Oh my. The last time I posted was 14 months ago. I had just returned from teaching in northwest Washington state and the world was shutting down. We have been through a lot since then. I have had some time to weave, some time to teach via Zoom and some time to try out new ideas. I’ll catch you up a bit.

In the spring of 2020 I decided to try out some dyeing. I measured four different warps (the yarns that go on the loom when I set it up), laid the out on a table, and dyed them. I needed a nice spring day since I would do this outside with lots of ventilation. After dyeing each warp, I needed to wrap the in plastic wrap, steam them in a pot and then let them set for a day. The next day, I unwrapped the warps and rinsed them multiple times to remove the dye. The weft (the yarn that goes horizontally across the warp) would be commercially dyed yarn. By dyeing my own warps, I could change the color of the warp along the length of each scarf. I had fun dying my warps.

In the summer, I read about a project called the Violet Protest, https://www.violetprotest.com. The project seeks to provide physical examples of the beauty of coming together as nation. Participants combined blue and red to create eight-inch square works of textile art. Squares would be exhibited in the Phoenix Art Museum March 10 and September 5, 2021. After the exhibit, 50 squares will be mailed to each US Representative and Senator as a tangible reminder of the need to work together. Ann Morton has organized this public effort and I was happy to weave five squares for the project.

It was back to the backyard for some more dying in the fall, as I tried my hand at woven shibori. I wove some pieces in white with regularly spaced gathering threads. After weaving and cutting the cloth off the loom, I pulled the threads tight across the width of the piece to create tight bundles where the fabric would resist taking dye. I then dyed the pieces, let them dry and then pulled out the gathers. The resulting fabric showed some interesting patterns.

There has been other activity, including Zoom teaching and online learning. For now, though this is a good catch up post.