Micah is another mendfriend I met early in the whole #VisibleMending thing and even though she has her own Swift Darner (possibly from the Kickstarter batch??) she signed up for the Mending Migration project just to play along, and for that I am so grateful!
Micah has two young kids keeping her very busy, as you can imagine. In her post on Instagram, she gives us a little glimpse into that early-parenting life - juggling all of the things.
“Even now, I'm posting while nursing, going back and fixing all the typos caused by bébé swatting at my arm with her free hand.)
Anyway, this a cloth napkin made by, I'm pretty sure, my husband's late mother. It's got a few holes in it from years of use; if you swipe you can spot a previous darn I did. Maybe sometime this decade I'll finish it all!”
Micah is also in Ontario, like me, so this is perfectly relevant. I’ve been reading a book about local weaving history in Eastern Canada and thinking about all the steps involved in getting us finished cloth. We’re literally surrounded, swaddled, by so many layers of time, resource processing, and skill all by human hand. Of course, many parts of the process are mechanized now which changes the time and (operator) skill needed to get a finished product, but the resources used are still there and more precious than ever. Repairing everyday table linens, mundane as it may be, is a way to connect with the process, practice your skills, and slow down consumption. And look how beautiful this napkin is becoming again!