Have you ever fallen in love with color? Maybe that is the advantage of being a fiber artist, color is all around and in a variety of sensual textures. In July I fell in love with hand-dyeing cut velvet silk scarves. They are all over my house right now as I get ready to take new inventory to the gallery that represents my work. There is something a little Arabian Nights about having scarves draped over every available surface. I feel elegant beyond my usual weaver-spinner persona.

I have been reading the new book "Foolsgold" by Susan Wooldridge who also wrote "Poemcrazy." These books are about accessing the creativity that makes life as an artist hum along like gas in the tank. While I will probably never be much of a poet, I am always interested in how other creative people tap into what they do, where their passion comes from. Surely being an artist is all about passion. These two books are lifesavers and have opened doors for me that seemed firmly closed. They gave me the desire to blog again and write on every available surface - all the ones not currently covered in silk scarves! Thank goodness for authors like Wooldridge and if you get the chance to read these please do, and then write and tell me what you think. Write and tell Susan too, I think she likes to hear from us.

A gift for a friend. Summer is underway and the show I worked on for so many months will come down this week. It is time to pay back the people who helped and supported all of us in getting things to look wonderful. This short sleeved vest/sweater is made from novelty yarn that is acrylic and has long eyelash fibers that hang out all over. It is woven in plain weave and made from two panels sewn up the back and on the sides. It is an easy way to make a garment that is forgiving to most body types. The orange/purple scarf is silk that I dropped in the dye-pot this week along with some yarn for a new warp.

Today I'm trying out the solar dyeing for wool yarn that was featured on http://knitty.com . It involves putting all the ingredients in the pot (with glass cover) out in the sun until the temp inside reaches 250. Since it is 90+ here in NM right now, it shouldn't take too long. You can find more detailed instructions from Symeon North who wrote the article and also featured it on her super website http://pippiekneesocks.com.

Summer blessings to you all!

OK I know I am not the most intelligent person around but it has taken me several weeks to figure out why my blogger and google account were suddenly in Chinese and get it to change back. Has anyone else had this happen? What is with this crazy program???

Here is a silk recycled sari scarf that I've been working on. The colors are great. I used this image when I ordered new business cards from http://www.moo.com In case you don't know about them, they are a company in the UK who makes little cards the size of a stick of gum. You can upload your own photos to be printed and they will put your contact info on the back of the card. 100 cards for $19.95 and that includes shipping. They are great quality cards and the service is quick.

Happy weaving!

Today is the full moon of April and things around town are as strange as it often seems to be when the moon is full. It is like our emotions are plugged into some extra energy source and things come out that never should be said! This scarf was made for a friend of mine who needed something to wear to an upcoming opening with a turquoise blouse and a multicolored skirt. I tried to match the colors with the novelty yarns and then wove them using the 6 dent reed on a four harness loom. The scarf has very nice drape and looks snazzy even though the yarn was not all that expensive and came from Hobby Lobby. Don't you just love their yarn? I love their sales!
This one turned out well enough to inspire me to do some more for the upcoming show.

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.