Knitting Is Like Music

Last Saturday I was invited to accompany Iwona (who is attending YCK course) and her wonderful Mr A at the performance titled "Ligeti Remembered 2" by the London Sinfonietta at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank.
The performance was excellent. The Chamber Concerto struck me as a metaphor to my state of knitting at the moment. Well, it is a peace of music which, in my humble opinion, has every appearance of total chaos, abounding in almost unbearable moments, but - get this - it has a really powerful undercurrent of harmony and is amazingly structured throughout. Chaos is in fact an illusion. EVERY note is perfectly timed. The effect is just incredible! The similarity between this piece of music and where my numerous projects are at right now was something of a discovery and a very valuable realization. I can now relax, as I am reminded to trust the creative process and am in fact choosing to let go of my habitual desire to control this very process!

BTW, have you heard Steve Reich's Sextet?
Well worth checking out.

Operating Theatre

I've been up to some beading and had a few nerve racking moments whilst at it. Just look at this:



This is 2 ply Mongolian cashmere, just a notch stronger than a cobweb. This knot is as tight as they come. To untangle this I will need the finest needle in the house. One wrong move and it all goes to pot! Meaning having to re-thread about 900 glass beads. Ouch!



Luckily, mostly in situations like this I can count on my nerves PROVIDED that no one breathes or moves and there is total understanding amongst all present that it's not much different from being in Himalayas AND right on the edge of a 10,000 meters drop with strong wind blowing like there was no tomorrow.

It's also a matter of being totally relaxed and in a state of utmost serenity to achieve this sort of untangling. One's mind must be quiet. (Does this explain why do I like transformational work so much? Nothing like it to regain some control over one's mind!)



I just don't get people who think that knitting is boring!

Oggle is from ???

Hand-dyed shawls from my collection. (From left to right: silk dyed in cochineal, silk dyed in indigo & safflower, and linen dyed in safflower.)

Yesterday I was at Oggle, which turned out to be a good experience, although a tad on a quiet side. The weather was appalling, which did not help! The market took place at Abney Public Hall in Stoke Newington.



I had pleasure to meet Caroline and Mel, who are the combo behind Oggleeverything. The little creature in the middle is Oggle in his/her very own person (when it comes to think about it I have no clue as to what gender this creature is!) I got to admire his/her fine features close up. Oggle is made by Paula Wolfenden who is promoted by the company Kitch-en See.



They struck me as a really wonderful team. Figure this - they were so in tune with each other that they both bought independently these two bracelets with gorgeous antique tomato glass beads (both designed and executed by my humble self, 2006).

One of the highlights of the event was the artisan chocolates stall just next to mine. I spent some time chatting with Kirsty, who... now, hold your breath... is a chocolate designer, and has recently set up Perfectly Tempered. I got a glimpse of what's it like to make bespoke chocolates. Fascinating! Especially her Rosemary Chocolates sounded rather alluring to me, but unfortunately she didn't have any of those with her. So, we tasted some yummy truffles instead!



There was a lot of beautiful things around and I met and chatted with many interesting makers.
The real treasure I found was a beautiful collection of wall plaques by Naomi McILroy. I love her work. It's just exquisite.



It won't be a surprise than if I say that those beauties below are now adorning the kitchen wall of my sweet home!

Reduced to Swatching

I don't know what's the matter with my brain. I've lost my creative flow. What with all these holidays, traveling, Oggle (do come and say hello if you please), taking my focus off knitting, cooking enormous lasagna and (actually) feeling quite exhausted. Nearly forgot about 3 demanding children here!
I'm gradually regaining some ground with the surprise project, but it's so multi-fold that I'm struggling to embrace the scope of it.
What I tend to resort to when I'm gone "to pieces" like this is swatching. It really helps me to get my teeth back into projects and to get some creative flare going.
I used to hate it when I was a kid. I just saw it as a nuisance delaying the thrilling moment when I was ready to cast on a new project. Now that I'm a bit older I came to appreciate it as a tool of a virtuoso, an important stage in the creative process, a means to "knitting without swearing". I swatch with great pleasure these days, sipping some herbal tea and inhaling yummy smell of eggplant lasagna or banana tea bread!

Life In Bloom

These last few days were so full of fun and rich experiences I don't know where to start!

On Friday I met with Iwona and we had an informal session at Giraffe on Upper Street. It so happened that I had to take Oliver with me, which was an "out-of-ordinary" experience, and worked surprisingly well considering attention span of a 1.5 yr old!





Iwona just came back from her holiday in States and it felt great to be catching up and seeing all the progress made on various projects, and even new projects on the needles, like this scarf, which I totally adore. Don't you?



It's bulky Noro wool & silk blend. I'm in love with colors and texture!



We mostly worked on her shrug, which is an ambitious first project. It is being made of Debbie Bliss 100% silk in an edible rich berry color. Very well chosen, but not the easiest of yarns to be working with.



After that I visited Loop and bought some Noro silk, kidmohair & wool blend (easily influenced!) and a new book by Claire Montgomerie, who also works at Loop and had a chat with Stephan, who was busy knitting union jack tank. I was actually quite frazzled and this little errand lifted my somewhat lowish spirits.

Off home to finish packing and go to lovely Carmarthenshire in south-west Wales to attend Kindling Point Annual Dialogue. Just got back yesterday evening and am still in sheer awe of what a marvelous experience that was! We met with some dear friends we made through participating in courses run by KP over many years - from Italy, States & UK. The place itself was just stunning and oozed fabulous energy. Oh, the birdsong!
I am very interested in dialogue (as described by David Bohm in his wonderful book "On Dialogue", which is an absolute must read) and passionate about what's possible when people engage in a true dialogue where there is responsiveness as opposed to reactiveness, and listening as opposed to righteousness. I'm inspired every time I have an opportunity to engage with others in such a way. The weekend event we went to was about that and it left me feeling revitalised and stimulated.

It was a great distraction from work and knitting. I took a sock in need of finishing with me, but didn't get to knit even one stitch!

Just before I went away I got an e-mail from Sarah and she has put her stake in for the sock-making workshop. I am very much looking forward to meeting a fellow knitting blogger in person!

PS: I did some swatching last week and experimented with Grecian plait pattern.



Can you see the difference between the two pictures below?





I think today will need to be yet another day off knitting duty. I need to relax and gather myself.