On a Friday.

I think spring is near, but not near enough for me.
I long to hear the subtle sound of the earth wakening.

Keeping busy is the only way to deal with it, in my opinion......so busy I am.

This morning, I have potato leek soup simmering on the stove.

And I have started rinsing my warp that I dyed yesterday.

This is a custom order, shades of medium to dark blue.
Some of the colors were straight out of the jar, and some of them were mixed by me and my imagination.
So we shall see.

My sewing table, that Lois and Claire fixed for me (it was falling apart), has risen to the occasion once again.  It is so useful, in so many ways.

Syd is on the window cat seat, totally being NOT helpful.

As usual.

My hands are blue, the studio sink is blue, the floor is spotted blue..........no matter how careful you are, you end up dyeing things you had no intention of dyeing.

I am thinking for summer dyeing, a piece of plywood on saw horses outside.......for warps that take up this much space.

In between things, I am trying to make use of scraps of stuff that L and I have woven.

This mobï cowl is mercerized cotton and hand dyed bamboo.

Being happy with what you have, where you are is sometimes tough.  Sometimes it's a challenge.
But always, when you get there, it is better.

and the winner is.......

I think one of the best parts of blogging, is that it makes me pay attention to my life.

It fosters gratitude, and deeper thought, to write about my daily routine.


Here's part of a custom order that Lois has been working on.   They are going to be mats for inside of a car.

Things in my house are either things that I use all the time, or things that make me happy to look at.
They have to be one or the other, or they are gone.
I am brutal about it.

My daughter gave me this, and I love it.
You put water in it, then a few drops of essential oil......I like lavender......

It diffuses a lovely fragrance into the house, and changes colors. .  When it runs out of water, it shuts off.

I did some reading this afternoon.........
I had company.
All four critters.

This is what I am reading.

Tonight we went out for pizza.........

The Stella was mine.....DH doesn't drink at all.

 The pizza was to die for.

And we stopped at Barnes and Noble, where I picked up one of my fave magazines........

Now............


The winner of the handwoven dish towel is MARIA HANSON.   Please email me with your address: crazyasaloom@aol.com


I wish I could send a towel to ALL OF YOU who commented.
Please know that your words touched me deeply.


Thank you, for the support and encouragement.  It means SO much.

TEN YEAR GIVEAWAY

This morning, watching the snow fall, drinking my coffee, I went looking for a couple of blogs I haven't seen in a while.
And realized, they are gone.
Done.

It made me sad.  I had felt this connection, and while I wasn't paying attention, they left blogland.

So I that got me thinking, wow, I've been blogging here for 10 years.  Who knows how many people I have met here?   How many people have I touched?.........or maybe annoyed?   :)

I started this blog in February 2007, posted a couple of times, then had a knee replacement that didn't go so well, didn't blog again until June. Then I really kind of got into it, and blogging became a regular part of my life.
 Altogether I have posted here 1465 times.   Holy crap.

I wasn't sure, when I started, what it was going to be.   It started out to be about my weaving studio, and my retirement gig,  after a 30 year career in nursing.

Then in 2011, I fell and hit my head.  The next couple of years were the most difficult of my life, and to be honest, I blogged with the feeling that I was desperate for something to keep me together.
Through that time, of severe daily headaches, surgeries, meeting new limitations, YOU were all there.   You encouraged me, you commiserated with me.  God, with my family and friends, you got me through it.
I will always remember that I didn't do it alone.

I don't blog as often anymore, and I've often wondered if I should keep blogging.   I'm not as motivated to do it, but then on the other hand, I don't want to stop either.
So I guess I'll just keep showing up here, telling my story, and hope someone still wants to read it.

To celebrate TEN years of blogging, I'm going to do a Giveaway.

 A handwoven towel of my choosing.

All you have to do is comment, and tell me what you find interesting and want to hear more of.

TEN YEARS!!!!!


Duh!  Sorry.......I will draw from the names on Saturday night...the 18th!

Looking ahead.

I am staying busy in the studio........thankfully, ideas keep coming.

I wonder how, sometimes, but they still come.

We are weaving a few things.

Lois is weaving  shawls in undulating twill, bamboo and cotton.

I am weaving cotton towels on 16 shafts on the AVL, and in between I am weaving placemats in M's and O's in organic natural cotton on the Wolf Pup.
And we have spools all wound for a warp on Monday, more organic cotton, for bath towels in a honeycomb pattern on the Schacht 36".
AND, we have a custom order to be woven on the Union Custom upstairs.

Recently, I found out that someone I knew about 50 years ago, had died last September.  He wasn't local, so it was understandable that I hadn't heard it.  This guy was just someone I knew in my late teens, but someone I always remembered fondly.   He had an amazing smile, and a sweet, country boy way about him.  No games, no hidden agendas.  He was just a nice person.   He wasn't a boyfriend, but he wanted to be, and I think I may have not been very nice.

I hadn't seen him over the years.  I often heard about him in passing, how he'd married and had a family.  I was happy to hear that he seemed to be doing well.

Then, of course, years went by when I didn't think about him any more than I thought about anyone else I knew back in the day.
Then I heard he died.
Now I am not sure what button got pushed, I don't know what shifted in my head.
But for some crazy reason, I wanted to sit down and cry.
And for several days, I couldn't STOP seeing his face.  I couldn't STOP thinking about him at 18, even though in truth, he hadn't been 18 in a long, long time.

I really felt somewhat overwhelmed with sadness, and I could not, for my life, figure out why.
Maybe it was the head injury.
Maybe it's old age.
Maybe I'm losing my mind.

Then it hit me.

I was grieving for the youth gone by, the "way we were" so to speak.   His death just brought it home clearly.  We can never go back there.  If we have regrets, they are just feelings, and they don't change the reality.  Everything that came before this minute, is gone.  Over.  Done.

Is it just me?  Or does anyone else do this??   Sometimes I look back and find myself feeling bad about a lot of the choices I have made.   I made some doozies.  And I know that's foolish.  I know it is a total waste of time.
And honestly, I don't allow myself  to dwell on my mistakes for long.  But every now and then, something will happen, and a memory will surface, and I will wish for a split second that I could do it over, and do it differently.
But then again, I think that it's just a part of the human condition, that  if we spend too much time looking over our shoulders, we are bound to be critical of something we did in the past.  We aren't perfect.   No one is.

So I guess I better just keep looking ahead, before I trip and fall on my face.



So I just reopened my ETSY SHOP 

I have no idea if it will be worth it or not, but I figured I would give it a try.  I have a smattering of things on there, and I'd love to hear your feedback.

I know you all probably remember my labyrinth, behind the barn.  Well, every time my little 3 year old grand girl comes, she goes out there and runs around it.  She's quite fond of it.
Well, when I went to her house, she said she had a surprise for me, on the deck.  She made this for me.  And yes, she made this ...........

I told her, and it's true, it's the best gift I've ever gotten.



Then Sydney pipes up........

what about me??????