“Log Cabin Spinner” one of my newer paintings!

   I had no idea where it would lead me when years ago, I decided to learn to knit. For a birthday treat, I went to a free class offered by a local yarn shop. I worked diligently on many a wonky, crooked scarf. I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials, and fell down one fibery rabbit hole after another.

   After I’d knitted a few years, I stumbled upon a spinning wheel at an estate sale. A friend helped me get it into working order, and then I started my adventures in spinning…..and then, last fall, the chance to have my own loom (free!) presented itself (actually thanks to Jane, the same friend who helped me with my wheel! She’s a fiber enabler!) It wasn’t long before I found myself loading up a big old van full of giant equipment, and excitedly driving it home.

  And now here I am….with a room full of fibery goodness, and more than a little surprised to have gathered such a space, but so thankful for the opportunity…

    Now, my husband has asked me more than once “so where are you going to put that?” And lucky for me, I do indeed have a place! When we bought this old house, one of the surprise extras was not only a full brick detached garage, but a little apartment above it. It doesnt have central heat and air, and it was in need of some renovating, but after a lot of ripped up floors and painting of walls, its a beautiful space. And….it’s all mine.

  When you enter the studio you come up an old wooden staircase (that I’ve painted a pretty colonial blue) and cross a landing into this first room. Most likely the ‘parlor’ of this little apartment, we ripped up a lot of terrible flooring to get down to this original wood floor. We found some quirky things out when we did that— like some of the floor had once been damaged by fire and replaced with raw wood flooring. We also found that a large rectangle of floor in the middle of the room was left unpainted, while the rest of the floor was a pretty old wine red color. Why on earth would someone do that? Did someone just paint around the rug?

   No matter, I took a chip of the old paint to the hardware store to color match it, and painted the boards to match that had been put in to replace the fire damage, and also painted the blue ‘stenciled rug’ in the center over the poor ‘bald spot.’ And voila….a craft room was born!

   This room has been several years in the making as I figured out what do just do with the space. After my brother moved out (he lived in this apartment for about a year when we moved in) I shared the studio space with my good friend Natasha from House Sparrow Fine Nesting for a while until she moved into her own home studio, and later used this room as a ‘shop space’ to display and sell items at open houses.

   However, it seemed like a bit of a waste of space to use it as a shop when the open houses tended to just be once a year….and then, oh dear, all these old pieces of large fiber equipment kept coming my way until….I looked around and noticed “oh, this is the weaving room!”

  I think its my trusty little wheel, an Ashford Traveler that I got at that amazing estate sale that started this things going. Then, every time someone saw ‘something fibery’ they’d tell me about it– or give it to me! (that’s my favorite!)

  Last winter I was able to attend a fiber art retreat in the Ozarks and after taking a weaving class sighed to my trust friend Jane (you know, my enabler!) “I wish I had a loom.” And within hours….she’s done some messaging around…and I had a free loom I could go pick up once I got home! (Now that is friendship!)

  Then this past weekend, my friend Denise Bell from Lost City Knits was in town for Fiber Christmas in July and her husband delivered me these two amazing gems— an antique walking wheel and a weasel (where we get ‘pop, goes the weasel!) I’d love to get that big wheel working….and am just in awe of how gorgeous and old it is…wondering where it came from, what its story is, where it began its life.

  Everything in this room seems to have come from happenstance and serendipity. And who would have though? Who would have thought those little wonky scarves and a free class would have led to all this?

My painting “Eliza’s Knitting”

 And so, I guess, the moral of this story is— tumble down, my dears! Tumble down those rabbit holes! You’ll never know where they will lead you, or what passion or interest you’ll discover that you never knew you had! And if you let those around you know what you love and long for, its very possible they’ll help you make it happen. Sometimes it takes a village….a village of fibery friends.

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy your little House of Seven Gables!
And thanks a bunch for everyone who entered! Keep coming back, as I’m planning on offering more treats 🙂

And of course, thanks for stopping by! I appreciate it! I always love reading your comments.

Talk again soon,
H

This post is part of the Yarn Along blog hop! Click here to see more!