"Fool"

...a remarkable fiber

Dear Friend and Fellow Maker,

Have you ever been asked why you spend so much time making what you make? If you knit, have you ever had someone ask you why you don’t just go to the store and simply buy a pair of socks or a sweater since it would require so much less of your time and money? If you spin wool into yarn, have you ever had someone ask why you would do such a thing when you can purchase yarn from a big box store or order it online for an even easier experience of acquiring it? Has anyone ever said to you who paint, or play an instrument, or write… “you must have a lot of patience!”

I have heard all of these questions, statements and more of the kind. And while they are innocently asked, what I hear in my head is someone else’s version of a tiny hissing whisper from the recesses of my own mind…”does any of this really matter?” “is it foolish to spend a life creating and making?” “am I crazy that spinning, knitting, weaving and drawing bring me such joy?”

In Dappleland, Nonni and the mice who live behind the walls of her cottage, spin a special fiber called Fool. This word is pronounced in the same way we pronounce Wool. There is no long “oo” sound. It is the same pronunciation as “full”. The fiber is from a special breed of sheep which live on the Island of Pure Delight. It is very much like wool, but has a way of shimmering in some light, and especially in shadows. This glowing property to the fiber is hard to describe in words. The mice who spin and work with Fool, know that this fiber, from which so much of what their daily life is comprised, contains Light of some kind. They also know where the Light comes from as the story of their great-great-grandmother Eleanor is passed down among the generations of mice.

(Reading to Macy, Purl, and Marisol , the mice whose stories you can read in my recent book, The Spinning House: Stories to Light the Way)

In writing about this Fool, I wanted to “say without saying” that this life as an artist can appear to be a foolish endeavor. It does not bring in loads of money or prestige or achievement. It is, however, a very rich and Full life, one which I would not trade for the world. The fiber I spin as a maker (and the “yarns” that I write and illustrate) carries this double meaning…a fool’s endeavor and a full endeavor.¹

The work we do, spinning whatever it is we have been granted to spin — be it fiber, stories, drawings, weavings, music and the like, spins Light into our world. In a very real way, it is through these creative endeavors that Light shines into our own lives, our families, our friends and beyond. I do not often see this in my own work as a maker, but I definitely see it in the creative works of others, as I am encouraged, delighted and uplifted by what they make. If you have a niggling thought that your creations are just foolish whims, I hope you’ll think again, and take hold of the fullness and delight in creating things with your hands. In making things, joy and delight starts to bubble up and before you know it…sparks will fly!

Keep spinning the Light!

Jennifer

1. The same can be said for living a life of faith in Christ as the Light and source of all living. It may seem foolish to some. But oh how full of grace and mercy, light and love, is a life lived in surrender to Him who is Light, who has loved us so well.