During the last week of the LA County Fair in May, I shared US wool research project activities along with my Apparel Research Assistant and recent Cal Poly Pomona alumni, Katia Quiroz. Katia was in my AMM 4630: Apparel Research project course in Fall 2021. Student projects focused on exploring US sheep and wool farms…
Tag: environment
Navajo-Churro Sheep & their Historical-Contemporary Significance Across the U.S.
Navajo Churro sheep are considered the first U.S. sheep, and have a deep-seated history. With origins dating back to the 16th century when they were first introduced by Spain to the southwestern US, to their cultural interconnection within the Navajo nation, and their near extinction due to governmental environmental concerns, Navajo Churro sheep populations are growing…
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 Dryer Balls
I recently experimented with making some wool dryer balls. A majority of the wool was wool that could have gone to waste, but that I used here. The interior shell is from meat breeds of sheep, and the exterior is extra wool that I had in my stash. It was fun to wrap the puffy wool…
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…
Fiber Concoction
I started to knit my mohair, wool, and curly horse hair yarn that I spun last summer during the Tour de Fleece. I’ve been waiting to use it, and thought it would be perfect as textile art that I can appreciate forever! I am very intrigued by the honeycomb design and made it a core part…
Honey Bees & Knitwear Design
Lately I’ve been very interested in learning more about honey bees. I was inspired after learning how to do the honeycomb diamond knitting pattern last December. These are some things I’ve learned so far… Their Lives Honeybees are very dependent on each other for survival in a matriarchal society led by the Queen Bee, who is the…
Natural Dye Exhibit
This Fall I took a Natural Dye special studies course led by Professor Denise Green in Fiber Science & Apparel Design at Cornell. Each week, students presented about different natural dyes including Japanese Indigo, Madder Root, Eucalyptus, Onion Skins, and Gypsywort. It was fun to see the variety of colors, and learn about their seasonality….
Eucalyptus Experimentation with Wool, Alpaca, and Silk
I recently spun with Icelandic wool from Trinity Farm and Shetland wool from High Bid Farm. I spun these fibers during Spinzilla, which took place during October 5 to 11. Spinzilla promotes global hand-spinning to support the Needle Arts Mentoring Program and needle arts. In total, I spun 453 yards of slub yarn, including plying! 🙂 After spinning, I…
Part II: New York Fiberscape Clothing & Textiles
An update about the NY Fiberscape Dress that I wrote about earlier in the summer. I knitted some swatches with stockinette and cable stitches to figure out the knitting gauge. I liked how they both turned out, so I decided to make the dress in stockinette stitches, and create the cables in a knitted cowl made of…
Solace project
Earlier this year I wrote about India Flint’s Solace project that promotes international peace. It welcomed everyone to send a flag with a message for a “collective impromptu poem recorded on cloth to sing in the winds.” I sent a fiber flag made of wool, alpaca, and mohair fibers. Today received the postcard, and also…
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…
Community Empowerment with Sewing, Recycling, and Textiles
GLOBAL IMPACT WITH NAJA The woman-owned lingerie brand Naja reflects ideals of social responsibility and environmental sensitivity. Naja aims to foster a culture where women help and support each other. Naja established the Underwear for Hope Program, and supports an entrepreneurial sewing program that provides single women opportunities to earn an income to support their families in Colombia. A percentage…
Exploring New York Fiber Farms @ Washington County Fiber Tour 2015
Visiting the sheep, alpaca, and goat fiber farms during the Washington County Fiber Tour in New York was the highlight of my year so far! Each farm had a unique narrative with fiber animals ranging from Merino sheep to Huacaya alpacas and Cashmere goats. This reflects the wide breadth of fibers available in New York. During the Fiber…
Is Selling Sugar to China Really Such a Sweet Deal for El Salvador?
Originally posted on Voices on the Border:
Salvadoran government officials recently announced a deal to export 52,000 tons of sugar (12% of the country’s annual production) to China in a deal worth $15-20 million to local producers. El Salvador has sold sugar to South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Indonesia, and the European Union,…
HELEN TREJO 