I’ve been going to Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, CO since 1996 when I was gifted a ticket for the weekend. Later I dated someone who not only went for the full weekend but also for song school the week before. Now I choose who I want to go hear and this year it was Ani DiFranco. She was headlining Friday night and there were a few other bands I wanted to hear, so off we went last Friday to Planet Bluegrass to sit in the sun and the rain and hear some music.
It turns out that festivals are also good places to weave. I brought my tiny copper pipe loom and finished the tapestry diary piece just before it got dark.
On the way to the festival we listened to Amy Goodman’s recent interview with Ani DiFranco. If you, like me, grew up listening to her music, you’ll enjoy this interview. She talks about her new memoir, her childhood and there are some good stories about Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips, and Prince. Ani is full of energy many of her songs resonate now as much as they did when I was in my 20s. You know she was singing to my people by the number of women who were singing along all around us.
I heard a few of my old favorites like Patty Larkin and Mary Gauthier and a new band to me, The Oh Hellos! had wonderful sound. We got rained on for the typical Colorado length of time (10 minutes of dumping rain and then the sun came out) but mostly the weather was perfect. There was a little food I could eat and we had shade most of the afternoon.
I finished this piece for my tapestry diary just as it got dark. The inspiration came in part from the millefleurs in the Unicorn tapestries at the Cluny, partly from a conversation recently about them with Molly Elkind, and maybe mostly from the pattern on my sheets that I woke up staring at that morning—little green leaves.
Four selvedge tapestry weaving at Rocky Mountain Folks Festival.
Almost done with this Fringeless weaving.
The warp is Brown Sheep wool warp, the weft is handspun (the purple) and the leaves are weaversbazaar. The dark shadow leaf was woven with the warp split for a finer effect.
Summer is fleeting but I’m trying to make the most of the warmth we have left. Go outside and bring a loom!