Cydne Pigeon, Aurora Colony Handspinners Guild, NwSFA
Materials & Technique: This began with two 4-ounce gradient dyed braids from Upstream Alpacas in the color way Deep Ocean I spun the two singles in sequence and plyed it with complementary metallic and mylar threads for a subtle metallic sparkle. The palest aqua is two colors of merino I blended to complete the transition to shallow water, and the sand is 50/50 yak/ merino. The seafoam is alpaca boucle.
I combined two patterns from Ravelry, Tidal Wave, and Stole Dunes, knitted in glass beads in gradient colors, and tiny seashell buttons. The tiniest shells were sewn on.
Description: I have been a shell collector from childhood, subscribing to scholarly periodical journals on Conchology, and receiving specimen shells by mail from exotic places like New Caledonia, Tahiti, and the Philippines. My fascination with the ocean has never left me, and doing fiber shows up and down the Oregon and Washington coast gives me an opportunity to express my ocean fantasies in wearable art. I’ve been wanting to design a shawl for a long time that would represent beautiful tropical waters depositing their treasures on the sand, and I was finally able to assemble just the right combination of fibers, colors, patterns, and shells to realize my fantasy shelling beach.
So welcome to beach combing on Sanibel Island!
