Today I’m at the fulling mill, but I still have a poem for you over on Substack. I call it The fern inkwell. Welcome!
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 have no blog post here today. Instead I have a whole essay on my newly started Substack account. On Substack I will share my writing first and foremost. Sometimes about spinning, sometimes in other topics, but all for the sake of letting my words flow in the direction they take me. I will still write here on the blog, but sometimes my writing mind needs to take me to another special place, and land on my Substack page.
New weekend I will be at the fulling mill with my fulling candidates and I can’t promise you a post.
Happy reading!
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.
One year ago I took Beth Kempton’s Book proposal Masterclass. With the help of the proposal I got an agent in August and a book deal with a U.S. publisher in September. This week I have been on a solo writing retreat, finishing the tenth chapter of my book, Listen to the wool.
If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see more from my writing retreat in my April 2024 video postcard.
I was thrilled when I found Beth Kempton’s virtual writing retreat Breathe, Write, Repeat, and realized that I could go away on a solo writing retreat. I booked an airbnb tiny house by a lake six months ago and I have been longing for it ever since. And now I am here.
Monday
As I roll my suitcase through the train station in Stockholm, people stand at the escalators handing out discount coupons. I board the train to Falun, a town three hours north west of my home in Stockholm. After an hour and a half I see melting snow on the fields that fly by as I point my wooden needle up-down, back and under the nalbinding loops around my thumb. My suitcase is heavy with laptop, mousetrapper, keyboard, books, yoga stuff, ice bath stuff and, yeah, some clothes tool.
I’m nalbinding my way to Falun.
Falun welcomes me with a sweet afternoon sun as the train arrives at the station. The gravel from the winter’s de-icing is still on the bare ground and I need to drag my suitcase along the streets rather than roll it elegantly.
Selma Lagerlöf spent a lot of time in Falun writing. She even mentions the lake Varpan (where my airbnb is situated) in her book The wonderful adventures of Nils.
I don’t have access to my airbnb for a couple of hours, so I sit down at a café. On a shelf on the wall beside me is a booklet about the nobel prize laureate Selma Lagerlöf, who apparently wrote some of her most famous books in Falun. I see it as a good sign of what this town has to offer writewise.
Chocolate conundrum
I do some grocery shopping and hesitate at the chocolate stand. Perhaps I should buy myself a bar of 70 per cent chocolate? Nah, I think, I can’t buy more than the essentials or I’ll sink under the weight of my luggage. I pay for my few products and walk even less elegantly to the bus stop.
After a final walk on a puddled gravel road I finally arrive at my lodging. When I open the door, full of excitement, I see a bar of 70 per cent chocolate on the kitchen table. I smile, put the groceries in the fridge and walk down to the lake to check out the hole in the ice for my morning baths.
Tuesday
And so my writing retreat has begun, actually-really-no-kidding. This is the time I have carved out for myself to breathe, write and repeat. I feel giddy and terrified. What if I can’t deliver, then what? What if I can deliver, then what? But I do as I always do, I start, and trust that the words will flow. I doubt, I do, but then I dance. Or look at the lake, get some fresh air, do what I can to dissolve any blockages that sneak up on me.
A sweet morning dip in lake Varpan.
After my first morning writing session I take a bath in the lake, giddy of excitement over a new tub. The ice is still thick, at least 20 centimeters, but the hosts have maintained the hole through the winter and it is majestic and inviting. Silence cushions me as I sink into the cold and listen to the wind in the trees and my singing heart.
The privilege of getting lost
After a total of four and a half hours of writing with relaxing Japanese music in my ears, I call it a day. The hosts have offered me to borrow a bike, so I roll in to the town center, get lost a couple of times and smile at having the privilege of getting lost in a new town. I imagine I am Helena Bonham Carter’s Lucy Honeychurch in Edwardian dress, lost in streets of Florence, enjoying the view over the Arno, only my Arno is Faluån and I wear hiking pants and I have no poor cousin Charlotte to hold me back.
The born mitten, the oldest find of two-end knitting, carbon dated to between 1490 and 1645.
I walk through the textile department of the Dalarna museum. My heart tingles as I see the Born mitten, the oldest find of two-end knitting, carbon dated to between 1490 and 1645.
A house tour
When I browsed for locations and accommodations I had a few requirements. I wanted a tiny house in two floors with one bedroom. For some reason I imagined that it would feel safe to be in a small space. I wanted a vast view of a lake and large windows where I could work and watch the view. Of course I wanted a bathing ladder close by too. I needed nature around me, but also a reasonably short distance to a town for inspiration and food.
A room with a view.
This house is perfect. The living room has large windows over the lake. I sit at the kitchen table and see only nature. On the top floor, which only covers half the floor space, there is a small bedroom. An old iron gate works as a border between the landing and the open ground floor. A small window by the kitchen sink to peak out on the yard, floor heating all over and a large bathroom. I couldn’t ask for more.
Wednesday
A new day of writing, and I feel confident that I will finish this chapter here. It’s an empowering feeling. I write, take a dip, write some more, meditate, write in another spot and dance. Being able to retreat into a space of my own with no one to answer to or consider does wonders for my writing process. Even if I get blocked – and I do – I have tools to shift the block and allow the words to flow again. My mind is focused.
Giraffes and patisseries
I write for five hours today. The two squirrels that live in a tree nearby skip around on the rock in front of the house every now and then as if to remind me to lift my gaze. My optician tells me to look at the giraffes on the savannah. Our eyes were not constructed for screens, he argues, and we need to use them the way they were intended, to look for predators and danger. So I take the bike to town again to look for some giraffes. Not that I would consider them dangerous, I only decided on giraffes. I find my way through town better now, but even if I take the wrong bike lane from time to time, I know I will get to my destination sooner or later.
Carrot cake, cross stitching and writing. The words Jag skriver mean I write.
I bring my computer to a patisserie in an eighteenth century building and enjoy the sound of rattling teacups and giggling schoolgirls. It feels very grown up to sit with a cup of tea and a carrot cake and edit my chapter. Perhaps Selma Lagerlöf wrote in this patisserie too as she too enjoyed tea and cake.
An oasis among the barns
As I get back to the house I smile at how thoughtfully it has been placed. While it is in a natural garden with the hosts’ house next door and barns and cars all over the yard, the windows are placed in a way that I only see the lake, the trees and the sky when I look out.
Lichen and barns. Could you ask for more?
When I do my yoga practice in the morning I see the surrounding nature from different perspectives – sideways, tilted and upside down. It helps me to see different perspectives in my writing as well. In my evening yoga I see nothing but a single light at the other end of the lake, contrary to the bright city I see across my own lake at home.
Thursday
I did it. I finished the tenth chapter of my book, and the manuscript is officially halfway done. The feeling is a sweet mix of accomplishment and horror – I’m over the moon about what I have achieved so far, yet in doubt whether I can really write another ten chapters. But I start the eleventh and keep dancing.
And then she danced.
I realize that I have managed to leave my regular life at home. My mind hasn’t bothered with laundry, wool baskets, work or garden planning. I have just been here in my nature cushioned writing bubble, writing myself and my heart into new horizons.
Wild and unrestrained
I break my schedule today, taking more pauses to breathe and move, watching more inspirational videos from the virtual retreat, writing wildly and unrestrained in upcoming chapters that appeal to me in the moment. I want to squeeze out every drop of writerly juices this last day of my writing sanctuary, I want to see what I can make of it and how I can look back on this first one. Because there will be more. Going away like this with my words as my travel companion has expanded my writing mind, and I am grateful. Frankly, also a little proud, that I have put this together on my own, moved through town and worked with dedication and joy.
Friday
It has rained all night and somebody has rolled a foggy blanket over the lake. I pack my things and clean the house while sorting my thoughts and experiences from this writerly bubble. Today I just listen to the rain when I write.
Closing ceremony in my first ever writing retreat.
There is a closing ceremony in the battery of videos for the virtual writing retreat. I’m reluctant to start it, I don’t want this retreat to end. But I do, and reflect over what these days have given me, and have a sweet moment of tying the retreat ends together. It will require more time to process, though.
A new writer
I am a new writer now. I know what I am capable of and what time in a bubble can do for my writing. During these few days I have explored new ways of letting the words flow and new contexts for them to flow in. I have a writing retreat in my heart now. Whenever I feel lost I can go back in my mind to the lake, the vastness and the trees, to the dancing with my words.
It’s funny, the chapter I finished is called In the bubble. In it I reflect over the process of spinning as an equally important as the produced yarn. And here I am, in a writing bubble, throwing myself fearlessly into the writing process with heart and soul.
Even though I return home with the same things I brought here, my suitcase feels lighter. The weight of the first half of my book has been lifted and I walk towards the train with a spring in my step. When I come back to Stockholm main station, the same people hand out the same discount coupons at the same escalators as four days ago. How come they don’t see that everything has changed now?
The next ten
A couple of days after I came home I did the last editing of my my first ten chapters. With trembling hands and a beating heart I sent my half-baby to my editor and turned my focus to the upcoming ten. I wonder what gifts they will bring me.
Back home I keep writing the remaining ten chapters.
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.
The anatomy of a chapter is complicated, involving sensations and dimensions you may never have heard of before. But they are definitely there and they turn up when you least expect it.
The words on the cross-stitch embroidery in the featured image says Jag skriver (I write).
I was reflecting over this one early morning on my bike ride to work, wind blowing in my hair and speed boosting me with freedom.
A blob
At first glance, I thought as I whooshed past an early dog walker, a chapter is just a large and shapleless monstrosity. When I took Beth Kempton’s Book proposal Masterclass we initially referred to the proposal as a blob that we poked from different angles to shape the proposal. To me, a chapter is also a monstrous blob, an entity with shape and no shape, a mass and no mass, and an inner world that won’t reveal itselves unless I work for it.
The blob structure
I have no idea how to approach the chapter blob, so I do the most obvious, I poke it. Once, to see what happens. Perhaps it responds and leaves a little feedback, and a dimple in the surface. Once again I poke, from another angle, with a new response. I keep poking, and the more I poke the blob, the more dimples linger on the surface. All of a sudden, all the dimples are connected, revealing a web, an outer structure. Some call this a disposition, but what do they know? I’m convinced the technical term is blob structure. It works kind of like a blueprint of a building, but it won’t reveal who lives inside.
The sea weed and tingle rooms
Iit’s time to go beneath the surface and see what the blob is made of. It turns out, it’s everything I never dreamed of, Mary Poppins’ bag, the room of requirement and Alice’s Wonderland all at the same time.
There are rooms in the blob, which I need to find, enter and move between to understand. The thing is, the rooms can be made of just about anything – cushiony moss, seaweed, angry ducklings or that tingle you feel when your feet are asleep. I need to figure out how to get into the rooms and how to move about in them. Perhaps cuddle the ducklings underneath their beaks, make a swing for the moss or paint the seaweed’s toes with sparkling nailpolish. I may need to enter the rooms backwards, sideways or walking on my hands.
The common thread
All the rooms are connected by a common thread. If I don’t find the common thread I will never get out of the blob. Just to make things even more challenging, sometimes I find more doors than I actually need. That’s when it’s time to decide which doors will get me to the next room and which are just dead ends.
When I have discovered and made sense of all the rooms, found the common thread and come out of the blob alive, it’s time to celebrate, I made it! I am most definitely exhausted, wrung out like a dish rag and, frankly, a bit tired of seaweed, but nevertheless a star! My grand prize is another blob to discover, only it has a completely different structure from the last one. I need to get back to poking again. I wonder what the rooms are made of in this one.
When I arrived at the office bike room I realized that I hadn’t felt the cold and I couldn’t remember what I had seen along the way, I had been exploring the anatomy of a chapter and writing this blog post in my mind since I started pedaling. I had literally written myself to work and my body felt utterly relaxed and balanced.
This past week I stayed in a tiny house on my solo writing retreat. I will tell you more about it in an upcoming blog post!
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.
A couple of weeks ago I published a blog post where I played with the idea that three of my fleeces had taken over the blog and wrote their little wooly hearts out. It turns out that the journey of words and wool can be adventurous.
The title of the blog post was Pick me and refered – in my mind at least – to the picking of a fleece, as in picking out staple by staple from the fleece mass. As I wrote it (yes, it was me and not the fleeces) I listened to Japanese taiko drums, and when I do that the piece tends to get rather free and wild.
The wild spilling of words
This time was no exception. I love writing this way, just allowing the words to spill uncensored onto the page and letting them have their way with me. The writing process can get very intense and fizzy. Some of my best pieces are written in this spirit. One example is One more beat, which I wrote on a train on the way to teaching a spinning class.
Weaving, writing, traveling and listening to taiko drums. A true journey of words and wool (or linen).
The process is very much alive as I write, the music and the words blend together into a dance, a rhythm that fills my mind with a pulsating vibe. They make the decisions, I just follow along and jot them down, entering a space where I am just the vessel of the words.
Landing
When the words land on the page they transform. They are no longer part of my writing process. Instead, a new process begins the second I share the post – the process of the reader. I have no say in this either, it is a private matter between the reader and the words. The piece takes a new shape in the mind of the reader. I am usually quite curious about what kind of mischief the text is up to in its brand new process.
The process is in my mind and my body. As soon as it comes out in one form or another, it is a a project that holds the memories and connotations of the process.
When I had published the Pick me post I got a few very sweet comments from readers, all about how the post had struck something in them – laughter, recognition or appreciation of the process of creating yarn. But they were also all about a different interpretation of picking than the one I had had in my mind as I wrote it.
A new journey
All the comments indicated that the readers had interpreted “pick me” as in “choose me” (over the others) rather than “pick my staples out of the fleece mass”. This gave the post a whole new dimension – suddenly the presentation of the fleeces looked more like Tinder profiles to swipe left or right rather than the plead to start processing them that was in my mind as the stories presented themselves to me.
I’m picking my gute fleece.
This is quite fascinating to me, how the process, that has been so tangible in my mind for the vastness of a moment, starts a new journey the second they land on the page – the journey in the mind of the reader, equally fleeting.
The beauty of creating
This is the beauty of creating, what goes on in the mind of the creator during the process of creating. The creation, whether words on the page or yarn on the spindle, is just a reminder of that process. When I spin I feel the spinning in my mind, in my hands, between my hands and in the cooperation between them. The rhythm keeps me in the moment, breathing the process in and out between hands and mind.
New memories
The yarn that comes out is something new, the memories of the process, where I was and what was happening around me. When I pick up a spinning or knitting project, my mind instantly throws me back to what I was sensing the last time I spun or knit. When I put on a handspun and hand knit hat to go out, my head is wrapped in the memories the hat holds between the stitches. Sometimes when I pick up a knitting project I hear the audio book/lecture/podcast or sense the train ride/landscape or whatever was present when I knit the last time.
The reciprocity of gifts
The difference between the words on the page and the spinning or knitting is that the words travel to someone else and are reshaped through their memories and connotations, while the handspun yarn or knit garment sparks new memories and associations in my own mind since I create them mostly for myself.
Write whatever wants to be written, spin whatever wants to be spun.
Spilling words from deep in my soul onto the page is something personal and corageous. They are gifts to you and I wish you joy as you recreate them in your personal reading process. As you connect back to me about your reading experience I feel the gift returned.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
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 patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. 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.
Dear readers, I have a book deal. In about two years I will release my very own book, Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning. It has been a long ride so far, a road that has been especially eventful these past nine months.
While there are lots of how-to spinning books on the market, Listen to the wool is more of a why-to book where I talk about why we take certain steps from fleece to yarn and what we can learn in each step from a unique fleece. I will encourage the reader to do the don’ts, challenge their preconceptions and embrace their mistakes, all the while I hold their hand. The book also has a wider perspective in why we spin (or craft) at all in a world where we don’t need to to feed and clothe our families. If you have read my blog I think you will recognize my relationship to the wool and my writing style.
Way back when
For many years I have had a book in my heart. It has been humming in the background since then, but lately it has moved on to buzzing. In 2019 I started to loosely plan it, mapping out topics to write about.
A first documented step towards a book, back in 2019.
I remember creating a mind map of topics I wanted to cover and asking a few trusted friends to read a chapter or two when the time came. I have come back to the mindmap every now and then, changed a few things and then procrastinated some more. Writing a book has been a theoretical priority, but has never made it into a practical one – there have always been other things like blog posts, online courses, articles with deadlines. All things that I love and thrive doing, but still shadowing my quite book dream.
Writing an email
During the pandemic I incorporated writing in my daily morning ritual. Just a couple of hand written pages in a journal, letting the words flow and settle down onto the page.
In the 2022 December solstice email I sent to my readers I wrote a couple of lines about writing and how it can help me understand the development of a thought process, dive deeper into the wool and share my reflections with you. I got a reply from Jane who recommended me to look up Beth Kempton, an author, course creator and Japanologist. I did, and found some lovely stuff.
The way of the fearless writer, by Beth Kempton has helped me a lot as I have unleashed my writing heart onto the page. The title of the notebook underneath is Write whatever wants to be written, as Beth Kempton inspires to.
I bought Beth Kempton’s book about writing, The Way of the Fearless Writer, and loved every page of it. I also joined her ten day winter writing sanctuary and thrived in daily writing into the new year.
A masterclass
I kept writing and loved the notion of writing what wants to be written, to allow the writing to write me. In March I enrolled in Beth Kempton’s four week online course, the Book Proposal Masterclass. There was lots of challenging assignments in the course and it took a lot of time and energy. But it also gave me so much more than I had ever imagined. A lesson in mapping out all my ideas on a wall (or underneath a staircase) gave me endless aha moments. It also made me realize that this could all be real one day.
One of the most mentally challenging assignments in the Book proposal masterclass was to brainstorm and bundle topics for the book.
One month after the month long course had ended I had a finished 40 page book proposal. What’s more, I had a structure and a shape for a book that until then had only been a blob. Through poking the blob from different angles throughout the course I managed to shape it into something real, something that could actually become a book.
Trusted friends
I went back to my trusted friends a couple of new ones. I asked them to read my 40 page book proposal and give me feedback from different angles. Their thoughts about the proposal helped me enormously and I sharpened the proposal according to their observations.
An agent
At first I thought I could just send my book proposal to a publisher, but during the book proposal masterclass I realized that I would need an agent. I am writing this book in English, since no Swedish publisher would ever publish a book for an audience as small as the Swedish spinning community. So my aim was the English speaking world, which of course widens the audience enormously, and especially the U.S. market where more than half my readers come from. I know absolutely nothing about the book publishing industry, and even less about U.S. and worldwide publishing, so I realized an agent could guide me through this vast jungle.
In July I found my agent, Isabel Atherton of Creative Authors. She is English but lives in Manhattan. When I looked her up she specified craft books as a particular interest. I sent her my book proposal and she happily agreed to take me on. She is my champion and explains everything to me about the business and contracts with great patience.
Isabel will do what she can to help me find a publisher that will provide my Swedish readers with a Swedish translation.
A book deal
Quick as an eagle, Isabel sent my proposal to various publishers, and just this week I signed with the U.S. publisher Stackpole, an imprint under Rowman and Littlefield. Stackpole has published craft books for many years, mainly in textile crafts and a couple of those about spinning. Their crafts editor (swoon!) Candi Derr was very excited about my book proposal just as it was, including having my husband Dan take all the pictures for the book.
To celebrate my book deal I bought a whole stack of books about writing and I am eagerly waiting for them to arrive. Tomorrow Dan and I will go to a friend’s pastures for our first photo shoot for the book.
Onwards!
This is huge for me. I am over the moon and terrified. There will be a lot of writing on my book now. The buzz from the book now has a wide spectrum between whale song and nails against the blackboard. One year from today my editor will have my manuscript. The book will be published around a year after that. Watch this space.
Thank you all for cheering me on, for asking questions and for making me a better spinner and writer. This book is for you.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
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 patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. 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.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 write every single day. For myself, in my day job and in my business. I also write for you. I can’t not write, just as I can’t not craft. It’s like I need to shape my thoughts into words and craft them into a deeper understanding.
I have been writing since I learned how to read and write. Actually even before that. My mother kept a notepad by the telephone. I had no idea what the notes said, but I knew the words and numbers were hers and that they were somehow keys to information. She wrote only the important things, no scribbling or doodling. I used to fill in all the words, following the curls that were unique to her. I knew the exact shape of her letters by heart and the connections between them.
Later, when I could write myself I had numerous penpals (does anyone have that these days?), practicing the shapes of my own words with them. I can quite easily identify handwriting by country – at least British, American, German and Austrian. I love the way many Austrians write numbers, especially the ones, with a strong and confident kickstand, reaching all the way from or even from beneath the baseline.
Dear Aunt Harriet
When I was around ten or twelve one of my favourite pen pals was my aunt Harriet. She worked as a teacher in Swedish, German and French through her entire adult life and had the most exquisite handwriting. Graceful but not extravagant. Just as was appropriate for a woman of her time and social class. She was born in 1930 and schooled in the art of cursive. She was my handwriting role model. I could sit for hours practicing a single letter or connection to make it just like hers, filling out every corner of the paper with J-s, P-s and O-s, not to mention my own signature. Very few people in my generation can read my handwriting, it’s way too old-fashioned for most people.
One of numerous sweet birthday cards from my aunt Harriet.
But it wasn’t just her handwriting. She wrote the sweetest letters and and cards. Personal, curious and kind. Up until her death this summer hers were the Christmas and birthday cards I looked forward to the most. One of the first things I did when she had died was to read the cards she had sent me in the last couple of years. My heart sang a silent song of joy for her life.
Freewriting
I used to keep a diary when I grew up and off and on since then. For the last couple of years, though, I have kept a beautiful leather notebook with handmade paper for my morning reflections. I’m actually on my sixth now. Every morning, after yoga and some reading, I write two pages. About anything that strikes my fancy really – the shape of the waves on the lake, the way the moon reflects in the water, the feeling of starting the day with yoga asana, how wool going through my hands makes my heart sing. Sometimes about something I have just read, sometimes as a practice before a blog post topic.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
I start writing without a plan and go where my mind and hand lead me. On my morning reflections I do not judge, I just breathe the words that come. I need to write, I need to shape my thoughts with words, play with them and dress my reflections and experiences with the beauty they deserve. Writing is to me like any other craft – with my hands and my mind I craft the text and make words and paragraphs beautiful to the reader.
Handwriting
Even if handwriting takes time it can give me a closer relationship to the words. I literally (!) shape the words with my hands, giving them the same dedication, love and attention I did when I filled in my mother’s telephone notes or copied my aunt’s graceful letters. Handwriting gives me depth and quality while writing on a computer gives me time to catch up with a quick train of thought. Much like the difference between spinning with a spindle or with a spinning wheel. Together they provide qualities that none of them can give me on their own.
I write for me
When I write I create my own feedback loop. I dress my thoughts with words, read the words and understand my thoughts on a deeper level. I dress my newly found understanding with words and can understand on yet deeper levels. By writing I create my own understanding and development of a thought process.
My morning reflections are just for me. On another level they are for you too. Writing is much like any other skill – you need to practice to be good at it. Writing my morning pages helps me develop and sharpen my writing on this blog.
I write for work
In my day job I work as an administrative officer at a Swedish government authority. Every day I make and write decisions for teachers applying for a teacher license and authorization to teach in a specific subject, grade and form. One of my most important tasks is to make the decisions understandable to the receiver. I am imposed by law to inform all applicants about why they have or have not been granted an authorization. They have the legal right to know what we grant, what we reject and why.
The space where I write at work.
As a government official I also need to follow the Swedish language act that states that the language in the public sector should be cultivated, simple and comprehensible (vårdat, enkelt och begripligt). I need to not only inform the applicants why they are granted or denied authority, but to also make sure they understand the decision I make. For that I need to craft my decision document in a cultivated, simple and comprehensible way. They need to know whether an appeal can make us change our decision or not. Every time a teacher appeals I need to review my decision with focus on both my assessment of the matter and how I have crafted the motivation in my decision. Every time I write a decision I have an impact on the trust the applicants have in the government authority I work for.
I write for you
A dear friend of mine linked to an article on Lithub. Ryan Lee Wong writes in the Intersection of Writing, Meditating, and Community about how living in a monastery taught him to shift from writing for himself to writing for others. He concludes:
All my usual neuroses about whether the novel is good or not, how it will be received, what it says about me—in short, the greater share of what I worried about when I began writing it—are beside the point. The novel is simply an offering, a chant recited for others. May it be of benefit.
I know I am a decent writer, spinner and spinning teacher. It is my responsibility – and joy – to share my gifts with others. Therefore I write for you. Every week in this blog, in my videos and in occasional articles. I share what I learn so that you may benefit from it. Just as I benefit every time I write.
I write for you.
I am no where near the deep insights in the quote above, but I know I am a part of a weave of reciprocity. From your support, your questions and your knowledge I receive more than you know. Writing about my own experiences and wool adventures is one way for me to give back to you. For every word I write I learn something new for myself, deepen my understanding and find new aspects and layers to write about.
Writing for you is writing for me. And back to you. Thank you for reading. You make me a better spinner, teacher and writer.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.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.
