Changing Patterns: Discovering the Fabric of Your Creativity

If you are struggling to connect with the part of yourself that played in the dirt, sang nonsense songs in the car and ran after fireflies, this book can help reignite your passion for all things fun and creative. The stories and anecdotes help to deliver the authors' message in a friendly, unassuming way; everyone has a creative rhythm and can connect to it in simply by tuning in. I picked it up as a knitter, but left with so much more. Kudos on such a fun book!

From the initial pages of the preface where Daena and Wren outline their vision of this book during their brainstorming sessions through to the afterword Listen to your River, I felt mesmerized by the words, by the depth of information & wisdom about the creative process, by the photographs (most by Daena), by the metaphors, and by the intricate weaving of the creative process. I loved Daena's journey through improvisation, her wonderful stories about her students and their relationship to creativity. Daena's framework of the structure and spontaneity of creativity is spectacular. Daena teaches the reader how to be in the moment and say yes, even if that sometimes entails the pain of enduring the obstacles until creativity is achieved. I loved Daena's story about Arachne. I loved her take about neurobiology, the brain and creativity. A brilliant piece of work. Wren's chapter titles alone make the book worth reading, for example, I keep thinking, why knit, why knot? Wren's play with words about knitting and about human relationships coupled with her fiber philosophy has provided me with hours of reflection. Her ability to intertwine the patterns of knitting with human connection is marvelous. I am from a family of knitters, thus I so thoroughly loved Wren's delightful and enormously radiant work. The book title, itself, Changing Patterns: Discovering the pattern of your creativity is so apt. This book provides many useful and hands on opportunity for all readers to discover ways & tools to practice change. I cannot say enough good things about this book. I plan to read it again and again, as an inspiration and as a guide in my work and in life.