It’s a magical day at work when a co-worker gifts you with a handmade Harry Potter wand!

Sometimes Boston looks a little like Diagon Alley…

…and Samantha Stevens lives nearby.

Every morning I pull a tarot card for a little advice and something to meditate on throughout the day. I started this practice a couple of months ago as a way to get acquainted with the tarot and to learn the cards’ meanings.  Wands have been coming up hot and heavy for a week now. Wands represent the element of fire. They represent passion, creativity, strength and overcoming fears.  Wands can mean the start of a new project; they also represent spirituality.  It’s no coincidence that wands are showing up as I re-start my tarot journey—my new project.

Today’s card is the 9 of Wands.

New projects, spiritual journeys and persistence can be represented here.  For sure the wands—and this little budding flower– are encouraging me to pursue my interests, to make progress and to overcome my fear. I’ve studied tarot in the past but always kept my practice hidden. (You can blame Catholic guilt for that—I sure do!)  The little bud will grow into a strong, graceful bloom, and I am ready to “come out” with my tarot practice. My interests, “weird” or not, are part of who I am.

 In the traditional tarot decks, this card shows a man with a wand, being partially blocked by eight other wands, indicating a delay or obstacles to overcome to get to the finish line. The White Sage Tarot image is the opposite: calm, serene, encouraging. The wand at the forefront is beginning to bud. There is a small, soft bud on the vine. It looks like a pussywillow!  See the pretty pink ribbon?  It winds loosely and gracefully around the vine. The other eight wands are behind the first one. The large vine may seem like an obstacle, as it blocks the reader’s way, but it also looks like it’s being offered as a gift for the taking. It’s up to the reader. No obstacles here.

God and the universe are giving me a green light to be myself. Actually, I’ve had it all along.

My interpretations here are based on traditional card meanings as well as my own personal interpretation of the images on the deck I’m using.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

I don’t care what the meteorological calendar says, as far as I’m concerned, autumn begins on September 1st. Right on schedule I pull out whatever WIP I abandoned in June and start to work on it again.  I buy spinning fiber and take up my drop spindles like a woman possessed. I seek out comfy sweaters and cozy cowls and begin to plan my upcoming projects. As I write this, I need to knit the sleeves on a short-sleeved pullover that I had planned on finishing before the weather got warm. Once I do that, I’m going to start on a sleek, boxy cardigan that looks like a fun knit.  I feel renewed and energized in the fall–even as the summer-loving folks around me complain that they hate it because “everything’s dying.” But I live in New England, so for every person who wants it to stay hot, there are plenty of fall fanatics to hang out with.

Over the weekend I had the chance to attend a fiber arts festival in Rowley. Unwind Weekend offered classes in spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, needle felting, and crochet.  Alongside the classes a small marketplace sold hand-dyed yarns and spinning batts, cute handsewn items, small needle felting kits and handmade soaps. Unwind is held twice a year, in March and again in September, and is sponsored by Romney Ridge Yarns. I was excited because I had the chance to take classes in spinning on a wheel, and crochet. I’ve wanted to learn–and tried to learn–both of these skills in the past, without getting very far.  Over the weekend, though, I had some breakthroughs. I spun on a wheel for a good two hours, and worked a pretty little crochet circle.

I produced a bobbin full of yarn on a borrowed Ashford Traveller. Can I tell you how much I love this wheel? The fiber take-up was smooth so I got the hang of it relatively quickly. I spun on the Traveller for a good two hours. It was thrilling to see the bobbin fill with actual YARN! It was exciting as I moved the yarn down each hook in the row. Joyce, our instructor, was amazing. She made us treadle without any fiber on the wheels at first to get the pace. That was really helpful. She showed us how to draft fiber. Then she explained the parts of the wheel, and explained how tension controlled how fast or slow the fiber fed into the orifice. Tension always confused me because I thought it affected how much twist went into the yarn.

I’ve been spinning on spindles for years so I knew how to draft. because of the treadle practice, as soon as I put the fiber into the orifice, it took up nicely and I was actually spinning! A lot of you are very experienced on wheels, but you know how it feels when something finally clicks.

I bought a batt of beautiful merino/silk fiber from Rag Hill Farms, who were vending at the event. This color is all the colors of the ocean, with lots of deep blue, light blue, and green. Here I am posing proudly with my first ever skein of wheelspun yarn.

The finished product.

I’ll save the crochet for another post. In the meantime, here, enjoy this photo of an alpaca.  See you soon!