Wool & Tea

The Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C.

Considered The Jewel of the Pacific, The Empress
is celebrating her 100th birthday this year.

Indulge in one of Victoria's grandest traditions in true British style.
The hotel is famous for its elegant Afternoon Tea. Savour tea in the finest
form, accompanied by berries and Chantilly cream, scones, crumpets,
preserves, sandwiches, pastries and tarts. Or you can opt for the
Centennial Package ~ Breakfast in Bed with Royal Tea.

You can just tell that they won't mind you taking out your knitting while waiting
in the lobby or while savoring your crumpet.

João Gilberto e Tom Jobim

Just how cute and magnificent are these two?
Only Brazil's best!
We're making a brief stop in Brazil this afternoon to open the heart and soul.

Elis e Tom

Elis is considered the most gifted Brazilian singer.
Tom made Bossa Nova famous worldwide.
The arrangements are refined, elegant, and sublime. It's rare to experience
this kind of playfulness and authenticity in a duet. Performing the classic
piece by genius Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Elis e Tom is simply the best Brazilian vocal recording ever.
Sensual, astonishing, and remarkable.

Textile wizard Lizzie Houghton is a master at transforming wool into passionate wearable art. She is currently experimenting with hand rolled felt and
Nuno felting techniques with the addition of silks and velvets.
Check out her upcoming workshops in her wonderful studio by the forest.

What leads one to imagine such creations?
Felieke van der Leest creates remarkable and unusual characters in micro
crochet and knitting. When she was young she lived close to a zoo.
Now she has her own circus of performers and special acts.

Joanne Haywood is a remarkable young British jewelry designer.
Organic, edgy, and kinetic.
Great contrast of materials, construction, and color.
Experimenting with fiber techniques in metal and visa versa.

Contact Joanne for commissions and to represent her work.

Continuing my virtual tour of Norway . . .

Pikene Bak Slottet is the dream of 4 women clothing designers based in Oslo.

I love the dramatic simplicity and playfulness of their knit designs.

Norwegian artist Marit Helen Akslen creates sublime statements in textiles.
With a deep fascination in the multi layered meanings of men's shirt collars,
she fashions assemblages and installations of stark beauty.

Contact Marit for commissions and study tours.

The Artwork of May Bente Aronsen

Pure Genius.

Norwegian artist May is creating new territory in fiber arts.
Her installations are formed from cut and molded felt, and manipulated polyester.

"The artists from Original T-Bag Designs live in a settlement located outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Their homes are bits of tin and wood nailed
together and they have had no formal schooling.

But what they do have is grit and imagination and a desire to make their
families' lives better. The artists use recycled tea bags as their canvases
- and they are painting themselves out of poverty.

Used tea bags are collected and dried in the African sun. Then they are emptied of leaves and carefully ironed. Finally, each tea bag is painstakingly painted. They work mostly at home during these early phases so they can care for their families while they work. Sometimes the little ones help by emptying out tea leaves."

Karren Brito

I don't know where Karren has gone, but she's created a great blog Entwinements,
based on her one-of-a-kind wearable art of the same name.

Shibori queen that she is, I hope she's busy knotting, stringing, and dyeing more
glorious pieces. Her blog is a wealth of info for shibori tecnique, with great photos.

I've spent the previous two years supporting the development of the music performance space Gig, in Santa Fe, NM,
in the privileged company of extraordinary musicians.
I knitted my way thru hundreds of performances.
So, you'll find me periodically adding music posts for inspiration.

Egberto Gismonti

Being able to watch such an incredible performance is an amazing gift.
Here is one of Brazil's musical masters, Egberto Gismonti.
Absolutely untouchable on guitar and piano.

The video below of Dança das Cabeças is unbelievable. 10 strings, no less!
Brilliant piano piece, too.

Solo and Dança das Cabeças include some of Egberto's finest recordings.