Study, Reading, Writing and Research are what I most love.

Grade nine Home Economics provided a rudimentary knowledge of some of the Textile Arts: Sewing, Knitting and Embroidery. Weaving came much later when I joined the Porcupine Handweavers and Spinners Guild as an adult. I am still learning. Spinning and Weaving provide endless opportunity.

Planning and realizing a project from start to finish engages all of one’s abilities and senses. Hands create what the heart and head have imagined – an endeavour most satisfying and all encompassing – the intellect, the emotion and the tactile/physical are all working together, connecting to weave something aesthetically pleasing as well as practical.

Not to minimize the social interactions and connections that are woven with the people you meet along the way – the people who produce the fibres, the dyers, the spinners, the weavers and all of the many textile artists. This, too, is most satisfying and enriching.

Awareness, too, of the threads that bind us to those who came before, who spun and wove out of necessity, grants me appreciation of the fact that I have been given the gift of choice. I spin and weave because I choose to do so.