Yahoo!
Ply Magazine, Fall 2021
is out in the world!

If you have a subscription
it should be winging its way to your hands right now.
If you don't, it is also available HERE.

The theme of the magazine is "Consistency"
which makes me giggle whenever I think of it.
Me, consistent?
Well, I can spin a pretty decently even yarn after all these years,
but as you might gather from the snippet  above,
my essay is not so much about spinning consistent yarn
as the consistently inconsistent
(or maybe inconsistently consistent?)
way my work has unfolded over the years.

It's no coincidence that I named this website
a field guide to needlework .

The field, indeed, been a useful metaphor over the years,
for it can include endless bits of the textile landscape--
from things that are new to me
to the unseen areas of techniques I think I know.
Not that I don't often imagine someone asking:
"is she into mending or spinning or tapestry or paper yarn
or wool or barefoot running or comics or....what?"

Yet what can I say?
The ideas keep showing up
on this circuitous path of mine,
many exuding such irresistible pheromones
that I'm instantly distracted from whatever I am doing.
How many times, without really knowing how
have I ended up deep in a rabbit hole
or embroidered into a thicket of blossoms and thorns
 trying to train my hands and mind
to do whatever it is that has captivated (or captured) me.

All of which is to say,
 it is more than a teensy bit delightful
that PLY is coming out right now,
just as my new zine/guide
of coffee filters and rabbit holes.
is also freshly in the world.
Consistent inconsistency, right?

Of course the coffee filter guide
 has instructions on how I turn coffee filters into yarn.
That is part of its point.
But like the Ply essay
  it is also about feeling my way into an idea,
noticing how that idea tastes, smells and interacts with my hands,
and figuring out how to pursue only the aspects
that go straight to my core and refuse to be ignored--
despite good sense, hard evidence
or cultural programming that can lead a gal to believe
(if not act upon)
 the notion that focusing on one thing,
and only one thing,
 is the best.

For long time blog readers
my inability to adhere to this last idea
will come as no surprise.
For even as I am given to pouring
everything I have into the tale of the moment
(generally sure that it'll last forever),
I continue to be taken aback,
(and completely diverted again and again)
by the power of pure delight
as exuded by those mysterious somethings
that shape my life.

That are, indeed,
having their way with me
even as as I type.
For it is time
(and has been for a while even as I've had my fingers in my ears),
to shift things yet again--
to slip away from this blog and off into the forest
where I hope to work quietly on my own for a while
and see what comes my way.

Which means that this is my last post.

Of course given the circular nature
and general relatedness of everything
(not to mention my addiction to parenthetical asides),
another blog with a different focus or structure
might well show up some time in the future.
But lest I start repeating myself once too often here,
or this becomes one of those sad blogs
that, guiltily ignored, slowly grind to a halt,
I'm going to deliberately sling my bindle over my shoulder,
and see what what lies ahead.

 Thank you so very, very much for your company
in this marvelous blogging rabbit hole these many years--
for your support and inspiration,
for your patience with my creative peregrinations,
and for all the rich, delightful, warm and rewarding
ideas and you have shared.

May the fleece be with you.
xoxoxo
Sarah

ps. On the technical side--
For the time being (the next few months anyway)
the store and website will stay live
with the 7 little  PDF Guides in the store available for purchase and download
and all 334 (or does this one make it 335?) blog posts
here for your meandering pleasure.
I'm not sure I want to clutter up the inter-webs forever, however,
so may eventually clear this space for other voices.
We shall see.
For now, however enjoy!

Well hello!
How curious, suddenly,
to be here in the shortening days
of this somewhat odd summer
 (in the Northern Hemisphere at any rate).
Between the super hot bits
and the super smoky bits
and the super dry bits
and all the stuff going on
in our lives
with our friends
and in the world,
every day has been
well -- itself,
and sometimes...a lot.
Yet here we are.

It even rained the day before yesterday--
a few brief hours of delicious thundery damp
after months of being parched.
 I'd just cleared the clogged downspouts, too.
Isn't it amazing
when things work out?

Actually lots of things have worked out--
my collard crop, for instance, is incredible,
the freezer is filled with frozen berries,
and our local farmer's market provides all bounty
I am not enough of a gardener to grow.
I try, of course, and have managed
to have fresh lettuce almost every day
despite the heat.

But this summer I've been more cartoonist
than gardener or weaver,
which to my astonishment means that
another thing that has worked out is
this new comic zine/guide thingy:
of coffee filters and rabbit holes
and I like it!

The project has been
  a great companion these many months--
the process of bringing it to you
as beguiling as the coffee filter yarn itself.
How lucky can I get?

Luckier still, of course,
is that I also truly enjoy revising--
 drawing, re-drawing,
getting feedback,
thinking of a new approach,
writing and re-writing--
just as I adore transforming the filters themselves
into tapestries and sweater and baskets and imaginary future garments.

Not that I am doing any of the latter.
My arm/hand stuff is massively better
thanks to endless stretches and exercises and support
and rest from all those beloved activities--
but I remain careful and cautious.
I mean, why risk a relapse?

And truly,
drawing and writing and thinking about making things
is pretty darned satisfying in itself--
especially once the arm/hand/neck issues
improved enough
to hold  pencils and pens
for longish periods of time.

One of the interesting things about creating this guide
has been that even as it describes the process of making a particular yarn,
it also draws on all sorts of other ideas I've explored in the past--
indeed, it reminds me how very many rabbit holes
have enveloped me over the years--
far more than could possibly fit into one reasonably sized comic--
and for a time that felt like a bit of a problem.

"If I say that, I've got to explain how to do it!"

My solution was to add at the end
a four page Glossary/Resources section.
And what a blast that was!
Naturally it could have been far longer than it is
(who knew glossaries were addictive?)
but I think it will still provide a few pointers
in case you want to brush up on some technique,
or are yourself beguiled by the odd side passage
in this paper yarn making rabbit hole...

And if perchance you're newish to this blog and my work
and want to see/read more about
how this coffee filter yarn thing unfolded,
check out my Tapestry Archive for 2019, 2020, and 2021,
or click the coffee filter yarn button in the side bar,
or type coffee filter yarn into the search bar at the top of the page.

So here it is:
of coffee filters and rabbit holes
a 40 page black and white PDF
 now in the webstore ready for you to download.

Note on downloading the PDF
(in case it isn't clear from the website )
Once the transaction is complete
you will get an email receipt with your download link.
Click on that and it should go onto whatever device you are using.
The downloads are not limited to one device,
so you can use that same link on several if you want
(also, in case one thingy works better than another).
If you have trouble, please let me know by replying to the receipt email.

I think that's about it,
other than to note that one great thing about hot dry weather
is that laundry dries really really fast,
and the grass (actually mostly yarrow, dandelion, and bindweed truth to tell)
grows really really slowly.

Oh-- actually one MORE thing before I go--
well, maybe two--

One:
Tapestry Design: Basics and Beyond by Tommye McClure Scanlin 
a beautiful, helpful and inspiring book
is now out in the world filled with tapestry goodness and support.
There are even instructions on how to build
one of my favorite portable tapestry looms --
the tiny Archie Brennan style galvanized pipe loom.
I'm also lucky enough have a tapestry included in its pages.
Truly, a lovely supportive book --
with a spiral binding no less so that like
Jean Pierre  and Yadin LaRochette's wonderful Anatomy of a Tapestry
it will stay open on the page you are reading.
So very thoughtful.
Here is a review by the ever amazing Rebecca Mezoff,

What a time this is for tapestry books
and, indeed, full on tapestry immersion. 
Tommye's other book, The Nature Of Things
Rebecca Mezoff's  The Art of Tapestry Weaving
and Micala Sidore's The Art is the Cloth
and online classes galore.
Time to warp those looms.

 Two:
 I wanted to share a link to this
delightful and soothing video
that my son Henry made,
showing the re-skinning of (and then fishing from),
a little coracle that I helped him make
with willow wands about ten years ago,
a wee craft he has since used hard enough
that this is its third cloth covering!

The first one we built when he was 10 or 11 years old
and not surprisingly, it ended up
in a couple of tapestries,
and an egg tempera painting.

Life is so weird and curious sometimes, isn't it?

And speaking of weird
(cuz who knew I'd ever make coracles
much less weave  and knit with coffee filters)
I should probably to put another link
here at the bottom:

So friends, I give you...
 of coffee filters and rabbit holes!

Or the day after solstice anyway.
​ I hope this finds you well
and relishing the season as you can--
 northern and southern hemisphere alike.
(Not that they are alike,
but you know what I mean...)

Here in summery Idaho
​I’m having a fine time
​doing as little as possible.

Or trying​, anyway.

I’m not, alas,
​particularly good at it.

—despite practicing
​as hard as I can….

Other, perhaps,
than to point out
that working as hard as one can
to rest
might not be
​the most helpful
(oops-- almost wrote ‘productive’
but caught myself--
tee hee),
way to go about it!

In the midst
of the ever-flowing river
​ of (often absurd) ideas
I want to share with you,
I keep trying/starting/experimenting with
"just this one more little thing"--
​and my body doth protest.

So though I just got back 
after the winter hiatus,
it seems the better part of valor
to stop once again--
and REALLY try
​ this time
to be still.

​So till we meet again
take care--
be well--
and make
what you can't
not
begin
(gently, of course).

Oops!
Looks like a proper blog post
is not going to happen this week.

Time — sometimes
she just vanishes--
and she takes Energy with her.
Sigh.

Have you noticed this?

That said
after all the thread and sewing machine love last week,
​I can’t not leave you
​with this:

https://youtu.be/8lwI4TSKM3Y

and
a wee comic--
the only medium I’ve yet found
that allows me to do
all the things 
at once.

When the sewing machine
your son found for $25
and returned to working order
so your husband could make you the jacket
you wear as you type--

--prefers the the spools of polyester thread
your adorable ex-grandmother-in-law
included in a care package
back in 1983
(nestled among
dented cans of tuna,
month-old brownies,
and a pile of her favorite Harlequin Romances)

--thread you have ignored for years
because you are a natural fiber snob
yet still could not bring yourself
to use or discard--
thread that has waited in the back
of your sewing machine drawer--

--so was more than ready
to take center stage
in the work of resurrecting a quilt--

--a hand stitched quilt
made you know not when
by you know not  who--
a quilt with very specific demands
 patiently spelled out
back in 2015 when the mending began)--

-- well,
when all those things come together
there really is nothing for you to do--

--but go with it.

And since hand/arm rest
IS the order of the day
I'm not even going to edit
or re-type  all the above nonsense 
but rather,
and against the better judgement
of my inner Storymaker
(who prefers things to be tidy--
or at least not to end so abruptly),
I'll hit Post
because really,
why not?

One of the lovely things
about being a creature of habit--

--is that I get to follow ideas
from their first glimmer--

--on into half formed experiments--

--and if I'm lucky,
further still--

--until eventually they flit away
of their own accord.

A drawback to this persistence,
is that I am a teensy bit inclined

to overdo.

 Which means that on this occasion,
it is I who need to flit away--
or at least pause this beloved series
( all 37 of which are now on the 2020 and 2021 archive pages)
while I attempt to rest.

Or rather,
(since I'm terrible at resting),
while I do the myriad stretches and exercises
prescribed for the future existence
of  my yarnish ideas.

Luckily, so far
there have been many wonderful things
to read--

like the gorgeous essay by 
my brother Benjamin C Swett
What I Wanted to Tell You About the Wind
in the Spring 2021 Orion Magazine:
(also myriad others in this unputdownable issue)
and
Carson Demers' book, Knitting Comfortably
(delightful, eye-opening, and occasionally mortifying
when I see how casually I've treated my poor old body)

as well as watch:

like Rebecca Mezoff's beautiful (and informative)
tribute to the work and life of inspirational tapestry weaver  James Kohler
on the tenth anniversary of his death
and
the webinars organized by Fibershed
(I just watched this one that Redbird did on Dog Bane
that hopefully will be available soon as a recording),

and oh, so much else.

Along with reading and learning
I shall also practice hand rest and rehab
which so far means
learning to use a mouse with my left hand
and doing a little studio spring clean
in order to clear both my head
and some space
for whatever parenthetical idea(s)
eventually take pity on me
(naturally using only large muscle groups
which are, truth to tell,
in far better shape than my small ones).

And perhaps you,
if you are so inclined
(and are not so foolish
as to have taken your hands and shoulders
as for granted as I),
will feel free to weave
a few of your own precious words--
those that you've shared in the comments in the last two weeks
or which are quietly rattling around your brain.
Because how not?
So many wonderful ones await.

And though this comes under the heading
of shameless self-promotion and blog support,
if you are interested in the word thing,
or at least attracted to crisp stacks of tapestries,
with no ends dangling in any direction
(ideal for tapestry Post Cards)
I cannot not recommend
the Fringeless Four Selvedge warping class
I did with Rebecca Mezoff,
and
my little zine Tucking the Tails .

Or if you're truly ambitious
 don't have a loom
and don't want to make one
there is always that other
goofy and miraculous four selvedge technique
Weaving a Bag On a Box.
Imagine a list, or  poem
going around around and around a bag
that can be carried around and around
wherever you go....


But enough of that.
I already have more bags than I can use in a life time.
My oh-so-ergonomic broom awaits.
And it's time for some more stretching.

Never a dull moment--
though wouldn't one or two be grand?

So you know what's cool?

Well, lots of things are cool:
spinning
and weaving
and looms
and friends
and solitude
and vaccinations
and sunshine
and rain
and baby plants
and one syllable four letter nouns...

Today, though
the thing that delights me
more than I can say,
is noticing--

that I no longer notice--

that I wear a hand spun/knit wool shirt
every single day
summer and winter.

Well-- truth to tell--
in the summer I occasionally wear
those handwoven linen
and  linsey-woolsey shirts.
But still--
(and somewhat to my amazement),
I've made more than enough
next-to-the-skin-soft
wool shirts
 to see me through.

And though I wasn't thinking at the time
about  why it was possible,
one of my great daily pleases
these last months
has been dressing up for my loom every day.
And I think the loom appreciated my effort.

But I had  forgotten--
until tidying up a stack of
"magazines with articles I wrote"--

that once upon a time
having enough such garments
was a deliberate plan--
my mid-life self
committing
to the sartorial comfort, pleasure
and general well-being
of me,
now,
at 60.

So golly thanks, former Sarah
for the serendipitous Magic Medium--
for the blissfully approachable Somewhat Slanted
(of which I now have five)--
for The Cloisters (pictured above)--
for Kestrals Alight back in 1996--
for all the unnamed others
(many of which I've given away)--

--for all the glorious fleeces
(and the sheep that grew them)--
and for uncountable days and weeks and years
of pleasure--
past, present and future.

And yes, also for my Sarah-Dippity Skirts
which though they are not shirts
and were completely unplanned,
I nonetheless wear so often
that I'm now having to patch them.

So you know what's cool?
That the midst of one of the weirdest
and most unsettled
and oddly fascinating times of my life so far--
that even as I am taking a break from knitting
to rest and reset--
it is yarn, once again,
that is seeing me through.