Inspiration comes in all forms. From literature to social media, from classical music to a ringtone, from the most awesome occurring colors in nature to a fleck of dust. I’m of the thinking that sources of inspiration should not be arranged in to hierarchies. With some lifted high up into the place of lofty ideas, and others tucked away into the folder of random thoughts.

I recently dyed up some organic American grown yarn in a variety of greens. In all honesty I was simply using up the rest of the dyes that I had mixed to use for another project. This yarn was rinsed and wound off into a ball and put up on the shelf, waiting for a turn at something. Upon the shelf it sat, next to a plant as it happened, and it looked absolutely lovely as an object. I was tempted to leave it as a ball to simply be appreciated as a pretty thing. But, I am a true lover of usefulness and the extra beauty found in a job well done. This green yarn brought me such joy and eventually I realized that it reminded me of bright green grass. There seems to be a week or two in spring when the fresh grass looks nearly florescent. That fresh grass is irresistible and begs to be played in with bare feet, picnicked on, and laid upon to gaze up at the clouds as they pass by like etherial shape shifters. A few grass stains are likely at the end of a day like that. Each one containing a smile within. That’s how looking at that green ball of yarn made me feel.

So I decided to weave up some cheerful grass stained hand towels. The hand-dyed green streaks running along with a variety of sizes of natural undyed, and bleached cotton yarns. The result is a group of towels that are cheerful and useful and reminiscent of a fun spring day spent in the grass.

Waffle weave towels being woven on the loom

Folded handwoven and hand-dyed cotton towels

*A note for the fiber folks out there: Two styles of towels were woven on this one warp. One being a traditional waffle weave, the other a checkerboard pattern with plain weave and what I call dimpled waffles. The same yarn was used as the weft in each style. You’ll notice in the finished object shots that the waffle weave towels are twice the thickness of the checkerboard towels. Woven structures are so much fun!