Filed under: emotion, knitting, presentation | Tags: change, emotion, emotional memory, emotions, grandmother, meditation, memory, questions, stress, thoughts
Something I have realised this evening that the theme of emotion, emotional memory has more facets for me than I presented this week. Knitting is so tightly linked to my emotions in many ways:
I was taught to knit by one grandmother (I remember this clearly) and I knit with the tools of the other. I can’t help but think of them both each time I make something.
I have and do knit to through times of stress, through change, to mull over difficult questions, to slow the pace of my thoughts, a form of meditation.
I embue the things I make with an emotion of their own. I make items that hold emotional memories for me and for the people I make them for.
Through knitting I have discovered more about myself.
I knit a test piece using the cheap yarn from the market tonight. It is measured and specs recorded. I’ll throw it in a hot wash followed by the tumble dryer. From my experience this has rarely worked very well, hand felting (’til my knuckles are raw) has always proved more successful – shame it takes so long and is so tough!
Filed under: knitting, reflection, supplies | Tags: , evaluation, experiments, market, methods, presentation, pure wool, quality, shop, techniques, yarn
Went to the yarn shop in the markethall this morning to buy some cheap pure wool (UK produced, at least) to do some tests. Mainly for felting but also to play with forms and construction.
I am thinking about the work I have made so far (with a view to selecting images for next week’s presentation) and I came to the conclusion that I have used many techniques and explored many methods but they tend to stop when I feel I have conquered them within one object. Whilst this drives me to move onto the next method, it often means that the last one remains in a sort of limbo: explored, creation complete, but without the quality and ’wow’ factor that comes with an object where you know truly what you are doing and how it will turn out. What I am trying to say, so far they have all been experiments.
Now I have a chance to look back over what I have done, evaluate what I like, what worked well, how it could be used again and pull this all together to make some pieces that I feel are of a standard I am going to be happy to exhibit. If I put one up here per week from now until the New Year, it will keep me focussed on all that I have experimented with until now and highlight things that I might like to work on.
Went to knit club this evening.
It is fantastic to have the support of others with the same passion. Asking things like “Do you think this section would look better plain or patterned?” and receiving an opinion that is based not only on aesthetics but also on experience and skill.
I find it invaluable. My knowledge and skills would be nowhere near what they are now if it weren’t for knitting groups.
I am going to work on promoting our little group as it seems there are many knit/crochet/stitch people out there who would relish the opportunity to come out and join in. It crosses social boundaries…. I love what I do.
