May Artists of the Month

EDITH B. NELSON award winning knitter
Edie remembers learning to knit when she was three years old. Her mother was knitting scarves and bandages for soldiers in WWII and Edie was fascinated by her mother's work. She soon was knitting on her own projects and her interest has never diminished. She went on to socks and sweaters and to developing her own designs.
All Edie's pices are originals and the fiber usually inspires the piece. He sweaters are widely sought after and, with proper care, will become treasured family heirlooms.

May Artists of the Month

Martha McMurray Cant- Shepard, Spinner and Weaver

Martha moved to acreage in Sonoma County in the 1970's and soon found a need for "living lawn mowers" to keep vegetation in check. These mowers--sheep to city folk---needed to be shorn yearly and one thing led to another. She soon was developing a breeding program and STARBUCK STATION WOOLS was born to produce superior fleeces for hand spinners
Martha's sheep wear coats most of the year to protect the wool from dirt and vegetable matter. She sells well skirted whole and half fleeces "in the grease" from the ranch in Freestone and processed wool roving by weight at the Artisans' co-op.
Martha is also a fiber artist of note. Displayed this month are skeins of handspun yarn, knitted and woven accessories and a hand spun, hand dyed, hand woven rug with a turkish knot pile which took Best of Show a few years ago at the Sonoma County Fair

Welcome to BY HAND, the blog of the Artisans' Co-op located in Bodega California.
We will be spotlighting our artists and their works,upcoming events and demonstrations, and the unique pieces that are available in our gallery.
We will go behind the scene and find out how art is crafted.
We will explore what is involved with being an artist
We hope to publish essays by our artists
and
We will post lots of pictures