Hello again. It is good to be back with you. Hope you all had as good a festive period as possible in these trying times. Wishing for 2021 to lead to more positive outcomes for everyone.
In the months since my last blog I have experienced not just the joys of the worldwide pandemic and all it has to offer but my health necessitated a stay in hospital. Hence the long hiatus between my last blog and now.
Over the years I have come to the realisation it is never a good idea to hang on to an ideal of how things and people should be. Life very rarely provides perfection as you imagine it to be.
Also, just as you enter a sweet spot, where you believe and feel everything is right in your world life moves on either for better times or not. So it does when you are at the depths of despair. Don’t get me wrong I am not saying you never get to enjoy this sweetness or wallow in the sorrow so to speak. I have known some who have supped from the sweet stuff for years. Some get good slurps of the good stuff while others spend their life maybe getting an occasional sip.
Whatever your fortune has been there are always times where your ability to cope and move forward can be as much, if not more, of an asset than your ability to hold on and enjoy or endure.
In this I see parallels with our mutual love and participation in our crafts. We see the ideal pattern or, better still, are able to dream up some item to design and work on. However, we all know the frustration and, sometimes, painful process of having to frog a piece not just once but many times and of not getting things just the way we had imagined them. The agonies wondering if you are ever going to get the hang of a new technique or stitch. Will you ever be able to produce an item that can be used usefully? In the end we, as individuals, make our own decisions how to proceed with varying success.
Whatever the outcome, it is the product of our own work with all the beauty and skill we have to give. While it is a shared journey as we learn the skill as others have and exchange ideas, show off our work and rejoice and commiserate accordingly, it is also a deeply personal journey as only we know the learned experience of producing that individual item and what it means to us. You provide your own style, taste and quirks to your work and only you know where all the hidden joys and pains as well as the ‘hidden’ uncorrected mistakes are.
There is also the external influences which determine the final outcome. What resources do we have to enable us to produce our much longed for new jacket with the outrageous colour combination or the delicate doily with sweet meadow flowers. Do we have enough money, access to materials, knowledge and understanding or skill to produce such wonderful items. Do our personal circumstances allow for such activities or do they remain an aspiration.
Likewise, in these days of pandemic which is having an overarching influence in all of our lives in so many ways we must choose how to proceed and it will be a deeply personal as well as shared journey for all of us.
Life will move on and the pandemic will be behind us; at least in terms of how we are able to manage and live with the virus. Our lives however will not only be influenced by experience of living through it but the personal choices we make along the way.
I wish us all well in the coming months and hope we have the best life we can.
Current Projects
In my last blog I wrote, “For at least the time being, I will not be outlining my future plans for larger projects and the like. Instead I will be sharing with you what I have on my needles or hook at present as well as any interesting bits and pieces I come across along the way. I will also share my progress to date and any strategies I have found while trying to get back in the groove. I know from reading and speaking to others I am not the only person who has ever mislaid their crafting mojo. Perhaps something which I find helpful will assist someone else.”
Well, now I know, at least in part, where my crafting mojo went. There was obviously something working on me which was causing my fatigue, lack of concentration as well as motivation.
What I have been finding useful lately is not to sweat it; to relax and do what I can. Gradually, not only is my crafting mojo returning but my ability to get on with things in general. Putting out of sight any unfinished projects which I am not working on at present has lessened the sense of being overwhelmed. To be really honest the one thing which has helped a lot is just doing whatever I have been putting off. It serves to remind that thinking about something too much can make it seem more challenging than it actually is. Also, I tend to remind myself of a conversation with one of my brothers many years ago in which we both agreed that working to avoid doing something can be, more often than not, harder than actually justing doing it – so I am just doing it whenever possible. I also remembered another two things: I enjoy crafting and can find it therapeutic and calming when in challenging times.
So, at present there are two projects I am wanting to progress. The first is from Pippin Poppycock and is the Arizona Blanket, https://pippinpoppycock.com/arizona-blanket/. It is a blanket I have crocheted before as you can see from the picture below.
I used Stylecraft Special DK in the colours of:
Soft Peach Apricot
Vintage Peach Jaffa
Spice Walnut
Copper
The colours were chosen to bring a feeling of warmth, brightness and happiness.
The blanket was a project I enjoyed doing in an earlier stay in hospital and was surprised how quickly it came together. So when I had my more recent stay and needed something to occupy my mind I chose to do it again. My concentration was not at its’ best at the time and I thought something familiar would be helpful rather than doing my usual of jumping straight into something new with technique learn and pattern instructions to understand and follow.
I must say, it did do the trick. Concentrating on the blanket also enabled me to manage better the circumstances and surroundings I found myself in at the time. Unfortunately, since coming home I have not progressed it any but I am now feeling more able and motivated to get going.
The colours for this Arizona Blanket are:
Tomato Saffron
Spice Copper
Khaki Meadow
Apricot
They were inspired by my idea of autumn and the earth. It is interesting that many of the nurses who saw the work in progress at the time said it reminded them of autumn without my having to say which was excellent. I had been concerned about my colour choice.
My second project is knitting which is my first love. Although it has been some time since I have actually knitted anything – crochet just kept getting in the way of it. However, I am determined to get back to it.
For this project I am using Knoll, Soft Donegal 100% pure new wool in Killala which is a tweed green. I love it. I made a swatch using both 4 1/2 mm (no 7) needles and 6 mm (no 4) and found the larger needles produced a softer, more flexible and comfortable outcome. I am using the Irish Moss Stitch or Seed Stitch.
It is brilliant to feel I have my mojo back and am able to accomplish this without fatigue or lack of concentration. Long may it last!
Come join me!
Now that I am well on the mend it is my intention to blog regularly as I had initially meant, sharing my crocheting, knitting and of course chat.
You are welcome to join me along the way by signing up at the top of the page and we will see where the journey leads. It would also be most welcome if you were to leave any comments you may have.
Have you lost your crafting mojo at any time? What do you find helps?
Hope you visit again soon. Take care and be safe.
Kate
The Bifo Kid's Yarns 