A Weavers Dream of a Tag Sale

Don and I went to three tag sales today and there was an obvious "Weave" theme going on. The Universe sure was pointing me in the right direction for treasures that relate to Jude Hill's  Considering Weave group! The best part is that most of the items were anywhere from 10 cents to $5.00. The prices were crazy reasonable, which is great because money has been tight lately.

Look at all these treasures! And most of it was just priced at dollar or two and under! The wall planters and loom were the most expensive at $5.00. Happy dance!!

  

I am totally in love with this little table top loom I got for $5.00

 The little hand looms in the basket and the square ones were in a box with the yarn for $1.00

Check out this amazing antique Knitting Needles box with the ruler markings I got for .50 cents!

Lots of embroidery floss

 I fell in love with these antique blocks

Beautiful platter signed by the potter on the back

Plus the lovely old box with the dividers, the baskets, one filled with old wooden clothes pins, woven mats and all the hoops for embroidery and weaving. 

It was a good day all around!

Empty Nests and Weaving Nests

All this talk of tension in weaving on the "Considering Weave" group forum had me thinking about tension in nature today. The raven chicks have fledged their nest in the quarry down the road and the woods surrounding our house are filled with the raucous caws of their frantic parents trying to keep track of their, now spread out, brood. Mama and Papa raven seem to be quite tense now that the babies are flying about on their own. Listening to them my thoughts turned to their now empty nest perched on the cliff in the quarry and how birds are one of natures most adept weavers. So this evening I considered weave by gathering twigs and weaving myself a nest. Even my husband joined in the nest weaving fun. It was trickier than I thought it would be. 

Weaving While Walking

So I have been doing my "Weave-storming" (Think brain storming), for the "Considering Weave" group, in the woods instead of on paper. This morning I set out on my walk and began picking bits of plant material that nature was offering up to me from the side of our gravel road. Without much though I began to weave these offerings into a circle. I felt so grateful to have this task to busy my hands and help my mind unwind the tangled thread of thoughts that has been causing so much tension lately.  

What I found really interesting is that for weaving the final part of the circle nothing was calling out to me and I was at a bit of a loss. I walked on for a while and then I saw the beautiful and delicate white blossoms of the cleavers plant. This is a medicinal plant that I have just started taking in tincture form. I have been wondering if it was the right "medicine" to help me at this time and I feel that was confirmed on my walk today when the pretty white flowers called out to me to complete my wreath. 

When it was done I realized it looked like a mandala of sorts, or maybe a dream catcher. Here's to unraveling thoughts, weaving the Universe and catching dreams!

Woven Inspiration From a Walk in the Woods

I woke up with this odd but intense depression this morning and I tried 3 times to rise up out of bed  but I kept falling back and pulling the covers over my head. I tried to focus on Centering Prayer using "Abba Father" as my centering phrase and that helped to keep my mind from spiraling into the places depression likes to take us. So I just rested, practiced gratitude and centered myself through prayer and eventually I got up. My chronic fatigue was quite intense and that is likely what was causing the depression,  but I knew going for a walk in the woods would be really healing so I pushed myself out the door camera and collie in hand and set out in search of inspiration for Jude Hill's class called   "Considering Weave" from the "2014 What If Diaries" that I am taking. I felt so grateful to have this class to push me out the door with a sense of purpose.

It was a dark, cloudy day so it was not a great day for photographing in the dark woods but I will share some of the inspiration I found and even some of the weaving that I created with found objects.

 Woven  Barbed Wire and a Spider Web

 Layers of interwoven Birch Bark

 Shadow and Light Play Through the Weave of Branches Above

 The Delicate Weave of a Dragonflies Wings

Fern Fronds Woven Together

 Mushrooms Weaving themselves together as they grow, and the weave-like pattern on the top

 A nest created by a professional weaver

 The stunning woven pattern on a butterflies wings

 Pine Needles

 Roots and Rocks Woven Together

 Rocks Woven Into a Wall

Fallen Branches Woven Together by Nature

 Ember, Considering The Ferns

 At the end of my journey in the woods I saw my reflection in the glass front door and had to stop and smile at the reflection of my woven hair. 

Once I was back home I did some nature inspired weaving

Pine Needles

 Heart Stone and Pebbles

Flowers and Pebbles in a Nature Inspired Tic-Tac-Toe

Connecting Past & Present with Weave

I did some more weaving on the piece my collie, Ember, decided to chew on last night.

I really enjoyed the process of weaving it by the camp fire last night and again while sitting out in the woods this morning with my tea. Last night I was so frustrated when Ember grabbed it, loosened up all the threads and it got all wonky, but in the end it helped me to keep the piece more primitive, organic, rustic and less fussy. So thanks Ember for being my Zen Dog of weaving. 

I want to share one more element of the story that got woven into this piece. I recently went back home for the second family funeral in a very short time, two Brother's-in-law and both died way too young of lung cancer. I have only been back home 2 or 3 times in the last 23 years so I stopped by the house I grew up in and my Dad's grave. He completed suicide when I was 9 so this was a very emotional journey. When I got there his grave was surrounded by a semi circle of many feathers, both very large and very small, that had been molted by geese. Goose feathers, I was told, symbolize "Going Home" which made me think of my brothers-in-law both arriving in heaven and my arriving back home after being gone so long. 

I incorporated 2 of the smallest feathers from my Dad's grave into my woven piece and it is so rich with symbolism on so many levels now. I left one of the biggest ones on his grave, poked into the soil with the red roses. Thanks for listening. 

Ember & I, Considering Weave with Jude Hill

I'm enrolled in Jude Hill's "What if Diaries" and the subject is considering weave. I have been really excited for this group to start because my creative well has been dry for a long time. That and the fact that I am not a weaver at all made me think that this could stir up some creative excitement for me.

Sp tonight I was considering weave, using small twigs I rescued from the fire as a frame, which was tricky enough because I don't have a clue how to weave lol. I set my piece down for a moment to go in the house and when I came back out my collie Ember was considering my weave as well......the way most dogs consider things, in her mouth. It was in pretty bad shape when I retrieved it from her mouth but I am continuing on with it. Treating it as if that collie mauling were an important part of it's coming into creation. After all isn't it our imperfections that make us all so beautifully unique and true. 

The photos were taken at dusk with my phone so they are poor quality but I think you will se the humor. 

Testing my Wings, Finding my Way Forward

“The psyches and souls of women also have their own cycles and seasons of doing and solitude, running and staying, being involved and being removed, questing and resting, creating and incubating, being of the world and returning to the soul-place.” 
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

It occurred to me today that this season of solitude, where I lived removed from the world, has served me well in my healing journey. I needed to stay concealed within the sacred walls of my hermitage to do this healing work. 

Today, I reached another summit on the mountain I have been climbing. I drove our car, alone, after decades of not being able to drive. My husband has driven me everywhere since I got sick and I have been very isolated and dependent on him. It occurred to me today that the healing work I have been doing for the last 2 decades is bearing fruit. I  am slowly arriving at wellness, something I was told by my Doctors would never happen. Surprisingly it is a scary place to find myself after being so disabled for so long. Everything out "there" in the world feels a bit like a "Texas Gate"**

So today I got in our car,  drove down the 4 dirt roads that separate us from the main road, and left the woods to prove to myself that I could. I headed out to the main road and I drove, alone, in a world filled with people that know how to navigate life in the "Real world".  It occurred to me that learning how to function in the world again might be even harder than recovering from this tenacious disease I have been battling.  I am grateful to have my Husband as a support, but much of this work will need to be done on my own. Now it seems I am searching for a way to balance the desire of my soul to remain cloistered and the need of my heart to go out and find a friend to walk with me on this journey. 

Today I tested my wings.

** A Texas Gate is a metal grate or grid that is laid on top of a pit in the ground. People, cars, tractors, etc.. are able to easily cross the grate but cattle will not cross. Cattle see only the pit below the grate and are afraid they will fall in. They can't comprehend that it is safe for them to cross by walking on the grate that covers the pit.