Happy New Year to you! I hope this new phase of the calendar finds you happy and well-rested. The family and I spent nearly two weeks in the South Island as we always do, visiting family, swimming, walking, and eating berry ice-cream among other things. It was a lovely time, though it felt too fleeting! We came home earlier than we usually would, because of work and other commitments. The photos above are some I took on our adventures. You can see how lush and beautiful it is down there. I'm so grateful to have had that time to rest.
Mid-January, when people are slowly re-entering their work and other ''everyday life'' patterns, usually makes me feel excited and curious about what the year ahead will bring. This year though, I haven't felt very positive. The fires raging in nearby Australia, international politics and war, the pettiness of our domestic politics when poverty and racism is still bad here, our changing climate and many other things are worrying me. As I know they are concerning many people. The things that usually bring me inspiration and joy are my creative work, and enjoying other peoples' creativity through books, music, films, art and even social media. But these things haven't lit any sparks in my mind lately. I keep wondering, ''what's the point of it?"
I think part of the problem has been a growing feeling about my creative work that I can't shake off. That is: in a time that I, as an extremely privileged person, believe I should be trying to simplify and limit my material desires and consumption, what can be done about one of my main joys, making things? My creativity has for many years taken this form. Embroidery, knitting, sewing, and other crafts too. But all of these pursuits involve buying materials and creating more things from those materials. Even when I've tried to hard to use only recycled materials, I'm still making new things. And I really don't believe the world needs more things.
I know these are not new ideas or concerns. This topic has been discussed at length, and brilliantly, on other blogs and last year on Instagram I read some really thoughtful pieces written by other makers. I'm still forming my ideas around this. I may or may not write more on the subject. In the meantime, I would love to know your thoughts, if you feel like sharing them below.
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Somewhat related, yet also contradictory: in the last photo above, you can see one of my current works-in-progress. This is a blanket given to me by my mum over the Christmas period. I remember her starting to make it in the early 2000s and I also remember coveting it. I could knit back then but wouldn't have called myself an actual knitter, if you know what I mean. But this was a project that re-sparked my interest in making things in my early 20s.
The project is called 'squares blanket' and the pattern is from Simple Knits for Easy Living, a book by Erika Knight published in the year 2000. The blanket is made up of 9 squares, which are knitted in a checkerboard pattern, with two panels in stocking stitch and two showing reverse stocking-stitch. The design calls for Rowan Chunky Soft yarn, a bulky alpaca-blend which is now discontinued.
Mum had completed three of the required nine squares for the blanket, and sent me home with them and the book, needles and remaining balls of yarn. For some reason, I've become slightly obsessed with finishing this blanket and imagining how lovely it will be on the bed this winter. It's really the simplest of knits but somehow the right thing for this month and how I'm feeling about making these days. I did have to invest in some 7.5mm Chiaogoo tips to knit these squares though, as the old plastic needles were not doing it for me!
See you again soon.
M XX
tiny happy 
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