It’s hard to know what to do with just one skein of yarn when you’re a weaver. I had just one skein of yarn hand-spun by my friend Therese…

When I was a little girl, in the summer, at Vacation Bible School, we would celebrate “Christmas in July.” There would be an artificial Christmas tree, and we would make handmade ornaments…

So I’d just finished photographing the tallitot that I've been working on, when Bruce comes in with his iPad in hand to tell me that there's been a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh…

Sometimes I don’t know exactly where I get my ideas for weaving. Sometimes I do.

That's what the daughter of LA Times columnist Sandy Banks said, in true Hollywood fashion, about snow after a family trip back east for Christmas. I, a native Californian, mostly agree.

It's always fun to weave something special - especially if I know the person I'm weaving for.

My friend Kevin asked me to weave a shawl for his wife Margaret for their 30th wedding anniversary. Thirty years! I was at their wedding - I couldn't possibly be that old!

A Sunday, pretty much like all others. A new day, a new week, a new year. Full of possibilities.

At last - I can talk about it.

I don’t often take commissions for my woven clothing. My projects are usually planned out well in advance, using the same threading for several variations to save warping time. But when my friend Risé asked me to weave a special scarf for daughter Chelsea for Christmas, I readily agreed.

Sometimes I pray when I weave. Sometimes I sing. Sometimes I hold weird, random conversations with myself. Like this…

Today I started weaving the purple Star of Bethlehem stole. It seems appropriate on this day to weave in the color of prayer and penitence.

We have something of a St. Patrick's Day ritual at home. I make Bruce's favorite dinner - which happens to be corned beef and cabbage - and then we watch "The Quiet Man" …

So, Moses is up on the mountain with God. He’s been there for forty days. This is when he gets the stone tablets with the ten commandments. But in addition, God gives Moses some very specific instructions on the construction of a place of worship - the Tabernacle.

This is where the story gets truly exciting - if you’re a weaver.

Where does the creative process begin? For me, I find it can come from either a thought, or a thing.

My New Year's Day tradition includes roses. Not a Rose Parade - many years living close to the parade route in Pasadena kind of finished that off for me. No, New Year's Day is the day I traditionally prune my roses.

Naps are one of my favorite things - rare but favorite. Best nap opportunities seem to happen on Sunday afternoons. When the weather is nice I like to nap on our front patio - but sometimes it gets a bit chilly when the patio moves into the shade. A light blanket is called for.

It was almost exactly 25 years ago that I started weaving. Even though I was struggling with the onset of rheumatoid arthritis that was nowhere near under control, I knew that weaving was something I had to do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_of_Thyatira

My current weaving project is a scarf that includes a fur-type yarn called "Baby Monkey" in the warp. Baby Monkey is exceptionally soft and entirely faux fur.