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  • About
  • Blog 2014-2021

gathering fiber-- a week

9/22/2020

 
Picture
Ok, so there I was,
contentedly packing weft
into a long, narrow
tapestry warp--
doing all I could to
'em-blue-en' the smoky skies
with my yarn
--
Picture
(convinced that  by today
I'd be able to show you
a completed
long narrow tapestry object
​but obviously, not yet)--
Picture
--when what should appear on my phone
but a text to let me know
that the Milkweed seed harvest had begun
at Thorn Creek Native Seed Farm
 and if I wanted some stalks,
it would be a fine time to get them.
Well, you know me
​and other people's compost.
 I grabbed some
​secateurs and a mask 
(even though people said
my hand made covid mask
wouldn't help my lungs against this smoke,
it --the mask-- did help my psyche),
and hopped in the truck.
Picture
Driving is a thing I avoid
at the best of times,
so it took a moment or two
for my legs to remember
their clutch/gas pedal coordination
(my neighbors laughed
as I stuttered out of the driveway
in the wee, mossy pick-up),
but it doesn't take long
to recall even long-ignored skills.
Nor, indeed,
does it take more than a few blocks
to get out into the
weirdly beautiful Palouse hills.
Picture
--and in just an hour or two
I had gathered enough 
​to keep me engrossed
and enchanted

all week.
Picture
Because the technique I've been using
works best when the stalks are quite fresh
 I've been at it for the better part of every day--
Picture
--and on Saturday
when, blissfully,
finally, gloriously,
it rained
(that's me walking home
from the Farmer's Market
soaked and content)--
Picture
--I pulled on two sweaters
(Magic Medium as base layer
and Somewhat Slanted Hoodie on top)
and set up shop out in the woodshed.
Picture
It was perfect --
cool, damp, autumnal,
slow, abundant,
and very comfortable.
Picture
Here is what I'm doing:
After peeling the outer/inner bark
 (starting at the bottom
and using my palette knife to
​get things going),
I lay each out strip and,
starting somewhere in the middle,
gently scrape away the outer bark
​to reveal the white fibers beneath.
A shell works perfectly for this,
as does a palette knife.
Picture
Picture
Grabbing the green stuff ,
I slowly pull it away,
then repeat
in the other direction.

The outer bark generally has
shorter lengths of fiber
that didn't come with that first pull
so I do the same thing
with the ever shorter bits
until each strip is spent.
Picture
Picture
3 or 4 hours
and 10 or 15 stalks later,
I might have
15-ish  grams of fiber.

​Note: these photos show a particularly abundant stalk.
Each is different.
Picture
There is probably
another week's worth of stalks
in the  pile.
​And I'm glad.
Picture
For at this moment,
when individually and collectively
we are all trying to cope beyond coping,
and everything feels balanced on a knife point,
it feels more important than I can say
to take my entire life down a notch,
and practice ​the revolutionary life skill
of choosing to allow myself
(with no plan, intended use or purpose),
to be delighted, fulfilled, and soothed
by the act of gathering fiber,
a strand at at time.
Barbara Armstrong
9/22/2020 12:18:10 pm

Loved your post, and the intro that preceded it. Not tired of milkweed yet! I think we are all hoping for the future, while making stuff (or preparing to make stuff) at home.

Gika Rector link
9/22/2020 12:18:46 pm

Thanks, Sarah. Not tired of hearing about milkweed. Thanks for sharing. Have all the fun you can.

Masseyna olstynski
9/22/2020 12:21:22 pm

So Wonderful!so glad you really got rain! The milkweed fiber is just beautiful..looks like a pleasure to spin.be careful not to inhale too much of the smoke and dust.its not really safe for you till after the first snow flys. I wish I didn't have broken leg and feet I'd be out gathering the fibers for fall too. All the best have a happy healthy new year

nora shapiro
9/22/2020 12:24:30 pm

Your strand-y milkweed is so beautiful! A favorite plant, never tired of any aspect. Thanks for posting - in these weird times you're inspirational and so welcome in my computer.

Mandy Lebidez link
9/22/2020 12:39:08 pm

Your calm, metered life enchants me! Can’t wait to see what comes out of your labours.

Eileen Van Bronkhorst
9/22/2020 12:41:12 pm

Beautiful Sarah! I was also glad for the rains here on the West side, noticed my nature connection was suffering terribly by having to stay inside so much. Thanks for the inspiration to continue creating. Because that is about all we can do sometimes to cope.

Kathie Langston
9/22/2020 12:42:58 pm

I really latched on to the words "with no plan, intended use or purpose." Life is so full of things we must do, for essential reasons. So nice to consider that we can do something for it's own inherent value, rather than the value other's place on it.

heather
9/22/2020 01:19:30 pm

enchanted to see the inside of milkweed. cant wait to investigate the iinside of our milkweed stalks and yes, much remorse has come over me that i didnt use it before! now , just need begin a weaving journey or continue it from life into loom.

Annette jamieson
9/22/2020 02:07:59 pm

Fairy hair

patcooper
9/22/2020 02:16:34 pm

"with no plan, intended use or purpose" yes! Hope it is making your mind feel good.

Tracy Hudson link
9/22/2020 02:22:56 pm

Here's to revolutionary life skills!
- raising a cup of motherwort tea -

Priya
9/22/2020 02:52:06 pm

Receiving these wonderful images today is archetypal dear Sarah...and so symbolic/representational of life right now. Feels as if we are all the milkweed, harvested by Mystery Herself, layers being peeled back, rougher edges removed...only to find, when we look deeply, in the midst of these challenges, that we are in fact, beautiful gossamer strands of light.

Liz B. link
9/22/2020 04:45:58 pm

As a stay at home mom of two struggling more than usual lately with virtual school and virtual everything, your blog posts offer me so much comfort, andrand me of why I eek out every fiber moment I can, when I can. Thank you for sharing your life and fiber explorations.

David
9/22/2020 07:33:35 pm

Sarah, each time I read (and usually reread) one of your posts, something different jumps out at me. Who knows why — mood? concern of the moment? fruit and yogurt, or English muffin and almond butter for breakfast? — it’s just the way it works.

This time, it was this: “... it feels more important than I can say
to take my entire life down a notch...” That is exactly what I’m feeling. I feel the need to slow down and shrink everything a few sizes so I can reorient myself, reevaluate my relationship to the world, and re-appreciate the people and things and pursuits that matter most to me. (Recognizing that we all have such a list, and what “matters most to me” is no more or less important than what matters most to someone else.)

Although I don’t think this was your intent, nor was it something I consciously sought, your post somehow gave me permission to think — and continue to do — just that.

Enjoy the fiber you have in your wonderful hands!

Christine Riedel
9/22/2020 08:18:39 pm

Thank you for this post! A small patch of my yard is rich with milkweed. It looks scruffy as hell, but I let it grow every year to feed the monarchs. Because of your posts, now I know that I can put the stalks (there are 30-40) to good use. Can't wait to give this a try!

claudia
9/22/2020 08:55:32 pm

Ohh sometimes you are just the medicine I need. Thank you for sharing your world- it makes mine more beautiful <3

laura
9/23/2020 07:47:08 am

Love this post as much as the other ones. I wish we had milkweed growing here in FL. Maybe I might try and plant some and see what happens??? Sounds like an adventure for sure. Take care and keep safe. I never get tired of reading your post and look forward to them all.

Cedar link
9/29/2020 05:37:11 pm

I love process...it’s a ritual even when you don,t know where it will take you...love that pearly white fibre, very much like New Zealand flax. Opalescence....keep on keeping on....

Melissa Barton
10/5/2020 02:19:17 pm

loving your watercolors as well. as a non-driver, I empathize with your driving hesitance.


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    ​Sarah C Swett 
    tells stories
    with
    ​ and about

     hand spun yarn. 


    Picture
    Click for info on
    my four selvedge
    warping class
    with
    ​ Rebecca Mezoff  
    fringeless


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