Collaboration

Spunky silk

We know that nothing is created in a vacuum. Ideas, inspiration, color choices, themes, resolution to small problems, all these things are enlivened by our various associations.



It is a great luxury to meet with people who understand, much less practice the same crafts. I've recently been traveling, and also just returned from Spindle Camp III, held in the foothills nearby with members of my local fiber guild. At both places there were happy people, forward thinkers, people who get things done, people who do things, not just talk about them.



A colleague in Missoula had a room across the hall. With the luxury of time, we rambled on about weaving, spinning, dyeing ad infinitum. We met at length with another colleague, whose 50 years as a weaver have given her a unique perspective. I also met and reconnected with dozens of weavers and spinners in my classes, all of whom make contributions to my work, my life, my thinking in various and unpredictable ways.

I love to spin with friends, meet with people at conferences, go to my book group, talk to the people who happen by at my local yarn store; all these conversations, whether fiber-related or not, affect the work I do.



I also read blogs, read forums online about spinning, weaving and knitting, and love to ramble through photos of work being done: Ravelry is especially useful for this.



Seek out people of like mind. Find your people. Find people who are positive and happy, who think for themselves. Find people who make things, who build and grow and play, who think there is always something new to try. You'll know your people: if they make you happy, if you can laugh and learn, and if they inspire you, if you feel happy when you are with them.

Sometimes, you know your people just by the outfit: