It’s easy to overlook just how much human beings are influenced by the natural rhythms of our environment, though it’s never more evident than in deep winter. Our bodies scream for rest and retreat like dormant plants. The drive to create is supplanted by a reflective, quiet kind of expression.

It can feel frustrating when you attempt to keep up the same frantic expression and creative pace set by summer and autumn. I have had to learn to focus on creating art that uniquely reflects this state of being. Embracing rest, slowing down, reflecting, curling in on ourselves to keep warm, ready to unfurl in spring like ferns.

This winter, I chose to reorient myself by focusing in fibre arts. I returned to an old needlework pattern started years ago, before I met my husband or had my daughter, and picked it up where I left off. Finishing this piece, a reproduction of a panel from the Bayeux Tapestry tent stitched in wool, definitely felt like closing a chapter. I feel like a different person placed the earliest stitches. Completing it as a more fulfilled, happier version of myself is so satisfying.

In the past few months I was also lucky enough to stumble on a beautiful book on regional rug hooking traditions and absolutely fell in love with rug hooking. In addition to my word burning project, my slightly ambitious goal for this year is to produce a few rug hooking patterns and completed pieces.

I can feel myself thawing out a bit.