Beautiful Gift

[Closeup of Tien's beautiful shawl. See the blue/purple iridescence?]

This last week was calm and relaxing. I met my friend Tien for dinner last week and she gave me a beautiful gift and a project.

She has been studying dyeing and weave structures with a zeal. Where most people would just dye a color wheel and maybe interpolate it to 48 hues, Tien has taken it to a scientific level. She's turning herself into an expert on the nonlinear strengths of various dyes and developed precise systems to get the dye colors she wants. It was her blog that got me interested in studying Munsell's system of color classification from about 100 years ago.

In the course of her studies, she designed and created an absolutely stunning double-weave shawl. Well, in the process she wove two others as tests. In her words, "I don't think they're nice enough to give as gifts, so I thought you might like one in trade for your lime tree. All you have to do is finish it."

Wow! I can't believe it. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. It's true, this shawl is not as beautiful as the one she wears herself, but it's just gorgeous. The colors are some that I actually wear: deep purple and dark orange.

I've begun weaving in the stray threads and tidying up the misweaves and realized two things: 1) I need to wait until I get home to my good thread shears and 2) the weft is cashmere! This shawl was spectacular enough when I thought it was all silk, but the realization that it's double-woven silk and cashmere puts it on another whole level. I think this will become my wintertime reading shawl for all those chilly nights by the wood stove.

Thanks again, Tien!

(Tien's blog is a great read. Go read it for yourself: http://travelingtiger.com)