Teaching

When  I was 9, my great-aunt Jean Cragle taught me how to crochet and knit.  Why did she do this?  She was tired of me chasing her chickens!  She told me I needed to learn to do something constructive.  I wonder if she had any idea how important those 2 skills would be in my life.

I crocheted doilies while riding on the school bus.  I made rugs, bags, blankets, scarves, hats.  I didn't knit as well as I crocheted, so I let it lapse for a few years.
 


By the mid-1980's I got bored with crochet.  I decided I wanted to knit a sweater.  I was stationed in Japan at the time (US Navy 1979-1992).  I think it was 1986...  anyway, I went to a local department store and got a Vogue Knitting magazine.  I picked out a pattern, got some yarn and the needles required.  And I went home and started knitting.   Man, I had a lot to learn.



Knitting patterns aren't held to any standard.  Some are very well written.  And some must be written my aliens.  Aliens because I can't understand them - even after knitting for these past 27 years.

I love teaching people, sharing my skills and passing on what I know to another generation of artists.  My aunt shared that gift with me & I want to pass that love along.  I wish I had a photo from those days, but I don't.  Oh well.  I have the memory, and that's what counts.

When I lived in Washington State, I was lucky enough to find a wonderful community of knitters, spinners and weavers.  I met some wonderful people and had many wonderful adventures with them.  I traveled to some places I never imagined I'd visit on our "spinning adventures".  Imagine a car full of women laughing, knitting and sharing their thoughts and dreams.  Emphasis on the laughing.  That's what it was like.  I miss those ladies!  Northwest Regional Spinners Association (NwRSA)2015 is a great organization.  They meet monthly in Bellingham, WA.  Locations vary.  They have a Facebook page.Spindrifters-Area-2015-nwrsa  Northwest Regional Spinners Association

I met the Skagit Valley Weavers when I moved to Mount Vernon in 1989.  Wonderful ladies.  Many of them went on to join the NwRSA, as I did. Skagit Valley Weaver's Guild

I wasn't always as active with the Weavers as I had been, but I enjoyed meeting with them.  I learned about the State Fair system through them.  I helped man their exhibits at the Fair in Mount Vernon.  That was always fun.

NwRSA loom at the Highland Games in Mt Vernon, WA

 I made some wonderful friends through the NwRSA.  I learned the most from Billie Eby, Margaret Magic, Nancy Bjerke, Debra Lacy, Linda Smuzer and Terri Larkin.  Talk about talented women.  Tiny Stratton and Jean Molinari were mentors to me.  Jean Nelson took me under her wing.  Jean Lehman and Anna Mae Kindaid did as well.  (Sounds like I only knew ladies named Jean.. maybe it's because that was my aunt's name....)  Anyway....  The ladies I met through the fiber organizations will forever be part of my life.  And I thank all of them.

Anyway, I also went through a course to get certified to judge entries at the State Fairs.  I met more wonderful people doing that!  And the quality of the workmanship (or should I say workwomanship?) was amazing.  I was truly honored to be involved in the State Fair program.

I also taught some of the kids at the local school.  If you want a challenge, try teaching 10-year old boys how to knit in one 45 minute session.  HAH!

I was fortunate enough to be able to share my skills, and offered  classes through Knot Just Yarn in Burlington, WA.  My friend Becky Sumners owns that store.  She's a great lady.  Her store is wonderful!  If you ever  get a chance to visit, be sure to stop in.  It's worth the trip.  Knot Just Yarn is also on Facebook.  Check them out. Knot Just Yarn

I also got to teach through Northwest Handspun Yarns.  My friend Nancy Bjerke owned the store at that time.  She was located in a little shop in Bellingham, WA.  Her shop expanded into a wonderful location.  I had since moved to Georgia and then on to Arkansas, so I haven't visited the new store.  Nancy has since sold her shop to Meg Jobe, and it's still in beautiful Bellingham.  It's a wonderful store.  The staff is excellent.  I spent many wonderful hours at the shop in the early 2000's.  Nw Handspun Yarn is on Facebook.  Nw Handspun Yarns


Since I moved to Arkansas, I haven't connected with many fiber artists.  My good friends Gena Stout and Erika Schindler are yarn addicts.  But I haven't found a place to share my obsessions with others.  But I may have found one now.  My friend Vicki Huskey-Mann  has decided to offer classes at her store Sugar Creek Goods.  We've only had 1 class so far.  It went well, lots of laughs.  Check Vicki out on Facebook.  Sugar Creek Goods

My husband and stepson have reconditioned some spinning wheels that we're selling.  I haven't found a buyer yet.  If Vicki's spinning class gets going, I may find a taker yet.  John and Josh fixed the wheels, I cleaned them up.  They all spin well. 

Anyone interested in a wheel???

Scandinavian style wheel

Saxony style wheel

Parlor style wheel with ivory accents

Crafting

Blacksmiths shop at Hardy Homesteaders Day 2012

When most people think of crafts, they think of the art projects they made in school.  When I think of crafts, I think of the ancient way of life of the craftsman.

In times past, when a child reached a certain age (about age 8 or so), they began to learn a craft or trade.  Farming is a trade.  Being a potter is a trade.  Being a blacksmith is a trade.  Being a tinker, tailor, spinner, weaver, dyer, tanner, miller, stonemason, baker, butcher, cheese maker, cobbler, cooper, fletcher, sawyer, bookbinder, cabinet maker....

Tradesmen and craftsmen (and women!) made the things everyone needed for their daily use.  And finding the raw materials to make the things they sold was an ongoing preoccupation.  You can't weave a blanket if you don't have yarn.  Or a loom, or a shuttle.

The 4-harness Scandinavian style loom we built

You can't bake bread if you don't have flour.  You can't have flour if you don't have a miller, farmer, stonemason, quarry worker, sawyer and blacksmith.  Of sure, you can grind wheat in a mortar and pestle.  It's not as fast or as efficient.  But you still need a farmer and someone to make the mortar & pestle.  And you need someone to build the oven.  A bricklayer and a brick maker.  And you need the dairy farmer for your butter and milk to go into the bread.  And what about the salt?  Where does the salt come from?  Wikipedia Salt mining article

So many of us are so used to going to the grocery store to get what we need.  The old Mom & Pop general stores are mostly gone, which is a real shame.  And the old hardware stores are a thing of the past.

But, if you're trying to be as self-sufficient as possible as a homesteader you have to figure out where to get all those kinds of things.  Who do you turn to for resources?  Who in your community can teach you what you need to know.

Antique stores are a great place to find the tools and utensils of the past.  But you still need the knowledge of how to use and repair them.

I love spinning yarn on my antique spinning wheel.

When my husband Johnnie and I got together 8 years ago, he'd never SEEN a working spinning wheel.  And then I got 7 from Ebay.  And every single one was broken in some manner.  I could tell him what was wrong with it.  But I don't have the wood working skills to make the repairs.  He does.  And now he's teaching our son Joshua those same skills.  Those kind of skills are SO valuable!  I can't spin on a broken spinning wheel. 

Do you remember the old poem "for the want of a nail"?  That is what life is REALLY like.  Not video games.  Not Youtube.  Not Facebook.  Real life is about knowing people, sharing your skills with people, bartering, and building relationships with real people in your area.

I love living in rural America.  It's so rewarding to make things with my hands & share my skills and products with people I know.  And I want to keep busy making things every day of my life.