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The Fool’s Thread ~ The Gifts & Shadows of the Fool Card in Fiber Arts

A crochet project with the energy of the Fool Tarot Card - the gifts and shadows of the fool card in fiber arts
On a whim, I signed up to test a crochet tank top pattern - the tank is not within my usual clothing style and crochet is not the craft I have great technical skill in ~ but, thanks to The Fool's whimsy, I tested it and I love this top still!

The Fool is the spark of inspiration that nudges us toward a new beginning—that half-formed idea we can’t stop thinking about, the project we feel called to cast on. The Fool is curious, open-hearted, and too enchanted by possibility to be held back by doubt. They remind us that trust in ourselves and our craft is often more valuable than a carefully laid plan. In this post, we’ll explore the Gifts and Shadows of the Fool card in Fiber Arts—the blessings this energy brings to our creative lives, as well as the potential pitfalls. Because when we walk the Fool’s path, every leap of faith has something to teach us, and even our missteps can become part of the magic.


Jump to:

The Gift of the Fool

The Shadow of the Fool

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✨ It may be informative to review the Fool's Path Blog Series post The Fool in Fiber Arts to learn about what this card brings to a reading, how to recognize The Fool’s energy in yourself, your creative practice, and in fellow makers. This post also also explores how to intentionally weave that spirit of wonder, trust, and wild possibility into your craft.


The Major Arcana & Craft

The Tarot is divided into the Major and Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana, made up of the four suits and the court cards, offers insight into the mundane aspects of life—though don’t be fooled by the word mundane; there is deep magic woven into our daily rhythms and practices.


The Major Arcana consists of 21 numbered cards, along with The Fool, whose journey unfolds through them. The Fool is either unnumbered or marked as 0. When the Major Arcana are placed in order, this card is found at the beginning, before Card 1, or at the end, after Card 21. This is because, as a symbolic representation of life, the journey is a circle or a spiral. As the Fool reaches the end, they find themselves back at the beginning.


While the Minor Arcana speaks to the details of our daily lives, the Major Arcana reveals the larger lessons and themes that influence us, as well as provide insight into the transformations we must undergo as we grow into more whole and authentic versions of ourselves.

The Fool Tarot Card and Fiber Arts

The Gift of The Fool

The Fool offers us a precious gift—the permission to begin. To leap before we are “ready.” To trust that readiness is often a myth and that growth happens in the doing.


How often do we hesitate before starting a project, tangled in doubt? Do I have the right skills? The right yarn? The right pattern? The Fool shakes their head at such questions. They know the magic isn’t in having every answer before we begin—it’s in the process itself.


For fiber artists, The Fool reminds us that creation is an adventure. Every cast-on, every chain stitch, every first hesitant treadle of a spinning wheel is a step into the unknown. The Fool delights in the dropped stitches, the frogged rows, the miscalculations that lead to unexpected brilliance. They understand that mistakes are not failures but markers of growth—evidence that we are learning, stretching, becoming.

The Fool Card laying on left over scraps from previous projects
It is the Gift of the Fool that allows us to find all those bits and bobs of left over projects deep in our stash and dream up something wonderful to make with them.

The Fool invites us to embrace the unknown with joy. To say yes to the yarn that isn’t our usual choice, the technique that feels just beyond our reach, the project that excites us even if it isn’t “practical.” With their past experiences bundled snuggly over our shoulder and their intuition yapping happily at their heels, The Fool reminds us that our craft is not just about finished objects but about curiosity, play, and discovery.


So, when next you feel that spark—that inexplicable pull toward a new creative endeavor—listen. The Fool is whispering: Go on. Try it. The path will unfold as you walk it.


The Fool Tarot Card and Fiber Arts

The Shadow of The Fool

For all the Fool’s gifts—curiosity, trust, unshaken enthusiasm—there is a shadow side to their journey. The Fool leaps before looking, assuming the net will always appear (or that they will simply learn to nålebind and make their own before they hit the ground). While faith is a powerful thing, blind faith can leave us tangled in a mess of our own making.


A tangled heap of yarn that once held so much promise but fell under the Shadow of the Fool Card
A tangled heap of yarn that once held so much promise

We see the shadow of The Fool in the knitter who casts on a sweater three sizes too big because they refused to measure. In the weaver who warps their loom with the wrong tension, only to realize halfway through that their fabric is askew. In the crocheter who, in their excitement, skips over reading the pattern notes and discovers—far too late—that their stitches don’t match the sample at all.


The Fool teaches us to trust the journey, but they also remind us that naivety is not the same as wisdom. It’s easy to get swept up in the thrill of inspiration, to feel invincible in the face of a new project, only to realize that we have wandered deep into the weeds without a map. Sometimes, The Fool’s confidence borders on arrogance—the insistence that “it will all work out” when a little preparation could have saved us from heartache.


And yet, even in their missteps, The Fool offers a lesson. When we find ourselves frogging an entire project, starting over, or sighing at a tangled heap of yarn that once held so much promise, we are given the chance to pause. To reflect. To laugh at our own folly and admit that perhaps, next time, we will read the pattern through first. Or swatch. (Maybe.)


The Fool’s shadow reminds us that while we can’t always avoid mistakes, we can learn from them. That recklessness and trust are two sides of the same coin. And that sometimes, the bravest thing we can do is not to leap, but to take a breath, plant our feet, and step forward with intention.

Stitching with the Fool, tarot and fiber arts

The Fool calls us forward with a spark of inspiration and the thrill of a new beginning, reminding us to trust the journey—even when the path is unclear. But with all that curiosity and possibility comes a risk of leaping without looking, of starting more than we can finish. When we walk with The Fool, we learn to dance between wonder and discernment, gathering both joy and wisdom as we go.

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Because Rainbow!

If you enjoyed this blog post in The Fool's Thread Series, let me know! Leave a comment and share your thoughts, I would love to hear from you!


How has The Fool influenced your craft? Are you inspired by the Fool's Gifts or do you find yourself blundering into the Fool's Shadow?


Happy Making! ~Sönna


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SDK Designs: empowering makers to knit with confidence and intention in harmony with the Earth's rhythms, shaping not just our stitches but our connection to craft and community.


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2 days ago
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.

I can be so product oriented sometimes I forget to just jump in and play! Thank you for reminding me of the gifts so I can let go of my fears of the shadows.

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