Joys of collaborating

On one of our visits to the yarn shop Clara spotted a crocheted dress and asked if she could have it? The dress was too small, so I suggested she could choose some yarn she liked and I would make her one, AND we can think it up together. The deal was struck between us and Clara went off to pick her yarn. She came back with these two skeins...

On our return home we took paper and pencils and started drawing things up and bouncing ideas off each other. That is, after I had a sedative cup of green tea, after it turned out that Clara picked two most expensive skeins of yarn in the shop... London... Britain... possibly in the "whole wide world"! I thought to myself "Must not imprint on Clara that some things are too fine for her just because she is a child." It's common behaviour in adults and it makes me cringe. On the upside it just shows some good taste. (To Be Prudently Encouraged - as this could turn out to be a double edged sword, so to speak.) Passion for fibers can fog one's ability to use reason at times. Don't we all know this?

Clara insisted she would like to wear the dress on Christmas day and so she did. She proudly explained to our guests that she made it together with me. Credit to Dad/Nick here for picking the colour for the sleeves.

Actually, I really appreciated working on a project with a 5 year old. Clara's imagination and unconstrained creativity are a force to be reckoned with. And she did her bit in a most refreshingly playful way! I think we will definitely collaborate on projects in the future. It's great!

Today we had a little ad hoc photo shoot, so that you can see the results.

Blue Moon

One of the banks did not seem to give much credit (quite literally) to people's passion for hand-knitted socks. To the point of refusing to accept money from Rockin' Sock Club members, set up and run by Blue Moon Fibre Arts - an online yarn store!

It is truly astonishing, and does bring up some thoughts about the patriarchal mindset that seems to predominate in our world. A world which, although it claims to be modern, paradoxically, allows some archaic prejudices to prevail in a subtle yet powerful way.

Example:

As Harriet Lane points out in her recent article titled Crafty Work in a February issue of British Vogue

"Certainly, the artists featured here feel it's a good moment to reclaim neglected or overlooked skills and materials, particularly, perhaps, as the use of technology and computer programming seems to have compromised some contemporary art. And just because these artists are using old-fashioned methods, it would be foolish to make old-fashioned assumptions about their work."

A small interjection here: I would go even further in putting forward an argument against viewing crafts associated with women as old-fashioned. They truly are not. Let's take knitting for example. Someone please tell me what is old-fashioned about it? It is a body of theoretical and practical knowledge, which accompanied humans for thousands of years, adapted according to changing needs and fashions and is as pertinent to our lifestyles in the new millennium as it was in ancient Egypt. Perfectly adapted and very much in demand. Same goes for needlecraft, crochet, spinning &c.

Harriet Lane argues that

"Materials associated with women's work or dressmaking, with its heavy freight of political connotations (the drudgery of darning and of making-do at one end of the spectrum and transient, sybaritic frivolity at the other), have never had much currency in the art world."

This appears to stretch a touch beyond the art world, as the Blue Moon story explicitly shows.

Hence art galleries turn up their noses when approached by artists, who choose to use crafts as their medium. And we witness banks turning down people's money because of some fishy crafty associations.

"The change is underway", as Ms Lane put it, and if you need a proof of 'the changing barometer' just have a look at the uproar in the comments on Yarn Harlot's blog (link below).

To read up on the Blue Moon 'scandal' click here.

Spleen &c.

I feel low and starved of personal space and empty. As far as the circumstances go I cannot find a viable reason to feel so unhappy. To the contrary. And it is doing my head in. Everything I see around me says: "Lucky you! What a wonderful life you have!" A piece of jigsaw puzzle is missing and the picture doesn't make sense.

I read Stephanie's post today and what she said about personal space as a tool for unleashing energy resonated with me. I saw this picture of myself with 3 rocks hanging of my neck as I read it. The rocks were L,C & O. I realise that it sounds horrid but I do think that unless I am totally honest with myself I will not be able to deal with this in a satisfactory kind of way. (BTW, N & O are in France this weekend hence I cannot talk this through with the former AND my blog is my confidante of choice tonight).

It saddens me that I am not experiencing much joy in looking after my children at present and instead everything to do with caring for them seems relentless and exhausting. I suspect that I haven't looked after myself properly and I didn't get my priorities right. Is there a way to wipe out this unnerving sense of being overloaded and not able to think clearly? I think I might be outgrowing the current set up and there is change ahead of us. It feels uncomfortable and is so tempting to indulge in misery.

Than again, it strikes me that happiness is a matter of mastering one's mind, as opposed to circumstances fitting the ideal. Sounds simple, and I am tempted to say "not easy". I won't though.

As far as the remedy goes I will try noticing and letting go - a trick I learnt at KP courses.

And to think that lack of a digital camera (which currently is in France also) can prompt such trains of thoughts! If it was here I would take a photo of C's hat and entertain myself by telling you a story behind it.

Actually, I'd rather be looking "the beast" straight in the eye, than avoiding it.

And when it comes to think about stories, there is something sort of funny I can tell you about.

One of the things Harlot has been going on about forever are audio books, and how wonderful they are if you have a propensity to knit too much. Well, I had a dilemma over this Xmas holiday: whether to read or to knit. I enjoy reading a lot and I (perhaps a touch unwisely) started reading "Sense and Sensibility". Before I knew it I got drawn into the book and thus unashamedly "wasted" precious knitting time. I read over cooking pots whilst stirring their contents, in the torch light late into the night, in the bath (I don't do anything by halves, even if it's feeling wretched). All the while feeling terribly uneasy about all my knitting projects grinding to a halt. I decided to get an audio book, and promptly purchased Emma - 13 CDs! Unabridged. Hours and hours of reading... I mean listening. And I'll be able to spend them all knitting! I am so pleased and disbelieving that it took me so long to get around to it. Then (thinking that it could turn out to be quite an expensive addiction and one that would unavoidably affect my yarn spending), I found Simply Audiobooks - a rental site, where you can download audio books for a small monthly charge and I thought it a good idea to subscribe to it (brilliant sustainable way of acquiring goods - virtually no transport, packaging &c.). Little did I know how incompatible they are with Macs! Yesterday evening I was very unsuccessfully trying to download a book. I could have been just as well banging my head against the wall (to think of it - maybe it would shake out the frustrating thoughts mentioned above?). I was getting nowhere. I spent about 2hrs at it, had to revert to PC, which was obviously playing up and I'm not even half way there, because as soon as I've downloaded the file I'll have to work out how to make it compatible with my iPod. No CD player in this house, I'm afraid - L & C fed it copper coins and it was never the same again, so it had to go (do you see what I mean about living with little kids?). I have waisted about 4hrs so far trying to remove obstacles on the way to happy listening and knitting.

Self-diagnosis 2: I seem to be prone to distraction from knitting at present, whether it be emotional turmoil or technical difficulties.

I want to finish this on some kind of neutral note.

Marc Jacobs' oversized sweater, as found here.

In an attempt to cheer myself up I browsed S/S 2007 knitting trends today.