A red letter day in the small conservative town I live in. I was able to get in and out of Walmart without using any of their plastic bags. OK, for those of you who live in a liberal world where most people take their own bags to the grocery store you might be thinking that we are still back there with segregated schooling. You would be not far from right. This past week our local Albertsons offered (grudgingly) for sale reusable grocery bags. They cost a dollar. On the same day I went into GNC and there, on the counter was another bag for sale. Recycling has hit my hometown, now if they would just consider recycling plastic, paper and glass. You have to take what you can get. Today I made my pilgrimage to Walmart and took my two bags. I stopped at the door to get the obligatory blue spot so that they would KNOW my bags were not stolen or smuggled in, but were there legitimately. For the first time in my life I was able to get out of that store without a horde of those awful plastic bags that do nothing but multiply under the sink and line the roadsides. A small victory, but one I will gladly take.

On to weaving and other fiber related projects. This weekend I worked on this small green silk purse. It was one of those clearance items at Hobby Lobby, originally $14 something marked down to $2.40. It had the leafy pattern printed and you just embroider on top and you are done. Well, of course it needed some beads and a bobble of Bali Silver but it is coming along nicely.















On the eight harness loom I'm working on a shawl that will be different shades of blue. To add some interest I'm putting in a couple of panels of Leno and some Danish Medallions. Leno is a hand manipulated mock-lace and this bit has some beads added in for good measure. Can you ever have enough beads in the world?? The Danish Medallions are going to be three rows in this area and another row later on for visual interest.

Studio

Artist's studios fascinate me. I love to see where people work, the kind of atmosphere it has and how much clutter they work with or through. Because I create visually, I need to be able to see all those cones of yarn, or the skiens in a basket. Color is the great motivator and texture is a close second. So today I thought you might like to see where I work. This long narrow room is part of our recycled house, it was built on after the house was moved from town five years ago. There are tall ceilings, and ceiling fans and good light from large east facing windows. For years I have bugged my husband about building a studio on our property but I have to admit that this is probably better than a stand alone building because it is always right HERE. There is never an excuse about going to work, because I am already at work here in the light filled room right off the kitchen. The kitchen is important too because weaving requires lots of cups of tea.




A rare picture of the two cats together. They are not best buddies even though they look almost exactly alike. George is the one looking at the camera and Murphy the Manx is checking to see if George got a treat he didn't know about.

This is the other end of the room where I sit and listen to music as I work on the rigid heddle loom.

Regarding Spinning Wheels. This message is for Judi, who left me a message but no way to contact her. I love the Country Spinner by Ashford (They make wonderful spinning wheels.) but the smaller wheels give a tighter twist. The Country Spinner is really just for bulky yarns and for plying two or more yarns together. I use it for both things but I think you get a tighter twist and ply on a smaller wheel, like a Louet or even the Ashford Joy. You can really tell the difference in the final yarn product. Now, if you are just going to make loose bulky yarn, it is wonderful because that HUGE bobbin will hold hundreds of yards of yarn. A regular bobbin will only hold 75-125 yards of bulky AND if you are plying and/or making art yarn you have to stop fairly often and transfer the yarn to a niddy-noddy. Does this help? Contact me directly if I can tell you anything more helpful! Thanks.