Enjoy the holidays!

With Hanukkah behind us, Christmas just around the corner and New Year’s not far behind, the staff at Heritage has been very busy - just like most crafters. Gifting socks, handwarmers, hats, and sweaters, there were many busy hands (and will be many lucky recipients). Here’s a photo of most of the crew when they paused yesterday for our annual holiday gathering. Apparently, someone sent out a memo about dressing in red!

Pictured standing from left to right: Joy, Annie, Christel, Deb, Jenny, Lisa, Chris, Anneliese, Sammie, Gina, Laura. Seated: Suzanne, Sharlene, Cindy, Barbara, Su and Ann. This isn’t everybody, but it is more than we have in one place at one time at any other Heritage event. It takes a lot of people to tend the Heritage community!

Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope you have time to take a minute for yourself over the holidays. In the midst of all the busy-ness, we often tend too much to others, leaving ourselves ’til last. So, breathe. Work with some fiber without frantic-ness. Let the tension go out of your shoulders. And, above all, for those of you who are Christian, remember the reason for the season. Let your light shine under His.

Fiber Explorer

One of my very favorite things about working with fiber is that each project offers a chance for exploration. Different fibers, different sheep, different finishing techniques, different colors, and so much more all ensure that no two handmade projects are exactly alike.

For the past couple weeks I’ve been working on a deflected double weave project that I hope will eventually be published in Handwoven. You can see the first sample in my last blog entry. Since then I’ve woven a scarf, which was nice, but not “it.” Then we wound a new warp using a finer yarn and I’ve just finished a sample.

 Yesterday I ordered some merino wool that is nearly 2.5 times as fine as the Jaggerspun Merino. We’ll see what happens with it. Amazing how I’ve been finding the time to do all this sampling. It really is fascinating. It’s that fiber explorer thing again.

So, are you a fiber explorer? You might be if:

Your hands itch (not from allergy) when you get near something fibery.

The smell of wet wool is tantalizing.

Dyepots call your name.

You can never knit a pattern according to the directions.

You make lumpy bumpy yarn and love it.

You spin super fine just because you can - not that you may ever use it.

You understand how to use the computer to develop a weaving pattern, but you really love getting on the loom and seeing what will happen.

You push the fiber limits: lumpy bumpy, collapse, felted/fulled, dyed, painted, knitted/dyed/unknitted/woven or knitted, you get the idea . . .

You find inspiration everywhere (gee, that rock is a pretty color, what a great colorway!; the man’s coat in front of me in line is really interesting and you simply have to touch it but you’d really like to take a photo; your cats fur inspires a spate of spinning; you buy banana fiber yarn just because it looks cool).

You see a gossamer shawl and know you can not only knit it but spin and design it.

You dream of fiber - whether you are awake or asleep.