Updates

Eighteen years ago, when I bought this old house for my weaving studio, I put a gas fireplace in the old fireplace.  Over the years, I have only used it a few times.   In fact, I didn't like it.

Besides, weaving warms you up so you don't need extra heat.

Just a while back, I found a LIVE BAT in the studio, a few feet away from this old fireplace.  The gas insert did not fit perfectly, and I think the bat squeezed through the half inch space around it.

That was reason enough to get rid of the fireplace.    I have also wanted to to reduce any gas consumption in the house.   So I had it taken out, and my contractor, who happens to be L's brother, put insulation board in the opening, and then made this awesome piece to block it off permanently.  I have not decided yet.......leave it alone, or stain it a light shade.   I don't want to paint it.

Weaving continues,  getting ready for the Hudson Mohawk Guild Show coming up Nov10th.....

I decided to make a Naya cloak, and a Möbius shawl.

So far I have about 100 towels, and 45 pieces of clothing.

Since I am no longer doing shows, this guild show is my only 

selling venture of the year.

Right after the guild show, I will be having a HUGE sale on my Crazy as 

a Loom Weaving FB page, with 30-50% off everything.

So if you do not follow my FB biz page, you should.

I'll announce it here when it's happening.

I have a lot of returning customers who don't live close enough

to do the guild show, and they get a lot of their 

Christmas shopping done when I have this blowout.  I really like to 

empty the studio, and start over for the new year.

I never thought I would love this loom so much....one of my two Louet David III looms.

I thought I needed a computerized multi harness loom to be productive, but that is obviously

not true.

For all of you who have followed me for the last decade......this is my sweet 

grand daughter Dale......who just turned 10.    

How I love this girl.

And her is another girl........she is about 16 now........

Miss Sydney Sue.......who used to sit on the counter in a box.

Now she is too arthritic to get up there.

She had some serious matted fur on her back, so just recently, she went to 

the groomer, and got shaved.

I was worried about doing it to her, but now I realize that she must have 

been uncomfortable, because she is now revived...

Very vocal, very loving.

She has also found the dog door.

She used to just go out on the screen porch, but then she realized that she

could go out, and in, and out......

So now she goes out and lies in the grass in the dog yard.

She's too fat to climb over, so it's safe.  

She is always in by dark.

So I believe she is living her best life.

The nights are cool, and today was clear and sunny.

I love autumn.

Until next time.

Transitions.

When I bought this old house back in 2005, I fell in love with the old "pantry".  

I'm sure this was where they stored all their canned goods and probably 

everything else, since there are really no closets in houses built this long ago.

For many years, I made good use of this space.  At first it was filled with rolls of 

fabric for rag rugs, and then when I changed it up after my head injury,

and started weaving clothes and towels and yardage, these shelves were full of cones of 

yarn.

I used to have to use a small step ladder to get to the top shelf.

The cupboard on the right was my "tool" and miscellaneous stash.

Not seen in the photo are the frames of two "cut outs", places I imagine

that were used to hand stuff out to the old kitchen, and the dining room.

Here's another blast from the past, back when I was weaving all those SOCKS.

These were the chair pads, that we sold as "Sweet Bottoms".

Lois was cleaning out the barn at her house, where she used to weave on an

old Weaver's Friend loom, and found a dozen of these that never made

it back to the studio.

I'm sure they will find new homes.

Back to the pantry...............I decided that it was time for a change.   I don't need the volume of

thread that I used to.  I am not weaving production anymore.   And being honest and realistic, it's time for a downstairs bathroom.   

Oh, yes, I am fully capable of going up and down stairs at present, but we know, don't we, how quickly time goes by, and how surprisingly life can change.

So if in the event, I am more comfortable NOT going up and down the stairs in this old house, I could conceivably live downstairs.

This renovation has gone on all summer, and I am very pleased with it.

It is, however, very gray.

There's  a grab bar to go on the wall yet, 

I requested a different shower head, so this is the new one that's in there now.

Today I finally decided to go buy some towels.   On the Friday of Labor Day Weekend, 

right before school starts.

Not my smartest move.

It was mobbed at Target.

But I was on a mission, so I persisted.

I was looking for a "pop" of color.

I think I found it.

If you zoom in, you might be able to see the frosted film on the 

window, with birds in it.

I am still not convinced that I will leave the window that way, even

though you can't see through it.

It looks out on the "inside porch".

That's the excitement around here.  I plan to stay home for the weekend, as I

am not a fan of crowded places, and everyone will be out and about celebrating.

One very positive thing in my life is that I have finally gotten off the drug

Metoprolol, that I took for a year and a half, during my atrial fibrillation episode.

I am not a fan of a lot of medicine, I resist taking it almost every time

it is prescribed.  I took the Metoprolol because I was so miserable with AF.

But I haven't had AF  since last October, and I finally called the cardiologist who did my ablations, and he said I could stop it.

It's been a week now, and I am amazed at how good I feel.

I can actually say that I feel more like myself than I have felt in a very long time.

So there's that.

Always a reason to be grateful.

 

 

Surprise Visit.

Many years ago.....like 20-25, I was on an online chat group, called Rug Talk.

I made friends, and I learned a lot about rug weaving.  Some of those friends are gone, and some are still around.

Several days ago, I got a message from one of them who lives in Wisconsn, she and her husband were touring the northeast in their RV, and would I like a visit?

 I've talked to "Karen in the Woods",  for all these years.  We shared info, we've sent things back and forth, we've admired each other's adventures from a distance.

When they got here yesterday, and she walked up on the porch, she looked exactly as I had imagined.  That doesn't always happen.  Even though you "know" someone on line, and you've seen photos of them, sometimes when you meet them in real life, it's a surprise, and not who you expected at all.

But Karen, other than being much taller than I thought, was a familiar, old friend giving me a big hug right away.

She and her husband Steve and I had a great visit, 

Needless to say, Willie liked them too.

I wish we lived closer, I can't imagine what we would get up to.  I

am pretty sure that we would have a blast, though.

I fell in love with their Winnebago RV........it's beautiful.

Unfortunately, I can't really imagine Willie and Naya liking it much at all.

Recently, I dumped Spectrum TV, to get my bill down.   These two helped me get a digital antenna hooked up, that I had given up on.  Now I get 21 channels that don't cost me a dime.

Happy dance here.

This past weekend, we had a family get together.  My three daughters continue to amaze me with their sweet selfs.

And these three........what can you even say about these three??????

Life happens, and today I can say that I am very grateful for mine.

What else is there, really?

August.

My trip to Urgent Care was not the end of my ankle injury.

It got worse and worse, until I finally had to admit that I had cellulitis.   A trip to my doctor and more antibiotic treatments,  a culture, and  more elevation and hot packs.

Finally, after about 10 days, it began to get better.  I was getting a little worried, to be honest.

My zinnias are doing ok, after being covered with a plastic fence until they were past the tender, delicious stage.

My decision to finally give up any attempt to do yard work, is beginning to make

me very happy.

The front of my house was all grown up, in fact, you couldn't even see the house from 

the road.  That may sound like. a good thing, but it looked like hell.

My teenage yard worker (with some help from his dad) has done an incredible job.

No more worry about the yard, and no more procrastination.  I am putting  money away every year for yard care.  Done deal.

Suddenly it's August.  Did you ever notice the change in the air this time of year.  

You can feel the autumn just around the corner.

As much as summer has to offer, I still love fall the best.

I took 60 items of clothing to the guild show last November, and I told myself then, that this year, I would only take 40.

But today, I counted, and I have 44 items of clothing already.

Maybe I'll start making more towels.

Today I did the unthinkable.  I took an 8 yard warp, already threaded, off the loom.

I hated it, and I could not in good conscience make myself weave it off.  It took me three hours to sley and thread and wind on that warp, and it took me 10 minutes to take it all off.

So now to thread a new warp.  I have to be crazy.

I took a break from weaving,  and made myself a new blouse.  I would change the 

neckline a bit on the next one, but I do like it.

The iron infusions have made a huge difference.  I am not napping every day.

I have energy to do things, and I feel like I just woke up.

Amazing.

I was talking to a friend today, about a trip long ago that we took, to a very rural area in northern New York, to get a loom.  We were both trying to remember the particulars, and I said. "oh, wait, I'll look in my blog"

And here it is:

https://crazyasaloom.blogspot.com/2011/06/for-love-of.html

It's true, any time I want to remember something that happened, or when it

 happened, 

I only have to look back in these pages, and for sure, it is there.

My daughters have even asked me about certain events, and the answers were right here, in my blog.

It's been like a diary of sorts, a chronological reporting of times in my life.

I  kind of wish I had started it years ago.

The Big Reveal

 My sewing room was too crowded.  I was crunched into the corner with my sewing machine, and every time I moved my chair, it got stuck on the heat grate.

I realized that I was trying to make that one room work for several different things.

On the encouragement of a friend, I decided finally to do some moving.

Here is the "old" sewing room,  and its new look, with actual floor space, and it feels so good.

I can't believe that I haven't done this long ago.

Part of my plan to get more iron in my diet, is to include fortified cereals.

I never knew that some cereals, Total, Honey Nut Bunches of Oats, Multi grain

Cheerios, and others, have 16 to 18g of iron per cup.

So cereal with almond milk it is.

And yes, that's Willie watching me,  because he's never far away.

The sewing room was  moved, a little bit at a time.

This cupboard had to be emptied to make room for sewing paraphernalia.

And voila!  My new sewing nook.   It's really perfect, and I love it.

The light is amazing.

"Desert Twilight"

That's the name my FB followers chose for this hand dyed warp.

It's time to get dyeing again.

So the other day, when my energy was up, I decided to cut some knotweed and locusts that 

were blocking the view of the road, when pulling out of the driveway.  I was going to 

do about 6 feet, and then another 6 feet the next day, and more every day.

Unfortunately, in the process I got stabbed with a cut locust tree.   It punctured my ankle, and got my attention right away.  It bled a lot, and it hurt a lot.

I came in and poured peroxide on it, and dressed it.

But still, two days later, it was red, and swollen, and hot.

And it throbbed.

So I made my way to Urgent Care, and got a tetanus shot,  and a script for antibiotics, 

along with instructions to elevate the ankle for a couple of days.

Oh, yay.

So here I am,  Elevating my leg.   Someone has decided to take over.

I told you, he's never far away.

Shazzam.

Looking back, I find it hard to get my head around where this last year has gone.

I've lived alone here now since last June, and I'm just beginning to understand how much my life has changed, and how much I have adapted.

I am doing it, even though at first I couldn't imagine how I would.

Here's my first garlic crop.  Twenty heads of hard neck garlic.   I am very pleased with them.

I have a natural warp on the Louet, and this is a mōbius shawl with a rose milk weft.

For several months, my Frigidaire refrigerator has been leaking water every day.

The seal was gone, and it was making horrific noises.

I made the decision to cut my losses, and buy a new one.  I decided on a side by side, 

so I have more freezer space.

This is the road we usually walk the dogs on, not much chance of seeing anyone, and that's

perfect for Willie.

Another mōbi off the same warp, this one has a rayon warp.  It's a little heavier, but 

still very soft.

This next one was the original treadle sequence, which I didn't particularly like, the red and 

the black ones above were woven with a random treadling that I came up with.

I decided a long time ago, that I did not have to treadle a draft the way it called for.

My boy.

As I have talked about previously, I have been getting increasingly exhausted.

I described it as "bone tired", and getting anything done was a huge challenge.

My first iron infusion was last Tuesday,  and just this weekend, I am beginning to 

feel the effects of it.

This weekend I have gotten more done than in two days than  I have in weeks and weeks.

Today, I feel like ME.   Wow.

The energy I have today is almost scary.   Almost.

I had a wonderful beet salad at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, so I came home and recreated it.

 I have two more iron infusions, and I can't imagine how much better I will feel after I get them.  I am so grateful to the doctor who finally listened, and put two and two together.

This is Lois' corner, where she is working on dish towels.

In my energized state, I decided to change the studio up.   My friend, Sue, gave

me lots of good ideas and things to think about, and this afternoon, I started moving 

things.  It might take a few days to get it all together, but when I do, I'll be back with photos.

I'm so excited.