Fiber College 2014

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend in Maine, where breezes blow in from the bay, wafting curtains, dappling the sunshine.

breezeThis was my second year teaching Savvy Storytelling with Gale Zucker at Fiber College. We worked hard. Our students worked hard. But I’d be hard put to imagine any of us felt like work was happening.

From left: Gale, Jani, me. Photo by Kirsten Kapur
From left: Gale, Jani, me. Photo by Kirsten Kapur

You can see what I mean. Gale’s a terrific photography teacher. Here she showed the class how props can transform an ugly corner into a story-telling background. Jani was a good sport, letting the students boss her around as she modeled Kirsten’s newly released Duane Park Triangle shawl.

I look forward to Fiber College, not just for the groovy vibe, the chance to learn and teach and fondle fiber, but for the excuse to live in my dream house for a weekend. The cottage is amazing, but what makes it a dream house is sharing it with smart, funny, caring, creative women. If I didn’t share the little ranch in the woods with Neal, sharing the cottage on the bay with Gale, Kirsten, Cal, Amy, Mary Lou, Jani, and Ellen would be my next-perfect arrangement.

Several of us, upon realizing that ’twas blogs what brought us together have decided to bring back the blog. Sure, we love our short forms of social media, but we want a return to long form conversation. So, I’ll take up the question Kirsten posed: what blogs should go on my feed?

Next time: sewing! More sewing!

NaBloPoMo 1/28 and a Contest if You Read it All

Karen talked about doing this, so of course, I jumped on the bandwagon.  I'm not trying to squirm out of anything by selecting the shortest month of the year to post every day for a month.  Really, I'm not.  

The NaBloPoMo website offers a theme for each month, and February's theme is Ties.  Provocative, right? I'm going to see if I can connect my daily posts to the theme, and I have ideas for a few special days this month.  It's those regular, run-of-the-mill days that may present the real challenge.

As my long-time readers know, I started blogging in August, 2005, right after I returned to New Mexico for my second year of graduate school.  I was quickly hooked.  I enjoy interacting with other bloggers, and I love getting comments and developing friendships through the blog.  It isn't only the new relationships that keep me tied to blogging; it means so much to me to stay in touch with friends who live far away.  Sure, there are letters, e-mails, and phone calls, but there's something really fun about knowing that if I post a picture of a recent knit, a culinary adventure, or a new color in my hair, my posse will see it.  It's almost like I'm back in Albuquerque showing up at the Flying Star (oh, I want Red Stuff.  And a Buddha Bowl.  One of those ginger cookies, too) to show Scout (look! calendars are back!  Hurrah!) and Mona (soon as she gives the word, I'll have an exciting link for her) what I'm up to, or calling Dana five times in one day to tell her what I'm doing that. Very. Minute.

So, yeah.  Blogging.  It ties me to my peeps.  How about you?  If you blog, why is it important to you?  Don't have a blog?  Tell me how you stay connected.

The contest part?  How about this: I'll post some questions every day in February.  Whoever leaves the most comments (one per day maximum) during my NaBloPoMo project will win a glamorous prize, which I'll show you as soon as I figure it out!!

One last thing before I publish this.  I'm not getting all the comments in my e-mail box, so thank you to everyone who commented on the last post…and I'm sorry I haven't responded yet.  I'll get it figured out!


Let's Get Started

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