Circa 1985

My dear and oldest friend Amanda sent me this photo of her "heirloom" Anne (Parker) Weil original ornament circa 1985!  She knew me at the height of my creative production - I used to crank out ornaments, paperweights, wall hangings, book marks, pillows  - you name it. If etsy had existed, I would have been rich at 12. I think about those gifts now and have to be grateful for the gracious response of many of the recipients.  For example, her parents, gorgeous import antique sellers, received from me what I thought was a very mature gift of two scottie dogs on a maroon (so sophisticated!) pillow canvas in a faux wood (read: cheap, plastic) frame.  They expressed their thanks with magnanimous enthusiasm.   I love them.

This got me thinking about those gifts I used to make and wondering if I could revamp any of them to make them more modern and current.  I believe I could update a number of them, but I started thinking specifically about something that my Grandmother taught me to make.  I know now that my grandmother was very talented with hand work.  I wish I had realized and understood the value of those skills and their importance sooner.  I wish I had learned more from her.  But, thanks to her, she did teach me how to make the much maligned, and I must say, for the most part, poorly produced, crocheted potholder.  

Laugh all you want, but let me tell you, these potholders rock! - at least the ones my grandmother taught me to make.  They are sturdy, washable and incredible at blocking out the heat from even the hottest of pots and pans.  They are stitched on a hook two gauges smaller than the yarn calls for and are a solid three layers.  The crocheted fabric is doubled for the part that holds the pot and then there is another layer to protect the top of your hand (which I burn all the time if I don't use these!) Am I the only one?  Here is my updated version.  I added a bit of embroidery with twine!  This is my new favorite thing, by the way.  I think an embroidered letter for personalization would be a nice motif as well.

I've posted a pattern separately so you can make your own potholder presents. You can never have enough of these, I say.  And, they don't look too grandmotherly! I did manage to get one of these done late on the evening of the 24th for my brother and his wife who are in the middle of their newlywed year - congratulations to them - may this potholder protect many a productive hand in the kitchen!

Oh, those Sweet Candied Pecans . . .

Yum!  I remember looking forward to these each Christmas season. The kids and I have been busy preparing these for teachers and friends. These are oh so easy - and now that I realize that, I may just have to make them every month!


Here's the recipe:
Mix in a bowl:  1 cup of sugar, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t salt
Mix until frothy in a mixing bowl:  1 t cold water, 1 egg white (see froth below)
Stir 1 lb of pecan halves into the egg white mixture.
Add the dry ingredients, stir well.
Spread them over a cookie sheet with sides.
Cook for 1 hour at 225 degrees, stirring occasionally to keep from burning.
I usually double the recipe to get more bang for the effort!


Let them cool and package 'em up (if you can stop eating them!)


We bundled them up in canning jars with 5x5 squares of natural linen on the tops.  We added a little bakers twine for decoration and cut tags out of card stock.  The stickers we found at tinyprints, which is great for inexpensive paper goodies.

Simple Gifts

I have the kind of mind that doesn't stop.  If I'm not thinking of what I'm doing at the moment, I'm invariably thinking about what I need to do next and after that and after that. I'm not sure my brain knows how to be quiet.  I need to work on this . . . but maybe not today.


So, here's the story - I am on my way to Yuma, AZ for a business trip.  The airport is packed.  I am listening to the New York Times podcast.  I try to get news anytime I can squeeze it in because I certainly do NOT have time to read a paper! I manage to get all my stuff through the scanner without being stopped for a forgotten shampoo bottle.  I fumble getting my boots on because I'm already trying to get the earbuds back in to keep listening to my podcast. must. be. efficient.  I have my bags slung over my shoulder and I walk towards the train.  I start reading my email while listening to the New York Times (and I wonder why I can't retain anything).  I get a phone call and click the toggle on my ear plugs to answer.  I discuss the business trip while responding to emails all the while.  I get muscled along into the train.  My phone call ends.  I click the toggle switch again, expecting some more news about Bush-era tax cuts.  Instead, I get Yoyo-ma.  This is a song I haven't heard since I was a child. I don't even know how this got on my iphone.



Thank you to the technology gods because the cello, the tune, its quietness and simplicity brought me right into the moment. Not into the moment on the train, but to the present moment I am in my head.  It brought me to where I AM when you quiet all the busy, busy nonsense. . . .the beauty of pursuing what I love, the simple rightness of it all, the obviousness.  I feel like I have "come round right".  In truly pausing to take in the song, to really hear it and feel it, I realize that that "place just right" is not in my head at all. It is warm and glowing in my chest.  And, I like it.   

Sweet Julian

Yay!  Another wonderful image thanks to Rob and Julian.  I love how my little hat looks on this guy. This design is Debbie Bliss from Simply Baby.  I love Debbie Bliss - so simple and sweet.

Confidence and comparison

I want to talk about the elusive nature of confidence.  How can we feel so good and sure one day and so deflated and miserable the next?  Does this happen to any of you?  I’ve been flying high since starting this blog thinking I’m FINALLY doing what I’ve longed to do for so many years.  I’m finally starting to pursue my creative dreams and do what makes me happy.  For a couple of weeks, I’ve been living in the present, dreaming up fun and adorable knit designs, starting to work on documenting my knit patterns, and in general getting in my own creative mode.  But I’ve also been looking online A LOT.  I’ve been doing this for hours without realizing a minute has gone by.  I’ve been looking at blogs, listening to podcasts, thinking about where I want to go with my work. 

So . . .  as most of you who surf and blog and follow blogs and link and link endlessly know -- some days it can be unbelievably inspiring (Look what’s possible!) and other days overwhelming (Does it ever end?  Is there ever not one more person starting to follow their dreams and get their art/design/craft out there?  How can I succeed when there are so many people wanting to do the same thing? Will I ever catch up?) This photo of my kiddos on the sand dunes made me think of that heavy feeling -- the one you get when you see what a long way you have to go. The frustration you feel when it is hard to make headway.  And how, sometimes, all you can think about is how far ahead someone else is of you.  


Then, just when I needed it the most, I came across this podcast by Marisa Haedike at Creative Thursday on Comparison.  Thank you Marisa for your wise words!  We are all on different paths and there are many ways for us to get where we want to go. There is abundance out there.  There is room for us all to pursue our dreams and support each other.  This is a wide, wide world.  And, then I find that today is one of those good days - one of those days where it doesn’t seem to matter what anyone else is doing.  I am doing what I love and it makes me happy to do this work.  If I keep going in this groove, I’m confident (see! its back again!) the rest will fall into place around me just the way it’s meant to do (but probably not the way I expect it to, which is another topic altogether). 

Write it down!

Why oh why did I design so many things but never write anything down?  This is a little number that my daughter wears all the time. I love that she loves it.  Add it to the list of patterns I need to document!  I'm going to do the next one in blue and gray.  

Thank you Julian

I'm so excited.  My talented friend and photographer Rob McCarthy just sent me this picture of his beautiful son Julian wearing my creation!  I love it.  Thanks Rob!  The pattern for my blanket stitch baby bunting is coming soon.

Why Not?

I am on the way to school today with my three crazy and loveable kids.  Harried and hectic, I am in processing mode.   Do you have your lunch? Your jacket? A hat?  Are you buckled in?  And, we're off.

We approach the drop-off line and I’m already thinking of my list of to-do items for when I get home.  We stop at the front of the line, and I get that gnawing feeling in my belly knowing there are cars behind me waiting for my kids to get out of the car.  This never feels like a relaxing way to say good bye.

My 5 year old daughter, Allie, says “Mommy, I brought my scarf.”

“Good,” I say, “Don’t forget to bring it home.”

The check-in teacher waits for me to sign on the dotted line that the school has my kids.  The boys are out the door with barely a backwards glance.

“Bye!” I yell.  “Love you!”

I turn to Allie, “Okay, sweetie, time to go.  Have a great day. “

Allie urges, “ I need you to do my scarf, Mommy.”

“Just wrap it around your neck and off you go” I explain quickly.

 “But I want a bow.  I need your help.”

I tell her, “Its time to go honey,” hoping she’ll forget the scarf and get out of the car.

“But I want a bow.”

I glance nervously in the rear view mirror at the growing line of drop-offs. “Sweetie, people don’t wear scarves that way – just wrap it around your neck.  Your friends are waiting for you.”

“Why not?”

“Hmmm, what?”

With genuine confusion, Allie earnestly asks me, “Well, Why not, Mommy?  Why don’t people wear scarves with bows?”

 . . . . . .

Indeed, WHY NOT!?

 . . . . . .

Her sweet question exploded my auto-pilot bubble.

To the surprise of the check-in teacher, I close the door and drive away into the nearest parking spot. I turn to look at Allie’s confused face, and promptly tie a big fat bow in her scarf.  She grins ear to ear in the most charming and earnest manner.  I proudly tell her that she is brilliant to want her scarf tied in a bow – that it looks ever so lovely framing her face.  And, here she is.

Thank you, dear Allie, for reminding me not live according my predetermined notions of right and wrong.  And, for giving me the time for a sweet and loving good bye for the day.  Absolutely, “Why not?”  Could I borrow and keep some of her childish moxie?  I say, yes!


Thanks for reading,
Anne Weil
flax & twine

I want to blog

Flax and Twine is a space to explore my creativity in all forms that it may take: knitting, sewing, crafts with the kids, photography, painting, whatever I may discover. 

I grew up loving to make and create.  My mother taught me to knit at the age of 7.  I was a manic rug hooker, a pot-holder crocheting monster, and a cross-stitcher that didn’t know when to stop.  The pleasure and joy I received from making things with my hands wasn’t easily matched.  I loved everything from the peace and quiet in my mind during the process to the pride and satisfaction in seeing the finished project.  I absolutely adored the process of making and of seeing.  As a young girl, I found myself entranced for hours looking at photographs, colors, pattern, light, dark, ribbons, yarn, fabrics, you name it.  As I got older, however, the knitting needles, the cross stitch, and the photo wall gave way to pencils and calculators and the drive to finish a project paled next to the importance of getting A’s.

Hand work was not valued in my family.  Actually, it was more a learned devaluation of creative things and efforts.  My family communicated loud and clear that value and love came from achieving.  This meant working outrageously hard to get the best grades, become the captain of your sport, get into the best college, and obtain the best job with a salary to match it. In my drive to achieve and please, I sublimated my love of making things to the critical act of “reaching my potential.”   

And now, I say, what if I reached for the wrong potential?  Maybe my potential is still inside.  This I want to explore.  In the past, I have not given myself the space to acknowledge my creative drive and to allow it to surface.  Sure, here and there, I would take a painting class, knit a sweater, or take a sewing class.  But I placed no value on these acts, still.  I would squeeze these expressions in when I could or skip them if I had other obligations.  They were always at the bottom of the list.

Now, I want to give myself the gift of more space, real space, space that is protected, to explore these creative desires.  But, I find myself faced with other problems.  Do I trust my creative instinct?  That is to say, even found, how do I own my creative being?  How do I explore it without any preconceived expectations. How do I value that love of making things?  How do I pursue my ideas with confidence? 

This blog is my first step towards that.  I want to enjoy making things.  I want to play with color.  I want to revel in beautiful things.  I want to take photographs.  I want to paint. I want to be adventurous and try new things.  I want to create knitting patterns.  I want to do projects with my kids.   I want my children to know and, more importantly, to VALUE making things with their hands in the way that I missed. I want to discover more about who I am.  And, I want to blog about it here.


Thanks for reading,
Anne Weil
flax & twine