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Me Musing .
. . October
23, 2008 . . .
Yesterday I
went on a fun trip to Medford and Ashland, Oregon with two friends.
It wasn't the usual Costco trip to Medford . . . but more a 'just
look and see what's new' trip.
Our first stop
was a favorite yarn shop, Middleford
Yarn, which had moved to their new location in Medford a few
months ago. Was great seeing the new space and what weights/colours
of yarn might entice us. Since it is Autumn and the colours of the
trees seem to infuse everything just now, I couldn't resist a pumpkin
coloured yarn from Uruguay. It is handspun wool that has been dyed
over wood fires which creates a marbelized effect.
Early this
year I had bought some of that same yarn in brown to make a jacket
that is just done in knitted rectangles, which are then crocheted
together. I had finally finished the rectangles and pinned them
together, but didn't like the effect so it had been languishing
in the Sewing Room for months!
On our recent
trip to the Oregon Coast I had seen a 3 button Wrap that I really
liked. It only extends about 18" down the back, so more of
a shoulder wrap style, but very fun for just taking the chill off!
It
got me to thinking about my brown already knit-up rectangles as
this was really just one long rectangle. So when I got home I added
a little more on to a few of the longer rectangles and decided to
just do the closing with a wooden pin that was a gift from a friend.
I don't know how to crochet, so just hand-stitched the sections
together with a variegated yarn. The 'collar' piece I had knit for
the jacket was longer than needed, however, like the jackets I have
made recently,
I like the asymmetrical look!
There
is more to 'Big Red'
than the pencil thin model in the green wrap~
but you get the idea!
Back to our
trip yesterday:
After the yarn
shop we were on to a favorite 'downtown' shop to see what was new
and since it takes 1-1/2 hrs. from here to Medford, we of course,
by that time were hungry. We went to Gorilla Bites, a natural organic
fun place and scouted out a table in the back lower area where the
sun was streaming in on the tables. Since it was about 25 degrees
when we left home at 8:30, we needed some sunshine to warm us up!
While waiting
for our food we noticed a small poster with Japanese style paper
streamers with the headline: 'Travel Tales, A Teacher Travels'.
We learned that watercolourist/teacher Judy
Morris was exhibiting her incredible watercolours at the Rogue
Gallery and Art Center just across the patio!
So after lunch,
we walked over.
Yowie! There
were a lot of her paintings displayed that shared the memories of
her travels . . . many from a trip to Japan. Her techniques make
the paintings sooooooooo exciting! So if you're going to be up in
Medford, stop in and view them as they will be there until December
24th. That should give you plenty of time!
PLUS . . .
they have a great little gift area of local artists' work also.
I found a fantastic handmade book by Corinne
Stubson. The spine is from little twigs with wonderful beads
added and the cover is stamped with 'Everyday
of your life is a page of your history' and 'Imagine
What is Possible'!
From there
we took 'the back-way' to Ashland as I wanted to check on the hand-made
Japanese paper sold at a place in Phoenix (Oregon, not Arizona!).
I found some really nice ones, plus a big rubber stamp written in
French. I have no idea what it says, but have always liked writing
in other languages!
I
stamped the French writing onto some silk
I hand-dyed in Portland last month just to see what it would do.
Our next stop
was The
Websters yarn shop in Ashland where the displays and yarn and
accessories always take my breath away. I had some knitting needles
to exchange and found some BIG
buttons like I had seen in Seaside, Oregon and had only gotten
two of . . . now I have more!
A new item
there is hand-dyed silk bombyx hankies. (Not
'blow your nose' kind of hankies, but silk that can be spun!)
It
comes shaped in a square and is many layers of silk that can be
stretched out and then spun. (I don't
spin so I'll have to think of something else to do with it. It was
sooooooo yummy that I just couldn't pass it up!)
Here
is a Kollage of my purchases.
The base is green fabric is the silk I dyed last month.
(You can barely see the rust coloured French writing on it.)
The upper-left next to the rubber stamp is the hand-dyed 'Silk Bombyx
Hankie'.
Below
the rubber stamp are some of my new BIG
buttons that
I have put together with a special bead.
The 'page
of your history'
book
shows the twig spine and beads to the left of the Uruguay yarn.
Between the book and yarn are two more very thin yarns I bought
. . . the green cone is silk
and the rust cone is silk and stainless steel spun together!
Soooooooooo
now I have lots of new fun playthings to get my creativity bubbling
again!
Until
soon,
Che'usa
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