Time to Dye in South Dakota -- a common read and a new gallery

     Another dye workshop, this one in Brookings, SD, was a rare chance to work with three kinds of fibers -- wool, silk and cotton.  There was time to experiment and try some new techniques as well as practice the shibori dye methods learned in the September visit to Watertown.  The "blocking" method of isolating portions of a skein gave us great results, and I can hardly wait to try knitting these to see what they turn into!

     Day 2 was Plant Fiber Day, and a lot of experimenting took place with new dyes from ProChem -- never used this stuff before, so there was a lot of guesswork.. We dyed mostly t-shirts, which are fairly inexpensive (especially at "back to college" promos  at Target and WalMart) so everybody arrived with multi-packs of Hanes and Fruit O's.  Little kid's T-shirts are especially fun because they can be tied up much more quickly -- and can be immersed in smaller containers of experimental colors. 
     While we were there we spent one evening as part of an amazing community event.  The City of Brookings and South Dakota State University sponsored a community-with "common read" project last summer, meaning that one book was selected and everybody in town -- public school and University students, faculty, staff and townspeople all read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson.   Incoming and current SDSU students were assigned the book as required reading for fall classes.  The local Public Library had copies of it for anybody in town who wanted to read it.  And a local bank ponied up the funds to provide a copy of the kids  and Young Readers editions  for every child in the Brookings schools.  Book groups, churches, school and University classes discussed "Three Cups of Tea.  And on November 3 it was exciting to attend a University-sponsored lecture by the author, Greg Mortenson.  Nearly 6,000 people crowded into SDSU's indoor sports arena, where Mortenson spoke for more than an hour (and without notes) to a highly enthusiastic audience.
     Craig and I had read Mortenson's books on his work establishing schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and we very much enjoyed hearing him tell how education has improved living conditions and changed people's lives in some of the remotest and most poverty-stricken regions on earth.
     After leaving Brookings we stopped in Sioux Falls, where I was anxious to visit a trendy gallery I was told about recently.  I was delighted when the manager agreed to show my felted hats and bags this season, and even more excited when one of them sold before they had even been tagged and put on display.