Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman
The Story So Far…
… has been ably told by TheTserf. If you haven’t been there yet, go look at her coverage of Day One of this extravaganza. (I’m particularly glad Georg got some decent pictures of Glenna, because as it turns out I sure didn’t - I think I’ve got her right elbow in one of the shots below - and she’s now on her way home and we’re awaiting the arrival of the next shift.) I missed the first part of the fun (six hours in the car - we shall not speak of this again, but I must just mention that as you think you’re getting into the home stretch the distance between Exit 34 and Exit 34A on the NY Thruway is tauntingly cruel), but caught up pretty quickly once I got here.
So what can I tell you? There’s a whole lotta yarnz here…
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Whole Lotta Yarnz
…and there’s a whole lotta skeinin’ and dyein’ and discussin’ goin’ on.
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Whole Lotta Studio
It’s pretty exciting to see Jennifer get a dedicated space for her work. There’s plenty of elbow room and no lack of storage/organizational ditto, and while new colorways are evolving and kits developing, the shelves are gradually filling up with Actual Inventory.
But what I really want to tell you about is the work of that exciting new dye artist, Miss Nora.
It’s a funny thing. When you WANT to take pictures of a young lady she will sometimes play hard-to-get and have to be coaxed and cajoled and conned into cooperating (though all that effort is generally worthwhile). But when you’re trying to take pictures of other things… why, lookie what suddenly pops up in front of the lens:
Fact is, Miss Nora is thoroughly at home in the dye studio. You may already be aware of this if you saw us at last spring’s fiber shows or if you’ve been keeping up with Jennifer’s announcements lately - Nora has a couple of pretty hot colorways of her own, with more to come.
Yesterday she had a special… HOLD ON! STOP THE PRESSES!!!!
WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR A BREAKING STORY IN PROGRESS.
As I was typing the above there was a sudden beeping, as of a truck, followed by a sudden ringing, as of a doorbell.
What is this welcome sight?
It’s 500 pounds of sock yarn, that’s what it is - spun last week and delivered JUST NOW.
This may be enough to hold us through Rhinebeck.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE. WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING.
Whew. Now, where was I? Oh yes. Nora had a special project in mind yesterday, and I was privileged to witness the work in progress.
The Artist Selects her Palette
The Artist Makes Judicious Use of Color
Consultation with a Colleague
A Few Finishing Touches
The Artist Surveys her Work
Finished Object
As I understand it the inspiration for this work was a black stallion - one of the dyer’s favorite themes, recurring frequently in her oeuvre. Can’t wait to see how it knits up.
I predict a great future for this gifted young artist.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Wooha, the pestering worked, and not only that, maybe I’m first commenter w00t!
Anyways, it sure looks like you guys are having loads of fun!
Wish I could be there.
The other day painting with my daughter I made some really nice colour mixes, I can already feel the call, I am so doomed
August 6th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I got some very nice pics that I didn’t post, because I wasn’t sure how people felt about full on pictures of faces and things, so I didn’t post Nora holding my ankle, or Gwynivar’s srs stare.
But one never takes enough pictures.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
p.s.
I forgot the most important thing. It’s great to see Nora at work! I am too looking forward to see how her yarn knits up, I bet it’s going to look great. Please give my congratulations to the little lady
August 6th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Wantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwant…..
August 6th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I desperately want to see that knit up!
It’s a good thing I’m too tired to be jealous today.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I’m never too tired to be jealous. Looks like such fun. And I want to see Black Stallion knitted up too ( one of my fave books as a child.)
I love the last pic on Georg’s post, heehee. And I see the wheel went along - did it get carsick??
August 6th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
OMG, you two have blown through that first 500 pound shipment already? Woah! I know, you’re ordering early so’s not to be stuck with no yarnz, but still . . .
Love seeing the studio, so spacious and organized — and not a dinner pot in sight!
As for Miss Nora, great furture indeed, but . . . she does know that the stallion will disappear when it’s knittied, right?
August 6th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
The stallion will not disappear. The stallion will enter stealth mode and be…everywhere.
August 6th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
EVERYBODY wants to see The Stallion knitted up. I am SO going to do this with my 4yo ArtistDaughter! She went Squee at the pics.
Now I’m spinning, maybe I can spin plain fleece and get her to paint it for me. Or get her to paint it for me and then spin it !
August 6th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
That is so cool that Nora made her yarn an actually canvas and the picture gets dyed in it. I too anxiously await to see how this knits up. It could be the start of a very cool trend in yarn dying
August 6th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Love the quarter ton of wool! Or, rather, of artists’ canvas. (Artists with an s on purpose, of course!)
All sorts of loverly and intriguing and creative things happening, and I’m off to check out the Tserf Chronicles!
August 6th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Is there a knitting machine in the Collective? We should knit Nora some Blanks, so she can see what it will look like knit up, and design on that. Then her pictures will show through, probably.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:08 am
500 lbs of sock yarn… I feel a little dizzy!
August 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am
There may be a knitting machine somewhere in the collective.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:52 am
her mother may have a knitting machine…
August 7th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
500 pounds of sock yarn? The mind boggles.
March 8th, 2010 at 12:26 am
[…] Every once in a while, she thinks outside the box – or maybe that’s outside the corral? This is the Black Stallion, the whole dye process can be found here. […]