This blog has been silent for several weeks. My apologies to all of you who keep up with my ramblings, fiber and otherwise. While I have enjoyed having a husband at home instead of overseas, it has created claims on my time that did not used to exist. He will be leaving again to go off and do corporate things and I will soon have more time.

This red yarn was four skeins that I spun and then hand dyed in reds and browns for a shawl that played in my mind for several weeks before it became a reality. In one of the skeins is a mystery fiber that I could tell when I picked it up with the rest was not quite the same. Not having crossed that bridge before, I spun it into the wool and went on my way. It dyed up just fine but the disaster occurred when the shawl was complete. I put the entire yardage into the water to soak with the Eucalon and when it came out that little bit of fiber did not shrink the same as the rest of the wool. I had a space about two inches wide that ran the width of the shawl. Over a week of effort nullified quickly. Of course, I did not realize how bad it was at first and attempted to repair the area by reweaving into it with yarn and needle, but it is clearly not the same. A difficult lesson and the shawl is otherwise very beautiful. Not to be daunted I have begun another one in blues/greens/browns. There is something so wonderful about making a shawl from the handspun yarn. I never know exactly what something will come out looking like and so far I have been thrilled with all the colors.

It is good to be back at this. Happy weaving to you all!

One of the great things about learning to spin is that you can make yarn in any color scheme
your mind can think up. I love the colors of the Southwest and have wanted to make something that seemed very New Mexico. I spun this single from domestic wool roving and dyed it. Then I had the idea that I wanted to weave with my own handspun. The warp I used was a shetland in green, blue and rust and the pattern is a twill with a basketweave stripe (the rust). It all seems very NM now that it is finished and drying over the gate in the backyard. I'm planning to sew it into a vest to wear to an art opening this weekend at the local Center for the Arts in greater downtown Hobbs.

March has blown in here on the plains like the proverbial lion. Our little town had 65mph wind yesterday and only a little less today. No sitting out on the porch spinning at this point or the yarn would be highly textured with tumbleweeds and sand.

This single is handspun domestic wool dyed in lilac and chestnut. Sometimes the oddest combinations come out very interesting. Skeins of yarn are beginning to take over my weaving room. I have all kinds of colors in baskets just waiting for the next show and it is hard to leave it alone. I gave in the other day and began my first ever vest out of some red that was calling my name. I'm only a fair knitter and don't have a clue if the vest will ever be finished or not but I'm working on it in the evenings after weaving and spinning.