Ode to Dahlia

AKA Dahlia

 On this eve of Dubose I am excited for the retreat to begin. This year it's more of a retreat than a class. Learning happens, and it will always happen. Sometimes we just need time to birth our ideas and practice our skills, maybe with the support of friends. Friends who offer suggestions, help with techniques or problems, friends who simply hold space for one another to keep us from going off and doing something else with our time, something that keeps us from realizing our dreams, our creations. I know that every time I have "taught" a class I have learned countless things in return. So many have come to my classes who are amazing fiber artists in their own right...people whose class I should be taking. This always honors me no end. But it also makes me wonder why they are taking my class. I have come to believe that it's not so much what I teach, but how. I'm a facilitator. I hold space. I create an atmosphere in which people feel free to express themselves, feel free to succeed, feel free to fail, and best, feel free to try.

So on this eve of Dubose, since I feel so exuberant, I'd like to share something that gives me great joy. Delilah belongs to our neighbor to the north. We call her Dahlia because she is a flower. She comes to visit every day and we love her visits, look forward to them, but we are very glad she isn't our dog. Why? She is beautiful, she looks like she is strutting around in a chiffon gown, but she smells like a carniverous plant. So much so that we have decided she should have her own line of parfum. It's called "AKA Dahlia". Her signature scent is a complex blend of all imaginable and unimaginable smells. Others include Eau d' dead4days, Just Ripe, and her newest, Dung!, (also in roll-on). If I leave my recliner unattended, I'm liable to find her ensconced. All I can say is, I'm glad it's leather.

Dahlia ensconced

Bliss

Bliss. A continuance of the green theme. Sitting in a green kayak on glass-green water, knitting purple and green yarn (entrelacs in the round). What a beautiful morning. Shiny young watersnake swimming right beside the boat. Violet Dancers riding on the prow. Turtles popping up to watch me, so silently all you can hear is their subliminal intention. Life is good  amazing.

Verdant

Check out Verdant Gryphon @ Maryland Sheep & Wool.
Ask them for a coupon code for 20% off my pattern
Heart of the Lotus.

 I recently bought this gorgeous skein of Bugga! from Verdant Gryphon. Fell in love with this yarn when I designed Heart of the Lotus in Alderfly. This one is Carpathian Blue Slug. Mossy green rocks beneath bottle green lake surface w/fish in sunlight. Sublime. Woods now glow in these colors in the last hour of the day. Thematic of deepest comfort.

iphone drawing

More on the verdant theme... a phone drawing after the zebra grass on a visit to Rita's.

See this and other Superfluity Kits at the Three Waters Farm
booth at Maryland Sheep &Wool this weekend.
Main Exhibition Hall B-23

A TWF Olive Brittle Superfluity Kit.

detail Alice W

Alice W

Closeup of a favorite (left hand corner).

The favorite. It hangs in my studio...a print of an actual frame from the movie...had it since the movie came out...treasured possession, my Alice W.

Original Work On Display at Maryland

Original work is a hard copy, one in the hand. What it's not. "Wouldn't that look good in..." "What if I tried this..." "Wow, nice photo...gotta pin that". Original work is the actual piece (yippee) spun and knit by the designer. You can touch it, feel it, wrap it around you. You can see two of them at Maryland Sheep and Wool this weekend.

The only thing I didn't do is dye the fiber. But I did design the colorways, and Mary Ann Pagano, master dyer, took it from there. We both decided how great it would be to have an example of her fiber spun up...to answer the question "What if I tried this." So I took two of my most popular patterns and worked them up in some of TWF's new colorways. To have it there so you can feel it, touch it, squeeze it, and, if so inclined, even buy it. Yep. We wanted you to be able to answer the question, "What if I tried this..."

And, they are both for sale...a rarity for sure.


Charlene in Starry Bangladesh is a jewel-in-the-crown version of Starry Nite. Colorways: Charlene, Bangladesh, and Mary Ann's Black Zinnias from her new Black Floral series. I couldn't help but touch it with a couple whiffs of Hurricane and Olive Medley. Think of red wine under a deep purple night sky with city lights reflecting in a calm bay. Storm clouds build on the horizon, but for now all is still, dark, rich, radiant.





















Olive Bamboo Justify showcases my new colorways Olive Brittle, Olive Blossoms and Bamboo & Dogwood in an old standby, originally designed to Justify your Stash. Imagine a marriage of olive orchards (muy mediterranean) and blooming dogwood trees (so southern) with benches made from bamboo upon which to take in the beauty.

Both pieces are spun from the fold, lofty and soft, in 100% BFL wool. You can buy the fiber in the Three Waters Farm booth (B23 in the Main Exhibition Hall) at Maryland Sheep and Wool, or online at their website or Etsy store.

And remember, TWF will be having a raffle, with three awesome prizes to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.