tiny happy

deschain + snail mail

I made this loose-knit, loose-fitting top over the summer break. It took me a while to get a photo of it - it always seemed too bright or too dark to capture it properly, though that was probably my rubbish camera skills. The pattern is Deschain by Leila Raven, and I knitted it from Erika Knight Studio Linen yarn in black. 

The pattern is written for an aran-weight yarn, but the studio linen is a DK, so I made a few modifications such as knitting more repeats and changing the numbers around a bit. I think the finer yarn resulted in a more open texture too, but i like the amount of drape it has and it's comfortable to wear. I am really happy with the finished result and it's already proved useful to wear over dresses to work. If you're interested in the other modifications I made, and thoughts on the pattern, there are some notes on Ravelry.

I think Leila is an amazing designer and I would love to try another of her patterns sometime. You can see them all here.

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In the first photo above, you can see some small things I'd gathered to send along with some letters last week. I do love to receive handwritten letters (and am lucky enough to have friends who write to me from time to time!) so try to remember to write some back. This time I also sent a few hand-knitted cotton facecloths and soap too, and some hand-embroidered lavender sachets. Just because.

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Some things I've seen and liked lately:

Nicola's zucchini blossom feta fritters

A little woolen kitchen animation

Skovbær Shawl - a free one-skein pattern by Fiber Tales (video tutorial)

The Guardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

This page of Nigel Slater summer salad recipes

Thom Yorke's Desert Island Disc interview

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I hope you're having a good week! See you again soon.

making to connect

Thank you for reading my previous post, and for your thoughtful comments! I loved reading them. I also had some great chats on Instagram and want to thank everyone who shared their thoughts with me.

Mostly I was just wanting to express the strange way I have been feeling lately. I don't think I will ever stop being creative and making things with my hands. It's very important to me and really a huge part of my life. I also love to share my work with others. 

My lovely friend Felicia wrote under my last post: Especially now when things are feeling so overwhelming, we have a need for grounding, for solidity and for intentional materiality. We have a need for active engagement over passive consumption. We have a need for purposeful work - even if that purposeful work is now an optional activity.

I love that thought - that rather than be dissuaded from what we love, we can instead take the opportunity to use our passion and skills in more meaningful ways.

I do think though that I will try and make some small changes in how I work. These are my ideas for 2020:

 * Make more gifts. I've always loved to make gifts, especially for babies and children. This year I'd like to make more of them, even if they're just small acts, such as knitting socks for my kids and partner and Dad and father-in-law, newborn baby socks and booties from the leftovers. Stripy baby cardigans from small amounts of precious yarns. Wee winter hats for my nieces.

I was invited to give a talk about making gifts at Soul Craft in 2018. In her comment, Felicia wrote: "The reason I asked you to talk about giving your work away last year is because I believe that this is part of the answer for all of us life-long makers. I don't need another frock but there is someone I care about who needs a pair of handknit socks. So many of us are needing comfort and the things we make offer us this by reminding us of our connection to others. These socks remind them each time they put them on of our connection in a way that a transient phone call or a store-bought gift cannot because they represent my time and intention. The material has a semi-permanence that offers us the solace of connection in the absence of the actual human."

* Make more and stronger connections with others. Share my materials, knowledge and skills more freely. Make more time for meeting up with other makers. My friend Bonnie wrote me a lovely message about this. She said: "I make because it's how I express myself. Making is my way of contributing positive energy into the world. I know we end up with 'things' in the process. But when we consciously make something with intention and meaning, it becomes more than just a 'thing'. It becomes a connection in some way. I think there is a big difference between mindless making, and creative making. One has ego and disconnect and the other seems to bring us into the present moment with a desire for purpose and meaning."

* Work my way through my ''saved'' craft materials. I've realised that over the past few years, acquiring materials has almost become a pastime separate from my actual making. I don't regret that. I have had so much fun and enjoyment talking about yarns with friends, going to markets, online shopping, op-shopping and planning my purchases. But I'm also aware that I now have enough yarn, fabric and other supplies to keep me busy for the next year or two, and I really do want to use these lovely things, rather than just collect them. So I am going to start using up my very favourite supplies, in particular, the ones I have been ''saving''. After all, that's why I bought them in the first place.

* Keep re-using, recycling and buying secondhand wherever I can. Catherine left an excellent comment about this on my previous post. She wrote that she's now aware of having a well-stocked wardrobe, so instead of making something completely new, she'll consider embellishing an existing garment, such as embroidering a shirt, etc. She also mentioned that she tries to slow the making process down, in order to enjoy it more and be less material-focused. For example, feeling okay about un-ravelling knitting if it's not right, or re-doing something. I would like to work on this as I can be very impatient with my work at times. Another reader, Laura, wrote: "Mindfully creating and repurposing and reusing materials is great and I hope you continue to make things that bring you joy." She mentions the way children draw over and over on paper that may or may not end up in the recycling bin, as an essential way to express themselves or even just to pass time and practice mark-making and pen-holding. On a very similar note, Felicia has an interesting post on her blog: Craft as a project vs craft as a practice which is definitely worth a read. As is all of her blog.

* Start again slowly. I'm trying to re-introduce some creative practice each day, and not put too much pressure on myself to start/complete or even make much progress on projects.

 

If you're feeling the same way these days, I hope these ideas might work for you too. Thank you as always for visiting here.

 

brave old world

Happy New Year to you! I hope this new phase of the calendar finds you happy and well-rested. The family and I spent nearly two weeks in the South Island as we always do, visiting family, swimming, walking, and eating berry ice-cream among other things. It was a lovely time, though it felt too fleeting! We came home earlier than we usually would, because of work and other commitments. The photos above are some I took on our adventures. You can see how lush and beautiful it is down there. I'm so grateful to have had that time to rest.

Mid-January, when people are slowly re-entering their work and other ''everyday life'' patterns, usually makes me feel excited and curious about what the year ahead will bring. This year though, I haven't felt very positive. The fires raging in nearby Australia, international politics and war, the pettiness of our domestic politics when poverty and racism is still bad here, our changing climate and many other things are worrying me. As I know they are concerning many people. The things that usually bring me inspiration and joy are my creative work, and enjoying other peoples' creativity through books, music, films, art and even social media. But these things haven't lit any sparks in my mind lately. I keep wondering, ''what's the point of it?"

I think part of the problem has been a growing feeling about my creative work that I can't shake off. That is: in a time that I, as an extremely privileged person, believe I should be trying to simplify and limit my material desires and consumption, what can be done about one of my main joys, making things? My creativity has for many years taken this form. Embroidery, knitting, sewing, and other crafts too. But all of these pursuits involve buying materials and creating more things from those materials. Even when I've tried to hard to use only recycled materials, I'm still making new things. And I really don't believe the world needs more things.

I know these are not new ideas or concerns. This topic has been discussed at length, and brilliantly, on other blogs and last year on Instagram I read some really thoughtful pieces written by other makers. I'm still forming my ideas around this. I may or may not write more on the subject. In the meantime, I would love to know your thoughts, if you feel like sharing them below.

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Somewhat related, yet also contradictory: in the last photo above, you can see one of my current works-in-progress. This is a blanket given to me by my mum over the Christmas period. I remember her starting to make it in the early 2000s and I also remember coveting it. I could knit back then but wouldn't have called myself an actual knitter, if you know what I mean. But this was a project that re-sparked my interest in making things in my early 20s.

The project is called 'squares blanket' and the pattern is from Simple Knits for Easy Living, a book by Erika Knight published in the year 2000. The blanket is made up of 9 squares, which are knitted in a checkerboard pattern, with two panels in stocking stitch and two showing reverse stocking-stitch. The design calls for Rowan Chunky Soft yarn, a bulky alpaca-blend which is now discontinued. 

Mum had completed three of the required nine squares for the blanket, and sent me home with them and the book, needles and remaining balls of yarn. For some reason, I've become slightly obsessed with finishing this blanket and imagining how lovely it will be on the bed this winter. It's really the simplest of knits but somehow the right thing for this month and how I'm feeling about making these days. I did have to invest in some 7.5mm Chiaogoo tips to knit these squares though, as the old plastic needles were not doing it for me! 

See you again soon. 

M XX