Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

Summer is here. At least in the northern hemisphere. And yes, thanks for asking, I did go out to the garden and pick those garlic scapes just for this photo-op.

It seems so simple. Summer is here. It happens every year.

I can’t seem to get my head around all of the beauty. We made it.

There were so many times over the last fifteen months that I didn’t believe. There has been so much loss.

Dishtowels. Woven fabric. Simple enough. Threads going up and down, interlaced with threads going back and forth. And yet, the weaving of fabric…woven fabric, connects us back through generations of our ancestors, almost to the dawn of humanity.

It has been a long and very hard winter. I have been getting by as best I can. There are so many things that I don’t have words for yet. Loss, heartbreak, solitude. And then, like a phoenix from the ashes, new beginnings.

During the first weeks of the pandemic, I brought my father into my home to die. He had macular degeneration, was almost deaf, and had dementia. He went in and out of comprehending what was happening to him, and in the midst of that, me trying to explain to him about the pandemic. Why it was just us. Why he wasn’t surrounded by family.

Trying to explain it to this man I love, whose grasp of the reality of the physical world was already untethered. “We are going through something of biblical proportions. Everything has stopped. The whole world has changed.”

It was a very dark winter for me. I understand transformation and never lost the belief that after great loss, there are new beginnings. It can be a slow building, or it can happen fast.

And here it is. Lighting speed. I built something. You responded. For the first club box, I had 45 people joining me and I was delighted that so many people were willing to jump into this adventure. Here we are at the second club box and we are now at 180 members. I am not quite sure I know how to comprehend that kind of growth, but it makes me really happy.

I am grateful that you are on this journey with me. In the simplest way…weaving cloth together. But that cloth connects us to each other and these are the towels that we will gift our friends and families. These are the towels that will hold memories of us for our children, grandchildren, friends.

Summer has come. I offer you these towels in the colors of summer. Exploring twills on four and eight shafts, hand manipulated lace for the rigid heddle looms.

Let’s weave!