Faerie Taoist Weaving

A generous friend sent me a bunch of her spindles to encourage my endeavors as a newbie spinner and weaver.

She kindly left a little bit of fibers she’d spun on each spindle. I took three of her yarns from the spindles to weave freeform around a rock, to gift her as a small thanks (heh, unintentional pun!) for her awesome support.

I love the rock—it’s the sort of precious, perfectly polished, perfectly round, and perfectly symmetrical stone you find on the beach. Came across it on a peaceful lake trip and thought it perfect for wet felting. But it is perfect plus for weaving around. When you enclose a stone in wool felt, the felting often hides some of the stone’s irregularities anyway. So this stone is better used more visibly so you can see its quiet perfection.

I saw stones with weavings on them that were simple, orderly, and serene. Zen. So I sat down to weave this piece with great hopes.

I am clearly not Zen.

I am Taoist. … But …

I’m what I’ve dubbed Faerie Taoist. And my inner Taoist monk is a trickster. Mad Hatter and Arachne joined forces for this piece.

I was going to call the piece Turtle Island. … then decided it would be more appropriate to call it Discworld. All hail, Terry Pratchett!

I hope my friend enjoys the wee, mad weaving. Oh, my goodness, you Terry Pratchett fans will see what I just accidentally did: you know, like “wee mad men?”