Tucson Spring Shearing Festival Raffle

The Freeform Spinners wove this rug from my handspun last year during the fall festival. We are raffling it off at the Tucson Spring Shearing Festival with all of the proceeds going to benefit the Casa Maria Kitchen. This is a 21 by 42 inch rug (not counting the fringe) that will be perfect for a kitchen or bathroom. You can purchase raffle tickets in advance by sending a Paypal payment to my email address: jmarckathy@aol.com. Be sure to include your name and tel or email address on the payment, so I know who to credit. The tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. It has a value of $450.

I discovered very large and long knitting needles at Stitches West. I knitted this piece with the idea of a southwestern landscape in mind. I began with the taupe for the desert sand, reddish brown for the mountains at sunset, and then the pink and blue shifting to just blue for the sky. Everyone always looks at the spectacular view on the sun side of the sunset. If you turn 180 around, the sky is shades of pink and blue and the mountains take on a color of their own.

I used up quite a bit of not next to the skin yarn to knit this piece. Marc says it is not economical, because it used over $480 worth of yarn. All things considered, I found the process to be very soothing and a distraction while dealing with my father's death. I plan to make another that will be wider and longer. The one I just finished is designed to be a wall hanging. My next one will be either a larger rug or lap blanket. I will use a greener part of the country as my inspiration, since it will involve a totally different colorway.

I have not decided whether I will add surface embellishment with art yarns.