Looking for the Good Stories

When I am a vendor at one of the markets, of course, my primary goal is to sell some of my stuff - ideally some small things as well as a shawl or/or a rug. Not only does selling something feel good in that it validates what I do but as well the money I earn helps pay for my food and my hydro bill. But as great as it is to sell things, there are times when the people that I meet and the conversations that I have with them are far more interesting and important than any money that I may make. On a busy weekend, I may have 20-30 people a weekend coming up to me, watching and asking questions.


Sometimes it is just a brief conversation with a young person who wants to learn how to weave or spin. They ask me if I would teach them or did I need another apprentice. As flattering as that is - I always redirect them to someone who is qualified to teach, but I always encourage them to try. Sometimes it is a parent with a child of the right age and both are interested in what I am doing. They ask all kinds of questions about the spinning wheel, about dyes and about wool. Part of my mission is to demystify spinning and weaving. It is always fun to share what I know and to encourage others to just play. I have had numerous conversations with usually older people who start off their conversation with.... " I can remember my mother doing that when I was a little child". It seems to be such a fond memory for those people, one that they have probably not thought about for decades. I am glad that they share those memories with me. Because I sell within the Cowichan Valley, I fairly often have Indigenous individuals coming up to me and talking about the "spinners" their parents used to spin the wool for the sweaters. Making Cowichan sweaters was and is such a recognizable part of the local culture that the individuals are rightly proud of the sweaters they have knit.

At the Duncan Market this past week, an elderly woman in a power chair rolled up to me and watched me spin for a bit. Then she told me that her grandmother had immigrated from the Shetland Islands (a place well known for its wool and its knitters) to Vancouver Island and that she had taught some of the Indigenous women how to knit. The lady then told me that she had shown some of her mother's knitted toques to someone who was knitting a Cowichan sweater. The knitter showed how in the piece that she was working on, she was using exactly the same knitting stitch that was in the toque. Somehow, in spite of the fact that my visitor and I have different experiences with wool, we felt connected to each other and to wool. It was an important moment, we need to look for and to recognize the points of connection. I asked my visitor if I could share the story with others, she said yes and I have.


The following day, as I was eating breakfast and scanning the over-night headlines, it struck me that I could do a whole blog, day after day just listing all of the bad stuff that is happening in the world. I would not have to even comment on the news - just say - "here is some more bad news" and leave it up to people to decide what to think or feel. But that would get really boring and I suspect, would get really depressing to write and to read. While there are times (more often than not) when news stories are worthy of a comment or a reaction, I think one of the secrets of staying sane is looking for the positives of life. I have little patience for those who only see the world through rose coloured glasses, but there are individual and collective successes that need to be celebrated; there are great stories that need to be told.

I heard one such story this weekend.