. . . . . and, we're back!

What Shall We Do with the Drunken Yarnball?

No, this is not a commentary on the ever-increasing constraints imposed on American childhood. It's just what happens when you have a ball of wet yarn and an extra highchair lying around.

Remember when I told you how I threw a few balls of yarn into the dyebath with Scarf 56? Well, here's the moral of that story: tightly wound balls of yarn do not dry out. I knew this, of course, but conveniently forgot it as I tossed the ball of pink yarn into the pot.

A day later I realized I was going to have to do something about this soggy-on-the-inside ball of yarn, and just as I was thinking about it my eye conveniently roamed over the highchair. It made the perfect frame to loosely hang the yarn around, giving it space to dry. It looked so cool, I had to share.

And just so you know the challenges I face trying to photograph anything in this house:

Audrey & Scarf 57

Scarf 20: Texas Landscape

Today I finished a scarf that I designed for the Texas Museum of Fiber Arts. I submitted it for an exhibit called "Texas by the Yard and Yarn - Texas a Fabrication." It will show at 100 Congress (the perfect location for 100 Scarves, right?!) in October and November. It's probably very ambitious of me to believe I might get in, but we have to dream, right? As Isabella Stewart Gardner said, "If you don't aim high, you can't get there."

The design represents the Texas landscape - the rivers running through the hills and mountains, then flattening out and eventually running into the Gulf. It's my first design that's meant to represent something else, and it was an interesting creative challenge for me. It began almost 10 feet long and then I used the same ruffling technique from Scarf 17 to create the hills and mountains, leaving it just under 6 feet in the end. I ran a little line of extra shiny blue through the deeper blue cotton to create a sparkling effect in the river and ocean.

A combination of two variegated yarns made the forests and plains - one in various shades of brown, the other browns and greens. I used the same weft yarn for the whole scarf - a juniper green cotton.

My ultimate goal is always to make a scarf that will feel good and look good, so I wanted to recreate the Texas landscape within those parameters. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Here are a few little moments in the life of Scarf 20.

Henry called tonight from a walk around the neighborhood to say, "I keep coming around a bend or over a hill and seeing a scene straight from your scarf! It really does look like the Texas landscape." Score. :)

Scarf 20 will stay off the market until I find out if it's made it into the show. Wish us luck!

Will the real Scarf 12 please stand up?

+++ Earlier today I published a post all about Scarf 12. If you're getting this via Reader, you've probably already seen it. The trouble with that post is that all the pictures weren't of Scarf 12, they were of Henry's scarf, which I grabbed by accident to photograph this morning. Oops! Here we go again - same story, different pictures. +++

Last winter I made a scarf for Henry (my better half) and everywhere he wore it people told him he looked like George Clooney. Henry looks nothing like George Clooney. What's up with this scarf? Magic, I think. Only answer that makes sense.

Of course I couldn't go too long without recreating the magic of the George Clooney scarf, so that all men (not just my husband) can have the good fortune to go around being mistaken for movie stars.

The secret is a silvery gray wool crossed with a variegated gray and brownish-olivish wool/acrylic blend. The result is a surprisingly sophisticated scarf with colors that shift in the light. Very adaptable, kind of like George Clooney.

Newlin the Cat is getting as close to it as possible so that he might be mistaken for George Clooney too. I don't have the heart to tell him the magic only works for people.

Scarf 12 is for sale in my Etsy shop.

My Constant Companions

Meet Audrey and Newlin, my roommates. They are very into sitting in my lap and have lately been ousted by the loom, which is sitting there instead. They are usually nearby when I am weaving and though it looks like they would get in the way of things, that's usually not the case.

Newlin really loves to climb into the loom when he can, or just sit next to it when it's filled with yarn. He doesn't mess with the yarn, just looks at it.

They're my constant companions and cheerleaders, but I totally understand that seeing cats near something they might put around their neck makes allergic people panic. That's why I offer a wash'n'send service for you allergic folks - just say the word and I'll make sure your scarf is cat hair free before I send it your way.

I should also note that they don't usually snuggle up to the yarn, the way Audrey is doing up above. This is a rarity (and for me a very cute one), which is why I caught it on camera.