Yarn on YouTube - the video

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Cool! Here's my yarn spinning daughter Maya starring in her first yarn video - let her tell ya all about it! But I guess the skeins of yarn are the actual stars...which makes Maya the producer.

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Interview with a Creative Yarn Spinner

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Now you may think this post's title refers to someone like Mark Twain or to that folksy storyteller you heard tall tales from at the last Aunt Granny Fanny Mountain Festival back in the holler. But...no.

And if you've read a post or two at 2 Hours before this moment you know that I often tout my daughter's new Etsy Shop of handspun and handpainted yarns which she then takes gorgeous photos of for online shoppers to view. Therefore, you won't be surprised that Maya and her spinning are featured in an interview which simply had to be shouted out by her mom. Right?

Patience Required!

There are an amazing number of steps in the spinning and dying processes in order to produce even one skein of squishy-soft yarn and have it look inviting, so please check out Maya's interview for more details about my knit-loving offspring's process and inspirations!

And here is a nostalgic photo of one of her dorm friends holding Maya's giraffe, Ayapap Ayam, who is mentioned in the interview above. Wonder if she'd get me if I told you her giraffe's name is 'Maya Papaya' spelled backwards? ;p



View more of Maya's photography at Springtree Road where November is always black'n'white photo month.

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Knitting with a Happy Dance!

Even though I've never gone about the place thinking that I love the colors pink and yellow together, my eyes feel refreshed and exultant every time I look at this 'Happy Dance' yarn from Springtree Road's Etsy Shop.

Springtree Road is my daughter Maya's Yarn Shop, and the name refers to the street that I, and later on, my children, grew up on. It's named that because of a spring (obviously) and a creek that runs across and by it, so when my parents were living, their house had water from an artesian well nearby.

How cool is that? ;p

Especially these days when water is an issue everywhere, and will be more so as climates change and plunderers corner the market on the earth's freely provided life-giving substance.

Anyway, mosey yourself over to Maya's lovely Etsy Shop, if you wish, and view her luciously squishy skeins of handspun-and-dyed yarns, plus a few notecards and prints of her photos are available, too.

She'd be glad to meet you and perhaps y'all can do a Happy Dance together while you simultaneously knit me new mittens for winter using some of Maya's autumn-colored yarn...you're a very talented multi-tasker, or so I've heard!

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Of Russian Blues, Drawing, Daughters, and Thomas Merton

Oh look! It's my daughter's new kitty cat, Zasha, a gorgeous Russian Blue which is one of the best feline breeds around, I'm told.

Sociable, affectionate Russian Blues are especially good for families with children...children like Violet in black and white! Joyfully, Zasha the rescue cat has a new home and Violet a new love.

Zasha's photo taken by Maya, author of Spring Tree Road where she posts her creative efforts which include photography of family, cats, old houses, architecture, found objects, and the yarns she's in process of learning to spin.

Spinning wheel got to go round!

Maya has become an avid knitter as have many people these days and I for one am happy to see this soothing and useful past time regaining its former glory.

In my teens my Mom's sister, my Aunt Cornelia (I know!) taught me to knit and crochet and I admit to preferring the latter over the former. Probably had to do with the laciness of it, but Maya knitted the hat in the above-linked photo and though you can't tell much about it in black and white, it's got a lovely lacy border.

When she gets her etsy shop up and running, her link will be added here in case you, Dear Reader, want to check out the knitting patterns she's invented, along with yarns, knitted wearables, photographs, and such.

Can you tell I'm proud of my inventive offspring (Pallas, the daughter) who has happily found her creative niche?

You know, it stems quite a lot from my being able to draw a little, because when you do, your children tend to give up on drawing too readily and insist that they'll never top you at it - as if drawing 'belongs' only to you. Puh! Everyone can draw but not everyone puts in the hours of practice to develop the ability.

And silly Mom, I thought it was about how drawing is good for you as this May 5 NPR feature attests (text or audio w/ photos of Michelle Norris' 'curious' drawing efforts - a must-see!)

Getting adults or kids to draw?

Well with drawing, like practicing piano in childhood, no one ever had to fuss, plead, or threaten to get me to do either one. Guess I'm fortunate in that way. Or just plain bull-headed about doing what I want how and when I want to do it! An abundance of Capricorn planets, I suppose (Sun, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter - gracious plenty as we're fond of saying in the South. We Caps are self-molding, thanks.)

Now here's my favorite quote from Thomas Merton because it makes perfect sense to the artist lurking inside:

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

Hear that whisper? It could be the still-blank sketch pad you bought a few years ago begging for your attention...it may just be calling your name!