Wool. Words. Paper. Games.

I thought I would take a moment for those who don't know me well to expand on the name of the blog and let you get to know me a little better. I am a collector of hobbies. Our family motto is "we work together so we can play together" - and it serves us well. We try to make plenty of down time for each of us to enjoy hobbies, both as a family and individually.

Wool: About 7 years ago I made a new friend over the Christmas holidays. We became Facebook friends that afternoon, like you do, and right after the new year she posted something along the lines of "Is it crazy to take a vacation day to catch up on my knitting goals?" Knitting? People my age knit??? I wanted in on that - so she kindly talked me through getting started. I fell instantly in love. A few years later she sold my family her spinning wheel (she was upgrading) and for my birthday I became a spinner. It was magic. Pure, colorful, perfect magic. So now I spend a large part of each week knitting and spinning. I love to watch fiber become yarn and yarn become amazing things.

Words: Just as Wool encompasses two of my favorite passions, Words does as well. I have loved reading since I was teeny tiny. I am never alone as long as I have a book. I am an eclectic reader, and find myself gushing about books and authors I fall in love with. We follow our favorite authors like most people follow their favorite movie stars or athletes. I also love to write. I have 8 novel drafts written, and someday I hope to clean them up, find an agent, and get them published. I also enjoy just telling stories - hence this blog - and I am ready to start sharing my thoughts God, life, grace, love, and autism.

Paper: I have been scrapbooking since I was about 8 years old and made a 3-ring binder of a trip we took to Dallas. Thanks to the power of YouTube tutorials I have added card making and mixed media art journaling to my creative outlets.  There is no feeling like a table spread with stamps, ink, paper, markers, embossing powder, and possibilities. So I will be sharing some of those Paper things, and my processes, as I create them.

Games: Oh gaming, what joy you have brought to our lives. I sincerely believe my husband Charles's love language is board games. We have a wide and eclectic collection, and have infected my sister and many of our close friends with the gaming bug. My podcast was called Fiber & Dice (you can find all the episodes on YouTube) and just as the name implies, the first half was always my knitting and spinning, then Charles and I spent the rest of each episode talking about games. Not only "how to play" segments and "what we are backing on kickstarter," but also tips for everything from teaching games to your kids to how to unbox and rebox a game with oddles of components. I want to take a lot of that information and share it here, along with reviews of what we are playing. We might even get brave and film some "Watch Us Play" segments. We also play a lot of video games, and they will make the occasional appearance as well.

I hope to not only use this blog to show what I am up to, but to share useful tips and tricks, or make gaming and book suggestions that you find useful. I am a teacher at heart, and as we journey along together, I will add tutorials for everything from knitting stitches to card making. So welcome once again to my many adventure in Wool. Words. Paper. Games.

Rebecca