Little Girl in the Woods
One day, when I was about seven years old, a family from the Netherlands came to visit us. I remember the little boy and girl hugging onto two beautiful cloth dolls that were dressed in perfectly knitted outfits done made from a Nordic pattern. I can still see those two dolls in my mind to this day! It took twenty-two years before I learned those dolls were called "Waldorf" or "Steiner" dolls, and better yet, I could learn how to make them!
I grew up sharing my childhood years between the great bush of Alaska and the beaches of Hawaii. My parent’s homesteaded land on a small private island located within the Lake Clark National Park in Alaska.
After a lot of hard work, they started a summer fishing lodge that brought wonderful guests from all over the world into our home. I was constantly surrounded by wilderness and amazing plants animals and couldn't have imagined a better way to live.
Spending most of my summer days barefoot, running on the slate rocks that covered the beaches and swimming in the glacier fed lake. I was quickly given the nick name "leather-foot" because of how tough my feet became.
I had a few friends that would visit me, but only when they flew out in float planes. They would often stay with us for a week or two at a time.
My mother home schooled my brother and me until I was in the fourth grade. She had promised my brother that he could go to a traditional school starting in the Ninth grade at which point we moved to Hawaii. I started attending a wonderful Montessori School there and that was just what I needed for a very gentle transition from my home school life.
Hawaii fed me a whole new type of nature. Although at first glance it seemed completely different to me. I still had amazing plants and animals that surrounded me and I still choose to leave my shoes at home, but the water was a whole lot warmer!
I moved back to Alaska in 1996 where I currently live with my husband and two wonderful boys. All of them have been very supportive of my creative outlets and give me continued inspiration for my work.
I hope to be able to continue making dolls and toys for a long, long time and hope to never stop learning new techniques so that I can keep growing with this loving craft.
-Shannon Morgan
The Pine Cone Gnome