The vendors are gone, but the workshops will be going through Tuesday. I had the day off, so we visited the 200-year-old adobe Martinez Hacienda this morning. Thought to be among the products of the Hacienda were woolen socks, knitted from churro wool, by Indian servants or enslaved people. They started with the fleece, washing, carding, spinning, and finally knitting it. One pair of socks probably took about thirty hours to make, from washing to darning in the last threads. They were important for trade. One isn’t allowed to publish any photos taken at the hacienda, so you’ll just have to go along and see the replica stockings and a leg-shaped stretching board in the weaving room.
Then we stopped by Weaving Southwest, a tapestry gallery, weaving studio, and yarn store. The friendly folks at Weaving Southwest were glad to talk about their Rio Grande brand Hand-Dyed Yarns for knitters and weavers. The multi-color yarns at left are for knitting, the yarns at right looked like they might have been baked to perfection by a desert sun.
Look at this wall of tapestry yarn! As soon as I saw this, my mind immediately started planning a wall hanging. The yarn comes in two weights: a two-ply which has 162 yards in a 4 ounce skein, and a thin single yarn that comes in at 736 yards in a 4 ounce skein (2,944 yards per pound). Each of the 22 colors come in five shades, light to dark.
The thin yarn is great for blending, because you can knit several strands together, and gradually change them in and out to get effects like this store sample. It was knitted with three strands, using size 8 needles.
