By Terri Spilman
The story of a nine year-old girl named Piper and her journey to find a lost scarf percolated in the mind of local graphic designer and Raygun Workshop owner, Garrett Curry for twelve years. Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign and a little help from his artist friends, Curry’s book “Winter Woven” is published in the form of a beautifully hand-crafted piece of art that includes images of original oil paintings by local impressionist Kyle Ragsdale along with typeface that was entirely hand-lettered.
In the spirit of haunting wintertime classic stories like “The Polar Express” and “A Christmas Carol,” Curry describes “Winter Woven” as a story where something precious is lost and found in a very curious way. For nineteen years, Curry served in college campus ministries planting non-denominational Christian churches and was inspired to write the book by parables he used in his teachings and the music of the Ohio-based folk band Over The Rhine.
The setting of “Winter Woven” is the day after Christmas when main character Piper receives one last gift in the form of an overly-long knitted scarf handmade by her great aunt Fran whose character is modeled after Curry’s great aunt Marg. The scarf joined the list of yearly unappreciated day-after-Christmas handmade gifts from great aunt Fran such as mittens with two thumbs and a big, bulky itchy sweater made of what she daftly refers to as yarf meaning “yarn barf.” As with most of the unwanted yearly gifts, the scarf disappears only this time, panic sets in for Piper as her aunt suddenly passes away causing a desperate search for the scarf.
Regarding the dark tone of the story, Curry says, “I was trying to impose the gulp that Piper was going through realizing in this situation she’s lost something that didn’t mean anything and now it means something.”
The story is written simply enough for children age eight and up, however, adults will also enjoy the beauty of the art, warmth, whimsicality and humor of how this story dealing with loss is told.
“Winter Woven” retails for $24.99 and is available for purchase in Carmel at Mass on Main. For more information visit www.winterwoven.com.
