not quite up on Etsy yet...I think I will wait to post them until tonight.  Meanwhile I'm off to mow the grass if it is dry enough out there.

xo

Handwoven Hair Toys!

I have been saving pieces of my handwoven pieces for years knowing that I would use them someday...So here they are with my handmade buttons!  Made my buttons over at Mary Harding's studio who is a dear friend and lives nearby.  (https://www.etsy.com/shop/maryhardingjewelry)

All backed with felt...button sewn on...and a hair clip!  Clip on your bag, your hair, whatever!

Not on Etsy yet...but soon!

xo

Student Work... and the ride that wasn't.

Such a good student!  Wove a little sampler with different colors and different treadling and even learned to weave with two shuttles!  We took it off and made another warp figuring out pattern repeats and thread counts and density...rolled it on...threaded the yarn in a pattern...sleyed the reed...and started weaving that.  So she will come back next week (some people have a real job) and finish her weaving.  Any mistakes you can see (don't look too hard) in this one are my mistakes in threading last night.  Might have been the wine, I don't know...

Oh yeah...went for a ride this morning with Linda (who boards her horse with me) and Sandy (who is a beginner and rides one of my horses).  Well...Sandy went off Dakota while we were in my field.  Dakota refused to be caught.  Spent a while walking through knee high wet grass.  Got close a couple of times.  Finally Linda rode back to the barn to get a bucket of grain.  Gary heard the horses yelling (ok mine was screaming in my ear).  Sandy and I started to walk back with Django in tow.  Dakota panicked and galloped past us, reins dangling.  Gary lowered the electric fence, showed Dakota the bucket and caught him while we were still trudging along.  So at least it was exercise.  And tomorrow Dakota is being worked in the ring until he turns and faces me and lets me approach and put on a halter.  For sure.  My boots are still squishy.
xo

Warp for a Student...

Well, it's been awhile since I have had a student...but today I put on a warp for an acquaintance who bought my LeClerc 45-inch loom.  I haven't been using it since I moved it upstairs.  After I moved it a couple of years ago I realized that I didn't like working up there and needed to be downstairs where people come in and be near the phone.  I like to be able to hear cars coming up the driveway.  Anyway, I was getting along fine with my other looms so I sold this one.  I have also slowed down since cancer and chemo and I haven't been weaving such wide pieces anymore.

In any case, I am letting her learn on my Norwood, 22-inch loom.  My favorite and the first loom I ever bought.  Figured I would put on a pattern that could weave two shuttle as well as one.  I don't have a feeling for what she will like doing yet, but tomorrow will be playing in the morning and weaving off this piece and then learning to read drafts and treadling as well as making a little warp and re-warping this loom.  Then I will see how the time goes.  Usually I take two whole days with this but she seems to want to do it in a day.  Here's hoping for stamina!  

Will post more pictures as it goes!  Wish me luck!

xo

Oh yeah...first I need a ride in the morning on Django!  Going to be a little cooler and maybe not as many biting deer flies if we go very early!