“Did you hear that?” I ask my friend Jody as we wind a warp onto her loom together. Jody stands at the front of the loom, I at the back. She combs the threads to straighten out any tangles or knots, then pulls handfuls of threads to tighten them. When she’s ready, I turn the […]
Letting go
I have a project I want to weave: napkins to go with my Crisp Fall Day table runners. By “go with” I mean similar colors and a different pattern. I want them to coordinate rather than match. I make a plan and hear a quiet but as I set to work. I ignore the hesitation […]
First steps and adventures: Exploring sustainably-grown cotton
It started with an opportune question. Do you use organic cotton? a well-dressed man asked one Saturday earlier this year at the Northampton Winter Farmers’ Market. The short answer is no. And there’s a longer answer because I’ve thought about this question off and on over the years. I know there are environmental concerns about […]
Surprised by orange
One Sunday after church, when I was a child, my family was invited to dinner at Rokeby, a guesthouse run by Methodist missionaries near my school in India. They served a trifle for dessert. When I curled up my nose, another guest urged me to try it. It might become your favorite dessert, he said. […]
In praise of slow weaving
People often ask me how long it takes to weave a towel. The short answer is: I don’t know. I don’t weave one towel from start to finish and then weave the next one. It takes a long time to set up the loom, so I make a warp as long as possible, which with […]
