Wildflowers Handwork

I’m starting a project all for myself during this Christmastide. I’m knitting a wrap around shawl and starting this year’s lichen dyes. Hopefully, they should both be done around the same time - the dye takes 3/4 months to prepare. It’s a slow project that I hope to knit on for just a few minutes a day. I know dying after knitting is unusual, but that will let me buy yarn a hank at a time. And, there is something that just feels right about the knitting and the dye growing together.

Years ago, a call for volunteers to sew came out from my daughter’s ballet school . They asked if I could adjust a few hooks and eyes. Of course, I said, “Yes.”

Then, they asked if I could solve the problem of a dress that did not fit a dancer and they had no larger sizes. Of course, I said, “Yes.” I looked for matching fabric to sew a new one, but ended up researching how to make a panel for the back. I had to make it from stretch fabric because it was the only fabric I could find that matched.

Then, they asked if I could make a new tunic for a soldier. They had an example, but no pattern. Of course, I said, “Yes.” That tunic is the tunic in the picture above. I never saw it danced in by the person for whom I sewed it - he wasn’t in the same performance as my daughter. But, at the Nutcracker that just finished, one of the dancers in my daughter’s class wore it in the role of battle bunny. I was so tickled to see it again - I always wondered what happened to it.

It took me down of a whole path of how those yeses have lead to such joy for me and such a wonderful community. Sometimes, when I’m in a particular mood, I wonder why I say yes to things, but this is why. It is the journey that yes can take you on. I couldn’t be more happy about my costume sewing journey with CBA. I’ve made good friends, I’m always learning, and I love the happiness just the right costume brings.

I ordered marigolds for my fifth grade class at the school I teach some classes for. I was able to get some marigolds locally free, so I reached out to cancel the marigold portion of my order with . I explained that I was cancelling it because the school is a scrappy little school and where we’ve I can save them money, I will. When I got the rest of my order today, look what I found. Such a lovely surprise - it really touched me. I can’t wait to give them more choices for their socks!

I’ve been thinking a lot about rhythms vs traditions this December. A couple of illness and a new Nutcracker performance schedule threw off my precisely timed schedule to do the things we usually do. So, while we did all the things, the timing of them was different. This caused some stress for my daughter, but also I think knowing that the things would get done also helped move her through the difference. We kept the general rhythm, but some of the traditions were different. Our boxing day tea was the day after boxing day and we actually decorated our cookies that day.

The biggest change was that, in order to save time, we (the adults) decided to go to a different national forest to cut our tree - one that was closer. We couldn’t find a tree. There just weren’t good spaces for new growth. We ended up getting our tree at Home Depot. So many things about our tree are different this year. However, while decorating it, we noticed this tiny little nook under the branches, a little fairy hole. And, she hung some of the animal ornaments in it, like a little secret cove and we love it. We’ll return to our usual forest next year, but we’ve fallen in love with this tree.

But all this has me reflecting on what are the things that hold us when things are different and what are the things that really emphasize the difference. And how do those things work together? And how can I lean more into the rhythms vs the traditions to help us be more resilient.

Every year, I host a Lantern Walk. If anyone would like to join us this year - to spend some time with a lovely little community, sing some songs, share some warm cider, and turn our attention to how we can all share our light and warmth with the world, please message me. We will be meeting in SE Portland at 4:30 this Sunday (November 10th).

My intention was to post about Martinmas this week. But, then, on Sunday, learned that the father of one of my students had died. This class is ten and eleven year olds, they’ve been through the nine-year change. They are a small, but tight-knit group. They would have hearts that need healing as well as their classmate.

Handwork can bring healing in many ways, the act of doing of handwork is healing for our brains and our hearts and the act of giving something you have made to someone who needs to know that people care heals both the giver and the recipient.

My students, yesterday, all stitched a quilting square that will get sewn into a pillow for their classmate. While they stitched they talked. Talked about what they knew about the situation, about what their classmate might like, about their own parents who had struggled with cancer and might have died. They also laughed about silly things that happened while they were stitching. They acknowledged their classmate, his pain, themselves, and their pain.

What a gift it was to be there with them, to share in this with them, to provide them a channel for their love. And, in some ways, this post is about Martinmas as these children bring their warmth and light to someone in need.

2024-2025 school year classes, workshop, and festivals are posted on my website!

http://wildflowershandwork.com

In Waldorf handwork, we look to what is local. If, for instance, wool is not a common fiber for your area, you knit with other fibers. In addition to materials and practices being focused regionally, I also pull so much inspiration from the natural world - its colors, shapes, and textures. Sea stars, anemones, and sea w**d are my inspirations for this week.

Tomorrow is my daughter’s 12th birthday and I am just finishing up the final star that she’ll find under her pillow tomorrow morning. It will join the eleven other stars that she has already found in the eleven mornings leading up to her birthday. Every year this project takes me one day longer, but I use the time to really meditate on her, on our journey. (and, as she gets older and all the feelings get more complicated, the extra day is helpful!) It’s a beautiful and slow practice in this busy world.

Beautiful felt from

Tomorrow is my daughter’s 12th birthday and I am just finishing up the final star that she’ll find under her pillow tomorrow morning. It will join the eleven other stars that she has already found in the eleven mornings leading up to her birthday. Every year this project takes me one day longer, but I use the time to really meditate on her, on our journey. (and, as she gets older and all the feelings get more complicated, the extra day is helpful!) It’s a beautiful and slow practice in this busy world.

Beautiful felt from

I have been absent from the space for quite some time. My little family had a bumpy start to 2024 and my focus was needed there. But, we are ready to start looking outward again. Through it all, though, handwork was my constant companion and solace (along with all my little knitters!).

For the past month, as happens twice a year, much of my handwork focus has been on sewing costumes for the loveliest dancers. It’s a contrast to my usual handwork - full of satin, sequins, tulle, and bright colors! I love it. I love that the two can co-exist.

I listened to 2.5 Harry Potter books in the past month while sewing on my machine and by hand. (They are my go-to “good always wins” books.) So, it only seems appropriate that while Harry is taking the Care of Magical Creatures as a class that my last act of “handwork” for the Spring performances is mending a narwhal horn that broke during a performance.

I am planning all the lovely classes for next year and this summer. I will be sharing soon!

I’m don’t know about you all, but for us, the first week after a long break is always a bit bumpy getting back into our homeschooling rhythm. And, we did not get any handwork done this fall (I know! I’m a handwork teacher! We have our reasons. 🙂).

So, this week, we are focusing on handwork, art, and clay modeling as subjects to get back into our rhythm. Things that we would rarely say no too - unlike geometry.

And, since my child has some perfectionist qualities, rather than jumping straight into knitting a hat in the round, we are working on an advanced second grade project to remind ourselves of knitting, purling, increasing, and changing colors. So, when we get to our hats, we’ll have fewer bumpy moments. She is just as delighted now with this project as she was when we did it three years ago!