About

I learned to stitch by the ocean.  An old woman named Sis taught me.  She lived across the canal with her brother Del who raised orchids.  I sat on Sis's porch for many summers while we talked and knitted and watched water rats run back and forth under the docks.

I still think of the process of working with fiber as rat-time, and I am still entranced.  Fiber work is industrious, rhythmic; its labour tactile, sensual.  Stitches also engages the workings of memory, establishing new narratives and connexions.  Besides, surrounding ourselves with animal fibers can be transformative.

I create handspun yarns, batts and decorative arts out of material remnants of animal life.  These materials come from the animals on my farm, other local and animal-friendly farms, and thrift shops and yard sales.  I also wildcraft and hand-dye fibers from natural dyestuffs gathered in the beautiful woods and meadows of North Carolina.

I share my fiber art and vintage finds here on my blog and in my shop, and announcements on facebook.  Say hi at drucillapettibone@gmail.com.

✄

My work has been featured at these lovely online places:

Spin Artiste

Durham Arts Council

BikBik & Roro

LaiGrai & Friends

Handstories

Ozma of Odds

Self-Guided Art Therapy

Needle Exchange with Penny Nickels

Arteries by Arlee Barr

Folk Reveries

Stitchgasm!

Under the Pyramids

Little Yellow Birds