A couple weeks ago, my friend and yoga teacher, Shannon, shared a quote that hit me so hard, I had to marinate with it a couple weeks before I could bring it here, to you.

“Break often.
Not like porcelain,
But like the waves.”
-Scherezade Siobhan

If you’ve ever dropped a piece of your grandmother’s good china, you know the futility of trying to piece it back together.
But the waves – they are meant to break.
Imagine if a wave never broke. It would become a huge, destructive force. No, a wave inevitably embraces the shore, releases, and immediately begins to gather itself again. In such a way it becomes resilient, ever stronger and ultimately, in a way, unbreakable.
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In yoga, each time I would fall out of a pose, I used to feel so embarrassed. Now, I see it for what it is. An opportunity to practice gathering myself again, to get stronger.
It’s the same with my knitting. In the early days, I would get so frustrated if I had to frog. I would beat myself up. Once, I even tossed the whole project – needles and all – into the trash can. 😱

Now, after knitting and crocheting for more than four decades…

(And oh yeah, after the breakup of my 27-year marriage and the subsequent relocating cross-country, leaving the lacklocked hometown I’d always known to live by the ocean and start anew…)

I roll with things much more like a wave. I take longer to select my project, not just reactively casting on the hot thing from Ravelry. I savor the winding of the yarn. I celebrate the casting on.

I’ve been writing Shelley’s Sunday Yarns every week for more than 20 years now, and it’s still one of the great joys of my life. I love telling stories. I love shining a light on creative courage. And I love knowing that, week after week, we’re connected through these little yarns.

But here’s the thing I’ve been feeling for awhile now: A newsletter is, by nature, a one-way street.

I love hearing from you by email, but I’ve been craving a place where we can actually talk — where we can linger, ask questions, share reflections, and connect more deeply around the stories and ideas we’re already exploring together.

So I’ve created something new.

It’s called These Little Yarns, and it lives on Substack. It’s meant to be a space that’s safe, warm, and welcoming. A place to let our hair down. I’ll go first.

If you’re curious, I’d love to welcome you inside. Click over to learn more 👉 [These Little Yarns on Substack]