This past weekend was an adventure in natural dyeing. The workshop was offered through our local yarn store Unravel and the teacher was Ric Rao. There were about 12 of us plus various family memebers who were brought along to help. All the yarns that we tried were natural fibers - either wools or cottons, some alpaca and mohair. The yarn had been mordanted overnight in Alum and Cream of Tarter, though some were put in the pot just as we started and did not seem to be any less vivid. Ric had been collecting flowers from his garden all year and we used marigolds, cosmos, black hollyhock and hibiscus. Sometimes the colors were predictible and sometimes not. We also used onion skins and tumeric for a bright yellow.Walnut for brown. Logwood for purple (spectacular) and Cochineal for a pinkish-red. There were 8 dyepots in all simmering over two large outdoor fires. The project took most of the day and the efforts of everyone involved. There was not a lot of sitting around watching.


Everyone had a chance to put yarn in most of the different dyepots so there were lots of samples to take home.











Pot full of Cosmos. The dark brown in walnut.

It was a spectacular way to spend such a beautiful fall day. Many thanks to Gail and Oscar who opened their home for us to learn this skill, and Ric Rao for his time and patience. It was a great experience.

Another reason to love living in New Mexico.... It is the 24th of October and outside the air is an intoxicating 75 degrees with a light breeze. After the farmer's market today I came home and sat outside on my back porch and spun yarn in the sun. What could be nicer?



















These colors will go in a hat or vest for the fall, right now it is a single in handpainted corridale but will probably be plied with something else, or more of itself for the final product.

settling in

Early morning light on newly unpacked cones of yarn. After months of house hunting and the trials of buying and selling a home, I have begun the process of unpacking in Las Cruces. This is such a different place from my hometown of Hobbs although really just across the state. Not only is this place larger but it is much more art friendly. Art in Hobbs was considered a kind of indulgence, almost like it was nice if you could spare that kind of time but the rest of the population had real work to do. Like running around in the oil field or teaching school. I chose Las Cruces because of it's vibrant arts community and also because I had friends and family here. I actually know other people here in this community who do art for a living and don't have to apologize for it. I love that and the Liberal bumper stickers. My favorite this week was one that said "After we rebuild Iraq can we rebuild our schools?" I love that there is a Friday Ramble at the downtown mall on the first Friday of every month. People come and look at art and listen to music and have snacks and walk around. I also love the Farmer's Market. Even though it has undergone a lot of controversy with renovation in the downtown mall area and the market has been moved -- it is much more upscale than it was. There are blocks of vendors selling all kinds of wonderful things. It is a great place to people watch, especially if you like to see people with their dogs. I am enamoured of all of it, the huge peaks of the Organ Mtns and the view over the valley filled with chili in fields and pecan trees along the Rio Grande.

Murphy is helping to arrange the studio. He likes to get up on the desk and look out the window. Sometimes he tries to type on the computer but is not very successful. All the furry children have made the trip well and are settling in. Soon the weaving will begin and this will really be home.

Bookbinding bug. I love to make books by hand. This project puts together several of the different crafts that go on pretty much all the time around my house. The velvet cover starts as a piece of silk velvet that is fiber reactive dyed. Then the bookboards are covered in velvet and a cotton sateen on the inside. The outside is decked out with vintage trim and ribbon, some of it velvet. Then the decorative part near the opening is vintage lace, a watch face, a rusty washer and beads with little watch gears. The clasp comes around from the back and is antiqued brass. The ribbon on the binding is tied to the coptic stitches. It is also hand dyed.








Here is the upclose part of the clasp























Here is the coptic stitch binding.

This is why I love coptic stitch, because all the pages lay flat when you open the book. Yes I did sew lace to the edges of some pages.

Celadon for spring. On the loom now are panels for two spring shawls. The warp is green and blue, very pale and the weft is celadon. This was the first time I tried putting the hand dyed silk ribbon into the weft as I was weaving, using a gordes (sp?) knot. This seems to be a better way of adding fringe instead of leaving holes that you will go back later and add the fringe to. It doesn't distort the warp/weft as much. Check back in a day or so to see the final product.

In the garden right now the potatoes are in bloom, the broccoli and brussels sprouts are about a foot high and the radishes are ready.

This plateful was part of last night's dinner along with some salt and asiago cheese.

Happy Happy Happy Earth Day! It is spring on this beautiful planet we call home and it is hard not to appreciate all the things coming to life after a long winter. In many place on the web you can read about Earth Day and ways to save the planet. My favorite is www.noimpactman.typepad.com who writes every day about ways to make our footprints a little smaller. If you think it is hard to make a difference where you live, try in an apt in NYC where Colin lives! If he and his family can make a difference so can the rest of us. At this point I think it is important to find ways to make our lives less toxic to ourselves and the planet - before it is too late. So do something today to celebrate this beautiful place we live!

Another day another poncho. So far this one may be my favorite. It is periwinkle and bronze. Such a strange color combination came about by accident but really works here in our desert southwest. There is a lot of motteling of the colors here and it adds a great deal of interest.

On other fronts I have been trying out mosaics. The round white one is my work and the blue and white tray is a friend's. We grouted together on the back porch today.