Hand Woven

One Sunday afternoon in early April Sawyer and I headed downtown to the Starving Artist Show.  (Click here to read about Sawyer's first trip downtown).  Each year it is held on the grounds of the beautiful La Villita Historic Arts Village and is an opportunity for local artisans to sell their works.  It is fun to wind around through the many vendor booths and look at all the different art and craft items.  There are many forms and styles of work in just about every medium imaginable. Of course, I always come home with a few things! 

This over-the-head-open sided  poncho came home in my bag this year.  My eye was caught by another poncho on display that featured "Fiesta" colors-pink, yellow, green, turquoise with a touch of orange.  But, ultimately it was the colors in this one that won me over.  Blue, purple, light green and a touch of orange-red.

The booth keeper walked up as I admired her products and started the conversation with the statement, "I'm a fiber artist and everything in this booth is hand woven."  At that point I was engaged! We spoke quite a while about fibers, spinning, weaving, and knitting.  Since the weather was lousy and attendance was low she was free to visit with me, and visit we did!  She was delightful and very willing to share her knowledge and her passion for her work. Her expertise was far reaching and she spoke of future projects as well as an upcoming show that the local fiber artist guild was presenting.

I'm not sure how old she was, but she looked very old.  Her face was lined and had the leathery look of a woman who had spent much time out of doors and not much time on her complexion.  Her eyes were those of an old person, a little watery and bleary, but judging by her beautiful weaving must have been very strong.  In the course of talking I noticed her hands were also very worn and her fingernails a mess, what nails she had.  Then she mentioned hand-dying fibers to knit with and I thought, a ha, that's why her hands are a mess!  But it didn't matter how she looked, she was a very informed artist.  She was also very tech-savy and pulled out her cell phone with the card reader attached when I handed her the plastic card to pay; her smart phone was loaded up with apps and she knew how to use them!

The poncho is woven of chenille and polyester "feather" (similar to satin ribbon with one selvage trimmed off) so it is very soft and warm without being overly heavy.  I was glad that I got to wear it several times in April due to our cooler than normal weather. I love the colors and the way it feels when I wear it; I will always remember the hands that wove it and my conversation with its maker.