Someone told me recently that turquoise is the new neutral! Well, I don't know if I would go that far, but everyone who has been in my studio in the past week has commented on the beautiful turquoise warp currently on my Herald loom. The warp is 25" wide, although it looks more narrow in this picture. It is made up of several types of cotton and will be the parts that get sewn together to make a shawl.

Yesterday in the mail I received a copy of Zati, The art of Weaving a Life by Susan Barrett Merrill. This is one of those books that can change your life, especially if you are a weaver. The copy I have is hand bound and is available on her website www.weavingalife.com but I believe it will be published in a format more available to the public soon. Susan uses weaving as metaphor and takes the reader through seven projects that are also closely aligned with seven steps in the spiritual path. As I make the projects I will post them here, and would love to hear from any of you who are familiar with her work. For those of us who weave, the magic of cloth becoming whole from disjointed pieces of string is nothing short of sacred. I think the weaving community has long needed someone like Susan to speak to us and for us about the importance of what we do in a world that is largely mechanized. The making of things by hand imparts our energy to the object made and thereby sends our energy out into the world. As most of the world philosophies will attest, what you send out is what comes back to you. By sending out our best and most sacred parts of ourselves through our artforms we aim to make the world a better place. Blessings.