I was out in
Black Rock Desert for my residency in May. The unusual amount of rain we had
this spring made the desert beautiful, green and lush. It was a beautiful time
to be out there, but not indicative of normal at all.
At the end of
my two-week stay, the rain stopped and the desert began drying up. I finally
made it out onto the playa (just 100 feet, but still!), and the dust became dry
and fine once again.
I was
surprised at all the dust devils that I began seeing on the playa and
surrounding areas. The tall pillars of dust at first looked like smoke but then
I realized they were dust devils. I assume that the preponderance of dust
devils is normal in Black Rock Desert, but to me they were a new phenomenon
during my stay.
I wanted to
create the swirling dust devil rising into the sky off the playa in a shrug
that put you in the middle of the dust devil. I like the effect of the shrug
and with two strands of bulky it was a breeze to knit up. When the pattern is
released I hope to see a lot of these, or at least I will be making a few more.