I just read this article today, and it’s getting me excited about doing some kind of hand made project. Spinning? Weaving? Dyeing? All of the above?

When I was a young, pale girl in South Texas, I had a real love/hate relationship with the sun. That’s an exaggeration- I just didn’t like being in the sun. I still don’t. But being pale in sunny San Antonio was not the norm. Problem was, I had neither the patience nor the pigmentation to get tan.

So I set about to get tan by other means, mostly black tea. I tried various methods of staining my skin (“you’re soaking in it”), but none produced results. In the end I didn’t really care that I failed, but I remember enjoying those days of experimentation. I had a lot of free time, sure, but why did I ever stop?

I’m starting to get the itch. I wish I had planned for early retirement, but I will have to make the time.