Looking Back, Looking Forward



Black Bear cub at Wild Instincts, Rhinelander, WI.

A little catching up,... I am a volunteer for Wild Instincts, Rhinelander, WI, a wildlife rehab facility.  As a rescue driver for them, I rarely get a call, in winter, to go out and bring in wildlife in winter, so knowing they were working hard to get their new building ready for the spring "deluge," I went over to help paint walls for a day in January, and again in February.  While there, it was time for Mark Naniot, registered rehabber, to feed two baby black bears.  After he fed the first one, he asked if I'd like to hold it while he fed the second.  A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, I happily held the now contented baby for a few minutes.  Of course while holding him, he peed on me, so I spent the afternoon smelling like baby bear urine, and yes, I tossed my clothes when I arrived home.  A month later, I was able to hold him again, this time I had a paper towel under his little bottom, and thankfully, no "accident."  I am happy to report the two cubs were placed in a den with a mom and her two cubs. 

To read more about these and other black bears, go to the Wild Instincts blog, http://wildinstincts.wordpress.com.  There are some amazing videos there!



WI Northwoods, Autumn 2012.

We had quite a beautiful autumn this year, good color as we'd had more rain than we've had over the past few years. 



Milo, watching me work outdoors.



Sock machine demo on Oct. 6, 2012.

On Saturday, October 6th, the Lake Country Weavers had their fiber arts demonstrations and sale in Eagle River, WI.  As I am currently the only sock-cranker in the group, and the sock machine is more portable than my looms, that is what I usually demonstrate on.  Then a call came from an area gallery, would I like to have my socks in their gallery for November, so I got busy cranking again to have socks to take over.

A few of the socks made in October.

Detail of "School Days Plaid" socks.

Cranking socks on an sunny autumn day.

Socks at the gallery.

Time to get back to my sketchbooks.

It feels like I've been doing the same kind of weaving for far too long.  I've been thinking and asking myself for the past year, "what is it I really want to weave?"  I finally came up with answers, and bit by bit, pieces of it have been falling into place.  

So, with the new year it almost here, I have a lot of learning and exploring to do at Shuttle Works Studio!



Shuttle Works Studio on an early winter morning.