Hello Friends!
Thank you for your wonderful response to my recent letter about my great-great-grandmother Sarah Margaret Catherine Nipper – Cherokee woman and a daughter of Appalachia. I also shared my letter on Facebook and I was found by some lovely relatives – including Sarah’s grandson Patrick! I have new family stories collected from Patrick to make into songs. How exciting! And I learned from another relative that Charlie Hylton, my great-great-grandfather called granny “Sarah” rather than “Margaret” as was previously thought! It’s so valuable and moving to learn each new thing about my ancestors who have been the center of my writing and music for twenty years now!
Today, I’m sharing with you a spoken and abridged version of the letter I wrote back in February about Words & Wool including a kitchen table recording of my new song featured at the end. As I sew and knit – as long as the task isn’t too complicated (like casting on tiny needles with tiny wool for socks, cry!) – I enjoy listening to podcasts and music. So, I hope you will enjoy a little podcast of sorts from me. I’ve made some new friends through an article I wrote for Modern Daily Knitting and thought they, in particular, would enjoy connecting wool with words. If you’d like to read the original longer letter, follow the link below.
I am currently working on a couple of new ancestor songs, practicing a new (to me) finger-style guitar pattern, and hand-quilting needle books just for the joy of using this No. 12 Scheepjes undyed cotton I bought at MacCulloch and Wallis here in London on Friday. If you use sashiko thread for your projects, it’s a very nice alternative, has a similar hand, and you get a lot more thread for the money . . . And there are those socks that I’ve just started. What a relief to get through that first row of rib on double-pointed needles!
I hope your day is kind and full of the things you love to do.
Your friend,
Jeni
If you can support further letters by giving me time to write and record them, I would be mighty glad. You can do this through becoming a paid subscriber to these letters or by buying me a coffee (or rather, in my case, a cup of tea or spool of thread)! Thank you, kindly.
I’m Letting Go of You – written by Jeni Hankins, BMI. Recorded at Fiona and Mike’s kitchen table in Forest Hill, London. Available as a single on Bandcamp.
Jeni Hankins – vocal and rhythm guitar.
Mike Smith – lead guitar.
Fiona Jane Marshal – backing vocals.
Friendship (Tin Can & String) written by Jeni Hankins, BMI. Recorded by Peter Cutler at his home studio in Tehachapi, California, 2018. Jeni Hankins – vocal and guitar. Available on the record Homecoming Queen.