anything that is sort of crochet related but it is also not and where i tend to ramble on about things related and non-related to either/ neither crochet or/ now well-being.
dear diary – dandelion drumbeat Today’s story is from the past. The rainbow blanket that I want to introduce today was made at the start of the year. It was January and there were hardly any countries on lock down yet. It seems so long ago and so much had changed since then. Still, I want to show it off, because it deserves its dedicated space and it's story of origin. I could not write about it any earlier for a few reasons. It was a present for my beautiful niece, who was about to be born any time then, so i needed to finish the blanket when i did... As it turned…
“I crochet to keep my mind from unravelling” is a revised version of a quote by Niki de St Phalle, very much appropriate for my next blog post, all about my crochet processes. I suppose it helps to look back at what you have done, every now and again, to review, and when you make blankets as huge as the ones I make, at the same time hope to post monthly, well, there are expected to be some months void of crochet blanket completion news.. This gives me a space to fill with crochet ramblings before each blanket is finished and each blanket's story is ready to be written into a new blog…
braving the barricade – barricaded bravery Usually, I blog when I have some crochet related news. Today, I have not. Well, that is not entirely true, I do have a new baby blanket to show cast, but not really, because even though it is finished and ready, it is meant to be a surprise, so broadcasting it here now may kind of lessen the impact of the present received unexpectedly that I am going for. The person I have made it for, well, two people, both mother and baby, might not read the blog or see the pictures, but I would know, and I would then question if my impatience of showing this…
I don’t undo There is no unraveling and recreating stitches until perfection is bestowed upon my work. The point of my crochet is not for the project to look perfect, but for me to remember what i have learnt whilst making it... There is only keeping going and trying as i go along, i have no time to go back and redo... When planning this blog post, this was something that became focal to me, as it was always going to be a review of my work with an aim to start the new year with an increased ability to articulate my intentions within my crochet, and to define my practice a little…
Last time I felt compelled to write a blog post, it was summer time, the weather was warm and crochet blankets were the perfect cover for those chilly evenings.. My giant crochet blankets have just been taken for a trip to the beach, and have returned safely and been washed and put away. I have been working on all sorts of creative crochet projects between then and now, as well as working out ideas for how to explain to you all, what my crochet work is about and how i want to tell each individual project's story: the significance of each part of the process for each of my crochet projects, how each…
I have been working with a lot of previously made small crochet items recently, turning them into large, humongous, oversized, ginormous, gigantic, crochet BLANKETS. It has been a way of using any crochet work that i have made previously, and that has been lying around the work room, in variously neatly organized packages/ bags/ boxes/ drawers... or at least on surface, this has been an exercise of efficiency and recycling. To find a use for items that were originally made to be used as small cloths, various sized crochet bunting triangles or crochet coasters, which will not really get a chance to be used in that way, because no one knows they exist…
Wondrous Women – Warm Wanderers So, it is finished. It is now time to write the story of another "thoughts-in-knots" blanket which i recently realised are the core of my current creative crochet work. The process of making these free-form crochet blankets helps me considerably when organising my thoughts.. It started with my Nan's work. I have been given these amazing leaves, pictured below, made by my grandma. The idea together with encouragement for Nan crocheting these maple leaves came from my mum, after having been surrounded by grandma's crochet work for the majority of both my mum's and my life... After completing my last thoughts-in-knots adventure with my Rainbow coloured Chevron Crochet…
Do knitters crochet and do crocheters knit? i can really only speak for one crocheter, and let you make your own mind up. But, let me assure you, contrary to some opinion: THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING!!! I have recently attended a talk by the amazing knitnibble.com writer and knitter. Read my three things to remember HERE. My arts health interest was expanded to include not only mindful crochet, which I have been doing for myself for even before I have started sharing this with you here, but also mindful knitting. I do also knit, and I have been pondering the difference between these two in-distinguishable (JOKING!) crafts offer in terms of…
Unanimous Understanding - Ultimate Uniqueness I have been meaning to write a post about feminism and where my own particular type of crochet wooliness stands in terms of women and equality. It has not been coming easy… Still isn’t. There is too much to talk about and no clear idea of how to put the complexity into punchy blog post... Today, however, instead of writing nothing because i am not yet sure how, i would like to say to each and every woman: Thank You to all the women in my life, that made me and make my life better by being part of it! In terms of crochet being a female craft,…
So, another project finished, it is time to share the story of the rainbow blanket. I cannot remember, and refuse to count, how many times i have seen a chevron crochet blanket in the movies... It is one that these days appears, do i dare venture an opinion, even more often than the very classic of American crochet, the Granny Square Blanket. I have seen one in many films and because i have used the chevron stitch before, and liked it, i thought, why not.... so i started, a long-ish while ago. it got to a stage, where it was sat on the side and not much was happening with it, because, when…
