my hand dyed handspun and of course hand knit scarf

I suppose the scarf, now finished the day before Easter, is rather appropriate being that we got an inch of snow yesterday. Friday knitting group was fun. Thanks Judy for hosting us at your Alpaca Ranch http://bigmeadowcreekalpacas.com/ Once again the potluck food was great, I brought Pecan pie, then there was Asian pasta salad, Hot Cross Buns, and a fresh fruit tart. Love that homemade food and the company of good friends.

Margo and the Natural dye Workshop

Margo has graciously allowed our Friday knitting group to meet in her store.
This was Margo Kay's workshop that we all participated in. Margo is a wonderful friend and farm woman who raises her own sheep and spins her own yarn and has a wealth of talent and experience. She was inspired to learn more about natural dyeing so she took a workshop at Earthhues Natural Dyes in Seattle Washington and then got all fired up to teach natural dye workshops in our area. Her enthusiasm was contagious and my initial reluctance to learn yet another method was quickly transformed into passion with Margo's help and skill as a teacher and long time fiber artist. If anyone in our North Idaho inland Northwest area is interested in taking a class on Natural dyeing you can contact Margo here sheepster@cpcinternet.com Her blog is http://thespinnersflock.blogspot.com/ Thanks Margo. Margo's store will soon be moving to the Dahmen Barn in Uniontown Washington, you can catch her and Judy La Londe's alpaca products http://bigmeadowcreekalpacas.com/ there, under the new name- The Milk House Fibers- at the Dahmen Barn http://www.artisanbarn.org/

more from the natural dye workshop

More projects from our knitting group's ongoing natural dye workshop. I made the pumpkin colored Nuno felted scarf. It is made from wool and silk, blended together and I used Madder as a natural dye on it.
We all kept singing that old timey song "Oh dear, what can the matter be", riffing on the word madder. Being in a workshop for four hours can really liberate the imagination!

Natural Dye Workshop

These are some of the projects our Friday knitting and spinning group worked on. It's always so much fun to get together with these women. We always have fabulous potluck food when we meet. Today we had homemade potstickers, homemade cardamom bread and Tiramisu. We used natural dyes from indigo, weld, cochineal, madder and quebracho yellow.

My Czech friend's mini heart socks, and cards

http://www.buffalogirlsdesign.com/

my funky hand dyed handspun yarn

My handmade nuno felt scarf

there's somthing about the materials wool and silk. The tactile bubbly texture of the nuno felt
seems to be very popular this year. I used my fine arts training to experiment until I got results I was happy with. The process of making art is akin to that of ballet. The finished product looks effortless, but there is much practice and training leading up to it.