WEAVING 101

I was telling Brandon just the other day about this new life plan I've got, which is to start burning incense on the regular and use words like "aura" in sentences. Basically I'm going to become a Lizard Lady. You know what a Lizard Lady is. When I was a kid there was a woman who lived on our street. I never learned her name so in my head I called her the Lizard Lady. She lived in a small stucco house two doors down, landscaped with rock and cacti, with a wrought iron gate surrounding a tiny patio that was positively overrun with misshapen ceramic pots and all these crazy plants and, just, so much macramé, dripping from everything. I never saw any lights on in her house and I always imagined it was cool like a cave inside, and maybe she had a giant snake for a pet that lived in a neon glass enclosure. Every evening she'd walk to the mailbox with her tiny chihuahua, always in these insane house dresses and at least five million bangles up her arms. I'd always stop whatever I was doing to watch her. Her skin was leather; tan and wrinkly. She was very wiry. She had a head full of wild hair and fingers full of rings. As she'd sort through her mail, a cigarette dangling from her lips, her chihuahua ran around the neighborhood taking care of important things. It looked terribly uncomfortable to me, smoking in 110-degree heat, but also I was like, wow. I was awestruck. She probably had a killer record collection. 

It wasn't until I was back in Arizona for our family reunion a few months ago that I realized I've been subconsciously channeling that Lizard Lady in my life pretty hardcore. I mean, the other day I bought a Willie Nelson record for crying out loud. I'm probably about 20 years or so of sun damage away from the full Lizard Lady status, give or take a nasty smoking habit, and I'm really pretty okay with it.

THE POINT OF THIS IS on Saturday I took a weaving class in Brooklyn. Aaaand it was wonderful. It was really wonderful. Maryanne Moodie taught it, and Maryanne Moodie is incredibly talented. You could actually see her passion as she described the power a group of women can have when they band together to support + create together. She stressed the importance of collective inspiration, of feeling free to emulate what you love until you discover your style, and I loved it so much. All inclusive, all supportive, all relaxed. There is not enough of that in this world these days, and it was just such a boost. There's a hashtag on Instagram (#localweavers), where you can follow the progress of everyone who's taken her class. And she was right, all that positive energy in one place has been really beautiful to see. Maryanne was so great. We all left feeling confident about our gorgeously messy pieces to-be, but more than that we left feeling like we were part of a tribe. 

I have crossed off an important and inevitable task on the path to becoming a true Lizard Lady. I am so thrilled. Next I'm going to need to learn to throw pottery. And the healing properties of aaaaall the crystals. I'm going to need house dresses for this. Probably fifteen more plants.

Anyway, here is Doris. Taduh! Doris is a pretty decent Lizard Lady name, if you ask me.

A few of pieces in the #localweavers hashtag that are inspiring me right now:

featured weavers @jessica_tom, @hotpieceoclass, @caitlarussa + @aimeeesaurus