From Flock to Friendship

 

It feels both very beautiful and deeply poignant to put all of my love into making Friendship Bracelets. What started as a tactile therapy for my tinnitus, has become a deep rooted healing of self within the cultural context of where I live in West Wales. I have fallen in love with wool.

My wonderful Circle of Friends have been helping me to re-build my life by sharing their woolly skills and knowledge .

Bev, my neighbour and friend, gifted me a fleece from her flock which, to Jeff's horror, I then washed in the bath. I trimmed it all up myself in our shed, infusing the wool with a wild concoction of essential oils.

My friend Caroline visited me at Quiet Space Studio and taught me to drop spin, followed by my dear friend Susan, who taught me to twin ply on a spinning wheel.

The deeper I have become lost in the process of putting love into my little bracelets, the more my soul has become found.

And then a woman called into Quiet Space Studio to chat to me about spinning and she told me how she kept her own flock so that she knew where her wool was coming from. How utterly wonderful. It was as if Mother Earth herself had sent this angel with a message. 

'Jeff ... ' I said tentatively that evening, 'I have a burning desire.'

'Oh no, now what,' he teased.

'I have a burning desire to keep sheep.'

And so the seed is planted. I have set an intention that I will have 3 sheep. I have no idea how to take care of them nor where I will keep them. I do not need to know. All I need to do is trust that the Universe has a plan and these desires have come from me letting go of knowing why.