As the Winter Solstice approaches, I’m drawn inward, tuning into the cycles of nature and the rhythm of the seasons. This time of year brings a sense of restfulness and reflection. The quiet beauty of winter, with the hearth glowing warmly nearby, inspires me to create. Cozy indoor moments spent spinning by the fire are mirrored in my work, where I weave light and warmth into my handspun yarn and hand woven art. The snowy landscape outside my doorstep transforms into both muse and canvas, guiding me through the darkness and toward new beginnings.
Snowflakes, frost, and the softness of winter light inspire my handspun yarn. For The Cosmic Spindle, these quiet white tones reflect the stillness of the season and invite new creative beginnings. Each skein becomes a meditation on winter’s strength and simplicity, echoing the beauty of the natural world.
Stacking Wood: A Winter Tradition That Fuels the Hearth
Preparation is a cornerstone of this season, and it reflects in both my life and my work. Just as I stack wood to keep the hearth warm and my dye pots bubbling, I nurture the energy and intention behind each piece I create for The Cosmic Spindle. Winter invites this kind of quiet focus—a time to honor both the warmth of tradition and the creative sparks that emerge in stillness.
Winter’s Grace & Strength:
Handspun Yarn & Swan Feather
This skein of handspun yarn, paired with a swan feather I gathered along the Slocan River, feels imbued with winter’s grace and strength. The swans migrate here every year, a short walk from my workshop, embodying the quiet resilience of this season. For The Cosmic Spindle, these moments in nature flow into my work, weaving beauty and intention into every piece.
Lonely Tree at the Slocan River
This tree, standing tall on the water’s edge of the Slocan River, reflects the strength found in solitude. Its snow-covered branches echo the stillness of the season and the quiet rhythms that guide my fiber art during these darker months. Winter’s invitation to slow down becomes a cornerstone of my creative process at The Cosmic Spindle.
Winter’s Simple Beauty: A Circle of Connection
This small white circle weaving was created to honor the simplicity and beauty of winter. Set against the snowy backdrop of the land I call home, it embodies the cyclical nature of the seasons—a central thread in my work as a fiber artist. At The Cosmic Spindle, every weaving is a meditation on connection, nature, and the rhythm of life.
As winter’s stillness begins to fade, the promise of spring stirs just beyond the horizon, guiding the next thread of this year’s journey.
Early Spring: A Season of Renewal and Inspiration
As the earth begins to awaken from its winter slumber, I find myself drawn to the subtle transformation around me. The handspun yarn in these photos reflects the soft yet vibrant colors of early spring—the shades of earth as she sheds her blanket of snow and starts to reveal the rich soil beneath. Each skein captures the unfurling of life, as nature’s palette comes to life once again.
For me, as a fiber artist, early spring is a time to witness the colors of the earth as they emerge. I pull from my stash of fibers, choosing hues that echo the soft greens, warm browns, and rocky earth. These fibers become a reflection of the land around me, a tribute to nature’s quiet yet powerful transformation.
Spring’s Green Return: The Greening of the Earth
The rich green wool hanging to dry in the forest near my workshop embodies the earth’s return to her luscious glory. Just as the trees bud and the grass grows, the wool takes on the vibrancy of new life, ready to be spun on my spinning wheel and woven into something beautiful and lasting.
Honoring the Spring New Moon: Rituals of Renewal
In spring, I embrace simple rituals to honor the turning of the seasons. One of these rituals last Spring was the creation of a flower petal mandala, designed to reflect the energy of the new moon and the promise of what lies ahead. A gentle reminder to honor the cycles of nature and the intentions we set as we move forward into the brighter days of the year.
The Softest Colors of Spring: A Time for Gentle Beauty
My hand dyed and hand spun yarn in the softest colors of spring reflect the quiet beauty of the season. As the earth bursts forth with blooms, I too feel inspired to create pieces that carry the same delicate yet powerful energy.
The Flower Garden Portal: Dreams and Hopes in Bloom
Finally, we arrive at the Flower Garden Portal- 19-inch full diameter. Loaded with my textured art yarns- hand dyed & hand spun. Fiber Art for the home. A circle within a circle, this handwoven piece symbolizes the dreams and hopes we’ve planted in the earth and in our hearts. Like the garden itself, the yarn within this portal is full of texture, love, and the promise of new growth. Each piece I create at The Cosmic Spindle carries with it a piece of this energy—rooted in the earth, growing towards the light.
Summer: A Bounty of Inspiration and Color
Summer for me is the season where color truly comes alive. With an abundance of vibrant hues right outside my doorstep, the land around The Cosmic Spindle workshop provides endless inspiration. From the exotic lilies to the bold dahlias and gladiolas, smaller flowers like petunias, pansies, strawflower and aster… summer offers a palette that feels alive with energy.
Each of these photos captures a piece of that energy:
Pink Lily in a Basket of Hand Dyed Roving: A celebration of the season’s blooms, ready to blend with other fibers and spin into something new.
Golden Sunshine Yarn with Rudbeckia Flowers: Vibrant, sun-drenched colors that evoke the warmth and brightness of summer days.
Juicy Red Cherries and Soft Merino Roving: Nature’s rich hues reflected in both the fruit of the earth and the fibers I craft.
Summer also brings me closer to the water.
Slocan Lake, a place we explore by boat in the summer, offers endless inspiration. We embark on overnight camping trips along its primitive shores, where the serene calm of the water, the joy of paddleboarding, swimming, and beach volleyball, and simply being at the beach all fuel my creativity. The vibrant energy of the lake and its surroundings are deeply woven into my color palette, dyeing process, spinning, and weaving.
Fall: Harvesting the Colors of the Earth
As we approach the Fall Equinox, the earth begins its slow transformation. The colors shift, from the vibrant green of summer to the deeper, more introspective tones of autumn. Harvest time brings an abundance of inspiration, from the colors of the forest floor to the bountiful crops of the garden.
Harvest Colors in Hand Dyed Roving: Deep autumnal tones that reflect the beauty of nature’s harvest
Purple Corn and Rich Yarns:
The deep hues of purple corn,
a stunning visual metaphor
for the change in season.
Fall Harvest: Sunflowers, fallen leaves, and the golden-orange hues that define this time of year.
Simplicity in Beauty:
The quiet beauty of cones, decaying vegetation, and the mysterious, unique colors found in nature’s cycles. There is beauty even in death, and I embody this transformation in my spinning process, reflecting the richness of life and decay alike.
As the days shorten and the mood shifts, my yarns reflect the deepening shadows and the return to the stillness of winter.
Moody
Yarns
As the seasons spiral towards the winter solstice once more, the cycle of life and creativity continues. In each yarn I spin, each weaving I create, I find connection to nature’s eternal rhythm. The Cosmic Spindle is my tribute to this dance of the seasons, a journey that weaves together the quiet beauty of winter with the vibrant energy of summer, and all the moments in between.
Your writings have allowed me to see more of who you are and why you chose the art you chose. I see how the seasons and your lifestyle are woven into your creations. Especially the colour pallets. Beautiful! Keep doing what your doing, we need more of this in our world!
Absolutely in LOVE!!!