Temperatures rose above freezing for the first time in weeks as we turned the calendar page on Sunday. It felt like tee shirt weather. The sheep who have been suffering from cabin (barn?) fever along with the rest of us were absolutely giddy. Lots of silly head butting for no reason and crazy side-ways leaps on the way to breakfast. They are still tentative about walking on the brittle snow crust, so I broke some fresh trails and told them to go play outside. Who needs a Thigh Master when you have a pair of snowshoes and a foot of heavy snow?
Last weekend I got to play inside with a group of fellow color addicts who attended Dyeing to Spin, a hand dye workshop I taught at Webs. I set up a mini dye studio for Kim, Judy, Jean, Gail, Mali, Bonnie, Cindy, and Eileen and we worked our way through as much color and fiber as you can possibly fit in 6 short hours. I took took some fiber home to steam, since we ran out of time. Here is a sample of their handiwork. I gave it a little test spin, just to make sure it was good to go!
As some of you know, in early May my most ambitious dye studio project to date makes its debut. I spent last spring, summer and fall (and actually part of this winter too) writing a book for Wiley Publishing on one my greatest passions: hand-dyeing yarn and fiber. The book is part of Wiley's Teach Yourself Visually series, which means it is absolutely loaded with detailed photography, nearly a week's worth shot in my studio last September.
As a teacher, my goal is to simply the process of hand dyeing for beginners while providing a range of creative techniques for dyers looking to try something new. Writing a book while running a farm and operating a business was challenging, but it was also an adventure – and a great excuse to immerse myself fully in what I love doing most: working with color and fiber : ) . For more details, you can check here , or here.
Here's a sneak peek at the cover, which features a basketful of colorful dyed skeins from my flock.
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copyright 2009, Barbara Parry. Foxfire Fiber & Designs. All rights reserved.
image of book cover courtesy of Wiley Publishing
