Preparing marigold blossoms for dyeing.

My next projects will be two more wedding shawls. One with the working title "Something Blue" and the other will be "Blushing Bride."

The loom is warped, the white shawl is done, and it's time to dye the yarn for the weft. My dye process starts with my computer - also a cup of tea.

It's always fun to weave something special - especially if I know the person I'm weaving for.

My friend Kevin asked me to weave a shawl for his wife Margaret for their 30th wedding anniversary. Thirty years! I was at their wedding - I couldn't possibly be that old!

My first exposure to the story of Noah and the flood was in first grade Sunday School. I don’t recall the exact details, but I’m fairly sure it included flannel animals going two by two into a flannel-graph ark. What I do remember clearly is the end of the story. The teacher told us how God put a rainbow in the sky as a promise that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood.

At last - I can talk about it.

I don’t often take commissions for my woven clothing. My projects are usually planned out well in advance, using the same threading for several variations to save warping time. But when my friend Risé asked me to weave a special scarf for daughter Chelsea for Christmas, I readily agreed.

So, Moses is up on the mountain with God. He’s been there for forty days. This is when he gets the stone tablets with the ten commandments. But in addition, God gives Moses some very specific instructions on the construction of a place of worship - the Tabernacle.

This is where the story gets truly exciting - if you’re a weaver.

Once upon a time, not that long ago as the ages are reckoned, I was more than a little intimidated by color. Not being trained as an artist, I knew very little of color theory beyond "mix blue and yellow, get green." The concepts of value and hue, tints and shades, meant nothing to me.

When working with my technical dyes, I try to treat them with respect. I like the the consistency of the results, but I am well aware that they contain potentially dangerous chemicals and certain procedures need to be followed.

Did you ever pick out paint, and the color looked great on that little swatch card in the hardware store, but when you put it on a whole wall it was all too much "more"? That same thing happens with yarn.

A few years ago I dyed some yarn with Kool-Aid to create a bright rainbow yarn for a project. Recently I mixed the leftovers with some other yarns to create this scarf.

This morning I mixed up the dye solutions for the projects I'll be working on this week. With the solutions already mixed, dyeing the yarn will be much simpler…

Ordinary time is underrated. You know the time I mean, the days that are routine - work, house-work, school-work – whatever your routine happens to be. A block of days where one day melds predictably into the next, busy, yes – these days who’s not? – but busy in a predictable way.

Here in southern California, we understand the power of wind and fire. Two weeks ago, wind stirred up a fire just north of here in Santa Barbara. Hundreds of homes were lost in the fire. Fire is part of our natural landscape, it burns away old, dry brush and gives a chance for fresh new growth to come with the winter rains.

Taking breaks from weaving the white stole, I’ve been dyeing the yarn for the red and purple stoles. I admit it, I am no great shakes as a dyer. In fact the red warp started out as a failed dye experiment.