Two Shear Spirits

buttoned up in Taos

By the time I left for New Mexico a couple of weeks ago I had just finished my Montana tunic. But there was no time to look for the buttons that were the last step. So I packed a tiny swatch of yarn and hoped to find something perfect along the way.
I thought surely Taos, with its active arts and crafts community, would offer something just right. And indeed when I stepped into La Lana Wools (where Laura was unwrapping a gorgeous selection of first-cut Wensleydale yarn that was unbelievably soft) I found a mesmerizing display. There were beaded buttons, shell buttons, handcrafted buttons in myriad shades. There were so many, I actually had to come back twice before I could make a decision. but I finally chose some medium size antler-horn buttons that had a kind of western look and went with the yarn I was happy I brought!
Here are the buttons. As soon as I find a minute to sew them on, there will be photos of the sweater, too.

and there's THREE of them

I was planning a post about a fun magazine shoot I did last week,.

This is an out from the take while waiting to get started, you'll have to look in TV Guide in a couple of weeks to see the real thing.
So instead of  behind the scenes with Jon Stewart or NY or knitting or reminiscing about meeting Joan in Arizona a year ago to visit our Navajo sheep herding subjects for the book or anything else remotely interesting I will say no more.

Because I am home with the flu. With my whole family. All the guys. And me. It isn't pretty.   I think this sums it up.

time flies

And so do kids.

I learned that a year ago this week, at Kai Ranch in Blue ,Texas. That's where Lisa Shell,  fiber farmer and artist,  raises colored angora goats for mohair and does her beautiful dyeing , spinning and weaving.

When we started working on Shear Spirit we realized the only way to get real life photos was to invite ourselves to move in on the fiber farms for a few days.  Nervy, yes. Also magical. Because fiber artists live art filled lives that we wallowed in. And lots of the good stuff happens just after dawn, or around the dinner table with a couple of bottles of wine, after all the animals have been coralled and no one is worried about impressing each other anymore.  It is kind of weird to be showing up on a stranger's doorstep, in the middle of somewhere, based on a couple of emails and a love of knitting.  I'd never been to rural central Texas , and when Lisa told me I'd be on a dirt road turning right just past the ninth turkey barn, I was too chicken to admit I wasn't sure what a turkey barn looks like, anyway.  When I pulled up and saw Lisa's front door, I knew it was going to be just fine.  Wouldn't you?

Why Lisa agreed to have us show up on such short notice I don't know but I am so glad she did. The farm we thought we'd be visiting had dropped out, and with only two weeks warning, Lisa said "sure".  If she and her husband Randy lived nearby, I'd be popping by often. ( Not just for the locally made pecan ice cream and Texas beer they serve. Really. )

 

You need to know that all this fab color is set in the sagey browny green of Texas range land, with scrubby bushes, and thick woods with tall spare Texas-y trees surrounding.

 

 

 

 

I love the tea towels, embroidered by a neighbor.
And the bathroom? If there hadn't been a drought , I would have taken twice the showers just for the pleasure of stepping out onto Lisa's downy handspun crocheted rugs.

That little airborn guy at the top is now  a handsome year old buck, reports Lisa. She's got thirty-one new kids in the tribe  flying around this week. sigh. Wish I was there!

hanging in

Mittens at 13 Mile Farm, Belgrade Montana.

If you're reading this, send us some comments love!  There's something strange about hitting the publish button and realizing....no one knows we're here.

Joan is off exploring the southwest - I'm not even sure what state - and I'm fighting the entropy that is my office this week. I'm thinking I may need to set up some reward knitting on this or I'll never get the desk cleared.