In August I took a couple weeks off and went car camping. My intention was to do some backpacking the second week but the thunderstorms in Colorado have been fierce this year and there is nothing worse than camping at 11,000 feet with lightening hitting all around. In fact, the big piñon tree behind our house got hit a few weeks ago. I thought the strike sounded frighteningly close to my bedroom.
A very old piñon pine tree behind my house was struck by lightening last month.
Close up of the split in the tree which goes from top to bottom.
So car camping it was. I had some on-foot adventures and some driving adventures where I pretended my Subaru Crosstrek was a truck and I definitely did some weaving. Between all that, I read quite a few books since I was stuck under the awning or in the tent for quite a lot of time in the rain.
Hiking to a saddle near Hesperus Peak which is behind me in this photo. Colorado. This peak is one of the four sacred mountains of the Diné.
Weaving Mt. Hesperus
I spent some time weaving Mt. Hesperus. I wanted to use handspun so though there are lots of yarns in the photo below, I didn’t use them. I had some dyed roving and locks and I spun the yarn I used for this tapestry. I had an 8 inch Chloe loom along but I was unable to find my longer center rod before leaving so this is the regular bar for the loom. I wanted extra warp for finishing at the bottom which is why the tapestry starts partway up the loom.
The mountain has wonderful horizontal rock bands in it which of course made me think of either hatching or just making stripes. I ended up doing some hatching. The view from the campsite had some tall spruce trees in the foreground and I chose to use pick and pick for that bottom part of the design.*
The beginning of the Mt. Hesperus weaving on a Mirrix Chloe loom using handspun.
View from the campsite with my spindle
Below, the tapestry is progressing past the pick and pick into varied hills. Some of the color changes come from the changes in dye in the roving I spun.
The power of pick and pick... using two different colorways for this technique at the bottom creates some lovely effects. Weaving by Rebecca Mezoff while camping in Colorado.
Some of the handspun was quite hairy. I am not quite done with this tapestry, but I may be investing in a sweater shaver for this one. I’ve never felt the need for one before, but I think this one might need a haircut. There will be some pick and pick at the top of the design.**
Rebecca Mezoff, Mt. Hesperus, Colorado, 3 x 3 inches, handspun wool sketch tapestry in progress.
On my last full day at this campsite a gentleman named Andy pulled into my campsite in his elderly Suburban to tell me about his mushroom hunting. He was thrilled he had found lots of chanterelles just up the hill from where I was camped. I don’t know a lot about mushrooms, but he gave me some and I figured I’d see if I could find them myself. He gave me some parameters about what they like and I took off for a little exploration.
Chanterelle mushrooms the chicken located above 10,000 feet in Colorado in August.
I did find quite a few of them and picked these which we did eat. They were tasty! The hunt was a lot of fun.
Rebecca Mezoff on the hunt for chanterelles while camping in Colorado in August.
My camp shelter is behind the chicken with Hesperus beyond that. You can see the edge of my orange tent to the right.
Dachshunds go camping
After my week of solo camping, I went on a shorter trip with the whole family. When packing the car I left an entire seat with their doggie carseat attached for Beau and Sal. And look where they wanted to ride!
Ready to go camping!
Camping is very tiring for two little dogs who had never been before. The cows in the banner for this post walked a stones throw from the campsite and the dogs never knew it. Beau just kept on napping.
Beau taking a nap one afternoon completely oblivious to the seven cows walking by.
Sal and Beau with sweaters on in the cold morning waiting for some hiking activity to commence.
Sal was pretty excited about the hammock. Both dogs enjoyed napping in it as long as there was a human underneath them.
I continued to work on the Mt. Hesperus weaving even though we couldn’t see the mountain from our second campsite. The cards are mat board that I like to use to store handspun for tapestry weaving. In this photo you can see some of the fiber I was spinning for the tapestry.
Rebecca Mezoff, Mt. Hesperus sketch tapestry in progress.
Have you had any outdoor adventures this summer? Did any of them involve tapestry weaving? I have one more camping adventure left this year in the high elevations of Colorado and I’m looking forward to seeing some trees changing from my camp chair as well as some high-elevation hiking.
*The Tapestry Discover Box that opens on October 15 is all about pick and pick. If you’re interested in using this technique in many different ways, join me for that fun class. If you’re reading this in the future, you can still get the course. More information is on my website here: https://rebeccamezoff.com/discoverybox
**Join me for Summer of Tapestry 2025 (next May!) to see this tapestry finished.