Relying on ritual: The Year of Rosie

Relying on ritual: The Year of Rosie

I definitely notice how much I rely on familiar rituals when things change in my life. Emily and I have been taking care of a little dog named Rosie for the last year. Her family went overseas on a research fellowship and they couldn’t take her along. We haven’t had a dog since Cassy died in 2013 and after taking care of her for a few days and being completely charmed by her adorableness, we agreed to take her for the year. She needed a house without other pets or kids and we definitely qualified.

Rosie’s family came home last weekend and she went home to them this week. It was so hard to let her go, but seeing her absolute overwhelming joy at seeing them again made it worth it. She was beside herself when she realized who was in front of her. I do wonder what dogs think when their lives change. She took a few months to really blossom with us but I hope she goes right back to her old life now that she is home again.

What materials and equipment do you need to dye your own yarn?

What materials and equipment do you need to dye your own yarn?

I love dyeing my own yarn and fiber. In many areas of my life, I’m not the most precise person. I’m a bit sloppy and probably a little difficult to live with sometimes. But when it comes to dyeing my tapestry yarns or fiber for spinning, I love using measurement and a little math to create custom colors.

I have a new online class this summer all about dyeing with acid wool dyes. If you’ve ever wanted to dye your own yarns, create unique palettes, or just get colors that commercial yarn lines don’t contain, dyeing the yarn yourself is the way to go.

Simple Procedures. Reliable Results.

Why dye your own fiber and yarn for your projects?

Why dye your own fiber and yarn for your projects?

In my blog post a couple weeks ago, I talked about how I learned to dye my own tapestry yarn and how dyeing the yarn and learning to weave tapestry went hand in hand. I enjoy dyeing my own yarn so much. And I’ve branched out into making variegated yarns for tapestry and knitting, painting roving for spinning, and dyeing fleece that I blend as I spin.

Wander. Weaving through July...

Wander. Weaving through July...

I’ve been focusing on my tapestry diary for the last couple months. I started doing these small tapestries based on things I see around me again because I am teaching an online course about this practice (see Summer of Tapestry). But I quickly remembered that the process of weaving small, quickly finished tapestries in which I explore something I saw or a feeling I had are a great way for me to remain grounded when the world feels a little haywire.

It has encouraged me to finish some of the tapestries from Iceland which, though a bit larger than my normal tapestry diary piece, are still in the same vein. I’ve planned a few more tapestries from Icelandic inspiration and I’ve also finished quite a few small pieces from Colorado inspirations. I talked about the rose tapestry in THIS blog post. I titled that post “What would you weave if you knew you could not fail?” because that is such an important part of weaving these small things for me. There are no rules. I have no expectation of ever showing these pieces. I am not worrying about technique or whether they are “good”. I’m just playing.

Color! Finding ALL the colors for fiber fun this summer

Color! Finding ALL the colors for fiber fun this summer

When I first started learning how to be a tapestry weaver, I took a semester-long college class about dyeing protein fibers. I never questioned that there was any other way to get the colors I wanted for tapestry weaving. In the weaving curriculum we were using a commercially dyed yarn and only had about 20 colors available to us, most of which were not ones I wanted. I was so excited to learn how to dye my own yarn.

What would you weave if you knew you could not fail?

What would you weave if you knew you could not fail?

. . . So I spent last weekend sitting still and doing some small weavings. I watched my judgey monkey brain say, that is too simple. That is too small. You’ll never express anything if you choose this. And I told that little voice to step off, grabbed the yarn colors of the roses in my back yard, and started weaving. These rose bushes were here when I moved in. They’re hardy. They have to be because I don’t do much besides occasionally aim the hose in their general direction and trim them back at the end of the season. They seem perfectly happy to offer up white and pink blooms year after year and I admire that persistence.

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Summer of Tapestry. Let's take a good wander.

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Summer of Tapestry. Let's take a good wander.

I can pinpoint the moment when I started my practice of sketch tapestry. I had just driven 70 miles from my childhood home in Gallup, NM to Petrified Forest National Park in early November of 2016 through a driving rainstorm. It was the kind of rain that the desert longs for. The rain that fills the arroyos to gushing almost instantly. The rain that makes the desert smell like sage and wet sand.

I arrived at the national park to start my artist residency just as the sun came out. As I was taking my looms and yarn out of my car and settling into the casita I would live in for the month, a rainbow appeared over the painted desert just outside.