Today I take you to the forest for another essay on Substack: Spider silk, where a shopping list invites you in between Water Stride’s pool and Hazel’s spring shoots.
“After having gulped down the last of the morning dew I threaded a basket onto my tail, placed the shopping list underneath my acorn hat and scurried along the path downforest.”
My life is a bit chaotic at the moment with a crazy work situation and an ill father. I don’t have the energy I would like, and the blog posts are sparse. I ask for your patience.
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Today I offer you a poem on Substack: Fire and form. Or two, really, clashed together and woven into each other in an interesting format.
One of fire, the other of writing. One written in the form prescribed by the other. Read as it is or listen to me reading it for you. The poem comes from the invitation of week 1 in a 7-week writing course I’m taking. I spend a lot of time writing and shaping and find myself growing as a writer, peeling the writing onion to get to the deep stuff. You can read Fire and form here. Enjoy!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
I use a lot of writing journals, for different kinds of writing. One for morning reflections, one for a secret project, one for writing whatever wants to be written and one for a seven-week writing course that starts in just a couple of days. Today I show you my just finished journal cover.
I do have a store bought journal cover for my secret writing project, but it turns out that it isn’t in a standard size, so none of my A5 journals fit. That was my cue to make one myself.
You can see a short video reel of my journal cover on my Instagram.
Material
I wanted to use material that I already had in my stash. As a premium member of the Berta’s Flax Guild I have a box of membership gifts from Christiane Seufferlein who runs the guild. In the stash I had the perfect fabric for the cover, a hand woven piece (cotton I think) from a German dowry somewhere between 1900 and 1950. The lining is a fabric sample in printed linen my friend Cecilia wrapped a birthday gift in.
The spine is reinforced with an extra strip of fabric and secured with sprinkled sashiko stitch stars. Two ribbons for closing and two pen loops inside the bow.
The embroidery linen yarns come from flea market finds. I bought the linen bands at an estate sale after a textile profile who passed away during the autumn. I bought the sashiko thread new, but for earlier projects.
Model
I actually started out browzing for journal covers to buy, but when I decided to make one myself I put on my inspiration goggles instead. First I was leaning toward an envelope type of solution with a button on the front, but after a while I simplified my plan to a plain model where the jackets of the journals are slid into the cover pockets to help stabilizing the structure. Ribbons at the spine keep the journals centered and in place. Loops for a couple of pens and a simple bow tie to close the construction.
A simple pocket model for my journal cover. I slide the first book under the left ribbon and the jacket into the left pocket.
The first thing I did after cutting out the pieces was to add a strip from the main fabric as a stiffener for the spine. I also spent many hours stitching the stars across the spine to keep the spine in place and for reinforcement.
I slide the left book underneath the first ribbon and into the left pocket, the middle under the second ribbon and the right into the right pocket. All the books sit snugly and the journal covers are sturdy.
Sashiko stars
The star section is my favorite detail in the project. I was brave enough to stitch them without a template, I just used the checquered fabric pattern as a guide. I did all the horizontal lines first, then added the diagonals, one direction at a time. This resulted in a sweet rhythm where my thoughts came and went in the same pace the stitches did. The wonky stars and sliding arrangement add a nice contrast to the right angles of the woven pattern.
Cross-stitched monogram
When the stars were strewn I added the monogram. I kept it simple with a cross-stitch from Anna Bauer’s Mönsterbok, a book filled with patterns for both cross-stitching and knitting. I can’t manage one stitch for every one thread in the aida fabric anymore, and doubling the distance between the stitches was still quite fiddly. I really need a new prescription for my glasses.
I just love pulling the aida fabric threads out after a cross-stitch embroidery. The photo is a screenshot
Finding a suitable colour to stitch onto a checquered fabric was a challenge. Even if the apple green is quite close in hue to the light blue, it still stands out a little from the jumble of blues.
I sewed the main fabric and the lining together, including the two ribbons for the inside of the spine, and then added a seam around the edges after I had turned the right sides out. This is where my plan was to stop the embellishing and folding the pockets into place, but a poem came my way and shook me about.
When a poem shakes your foundation
I was introduced to this very short, but potent poem by Cleo Wade:
A message from today, by Cleo Wade maybe don't tomorrow your life away
I love a good word mischief, and brutally turning an adverb into a verb is such a lovely way of giving a poem the space it needs to be and breathe in the world. So I knew I needed to stitch it onto the pocket of my journal cover.
Backstitching
I found a backstitch font, 2×3 stitches, and started stitching, with the help of the same aida fabric I used for the monogram. It was very fiddly to sew the tiny stitches while at the same time making sure/hoping the needle caught the main fabric too and not just the aida fabric.
By changing a few photo settings I got the clearest possible of the image. Still, only I know what the words say, by memory and not by actually deciphering the words.
I knew there was a big risk the poem would be unintelligible and I almost gave up, a couple of times. But I realized this was for me and I didn’t care if the letters were wonky and jumbled. The poem was there to remind me to write whatever wants to be written, to today my writing now instead of tormorrowing it away. I needed to work the words through the stitching and have the memory of them sizzling in my hands. My fingers are still sore from the intense needle spelling, but the words are there, helping me keep the focus.
More writing
Next week I start a seven-week writing immersion led by Beth Kempton. I have taken many of her classes, including the Book proposal Masterclass that resulted in a book proposal that landed me an agent and a book deal. The journal cover is finished and packed with notebooks and pens, ready to spill across the pages. I can’t wait!
The journal cover is finished! It fits three journals, two pens and a box of extra cartridges.
I do miss being so intensively in the project, though. I’m thinking about sewing a small wallet for cards and small stuff. We hardly use coins and bills in Sweden anymore, so I would like a different model, more card shaped and with secret spaces and pockets. Do you have any pattern ideas?
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
A couple of weeks ago I launched this year’s free five-day challenge. I call it Be Kind. Through five days the participants get five challenges and the invitation to reflect about them under the theme of being kind.
Over 250 people have taken the challenge so far. As a teacher I get the privilege of reading the comments. The kindness you are showing yourselves and your classmates in the course is truly heartwarming. So many of you discover new ways of looking at the spinning process and your part in it. And while you are finding ways of being kind to yourselves, you are being kind to other spinners, just by sharing your experiences in the classroom.
The kindness in the spinning community
I see this every time I create a five-day challenge. There is so much kindness in the spinning community and I get to experience it first hand. While I do put the course together, you do the hard work – the challenging of your habits, movement patterns and ways of thinking about spinning. Even if I know you will make lots of progress, I am always amazed at the discoveries you make, just by stopping and listening to mind, body and spirit. In that regard, all the challenges I have made are about being kind. One student writes in Be Kind: ”Each day I looked forward to the next lesson. The course has encouraged me to experiment and has reinforced the idea that there are no real mistakes only chances to learn and possibly make more discoveries that can feed into future spinning and weaving.” It is comments like these that remind me over and over again of the kindness in the spinning community.
I do genuinely thank you all for your commitment and reflections. If you haven’t taken the challenge, please do, and be kind to yourself while at the same time contributing to the spinning community. If you have taken it already, do share it with your spinning friends.
And I keep writing. The cross-stitch sign on the door says Jag skriver, meaning I write, and is a kind reminder to my family not to disturb me.
A book update
Meanwhile, I have revisited my book for the first time since I handed it in to my editor in September. I got the book manuscript back from my editor last week and it was sweet to pay the script a visit again, with a fresh glance. There were some smaller adjustments I needed to make, but the big thing was that I need to get the word count down by up to a third. I knew it would happen, but slicing a script written from the heart is still a big thing. With the four month break from the book, though, the words aren’t still vibrating on my skin and I can take a step back and see the text from a more mature perspective. And I will be kind to myself when I do.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Today on Substack: What is it about January?, a reflective piece on things we start in January but abandon in March. For many people it is getting your body moving, for me it is usually new food experiments, including this year’s overnight fermented bread frenzy. Read the whole piece on Substack.
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Today on Substack: Novemberness. About what the trees and November teach me about life and light.
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
I sent my finished book manuscrip to my editor this week, after a solo writing retreat where I read the whole book aloud. Read about it on Substack: Press Send.
I know that no word is written in vain, that some words need to be written, peeled off the writing onion, for others to emerge, flourish, ripen and sing.
While I write mostly on spinning and other crafts in a blog style here on the blog, Substack is where I share more focused writing on a broader range of subjects. You are welcome to have a look. Substack is a platform where writers share their work. Perhaps you got an email yesterday about my essay. You can read it in the email (and respond from there if you like) or on Substack in your browser or app. It is totally free.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Many readers have asked me about my cold baths. Today I give you a whole post straight from the tub. If you’re cold, grab a cuppa and come with me to the lake.
As some of you know, I take a cold baths in my lake every day of the year. The only times I skip the bath are when I’m ill or if I don’t have access to a lake. -18 °C hasn’t scared me. Only once have I skipped the bath due to harsh weather, a combination of -12 °C and strong wind.
Each day a new bath
The night has left a 10 centimeter cover of powder snow. Parents are leaving their kids at the kindergarten, dog walkers take their usual routes, joggers whoosh by, flustered in the cold air. I am curious about what the ice looks like today. You see, it’s always different, always new.
Every day a new bath. Left, January, around -5 °C. Center, mid-February, snowing, above 0 °C. Right, early March, newly snowed, temperature above 0 °C
Depending on temperature, downpour, clouds and humidity the ice can take endless shapes and textures. Yesterday, after a cold night, the ice in the hole was solid, dense and a challenge to break. As I arrive to the dock this morning and peak over the edge, I see the hole crowned with a humbly opaque lid. I can’t tell yet whether it is solid or mushy. Still, it is -6 °C and the possibilities are many. A starry night sky makes the ice stronger while a cloudy night may leave just a thin crust.
Cracking the lid in early January. Since I’m wearing my warmMoroccan High Atlas pants I assume the temperature is at least below -5 °C. If it’s below -10 °C I go down to the lake in the evening to break the lid again so it won’t be so hard to break the next morning.
I wait for my cold bath friends to arrive before I break the lid. I want them to see the beautiful hole too.
Descend
When they have admired the lid I skip down onto the thick ice and start poking the cover of the hole with the shovel. The cover is sort of a lightly frozen snowfall slush that yields softly under my poking. Carving out the lid along the edges is done in no time and I get to take the first dip. Dressed in socks, mittens, hat and bikini I descend the ladder with the anticipation of a child at an ice cream stand.
Early January cold bath. The world around me stops spinning when I am in the water. Only the movement of my breaths and the lake around me matter now. Hat pattern by Marie Amelie designs.
As my foot slides below the surface, the slush yields and invites me into its royal mushiness. A firework of bubbles instantly rises from underneath, covering my descending body with a thousand sparkles, tickling, tingling, fizzing. I giggle out loud as I settle in the ice throne, neck deep in the water, hands and feet on the rim, head comfortably leaned back against the softly cushioned edge. Last night’s snow has added to the height of the edge, and together with the deep slush I feel gently held in my winter tub. The metro moves across the bridge as I lift my gaze above the snowy edge.
Eight breaths
The thermometer is deeply frozen into the ice and I haven’t seen more than the string it is attached to since the new year. I have no reason to believe that the water has changed from the 0 °C it was back then.
Tranquil morning dips in January, February and April. The ice is new every day.
Eight slow breaths in the water, two minutes. That is what I allow myself in these temperatures. Body wants to breathe fast and furious, in panic, run away from the lion. Brain says ”Stay. Slow down, Inhale. Feel the embrace of the water. Put the world on hold. Exhale. Relax into the lake. Nobody will die.” I go with Brain and stay. Still, Body keeps persisting for the first seconds, then silences, muttering, and finally yields to the cold, allowing it to come.
Presence
I breathe. Water, ice and bubbles surface from deep below. The hole has been shaped by the meeting of ice and water. Feet and arms on the ledge like a slice of star fruit in a fizzling punch bowl, mittened hands softly touching the rim. Cold perforating my skin. I don’t know where my legs end and the water begins.
A morning bath in the rare December sun. The hat is my nalbound, fulled and embroidered.
Exhale. Steamy white smoke slowly billows out of my nostrils. Inhale. Air warms up in pirouettes in my nose cavity, warming up my whole body as it whirls through me to keep me safe. I am in my breath, yet I hear the floes softly tinkling in the water. I am in my body, yet I see another metro arch across the city bridge. I am in the lake, yet I feel the warmth from within. In stillness, yet in constant movement between my inside and outside worlds, my breath connecting me to the elements. My body smiles. I am here. I am strong.
The breath of Mother Lake
As I stretch my breaths I hear the sound of a ship breaking the ice in the middle of the bay. After a while I feel it – the water softly and slowly rising and falling inside the hole, like Mother Lake breathing. The waves from the ship have travelled 200 meters underneath the thick ice and play peekaboo in my morning bath.
A December dip in the delicious dawn.
Two minutes, eight breaths. I allow my legs to effortlessly sink and find the bottom of the ladder. As I climb up my skin is pounding red, from the edge of my socks up to my neck. I look back down at the hole and the covered lake all the way to the waking city on the other side. I whisper ”Thank you Lake. I’ll see you tomorrow”. And I will. Come day, come bath. Come what may.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. So subscribe!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden!by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
