Art Meets Soul

Wool warms the soul. Especially when it comes from a true friend and fiber artist. After nearly 20 years, she found me again. Going back to the last time we'd visited, she told me her inspiration for this exceptional wool: "There you were at Christmastime, unravelling a present you'd made because you had to take the yarn back to the store for the money to keep the heat on. I swore I'd get my alpacas one day, and their first yarn would be yours. It's taken me this long, but here is my yarn for you!" Have you ever seen such lovely, finely spun, soft wool? Have you ever had such a friend?

As a serious, though amiable, introvert who worked long hours in some rough places, I tend to keep what I've seen close to the chest. It's not suitable for social hour or a direct answer to 'so, how was your day?' I find yarn able to handle any tangle of the soul like the woman who spun it. It brings a unique comfort in hard times. Only she would remember that challenging Christmastime which I had long forgotten. Her art form shows the same tender attention, a requirement for changing mounds of matted animal hair into delicate wool. Her work in fiber is a steadfast, sensory melody. I am so grateful she spun the straw of the past into the gold of years. She accomplished her dream and helps restore mine. How huge is that?

Now from the sublime to the ridiculous. My friend is as attached to her alpacas as I am to the originators of these fur balls. Most people see a cat like this and think Dyson-on-steroids. So, this is odd, and I know it. Getting through a few rounds of surgery can do this to you so I don't advise that particular route, BUT: I admit it! I needle-felt the fur of Zeebear & Stein (aka "the persian brothers legal defense team") and their feral hitgirl, Killer. They are a copious manufacturing concern, delivering early and often, providing fine quality silver chinchilla persian and himalayan feline wool.

Being couch-bound after surgeries makes one rethink the ordinary. Who needs expensive roving? Of course, I have yet to carve and sculpt these shapes. You'll get to see that another time. Oh, and please wish me and the surgeon in the upcoming round, sure hands and sharp knives. Too bad he won't get to decorate his work with tiny beads.


My question today is: What simple action helps you rethink your ordinary life? What art can you make of the stuff around you today without spending a dime, that will lift another's spirits while you green your life?