The front of this pillow I knit from hand me down yarn from an in-law who has now passed on. The black back was an unfinished Aran sweater from the estate sale of a 90+ year old neighbor that I unraveled and re-purposed into a pillow back.
My 60th birthday was the impetus to devote more time to the fiber pursuits I love. These include spinning, weaving, dyeing, basket making and passing on a love of textiles. This is my record of my work: project reports, photos and occasional thoughts about life.
Fiber Associations is the name of my textile business. In 2013 I decided to go beyond dozens of handmade gifts and hours volunteering to teach textile crafts and to start a real business.
“Fiber” for obvious reasons- it’s the basis of my art and my craft. “Associations” because that’s how my mind works. When I walk by a park, I see green grass and trees and a playground, but I also see my son’s birthday party more than a dozen years ago. When I make gifts, I muse about the person and our relationship and years of history while I develop something unique for them. Also, much of my recent work focuses on reuse or re-purposing. It may be that the yarn I use was purchased for another project and I remember the project as I re-use remainders. Yarns may be dyed with plants from my yard or at least may have been dyed in my yard so I feel gratitude for the garden while I work. At estate sales I buy unfinished textiles and old yarn and as I work I wonder about the woman who originally had them. Increasingly my work has symbolic meaning as well as being functional craft.
