In 1981, my daughter bought her first rabbit for a 4-H project. We attended rabbit shows, and at one I saw a woman spinning wool right off the back of her Angora rabbit. I thought “I can do that” and bought a Rappard Spinning Wheel, and my own Angora rabbit, Cream Puff, whose wool I could harvest to spin. That began my textile journey which has included weaving and natural dyeing. 

For over 15 years, I’ve played with every imaginable fiber including wool, silk yardage, yarns, embellishments, and made “Nuno” felt. Visit  mariloumoschetti.com to see some of my garments. In addition to felt making, I LOVE making paper from a variety of fibers including kozo, bamboo, banana leaves, and cotton. When I joined the Guild in the mid-1990’s, I first served as marketing and publicity coordinator, then secretary, and lastly program director. I’m happy and excited to serve as the Guild’s President and look forward to a wonderful year of exploration with like-minded textile friends in our community.

I’m a newcomer to the Guild, joining just two years ago. But I’ve been involved in fiber arts for longer than I can remember. My mother taught me to knit when I was five. I admit, I did not do much at that time. In my late teens I did a few projects and finally started serious knitting about thirty years ago. My focus was on Aron sweaters.

About 10 years ago, I became involved with the summer Language and Heritage Camps run by the Sons of Norway, when I was offered an opportunity to teach knitting to the 13- to 17-year-old group. Each summer after that, I taught myself a new Nordic craft so I could then teach the kids something new the next summer. The next craft was tablet weaving followed by Hardangersøm (Norwegian Hardanger Embroidery) and most recently Nålebinding (sometimes called single needle knitting).

Shortly before joining the Guild, I acquired an Ashford 30” tabletop loom. It is supposed to be an eight-shaft loom, but four of the shafts are missing. But it works fine as a 4-shaft loom, and I began to teach myself weaving. It was during this learning phase that a friend introduced me to the Santa Cruz Textile Arts Guild.

I have been interested in and engaged with fiber arts since childhood. The love started when my grandmother taught me to knit. She was an excellent knitter, able to cable up a storm, but I never became particularly good at it. I did manage to make a couple sweaters for myself, and many scarves for friends and family. I moved on to sewing and, under the tutelage of my master quilter mother-in-law, learned and practiced quilting. I also began knotting rugs.

I have known of the Santa Cruz weaving guild since the early 1970s but life did not allow time to engage until recently, when I retired from my second career (as a librarian–my first career was in book and e-publishing). Upon realizing that I could now follow my dream of learning to weave, the universe unleashed a torrent of joy upon me in the form of a loom, an excellent teacher, and a wonderful community of inspiring fiber artists who are beyond generous with their knowledge. A spinning wheel and an abundance of raw fibers have also flowed to me, so I am also learning about that aspect of fiber arts. Am I having a glorious time with all of this and all of you? You betcha!

I am a relative newbie: new to textile arts, new to the Guild, new to Santa Cruz, and even new to California. My first contact with the Guild was through our outgoing Treasurer, Rachelle Weiss, who had a booth at our local Bonny Doon Art Tour.  Soon after the art tour, I joined the Guild and have been enjoying my introductions to many wonderful textile artists and their amazing avenues of textile art.  

I suppose I should mention that I happen to be an old-hand at both Treasurer and Membership duties, through many years of service in these areas during my days in Texas. Even though I am enjoying learning all about the textile arts, I also have a knack for organization, accuracy, and meeting deadlines.  So, when Rachelle wanted to relinquish her Treasurer duties, they just seemed to naturally fall into my lap. Please know that I take this position seriously and will do my best to properly represent the Guild.

My current textile interests are many and they include: knitting, crochet, tatting, weaving, tapestry, spinning, dyeing, and basketry. Now, all I need to do to succeed is to get these old fingers away from a calculator and into my stash of yarn!