A Completed Project

First let me begin by introducing you to my favourite horse. I was telling the Bitchy Stitchers about him last night and thought he deserved a formal introduction. He's 18 years old and his name is Lex. He is the most kind horse I've ever come across and I love him to bits. He was Laura's show horse a few years back and he took her to the Central East Trillium Championships. He entered the Championships in first place in his division - he even won a trophy with his name on it and everything! This horse changed my daughter - before she started riding she was very withdrawn and shy - so little confidence, it was painful. She started riding lessons when she was 11 years old and around about 15 it became obvious that riding was her "thing" so the next logical step is to find her a horse of her own. Her coach found Lex for us - he was born and raised on a farm near Caledon and a favourite of his owner at that time. The good news for us was that they would lease him to us for free. Lex is the reason we live on our farm. I had the bright idea that owning a farm would be so much cheaper than boarding him somewhere else. Little did I know that a horse needs a horse for companionship - enter horse number 2. Oh well, 2 horses can't be much more than 1, right? At this time, Laura had a job at a show barn in Aurora to help with Lex's costs and decided that he needed to be moved there for her to get good coaching and start getting ready for the upcoming show season. Enter horse number 3 to keep horse number 2 company because horse number 1 was moving to another barn. Didn't we just move to this farm for horse number 1? Long story short after we'd had Lex for a few months - the owners started making noises about taking him back. Laura was devastated. She loved this boy - he gave her confidence - he helped her to be successful and most importantly, he loved her back. There was no way for us to buy him it seemed because they wanted a lot of money for him (really, more than he was worth if you just considered his "horse" value) Then something amazing happened - my mother, bless her, took the money out of her retirement savings and helped us buy that horse. She knew what that horse meant to Laura and she would not see them seperated. I still have the note she wrote when she gave us the money for him and I always will. My mom did a lot of wonderful things for me and my sister and her grandchildren but I must say that the best thing she ever did was give this amazing horse to the girl who loved him beyond all else. So now, Lex lives here on our farm - he's a constant reminder of a grandmother's love. Laura has a wall filled with first place red ribbons to show how accomplished a rider she is. And she has grown into a confident, happy young woman due in large part to this big, gentle boy.
And lastly, the Alpaca blanket is finished. It less than 2 weeks it is on it's way to Korea.

My Koigu Lace Shawl is 2 rows from completion and I will post pictures of it blocking later today.

I'm off to my grandmother's for a visit and then it's home to block that shawl. I am wearing it Saturday to work not matter what the weather.