Family pet enshrined in ‘memory patches’

Andrea Rouillard’s looms are situated under windows where the sun spills in. The light makes the canning jars of stewed tomatoes, green tomato relish, plum butter, rhubarb jam and peach pie lining the shelf across the room gleam like jewels. In one corner is a wire cage filled with clean straw in which a little red hen that can’t walk resides.

“We don’t know what’s wrong with her, but we couldn’t just let her die,” Rouillard said.

Cody, the black Labrador retriever, presses his damp nose against the sliding glass door, hoping to be let in.

Her son, Sam, 4, plays in the living room.

This is the homey atmosphere in which Rouillard weaves “memory patches,” an idea that took shape and evolved as she grieved the loss of Cheyenne, the beloved family dog, which became ill and died in 2000.

“I knew I wanted to spin and weave,” she said, “and I knew it had something to do with Cheynne’s fur.” Her husband, Rick, had saved a bag of fur from some of the last times he had brushed Cheyenne. “He had no idea why he saved it.”

A year ago, Rouillard, who has a master’s degree in social work and knows a thing or two about counseling others how to deal with loss, didn’t have any idea how to spin or weave although she’d had the floor loom for 10 years and the spinning wheel for a year.

She had been busy raising Sam and living the rural Maine life she and her husband had dreamed of before they moved to Waldo from Rhode Island in 1999.

When she discovered that pet hair can be combined with wool and spun into yarn, it was the impetus she needed to explore her interest in spinning and weaving. That led her to Deborah Bergman, owner of Purple Fleece in Stockton Springs, who teaches classes in the art of spinning and weaving.

Last year, Rouillard established Full Moon Weavings. She specializes in spinning and weaving all types of pet fur – hence, the memory patches.

The first memory patch she made was from Cheyenne’s fur. It has a subtle tweedy brown and white color. It reminds Rouillard of the fun and joy the dog brought to her family. “It made the healing process [of losing the dog] shorter,” she said.

But a memory patch, she said, can be made from the fur of a pet that is very much alive. She has made memory patches from the fur of pets owned by friends and family.

Each patch is unique because the pattern of stripes or color gradations that evolve in the weaving process is unpredictable, depending entirely on the mix of colors in the pet’s fur. Her dog Cody’s fur, for example, yielded a patch that is beautifully mottled from very dark brown to ebony black. Some of the patches have a rough texture if the fur has been clipped, or a softer texture if it comes from brushing.

Each pet fur memory patch resembles a miniature rug that can be framed for display “like a beautiful piece or art,” Rouillard said.

One of her future goals as a weaver is to learn the weaving techniques of the Navaho.

“Losing Cheyenne turned out to be such an inspiration,” she said. By experiencing the loss of her pet and coming to grips with grief, she learned to spin and weave and to fully appreciate the idea that life is always a hand woven affair.

For more information, call 342-3286, or visit www.FullMoonWeavings.com.

Snippets

. The wife of a Michigan National Guardsman stationed in Iraq belongs to a knitting group called the Knit Squad. The group reaches out to Guard families by knitting and giving away bright yellow scarves. Wearing a yellow scarf signifies, like tying a yellow ribbon on a tree or sporting a yellow decal on one’s car, support for American troops stationed abroad.

. Ottobre Design is a kids fashion magazine for those who love to sew. It features patterns, instructions, style and fashion from Finland. The Web site includes a few free patterns viewers may download. Www.ottobredesign.com.

Ardeana Hamlin can be reached at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.