I met Rochelle on Instagram in 2017 and fell in love with everything about her work. Her Craft Real Magic line spoke to my fiber witch soul, and all her pieces are unique, beautiful, and meticulously handcrafted. I finally worked up the nerve to email her about stocking her project bags, and imagine my surprise when she said she visited my shop a couple of months prior, on her way back from Rhinebeck! Four years later, I'm so happy to call this wonderful human a close friend, and I'm thrilled to share her story with you (and you just might catch her at one of our Virtual Stitch Nights)!
- xo, Ana
Rochelle, I'm so excited to tell everyone how awesome you are! You're the creative force behind Home Row Fiber Co, where you design and make beautiful project bags, dye yarn, and make other gorgeous goodies. Can you tell us how Home Row came to be?
Ana! I'm so thrilled to chat with you about all things magic and making! Those two practices are so powerful and so intertwined, and the way you present both through Circle of Stitches is really quite brilliant. I walked into your shop for the first time and felt I was home.
I think the easiest way to sum up what Home Row is to me is to tell you why I chose that name. If you've ever taken a traditional typing course you know “home row” is the place you begin and it's the place you return to when you get tripped up in your work and need to reset. As a person who struggles with anxiety and mental wellness I find that concept to be so fundamentally grounding, so relevant. I also fancy myself a homebody and a hedge Druid, plus the word “row” is obviously a recognizable and familiar word for knitters. Home Row is where I start and it's where I return to when I'm lost. It's the picket fence that protects and encircles my ...well my everything really!
What do you want folks to know about Home Row and what goes on behind the scenes?
I'm truly a one-woman show, I have two amazing feline familiars (Nancy Thompson and Marie Laveau), I'm super into roller skating, I wear wigs sometimes, I’m a disabled maker (and no, disabled is not a bad word) and I'm utterly obsessed with Lord Of The Rings. ...like, obsessed.
Now on to the witchy stuff! Do you identify as a witch? What does that mean to you?
I'm studying under the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids so I identify as a Druid. Druidry is an earth-based spiritual religion that's similar to Witchcraft in foundation but there are nuances in practice. Druids of old were persecuted as “witches” so you'll hear me refer to myself as both a Green Witch and a Druid. The way history portrays witches, the way society treats witches, is something I've related to as early as I can remember.
You can't always tell by looking at me now, thanks to modern medicine, but when I was a kid it was inescapably obvious I was born with a rare and sometimes debilitating skin disorder called Lamellar Ichthyosis. As a teen I developed a hormone-related disorder called PMDD. Living with rare disorders can be extremely “othering”. I was often an outcast, alone, and forced to wear a proverbial Scarlet Letter. I have always found comfort in animals and nature before humans, I have always had a small coven-like circle of people I trust and keep close.
Growing up with unique medical needs helped me recognize that there is real magic in the mundane. There is magic in simply existing. There is magic in all things that grow. I have always said: What is science if not an explanation for how real magic works? What is making if not real alchemy? I live by that.
Walking the Druid path helps me nurture and develop that magic. It also allows me to reconnect with my ancestral Celtic roots while paying respects to the spirits of the land I'm on – Onöndowa’ga:’ land.
How does your Druid practice influence Home Row Fiber Co, and how did that start?
Before I launched Home Row I was a sewing blogger and in my bio I always described myself as a Wielder of Needles and used the tagline Craft Real Magic. One of my most popular bag designs features artwork with hands and needles. The earliest iteration of that artwork, which is a digital tracing of my own hand that’s decorated with a feather and moon block print I carved, was the face of my business cards years before Home Row came to be.
Since I'm a one-woman show that “wielder of needles” and “maker of magic” identity seamlessly crosses over into every single thing I do because that's who I am. My Druid practice has awoken in me a fierce reverence for the earth and how I impact it, for better or for worse. That's why I focus on waste-free sewing practices, plastic-free packaging, and organic low-impact yarn dyeing. Druidry has taught me that everything I do has meaning and connects me to everything else. Even the way I make coffee in the morning can become both a ritual and an offering when I treat it as such.
You recently launched your Merino Moon Magic line, can you tell us about it?
The image of moon phases is undeniably trendy, especially right now. You can't visit any big box store without seeing a moon phases yoga mat or t-shirt or coffee mug. And I get it! The moon is literally a force of nature that pulls you in (refer back to that “science is magic” concept I mentioned earlier), but for me it's more personal than that.
With my skin disorder and PMDD I live my life by literal cycles. The waxing and waning of being is something I experience both physically and figuratively. In the past I have resented those cycles but now I want to honor and embrace them. That's not unique to me, I know, I think every person on earth can empathize with shifting cycles of all types, which is why the image of the lunar cycle is so beloved in the first place. To go back to my Merino Moon Magic art specifically, you'll also find a merino skull, some vintage flora in the background, and the words “craft” and “magic” written in the Ogham alphabet. I've always loved skull imagery as a reminder that death and decay is never the end of life as far as the earth is concerned, it's merely a transformation of cells and a means of nourishing the ground as you return to it. Life is magic. Death is magic. You'll also see a lot of green and greenery in general from me, for obvious reasons.
We've worked together on a few projects, which has been so much fun! You've been a regular contributor to our Fiber Witch Box series, which I launched last fall and is such a heart-centered project for me. This Saturday is Local Yarn Store Day, so I'm very excited to share a sneak peek of our special collaboration for LYS Day! Thank you so much for chatting with me!
Thanks so much for thinking of me for this feature, Ana! It's such a rare treat to be able to talk about all things witch-y and wool-y! I appreciate you so much for how you've encouraged me to grow and evolve my practice since we've known each other. You're a light in my life <3
The feeling is mutual, my friend! I think someone is chopping onions over here…
