Churro cowl

It's an odd time of the year in Australia to be posting this - but I'm trying to tidy up the year's work.

After the workshop on New Mexico Colcha Embroidery in August, I decided to knit up the churro wool I had purchased so I and my friends at the South Australian Embroiderers' Guild could see, feel and smell some of the wool that forms the basis of Colcha Embroidery.  I had purchased four skeins from Southwest Wool - three in natural colours and one dyed with natural, local dyes.

Winding wool from skein to ball is challenging when living alone, but my new dining chairs came to the rescue.

I wanted to use up as much of the wool as I could in a significant project that would both serve me well and be available to show people if I needed to do more talking about New Mexico Colcha.

I opted for a cowl that I have had my eye on for a few years, from Cowlgirls.








The feel of the wool was very firm and tough. It twisted as I knitted - and needed to be untwisted like embroidery thread often does.







Nevertheless, it knitted up fairly quickly. I'm a loose knitter, and wondered a few times if I should reduce the size of my needles.



I was also unsure how this was going to feel against my skin.




The pattern, however, was turning out really well once I got the hang of it. It had a nice variation - basically in three sections, a two-row per colour rib band, a centre of bobble bands and a one-row per colour rib band. This not only provides a result interesting to the eye, but is interesting to knit.

It was also interesting to see the way the colours appeared in relation to each other. The natural grey wool appears blue, and in the narrower border, the taupe takes on a grey tinge.


I am surprised at how much I like the result. I love the colours and the overall effect.


The best surprise is how comfortable it is to wear. It is lovely and warm, flexible and feels good. I wore it all evening at home after I tried it on, because I didn't want to take it off.

Shame it's the wrong season here - I love it!

Colcha Scarf

I have been obsessed over the last few months with New Mexico Colcha Embroidery, something I had not heard of seven months ago.

It began with an article in the March/April issue of Piecework Magazine. I noticed that the diagram of Colcha stitch looked a lot like Bokhara stitch, which we had been identifying and practising at the Ethnic Embroidery Study Group of the Embroiderers' Guild of SA. I began to read more, ordered all the books referenced in the Piecework article,  ordered wool from churro sheep, the kit from Piecework and talked endlessly about what I was discovering.

Because I had no way of seeing original colcha pieces, I decided to try my hand. I chose an open-weave scarf I had purchased to embroider and some traditional motifs from Wroth, William (ed) Weaving & Colcha from the Hispanic Southwest, Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, 1985

The first one, an eagle, I marked on the black scarf using a chalk pencil.

I used Appleton's wool, which I could source easily and chose colours close to the traditional. The result was quite pleasing.
















On the other end of the scarf, I used Solvi. It isn't my preferred method - I don't much like the feel of the barrier between my hand and the work - but it worked a bit better than the chalk for a slightly more complex pattern.

In the meantime, my enthusiasm had caught on and I agreed to run a workshop for the Ethnic Embroidery Studies Group on our final 2017 meeting last Wednesday. It went really well and I will post a report in a few days’ time.

I have summarised my research in a paper. I will  provide a link when I write up the workshop.

I have had considerable help in my researches from Esther Vigil in Albuquerque New Mexico. Her two books and her encouragement have been invaluable.

This has been a wonderful journey of discovery - I'll share a bit more in my next post. - before Christmas.