MIDWEST FIBER AND FOLK ART VOYAGE, Part II

.......moving right along (this is thrilling! I feel as if I'm truly OUTWITTING all the smart people at Google, who think they've effectively limited the photos I can post.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can tell I have a Ph.D., so damned clever am I.....):

First: Polly Ester, a PERSON created by the Windy City Knitting Guild some years ago. For the same number of years, I have been threatening to bring to life a sister, to be called Molly Ester, or some such rhyming thing, in Detroit. I learned, talking to some people from the Guild, that she is getting too big (i.e., her skirt is too long and heavy), so I have offered to move her to Detroit. Need to talk to more people about this. The question will be where to put her, and how to make sure people still add to her raiment. The idea, in a nutshell, has been to remind people that clothing used to be hand-made, and to create community. People add bits of knitting, crochet, weaving, etc., on the spot (years ago, I added a crocheted flower to her skirt on the spot and met two lovely women in the process).

Second: Members of the guild, who kindly asked me to share a bench at lunch IN ONE HUNDRED DEGREE HEAT.

Third: Two wonderful button necklaces made by the nifty woman on the right in the guild photograph -- photographed because I think that other people might like to try it.

Fourth: The owner of Ewetopia , a wondrous shop in a small Wisconsin town between LaCrosse and Madison -- and one of the most gifted young dyers I've encountered. I walked off with some of her lace-weight alpaca and LOTS of her amazing mohair. See below.

Fifth: The mohair! At least two of the colorways. And in the sun, to show the colors.

Move on to the next installment. svb

MIDWEST FIBER AND FOLK ART VOYAGE, Part I

Well, here goes, as promised. I have to do this in stages; Google's blogspot software doesn't like dozens and dozens of photographs. So let me first share these things. First: One alpaca giving another alpaca a nice peck on the cheek. I'm sure of it. Second: One of the many workshops with dozens of students. Knitters knitters knitters. Third: The interior of the rigorously rectangular building (see previous post). Fourth: A tractor in one of the parking lots. Now, I promise you that, in any of Detroit's well-heeled northern suburbs, you would NOT find a tractor. But there it was, in one of Chicago's northern suburbs. Finally: The aforementioned rigorously rectangular building in which the wonderful festival was held. Shoppers shoppers shoppers.

Now, go on to Part Two, where I have some things to say about people and their art.

svb