"Sometimes, when you look back, you can point to a time when your world shifts and heads in another direction. In lace reading this is called the "still point". ~ from "The Lace Reader" by Brunonia Barry

One of the "still points" in my life came in 1997, when I went to the Estes Park Wool Market and took a Creative Knitting class from Valentina Devine (yes, that's really her name).  Valentina is a very talented knitter and creative designer--and she dyes her own fiber!  The class was an eye-opener for me.  Up to that point in my knitting life, I had followed patterns written by others, always changing just a little something, never satisfied until I had added a touch of my own.  Valentina taught me to fly!

Our classroom was in the ballroom of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out across the little town toward the mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park.  The class was fairly large; we sat in a circle while Valentina walked and talked and showed us one beautiful knitted garment after another.  We had been asked to bring balls of left-over yarns to class--any fiber, any color, any weight.  I was pretty confident that mine would be the biggest "stash" in class, until I saw the huge bag of yarn brought by the woman sitting next to me--she turned out to be Cheryl Oberle!

Valentina's class, her teaching style, her enthusiasm, and her many sample garments were magical.  She taught us to "just start knitting", no pattern, in any direction, changing colors and yarns at any time, and mixing knitting with crochet.  Her mantra seemed to be "when in doubt, add 20 more colors!"  (She told us that she learned that in a class with Kaffe Fassett.)  I was fascinated, and that class forever changed the way I knit.  It was my first exposure to free-form (or free-range, or free-style) knitting.

The day after the class, Steve and I went to the Wool Market vendor barn and I showed him all the wonderful garments at Valentina's booth.  We were both drawn to an absolutely beautiful shawl, knitted in multi-color log-cabin-style squares, with Valentina-touches, which were crocheted together with black wool.  Breathtaking!  She had showed us that technique in class, so I decided to make one.  And when I learned to spin the next year, I was determined to use handspun for my shawl.

Life got busy, we moved from Colorado to Omaha, but I continued to spin for my shawl.  Then in February, 2000, right after the turn of the century, another still point occurred in my life.  Daddy, who had always been the rock in my life, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died eight days later, two days before my son's wedding.  While many things about those experiences were both beautiful and poignant for me, when it was over I felt as if the earth had fallen away and I had nothing to stand on.  My mourning was like an all-enveloping fog--I couldn't read or knit or watch television or even carry on a conversation.  But I found that I could spin, and spin I did--for almost a year.

I began knitting my shawl in 2001, one square at a time.  Like Valentina's, it was multi-color, multi-fiber, log-cabin squares embellished with crochet.  Instead of black, I used navy wool to crochet the squares together; instead of fringe, I added a ruffle to the edge.  In 2007, two years after moving back to California, I unpacked the pieces of the shawl and decided it was time finish it.

"Still Point"

Since that time, I have been blessed with other "still points" in my life.  One has been my association with the Jane Thornley  http://www.janethornley.com/blog/index.php/site/index/  group on Ravelry, where my free-range knitting really came into its own.  And, of course there's my friendship with Jill Sanders  http://centeringwithfiber.blogspot.com/  who taught me Saori weaving and lifted my weaving from the ordinary to the sublime.

In May, I encountered another of life's still points, when my Mother died.  And again, I find that I am overwhelmed.  But I can spin, and have spent the month of June spinning.  Last week, we went to Fort Bragg, where I continued to spin--by the ocean--wrapped in Mother's prayer shawl that I spun and knitted for her last year.

Spinning-By-The-Sea

And yesterday, I washed the yarns from my spinning marathon--

June was a good month to spin...

There will continue to be still points in my life--those times come to everyone.  I've found that the trick is to embrace the change in my world, and move in a new direction with gratitude.  So thank you to Valentina and Jane and Jill, and thank you also to Daddy and to Mother --for what you brought into my life and what I carry into the future because of you all...



Thank you, Valentina...




Thank you, Jane...





Thank you, Jill...



And Rosie continues to show her gratitude--