The Ache of Advent

Here it is...that ache so familiar...a longing for something other, right here at the beginning of December. It comes to me in the early hours just as the sky outside my studio window begins to glow. It comes as I pull out decorations, some as old as my husband and I have been married, 34 … Continue reading The Ache of Advent

The Light Letters

As evening comes so early these days, I'm like a plant straining towards any light she can find. Advent is a wonderful time to lean into light-filled endeavors, from stringing up twinkle lights to reflecting on the reason for the season. It's also a wonderful time to lean into making things, be they for gifts … Continue reading The Light Letters

Wheesht

I have begun to read Wheesht, a book by Kate Davies, a knitwear designer I have long admired. My dear friend Ellen gave me this book some time ago and I never got around to reading it. Creative Making in Uncertain Times is the subtitle and I came across the book yesterday in an upstairs … Continue reading Wheesht

A Felted Life

In the community of merry makers I have the privilege of leading, we have been felting knitted bowls. It is a fairly simple, yet interesting process to felt the "fabric" of what you have knitted and to watch it become the thing you were aiming for, or perhaps become something else entirely. Much like placing … Continue reading A Felted Life

Christmas in the Spinning House

'Tis Christmas in the Spinning House the best time of the year... The bins are filled with fleeces and the workers full of cheer! *** They spin from dawn to dusk as shorter days it be Then 'round a roaring fire books and cocoa at their knees. *** On Christmas Eve they beg her to … Continue reading Christmas in the Spinning House

Wonder in Wood & Wool

What would be the chance that the wood from which my spinning wheels were made is the very same wood from which the manger was crafted - in which He was laid as a babe in swaddling cloth? Is it silly to imagine that the very table of the Last Supper might have been hewn … Continue reading Wonder in Wood & Wool

The Land of Yarn Drobe

I am the happy recipient of a magical gift! My son has been working on repurposing an old gun cabinet into a yarn display case for my studio. It was to be my birthday gift this summer, but has just recently been finished. Knowing that I would not house guns in it, he and our … Continue reading The Land of Yarn Drobe

Spinning Wheel Basket

My new-to-me Ashford Traditional spinning wheel requires the use of an orifice hook, which is not a necessity with my vintage Louet hand-painted wheel. I also have learned that I need to oil my wheels far more often than I had been doing and this has made such a difference in the way both wheels … Continue reading Spinning Wheel Basket

Marisol & Me

Oh Marisol, Marisol... Your given name says it all- Merry-go-rounds and parisols, Wide-eyed adventures, stories untold. *** Yet hearth and home, heather and loam, They call you back, n’er to roam. Content to spin yarns of shalom And scatter joy here in my home. *** Let us whirl our wool and sparkled light Sipping tea, … Continue reading Marisol & Me

Tomorrow

More than ever before, we need to be making things. This is not merely to while-away the time or to keep our minds off of all the sad news and the what-will-happens. There is an inherent belief in creating something that says, if only in a small way, “Tomorrow will come. A new day will … Continue reading Tomorrow