Nature & People – HELEN TREJO

New York Regional Yarn Sourcebook & Make it with Wool

Over the past few months, I worked with a team of designers, fiber scientists, and educators to develop a New York Regional Yarn Sourcebook to increase the visibility of diverse farms and stimulate greater interconnections between local farms and designers. The book features 17 sheep, alpaca, and goat farms that I’ve previously visited, and several…

Hidden Alpaca & Sorting Fibers

Now that the snow is gone and it is shearing season, I started to sort fibers as part of my fiber apprenticeship in a path to become a Master fiber sorter, grader, and classer. I have collaborated with Carol Haff of Hidden Alpaca Farm to sort and grade her alpaca’s fleeces. Her farm is in…

Alpaca Shearing Day

Shearing day is a fiber filled day of excitement! I volunteered to help during the annual shearing day at Under the Moonlite Alpaca and Garlic Ranch in Ulster Pennsylvania to have experiences sorting during a live shearing. The PA farm is about 1.5 hour south of Ithaca and is nestled in between rolling hills just like many NY fiber farms. The…

Wool Womb

Wool has become a large part of my life lately with my constant hand-spinning, visits to farms, sheep gazing on social media, and pop ups of sheep in popular culture. More recently, I had the great pleasure of seeing an artistic piece full of wool fibers by Emelia Black. It is on display in the annual…

Volunteering at the Laughing Goat Open Farm Day

This Saturday was an Open Farm day at the Laughing Goat Fiber Farm. It’s an annual event that welcomes the public to see and learn about fiber animals such as angora goats, alpacas, and sheep. It was a great pleasure to attend the Open Farm day as a volunteer with my twin sister, Nidia. When we first got…

Part I: New York Fiberscape Dress

Over the past few weeks I have been hand-spinning with fibers collected during the Washington County Fiber Tour, and fibers in my stash. In total I spun 449 yards of yarn. My goal is to create enough hand-spun yarns for a New York Fiberscape Dress. The Dress is meant to draw attention to the variety of natural…

Hyper-sexualization of Adriana Lima

I recently “liked” Adriana Lima’s page in hopes of learning more about her everyday activities in the fashion world and as a fellow Latina. Today I clicked on her page and was surprised to see her timeline cover page that mimics a Dolce & Gabbana “gang rape” ad that was banned in 2007. The D&G ad…

Fashion Academia

In the midst of finishing my Master’s thesis and keeping up with coursework, I have been looking at Academic positions currently available in the field of Apparel/ Fashion/ Textiles. This is a snapshot of the positions currently available and posted in the International Textile and Apparel Association website: Compared to other fields, this is a long…

Lucy’s Appeal

Seeing Lucille Ball show off her acting, dancing, and singing talents makes “The Diet” one of my favorite episodes. She radiates confidence in her sassy performance. Most of the episode focuses on Lucy’s weight concerns, and her efforts to lose 12 pounds in 4 days. I’m glad the show represents her efforts to exercise and…

Salvadorean Pride: Understanding Symbolism

2014 will be the 193rd celebration of independence for Salvadorean and several Central American countries including Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. On September 15, 1821 these countries collectively proclaimed independence from Spain. Although El Salvador has not fully recovered from the devastating Civil War of the 1980s, it is important to consider El Salvador’s…

Fiber Farm Community Supported Ag

I recently became a virtual farmer in support of Sweet Tree Hill Farm in Virginia. The farm has Shetland sheep, angora rabbits, and cashmere goats. I was excited to learn where the the funds I provided would go. They helped pay for 1 month’s worth of hay for the fiber animals. I’m glad I can contribute in…

Excerpt from Sheep Farm Literature

I began to read the book “The Improbable Shepherd: More Stories from Sylvia’s Farm” by Sylvia Jorrin, 2013. She has a sheep and goat farm in the foothills of the Catskill mountains in NY. This is a passage I especially enjoyed: “…Other islands of dark green emerged and disappeared. Parts of the hills that surround this…

Hand-spun New York Yarns

Excited to make something from my yarns! They are predominantly wool with some alpaca and cashmere blends. They were hand-spun on a drop-spindle, and are 3-ply yarns. The roving was sourced from the Laughing Goat Fiber Farm and Spot Hollow Farm in New York. The yarns were made during the second half of 2013 and I just…

Support Aspiring Knitwear designer/ Master’s Student to show in NY Fashion Week!

Jasmine Gonzalez is currently a Master’s Student in the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco CA. She hopes to show a 6-piece collection during NY Fashion week in February 2014, and is raising funds to cover costs of yarns and knitting machinery to create hand-knit and machine made garments and accessories. Please see full…