Yo-yo Mama

I made a new friend. She is made of yo-yos cut from a men's corduroy shirt and a black thrift store skirt. She has no name, and as you can see, she has no face. I have yet to determine her purpose, other than making me happy.

I have always wanted to make fabric yo-yos. Well, ever since I was about ten and noticed a friend's yo-yo bedspread. It was absolutely beautiful, as was everything in this friend's house. Lois. I loved everything about Lois - her house, her clothes, her laugh. She made many of her own clothes from Vogue patterns, while I was still confined to Sew-Easy patterns.

Lois showed me how to make yo-yos, but it took me twenty years to finally sit down and make some. I imagined back then that I would have a basket of yo-yos and circles in waiting that I could sit down and work on whenever I wanted. This is the year I'm making my dreams come true. The other day, my daughter and I sat on the family room floor and made yo-yos together. I even got my son to try a few stitches. I told him it was like a doctor stitching up a patient.

I love the circularity of yo-yos. I seem to be drawn to all things circular - events, stories, skirts, needlepoint frames, knitting needles. There is lovely symmetry in circles, a peaceful flow with no sharp corners. There is a circularity in the fact that Lois taught me to make yo-yos, and now I am teaching my children to make yo-yos. Someday they may even teach someone else this neat trick, or at least remember fondly the person that taught them.