Crafty Travel Stops - Israel!

As many of you know, 'the cat was away' last month on vacation - and it wouldn't be have been a good vacation for me without a crafty diversion or two along the way.  On our trip to Israel, we made it a point to add some stops along the way that didn't include climbing in and on tanks, trenches and tunnels.  The city of Tsfat, birthplace of Kabbalah and frequent destination of Madonna, is an artist community in the Northern part of the country.  Cobblestone streets  were lined with artists in their galleries interspersed with synagogues and small restaurants.  Ancient history and new creativity.  Loved it!   Most memorable was my visit to Canaan Gallery - a weaving studio and gallery!

You can imagine my delight at walking in to racks of colorful fibers!  They had several looms set up with different types of weaving!  One was set up with textured fibers warped to become a blanket, shawl or wall hanging.

Textured, hand woven pieces lined shelves and walls.  The owner took the time to show me many of her beautiful pieces (the boys were less than enthusiastic.)

In addition to the colorful, mixed media pieces, they hand wove silken talit, the jewish prayer shawls.  It was so interesting, not to mention mesmerizing, to watch the fine fabric grow as the fine weft fibers shuttled to and fro.  I could have spent days in this town, talking with the friendly artists and sampling the delicious smelling food (we had some yemenite bread and snacks - yum!