The Chronicle of a Craft
This is the chronicle of a craft; the journal of a journey through the voyage of a maker. This is a ledger, of sorts, to account for the progress, thoughts, success and disappointment of what's created using a ball of wool and a steel hook.
Pretty stitches make pretty fabrics. There's nothing wrong with pretty; with pleasing to the eye. But, what's beautiful are the symbols of life hooked into the yarn.
I've been knitting since I was about 5. It is a craft handed down to me from my grandmother. I fell in love immediately and eventually fell away from it. But, I believe if the universe has something in store for you, even if miles and years separate it, it will find its way back. And, it did.
Every time life got especially hard or sad or challenging, I picked up my needles. They were the one constant in my past 34 years. Sitting with a pattern, the rhythm of the act, the meditation in the counting - it took away all the clamor. It redirected my focus from what was missing to what was being created.
I have a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. All that means is that I paid a lot of money to find out I knew next to nothing about everything. I learned that all I could do was to keep learning.
After 25 years of knitting, I taught myself how to crochet. While knitting and most other crafts can come from some sort of machine now, crochet remains the one art that can not be industrialized. It still requires two human hands to happen. There was something poetic about that I fell in love with.
I started talking to lots of people who shared my interest. It introduced me to people I otherwise wouldn't meet. It's amazing the conversation that starts in the checkout line when the people around ask what all the yarn is for. Mostly, I hear it's something their grandmothers used to do. And, yes, I can make pretty much anything!
I had the pleasure of teaching friends to crochet. I have the pleasure of giving gifts my hands created. I challenge myself by writing patterns out of the things I find in life that inspire me and I was keeping track of those stories.
See, the hook tells a story with yarn and we tell the yarn a story with the hook. It's the most simple form of reciprocity - of give and take - I've had. I believe we can't create something without it recreating us. In turn, we leave a piece of us in everything we create. There's beautiful evidence of that in a blanket that took hours of recreating. It becomes a story that can be wrapped around us.
Every stitch tells a story, and it gives us one to tell right back.
This is a narrative of those stories and lessons. It's a look at the deeper meaning that draws us into our crafts and where they take us. I have some stories I can share, but I have high hopes that best ones are still waiting in the wings.
I'm a collector of quotes, sayings, advice, ideas... The one that stuck with me the most throughout my life is, "We've all got a bird." It's a rough translation to English from German and it came straight my my grandma. It took me years to "get it" finally. But, a bird can be anything out of the ordinary. It means that each of us has a quirk; something chirping in our ear that won't let us be. The idea for this blog was my bird for many years.
This is an invitation. Let's go make something.
Here's to the creator in each of us.
Pretty stitches make pretty fabrics. There's nothing wrong with pretty; with pleasing to the eye. But, what's beautiful are the symbols of life hooked into the yarn.
I've been knitting since I was about 5. It is a craft handed down to me from my grandmother. I fell in love immediately and eventually fell away from it. But, I believe if the universe has something in store for you, even if miles and years separate it, it will find its way back. And, it did.
 |
| Grandma |
Every time life got especially hard or sad or challenging, I picked up my needles. They were the one constant in my past 34 years. Sitting with a pattern, the rhythm of the act, the meditation in the counting - it took away all the clamor. It redirected my focus from what was missing to what was being created.
I have a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. All that means is that I paid a lot of money to find out I knew next to nothing about everything. I learned that all I could do was to keep learning.
After 25 years of knitting, I taught myself how to crochet. While knitting and most other crafts can come from some sort of machine now, crochet remains the one art that can not be industrialized. It still requires two human hands to happen. There was something poetic about that I fell in love with.
I started talking to lots of people who shared my interest. It introduced me to people I otherwise wouldn't meet. It's amazing the conversation that starts in the checkout line when the people around ask what all the yarn is for. Mostly, I hear it's something their grandmothers used to do. And, yes, I can make pretty much anything!
I had the pleasure of teaching friends to crochet. I have the pleasure of giving gifts my hands created. I challenge myself by writing patterns out of the things I find in life that inspire me and I was keeping track of those stories.
See, the hook tells a story with yarn and we tell the yarn a story with the hook. It's the most simple form of reciprocity - of give and take - I've had. I believe we can't create something without it recreating us. In turn, we leave a piece of us in everything we create. There's beautiful evidence of that in a blanket that took hours of recreating. It becomes a story that can be wrapped around us.
Every stitch tells a story, and it gives us one to tell right back.
This is a narrative of those stories and lessons. It's a look at the deeper meaning that draws us into our crafts and where they take us. I have some stories I can share, but I have high hopes that best ones are still waiting in the wings.
I'm a collector of quotes, sayings, advice, ideas... The one that stuck with me the most throughout my life is, "We've all got a bird." It's a rough translation to English from German and it came straight my my grandma. It took me years to "get it" finally. But, a bird can be anything out of the ordinary. It means that each of us has a quirk; something chirping in our ear that won't let us be. The idea for this blog was my bird for many years.
This is an invitation. Let's go make something.
Here's to the creator in each of us.
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