Fire in the Sky and a Field of Dreams

Once upon a time in a land far far away there lived a little girl and a little boy.  The little girl and the little boy shared a mother and had been born within minutes of one another.  They were twins.  They grew up in a village on a hill with streets of stone, overlooking the oldest city in the land.  

Across the sea and past the mountains, a woman in a cabin in the woods went to her loom. She unspooled thread the color of the winter fire in the sky.  She unspooled thread the color of the fire flowers that grew in the summer.  And she wove a blanket for the little girl and the little boy.  

For you see, many moons past, she had sat on rocky shores and watched the waves and tasted the salt sea spray along with the mother of the twins.  Both had left their girlhood home to seek their futures far away.  

And so it was, you see, that one day the man with the post brought a package of distant love to the little girl and to the little boy.  It held the magic of a winter night, the brilliance of a summer day.

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Next on the loom are a pair of fairly short warps.  I'm weaving gifts for a very special brother and sister who live in Italy.  When I found out that one of my best friends was having twins, I started scheming as to what I could make for them.  They are now just turned 7 months old, and their birthday gifts are only just going on the loom.  Oops!  

Photo credit: Mackenzie Rohn and 14 Mile Farm

Here in Interior Alaska the summer brings 24 hours of daylight and temperatures sometimes in the 90s.  Winter brings 20 hours of dark and temperatures sometimes 40 degrees below zero.  Fun fact: 40 below is the temperature at which the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales meet; 40 below Celsius is the same as 40 below Fahrenheit.  

Summer paints the fields, the meadows, the roadsides a bright fuschia with the blooming of fireweed.  Winter paints the skies with ribbons of light.

There is such a stark contrast to the phases of the year, and yet the two are two halves of a perfectly balanced whole.  There's a special relationship between twins, between 2 beings who shared an abode in the womb.  I thought this was the perfect pairing for a sweet pair of twins.

Photo credit: Forest & Field Photography and Maya Salganek

This pair of warps is is only the first step in my exploration of paying homage to the fireweed and to the aurora.  All photos were taken here in Fairbanks where I live.  Expect to see more projects along these lines in the future!  I'm already dreaming up a hand-dyed aurora....

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Project details:

Warp of 8/2 cotton 

Crackle threading, draft found here:

Weaving Draft: cw108265, Crackle Design Project, Ralph Griswold, United States, 2004, #13482

There will be at least one piece available for draw off of each of these warps.  

Owl Flight

OwlFlight is a very special warp. It is Avery's warp. Our piece of it will be our very first handwoven. And when her wearing days are over? I'll chop it and sew it up into a blanket quilt for her.  Should her tastes run girly, full of pink and sparkles, it will be an oasis of blues and whites and brown splashed across her bed. I admit to finding this prospect  slightly amusing.  When she spreads her wings and launches into the world, be it college or a calling, I will bundle it up to travel with her.  A bit of mama love, always and forever. 

Here is the story of how it came about. It gets a little woo-woo, just so's you know.  

Last October I found myself in Seattle, attending a prenatal yoga teacher training alongside my mother.  I'm a yoga teacher as well as a weaver, and my mom is a midwife.  Last summer Husband and I had decided it was time to invite another soul to join us on this life path.  I've always always known I wanted children.  And finally I was ready to choose motherhood.  Part of my preparation for the journey that is pregnancy and birth and motherhood was this prenatal yoga training.  It was wonderful.  I highly highly recommend it, if you are into that sort of thing! 

The weekend following the training, I attended a workshop on the Energetics of Fertility taught by a goddess of a woman named Taylor Phinny.  (Seriously, she's amazing and wonderful.  Check her out, especially if you are in the Encinitas, California area!)

It was a wonderful weekend: meditations to connect with the womb space, with the principle of Divine Feminine energy.  We spoke in depth about energetic self-care for fertility, about practical ways to honor the monthly cycle of fertility and cultivate the feminine self.  She gave me an energy healing session that I count among the most powerful healings I've ever received, clearing an energy block inherited through the line of my grandmothers.  

I saw my womb as Cerridwen's cauldron, awaiting souls to rebirth into this world of ours.

And then, in our final meditation together, she took me even deeper.  Guided me to a forest clearing where I met with my children.  Watched them from the trees as they played with other shining young ones, then welcomed them with open arms and teary eyes.  We sat together, walked among the trees, and then we traveled North.  They found their papa's sleeping self and said hello.  Bear hugs all around.  

Coming back to myself, to my body in the yoga room at the workshop, Taylor offered me chalks and paper.  And I drew.  Sketched out the essences of my children.  Soul portraits.

In those few minutes in deep astral/psychic meditation space, I knew these shining souls intimately.  Deeply.  Irrevocably entwined.  I felt them around me the following months, waiting for just the right mixture of genetics to choose to be conceived.  For a while I was equal parts terrified and excited, because I was nearly sure that two would jump in at once.  Twins seem like a lot of work.  I'm pretty happy they decided to take turns!  

Early in the pregnancy it was clear to me that the child I had drawn as an Owl in flight was going to be born.

Spirit drawing.  Soul portrait.  Yeah, I'm more than a little woo-woo! 

When I began contemplating what to weave to welcome the inhabitant of my womb into the world, I knew that it had to be this. Blues and browns and greys.  OwlFlight.

If you keep your eye on 14 Mile Farm in the coming years, I can tell you now that you will see wrap warps based on the soul portraits of each of my children! 

Warp Details: 10/2 mercerized cotton in herringbone twill.  

Wrap pieces as well as cowls will be available by draw. 

One wrap will be sent out as a traveling tester.  

If you are interested in hosting the tester and/or to be first to find out about pieces for sale, join the 14 Mile chatter group on Facebook. 

Handwovens

So I was thinking of waiting for something more “official” like a business card, or a logo, to announce this; but I’m just too dang excited! I’m opening the studio of 14 Mile Farm for business.  The business license is on its way from the State, and I’ll be legit! 

I expect that at as this little one turns up earthside and grows and giggles and plays, the inventory of the shop will occasionally expand to include toys and dolls… locals may even be able to find me at the occasional bazaar or fair.  But what I’m most excited about, what is even now starting to get off the ground is a collaboration between a loom named Maggie and myself.  One thread at a time...

And so I'd like to officially introduce to you, I'd like to introduce officially to you:

14 Mile Farm handwovens!!!

I’ll be weaving (and offering for sale) artisan babywearing wraps, meditation shawls, and more!

I've got two different projects going on the loom this fall... one on Maggie, and one on my mother's loom (thanks, Ma!) – jumping in with both feet sometimes really is the best way forward! 

The first project is baby's first wrap.  Stay tuned for more details, design inspiration, and progress shots in an upcoming post.  This warp will be a long one.  It'll see a tester to make the rounds for feedback, the wrap (baby's first!) that will stay with us, and then.... if all goes well, two wraps will come off the loom for sale in time for the holidays! 

And the second exciting project is this:

I'm participating in the Fall 2015 Great Competition of Weavers!

The theme this time around is Children's Lit.  Which is such a great topic, with so many options and interpretations to choose from!  It'll be exciting to see what all books the weavers pick, and how they bring those inspirations to the wraps.  What's your favorite book from childhood?  What book would you pick?

Its an anonymous contest, so its super-secret and I can't tell you what book I'm working with or show you the project.  But I CAN tell you that I'm super stoked about it and that I just ordered the yarn!!!  I can also tell you that public voting for the winner will begin October 1st and close October 3rd. 

One wrap from the competition warp will go up for sale via draw after the close of the competition – it might even be the competition wrap itself!  So if you want to SUPER CRYPTIC updates on the progress of the competition project leading up to the grand reveal October 3, you should follow me on Instagram.  I'm hoping I can use social media as a motivational tool to get me to finish in time, despite third trimester pregnancy...  we shall see!

Meanwhile, if babywearing and/or handwovens excites you, you should totally click through to FB and 'like' 14 Mile Farm. 

And that mostly wraps up (har har) my big news.  Did I mention yet that I'm excited about it?!?  I'm pretty excited.  Because 45 yards of weaving is clearly a perfectly reasonable goal for this fall... along with home renovations, yoga teaching and oh!  right!  growing a human.  If you need to find me, I'll be playing with yarn.