There's nothing else like the skies that we have here in northern New Mexico. The brilliant and varied shades of blue that we see outside our door every day always have us reaching for our camera and are the source of inspiration for the many vibrant shades of blue that our master dyers create for our Shepherd's Lamb yarn collections.
While New Mexico is known for its clear dark skies ideally suited for stargazing and other astronomical pursuits, we think our daytime skies are no less spectacular. From the clear light blues dotted with clouds to the moody dark gray-blue over the Brazos Cliffs, the range of shades that appear above us throughout the year is humbling and awe-inspiring. In fact, one of the comments we receive most often on our social media feeds is some version of “Look at that sky!”
Five shades of Shepherd’s Lamb Churro wool in indigo created by master dyer Toni Broaddus
The hand-dying process we use at Tierra Wools to create the vibrant colors you love in our Shepherd’s Lamb yarn collections is ideally suited to recreating the hues and patterns that we see in our northern New Mexico skies. Most of our naturally-dyed blues begin with an indigo base. We create the wide variety of changes seen here by making small changes to this base recipe or by manipulating the mechanical dying process itself. The yarn can remain for a shorter or longer period in a dye bath, over-dyed with another color, partially dipped, or can be twisted or wrapped to create a heather effect.
The variety of hues and effects we are able to create in our yarns lend themselves well to all types of wool crafts, but are especially beautiful when different hues are combined as in the weavings featured below. It seems especially fitting to use colors inspired by our skies in these delightful tapestries featuring our beautiful New Mexico landscape.
