on going forth

Sometimes there are words.

And sometimes—

—there are not.

Sometimes a person can sort and pack and plan and dream and cope.

And sometimes—not so much.

Sometimes weaving a word—

—brings ease.¹

And sometimes the easeful path—²

—calls for doing rather than writing—³

—and what a person really needs—

—is nothing more than backing and forthing—

—forthing and backing—

—snip, snip, snipping—

—and tap, tap, tapping—

—to settle her into—

—her sources of joy.⁴

1. The word ease, naturally…

2. Yes, it is absolutely overkill to include three weaving videos of back and forth and forth and back—even if they are from different points of view—and if I were a videographer I’d have put them all together into one. But alas, I’m not, so I didn’t. Skip them all if you want. Or settle in for the soothing (if slightly raspy) sound of paper sliding through wool. Whatever works.

3. In an attempt to get a different perspective, I made this second video with the camera facing a mirror which, of course, makes all my hand motions mirror images. So if you’re wondering why I’m picking the shed with my right hand, that’s why.

4. I could have added “trot, trot, trotting” into the sources of joy, but figured Beryl embodied that already, so the words would be redundant.

Also, several of you requested a “Buy Beryl a Biscuit” button (as demonstrated by the brilliant Caroline Ross in her recent That Practical Substack Post), so now it’s here. If you’re enjoying The Gusset, or a particular individual post, you can now support it without a full paid-subscription commitment. Many thanks for the idea and encouragement!