Tag Archives: worry dolls

New to the gnomegarden etsy shop, and spun in limited quantities, are the Charms yarns.  Trouble dolls are not new to art-yarns, but these have a bit of a story behind them…ready?

These are inspired by my girls.  Like a lot of kids, both of them have a penchant for talismans, amulets and magical thinking.  With the stress of this past fall and winter, Lil took to some pretty complicated before -bed rituals.  She was having such a had time sleeping, so I dug out a box of old worry dolls from my own treasures.

She started using them ardently.  Each night before bed there was the telling-of-the-worries, but also, the dolls were very real for her, so they had to be free at night.  You know, to do their work I guess.  That started out with a very organized placement around her pillow–

add a bunch more dolls.  Um, the cup– that’s full of cardamom.  Yes.  We played “dreidel” at the Holidays and for lack of pennies, I grabbed the giant jar of pods in the pantry.  I might have also mentioned something about the scent of them being comforting to me… and maybe as I was trying to get her to STOP dreideling and go to bed, that she should take the pods with her because I thought they might just help her bad dreams…  Ker-plunk.  Its like that falling-blocks  computer game, but with parenting steps and miss-steps.  Suddenly Cardamom pods had to be a part of the nightly ritual.  Oh, and that cup also has all of her baby teeth mixed in with the pods.  It does.  I dunno about that one…( cue voodoo drumming. )

Inevitably, the mornings brought a gorgeous sleepy-eyed girl with worry dolls and cardamom pods all tangled up in her hair.

SO around the Holidays I made my friend Sue at Lovely Yarns a gift of a yarn inspired by this story. It spun like this– and it smells so nice.

I spun in a few Latin American “miracle charms” or Milagros for good measure. While not of Latin descent myself, I have been fascinated by these since my friend Cat told me tales of them from a trip to Brazil.:)

Milagro refers to an ancient aspect of Hispanic folk culture: small silver or gold votive offerings in the shape of arms, legs, eyes and other body parts; animals, fruits, vegetables, etc. These milagros are often attached to statues of saints or to the walls of churches/shrines.  In the classical sense, milagros are offered to a favorite saint as a reminder of the petitioner’s particular need, or they are offered to the saint in thanks for a prayer answered.  If, for example, someone has a sore arm, a tiny silver arm is hung on or near the favorite saint; the farmer who hopes that his pig will bear him many healthy piglets, asks his patron saint for intercession, and pins a pig milagro on the saint’s robe. Milagros can be flat, three dimensional, tiny or large; they can be of gold, silver, wood, lead, tin, bone, wax or whatever the petitioner desires.

So I’ve been working them into some yarns as a sort of magical-intentioned-adornment.  I like the idea of a garment or object made from the yarn that feels sort of cosmically hopeful or even protective.  That’s how I like to think of them anyway. here’s a few shots.  I have a bunch of really bright offerings right now and will keep them coming in various colorways until the blessings are all spun up.

bless y’all.

( If you click on the photo mosaic, you can see a larger one.)

That’s all for today.  Have a great one!