I grew up celebrating Midsummer on the June 21st solstice, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized there were other days in June to celebrate the triumph of the sun. The feast day for John the Baptist, known in Norway as Sankthans (Saint Hans), falls on June 24th, so naturally there […]
Looking back on 2020, I’m reminded of all those ardent heroines of 19th century novels, filled with ambition and fiery resolve, but stuck in their homes doing needlework. Since doing needlework is better than doing no work at all, I spent the early weeks of the pandemic sewing up several dozen face masks for my […]
Summer is retreating at last, and I’m very happy about that, as autumn and winter are my favorite seasons by far. (Winter equals wool and knitting, of course!) Since it’s scorching here in New Mexico, I’ve been busy with various indoor activities, including showing my quilt at the Modern Threads Exhibit in Albuquerque. “Alchemy” is […]
I’ve already promised (or threatened) to create separate posts for recent adventure and wildlife photos, since I’m still catching up from the Great Blog Silence of 2018, so let’s just decide right now that our Year in Review will exclude anything having to do with climbing mountains. 2018 was a year of endings and new […]
Let’s look back at 2017 and celebrate some of our accomplishments (including the fact that we somehow made it through the year). 2017 started out with the Women’s March, and I’m not going to lie: it was absolutely thrilling to knit a bunch of pink hats and carry signs and march in support of women. […]
I’ll be honest: I’ve been discouraged lately. We all know why. When the world is literally on fire, it’s easy to feel that our actions don’t matter. But our actions do matter, and the best antidote to hopelessness is to create art, to support others, and to give what we can. I was thinking about […]
These are dark days, but that is no reason not to dress up. On International Women’s Day, I went to Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver and I wore pretty clothes and I made beautiful things with a group of fellow knitters, because making art is the best possible antidote to political and personal despair. I’ve […]
In Yarn, Icelandic/Canadian director Una Lorenzen follows four artists who are using textiles to promote social change. I’m the sort of person who watches an entire documentary about yarn on purpose, so I absolutely loved this. Polish performance artist Olek, perhaps the biggest personality in the film, has created costumes and mermaid tails for a […]