‘water under the sky’

the summer i was fourteen years old,

i spent two weeks immersed at language camp.

IMG_4170cropthis meant only french

spoken, all the time.

the thing is,

most of us campers

knew very little french.

we’d whisper

in english

in our bunks at night

or behind

the counselors’ backs

trying to stave off

the deep feelings of homesickness

that were only intensified by the language gap.

in an effort to connect IMG_4158

(and to calm us down),

our cabin leader ingrid

would quietly sit

humming

while she brushed

our hair until it shined.

she would then

do different

braids each day.

french braids (of course),

dutch braids, pigtail braids and my favorite, fishtail braids.

four of us had long hair then and became known for our daily locks.

we loved our matching braids and we ate up the attention.

IMG_4173shadewe were so far

from home and from

our own sweet mamas.

even now,

braids

make me feel hugged.

this piece

of my history

is the inspiration

for today’s

new pattern.

‘water under the sky’ feels to me like a warm hug around the neck

and the fishtail braids are like emotional comfort food.IMG_4165sat

don’t you dare let

the braids scare you.

there are clear

step by step directions.

if you want more,

fishtail braiding

is easy to find

on youtube,

and tomorrow you can

to enter to win

enough yarn to knit and braid, your own ’emotional comfort’.

see you then…

1st and 3rd pics: julie asselin’s ‘yotta’.

‘water under the sky’ taken from 1:9 in genesis.

2nd and 4th pics: camaj fiber arts ‘boheme sari ribbon yarn’.

12 thoughts on “‘water under the sky’

    • the only think i don’t like about having short hair is no more braids. my grandma had long white hair and used to make tiny braids, curl them up and pin them with little x’s of bobby pins. i think someday i will grow mine long again to experiment with stuff like that.

  1. i read the above comment and saw it was by you talitha!!!
    this is exactly how my grandma wore her hair, her pins were of turtoise and she used them over and over, unlike us who lose our metal ones…

    and she wore muted colors like grey and brown and mocassins (flat shoes) but that’s a different story.

    it is “tomorrow” here as i am in france. i love your homepage statements.

    • that’s so cool. my grandma had faux tortoise combs she put in sometimes depending on which braids she did. i haven’t that kind of time to spend on my hair right now with 4 kids in the house, but maybe someday…

  2. It’s after midnight and I’m entering to win:) love this scarf. It’s a winner!

    • you are so definitely entered! and all i really need to say is …. super bulky rocks! right?!?

    • i love how original your sari yarn is! was on your site eyeing the new colors just last night and my head was spinning with more ideas of things it could be. so fun!

  3. Oh my goodness, what a beautiful scarf! And the braids are just what I’m looking for to finish off a chemo cap, too. I wasn’t satisfied with the braids that were in the directions. What a wonderful afternoon for me – a scarf to oogle and the perfect end to the cap. Smiling & Waving, Sharon

    • thank you, and so great you have such a great project to use the braids on, too. that makes me smile.

  4. Another great one Tabitha you are way too cute. I recently cut 13″ off my hair and it’s still down to the small of my back but now I don’t. worry about sitting on it lol

    • wow, your hair must have been long. mine was never even quite to my waist. my girls don’t want to sit long enough for me to braid their hair, so i sure did have fun braiding these.

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