The Gathering Continued

I can't say enough about the weather last weekend and the wonderful mountains!

I attended two workshops. The first was on Bosnian Crochet. I made two tiny purse-like objects by working the simple stitch technique of making slip stitches around a foundation chain. Initially your work looks like an oval rug, but because you don't increase the oval shape becomes bowl- shaped. I like its organic quality. The stitch texture will change depending on whether or not you crochet a slip stitch into the front of a stitch or the back.

It is equally important when crocheting to use yarn with singles that have been spun with an S-twist (counterclockwise) then plied with a Z-twist ( clockwise). If you prepare the yarn in the way we spin to knit, the act of crocheting will undo the twist and cause the singles to separate....quite annoying I can tell you. I tried to crochet with yarn prepared for knitting. It was difficult to use that yarn. The smaller purse below is crocheted with cotton yarn from Henry's Attic. The larger with handspun Cotswold from a sheep named Tillie.

I also took an excellent workshop on Silk Paper with Robin Russo. We made silk paper using roving, silk hankies or mawata and textile medium. The technique is easy; there are several websites that describe the process. It is something I plan to explore.

The lighter colored silk paper was made with undyed tussah and bombex roving with natural embellishments such as dried hydrangea and money plant pieces