Surf Divas

Last weekend was my annual trip with my girlfriends from Kansas City. This year, we took advantage of the fact that one of us moved to San Diego. Christy was a great host! She arranged for us to take surfing lessons. I tried to block out the fact that there had been a deadly great white shark attack off of one of the beaches in San Diego the week before and got in the water. We had so much fun. Our instructors from Surf Diva were fantastic (and incredibly patient), and all of us were able to get up on the boards. The two hours we were in the water just flew by.

The surf divas: Deva, Me, Allison, Sheryl and Christy





It would be very tempting to move to the beach. Look at the blue skies!

This week was my last week of spinning class. I got to bring this home.



It's a Schacht Matchless. I get to keep it until Saturday, so I need to somehow find time to spin. It is a very cool wheel and there is a possibility that one of its brothers or sisters might need to come home with me from the shop when I take it back.

The last day of the spinning class is a natural dyeing workshop. We each were supposed to bring 12 small skeins of yarn, and we used four different dyes: onion, rosewood, cochineal (a bug), and cutch (a resin). We used three different mordants which help the dye bond to the yarn. We used, alum, copper and iron. Each mordant has a different affect on the dye.

Onion (alum, copper, iron)



Rosewood


Cutch


Cochineal (the alum skein was plied with one strand spun worsted and one wollen, that's why it's two different shades)


We also dyed some Lincoln fleece using synthetic dyes. Each of us had a different color of powdered dye and we sprinkled a small amount of each dye on the white fleece. I love how it came out with the different shades of purple.



It is very hard to photograph. The first photo is more true to color, but you can see the variations better in this one.



Xena would prefer that I not spin so much so she can sleep on my lap.