The first day of February, the author Austin Kleon posted a simple downloadable PDF on his Substack newsletter. I downloaded it because I thought, maybe this is simple enough for me to follow. The idea is to take the thing you want to get better at and do a little bit of it every day. February is the shortest month and also 28 days makes a nice 7 x 4 grid. I thought I’d try it and the fact that I was trying to finish the rocks tapestry didn’t hurt my motivation.

As Kleon’s poster says, you just practice every day and when you do, you put an X in the box. No rules about how long you have to practice or what practice even means. Just do it.

I moved to this new home and studio almost a year and a half ago now and I’ve had many requests from followers and students for some tips on studio organization. I definitely understand the hope that someone will have just the answer that will make me feel like I know where everything is and it is easy to use.

I was searching for some tapestry teaching video footage on some old hard drives recently and came across the recordings from my senior recital in college. Most of you probably don’t know that I was a music major as an undergrad. I played piano and clarinet while attending Lawrence University in Wisconsin. I was a liberal arts major among a conservatory of bachelor of music majors. I knew I didn’t want to be a performer, but I was interested in teaching so I took a lot of piano pedagogy classes. My senior thesis was writing a piano pedagogy curriculum for preschoolers.*

For all the decades since I graduated from Lawrence I have avoided listening to that recording. And that is because of what happened in my piano playing before the recital.

I like learning new fiber skills. Sure, I made granny square afghans like all geeky kids in the 1980s, but I hadn’t crocheted much of anything since. Then Gist Yarn’s amazing team started a sister brand Zollie and I wanted to try one of their kits. Marty the duck was the one for me!

I knit a lot and I’m used to following patterns and of course searching YouTube for whatever weird abbreviation or odd stitch someone is asking for. Since my crocheting was rusty, I was off to a questionable start when one of the first skills was to make a magic ring. But then I realized I was not alone. This kit is not only gorgeous, it is not simply a kit. It is an online class that comes with all the materials and tools needed. As a maker of online courses, this presentation of a class seems like a genius idea.

As of today, the days start getting longer again. We’re at the darkest point of the year in the northern hemisphere. In my new home I can see the stars shining brightly most nights and it has been fascinating to watch their position each evening. Locating constellations was hard at first because there are so many visible stars, but of course as I re-learn where the winter constellations are, I can find them again.

The Milky Way turns a bit each night and before we know it the summer stars will be visible. But while the darkness of winter is upon us, being able to watch the sky rotate above me is a good reminder of the rhythm of the natural world and perhaps of our own lives.

I’ve come by a few new tapestry tools lately such as a new set of bobbins, some bones, wooden needles, and shed sticks came from Bobbin Boy. I also got a new tapestry fork from Magpie Woodworks. Along with these wonderfully useful tools, there was an unexpected gift. What a treasure trove all in the last few months.

A really well-made tool is such a joy. I think having a tool that works well for your body and fits your hand well is an important part of spending time making things. It is always interesting to me that the tools I love are not the ones everyone else does! But that shouldn’t be surprising since we are all different people who weave and use our bodies in different ways.