Visit to Prism Yarn
Here I am with Laura Bryant, owner of Prism Yarns in St. Petersburg, FL. We are standing in front of a beautiful weaving he did and she's wearing one of her designs. http://www.prismyarn.com/
It was exciting to see the facility where so much beautiful yarn is dyed and put together. Her business is wholesale but once a year she opens to the public. It was really neat.
December 12, 2006
The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
You have heard of the girl with the flaxen hair but did you ever really know what flaxen hair looked like? Well, take a look at the doll I knitted. Her hair is made of real unspun flax. So now you know. What's with the big boots on the left? I wanted to make "Ugg" boots so I knitted them out of 100% wool and felted them to death. Then I boiled them and then I put them in the clothes dryer. TA-DA! Success! The doll is for my granddaughter, Leah. She's almost 4.
December 18, 2006
Ginning Cotton
I got my cotton crop in. It almost filled a gallon ziplock bag. It took Rosemary and I two hours to gin the bag of cotton. (That's removing the seeds). Can you imagine ginning a whole field of cotton by hand? Thank you Eli Whitney!
When we removed the seeds, it was apparent I had at least two different kinds of cotton. One looked really gnarly but turned out to be easier to gin and have a longer fiber than the fluffy stuff. After we got the seeds out, Rosemary showed me how to spin cotton. It's very different than spinning wool. The fibers are short but I'm beginning to get the hang of it and I love the way it runs through my fingers. What's the blue thing hanging from my spinning wheel. That's my menopause fan! December 26, 2006
St. Augustine for Xmas
We spent Xmas in St. Augustine and I learned a lot about the Fountain of Youth I did not know. First, most male Europeans around this time were under 5' tall. Ponce de Leon was 4'11" and that included his pointed helmet. Second, the Timicuan native Americans were between 6' and 7' tall. When 'ole Ponce saw this (plus the fact that the chief told him he was over 300 years old), he figured there must be a Fountain of Youth. Can you imagine how intimidated those Spaniards were when they saw those giant Indians! Well, after poking around, 'ole Ponce didn't find the Fountain of Youth and worse still, he found no gold or silver. Bummer. That's what he (and other Europeans) came to the new world for — to plunder and steal all the gold and silver they could find. So 'ole Ponce looked around and said "Well, there's no gold here, but there's a lot of flowers so let's call this land Florida, claim it for the King of Spain, and go back to Puerto Rico." Which he did. What happened to those giant native Americans? Sadly to say, 'old Ponce and his men shared all sorts of diseases with these tall fellows and since the Timicuans had no immunities, they all eventually died. public 0
The scarf and the left was created using Artfelt® Paper. It is very soft and drapey. The one of the right was created using only cheap plastic wrap. I used Michele Johnson's instructions on 
started out as a solid copper dye which creates a seafoam green. The shade wasn't what I wanted, so I tied it into a ball and over dyed it black. There was a cool reaction with the vinegar and the copper. I was very pleased with the green and the red. I'm going to use the green for a rug in one of our bathrooms. The red was an interesting experiment. My first attempt got a candy apple red that almost knocked my eyes out. So I wound it into a skein, tied it in a ball, put it into a nylon knee high sock and overdyed it in brown. You can see where the bright red has toned down and even went to a rusty red in places. I gave this yarn to a friend who admired it. The one is the middle is the original safflower yarn above. I wound it into a ball and threw it into the brown dyepot with the red yarn. Much better and it also has a new home. 
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