You Can Always Hope

Starting a new warp is like having a blank slate. I still find it fascinating that one can weave thread into cloth! Every new warp is a time of starting over. No matter what went wrong before, this new set of ends has fresh possibilities. Hope gives a blank slate like that. Anyone can begin again.

Warping the loom for cotton curtains
Over the back beam and around the warp beam, images of white Swedish lace curtains dance in my mind.

Hope can slip away gradually, and we don’t even notice until it is gone. Dreams are put on the shelf, and we tell ourselves if we don’t look, it won’t hurt. Whether we mess up, or others mess us up, we secretly decide to stop trying. One day we look up, and hope is missing. The loom sits empty.

Listen… Can you hear it? There’s a quiet voice speaking strength and courage to you. It’s the whisper of the creator’s love. It brings a strong picture of hope for the future at the very moment all present hope seems to be slipping away. There is always a new warp to wind, and resulting handwoven fabric is around the corner. A brighter day is coming. Don’t stop hoping.

May your dreams and hopes find fulfillment.

Hopefully Yours,
Karen

8 thoughts on “You Can Always Hope

  1. HI Karen! Gerry mentioned your blog today at the WOW inkle “class” and I just had to run home and check it out. I think I have found my new favorite! I love your photos and insights not to mention the LOVELY weaving! I can’t wait to see your curtains… Happy weaving! xx

    1. Hi Gretchen, I’m delighted you stopped by here! thank you for your kind compliments. Stay tuned as the curtains develop…
      Karen

  2. Such a strong and clear message, just what I needed to hear. The voice of hope. A wonderful thing to hear as we sit at our looms and get ready to throw that first pick. Many blessings, Leigh

    1. I’m happy you found it helpful, Leigh! It’s surprising how much happens before that first pick, isn’t it?
      Blessings to you.

  3. I find that hope can slip away very quietly and as you said, all of a sudden you realize it’s gone. For me, it most often has returned slowly, almost tentatively. Wondering if it will really return.

    1. Good point, Jenny. Hope often returns gradually, and finally settles into place when we decide to give it a chance. Not easy, because it feels risky to allow ourselves to hope again.

  4. I wonder if it is today’s lifestyle that has made me appreciate a blank slate so much…life has become so complex. Maybe every day, every moment used to be a blank slate?

    I have always been intrigued by the making of things, too. It is fascinating what people throughout history have created out of necessity. People made everything they needed to survive from the materials available to them: various fibers, wood, clay, stone, metal, straw, grass, bark, animal hides and so on.

    Imagine how much time went into the making of all these things. How they solved all the challenges they were facing in the process of making it usable, like for example the Hawaiian kapa cloth, a paper thin cloth made from strips of bark and used for clothing and bedspreads. Or the making of primitive looms and other tools helping them in the process.

    It may look like they lacked everything, but everything they needed was there. We are provided for aren’t we? Like you said, we just need to listen to that quiet voice.

    1. Ah, yes, that blank slate is so refreshing in the midst of so much commotion!

      “It may look like they lacked everything, but everything they needed was there.”

      That thought sums it up beautifully, Elisabeth!

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