Cold & brilliant Monday morning

Brrrr, is it cold in my neck of the woods. If it hits the mid-40s today, we'll be lucky. Right now it's in the 30s and it snowed last night in places where it hasn't snowed in many years. Of course, weather is relative...I know it's seriously cold around the nation so I have nothing to complain about. For my money, I think California's North Coast has the best weather in the country, all things considered these days. Not too cold in winter, not too hot in summer, and not really as rainy as most folks think. Nevertheless, today is a day for staying inside and weaving.

As promised, here is a photo of the bamboo and silk yarns that I posted on Friday, that I overdyed over the weekend, with madder.

I have about half a bobbin spun of the topaz bamboo I'm working on, but I have to slow down on the spinning now and rest my hands more. I can't spin for hours anymore without it having an impact. Age and overuse have begun to take a toll and I've got to take better care of my hands...because everything I love to do is hand intensive.

Last Friday I warped my loom for a shadow weave scarf. I'm using a beautiful grayed-teal tencel and a hand dyed, handspun silk from silk hankies, a colorway I call Santa Fe. The two yarns together create a very subtle color juxtaposition, kinda the way I like it. The shadow weave pattern will be less evident in coloration than it will be in pattern texture.

I appreciated a comment I received last week saying that perhaps having a blog would actually make me more productive artistically, rather than less productive as I was suspecting. And so far I would have to agree, as I have done a lot more in this past week with my art than I did in the entire month before! There's something very inspiring about getting things done and posting them for the world to see.

And with that, I'm off to weave!