Yarns at Yin Hoo

A Podcast About the Fiber Arts and Other Post Apocalyptic Skills

Tag: sewing

Episode 282

This episode begins with a list of recent and upcoming fiber events that you can attend in-person and virtually! Then, I continue with updates on my projects and my complete list of summer reading.

July 11, 2021July 11, 2021

This hat is the third in a series of patterns inspired by teachings in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. This time, I drew inspiration from Estés’ retelling of a Japanese tale, Tsukina Waguma or “The Crescent Moon Bear,” in which a young woman travels to the cave of an incredibly intimidating and ferocious bear.

She makes several journeys to the cave, leaving food and quickly retreating, until “one dark blue night,” she musters the courage to stand her ground and ask for what she seeks–one hair from a moon-shaped patch on the bear’s chest–which she is granted. The young woman returns, triumphant, to the old healer who has sent her on this quest.

She believes this single hair is the magic ingredient in solving the problem that plagues her. She holds it forth, but the healer tosses the hair into the flames. The young woman is in despair until she realizes the true lesson of her quest: that using her determination, courage, and patience, as she did with the crescent moon bear, will help her to confront the challenge at hand.

The moon phase motif of this colorwork hat is meant to capture the magic of a dark blue night–when the moon shines brightly overhead, the frosty air sparkles with possibility, and we succeed in summoning accumulated wisdom from deep within ourselves so that we can apply it to our own healing. Choose colors to conjure a wintery night sky, or select a palette of your signature colors.