six and a half stitches

THE SORCERER AND LOTTIE

 

As I knit. I create fairytales. I weave in stories I can tell to Pia as she sleeps. In my head. In my heart. I let the colours that dance and flicker across my needles become something else. Castles. With moats. Deep brocade velvet curtains. Armour standing to attention. Merlin's spells and enchantments, magic brews bubbling high in turrets lit by candles. Colours, soft and deep for dark corners of winter days and night. Carpets of grass and dense forrests with rivers and rocks and moss embankments. Carts of fruit and vegetables, markets bustling - medieval stories. The words tumble as the piece grows. The magic of stitches spins webs around fingers.

I love the simplicity of this piece. Neat raglan arm shaping. Simple borders of moss stitch. A beautiful intricate camelia button the only flourish. The wool - soft and gentle, easy, smooth, and rich in colour. Deep grey purples, flashes of gold and green smoke, a tweedy aroma of age and the smell of lavender tucked in a drawer. Simple structured elegance for a 2 year old. A cardigan made a number of times, and always adored.

Time moves slowly and fast, and before my eyes my small child grows and no longer fits any of her clothes. So a few weeks devoted to getting her some clothes made is in order. Already I have made inroads on one pile of fabrics - a gathered smock top now made - should I tell you how beautifully it matches this cardigan?! A skirt cut and ready for sewing, and another new project without a name yet, cast on and negotiating it's stitches with my sketch book.

Rowan Lottie - Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn.

6

 

Today I am sneeky tired. That tiredness that comes after days of excitement and running around, where you know if you sat down and shut your eyes for just a few seconds you'd wake up 20 minutes later having fallen fast asleep, with your neck hurting.

Our house is littered with lego pieces and a full on lego construction site bars entry to the outside world at the back of the house. Books lie piled up. And boxes are discarded, torn, and now slightly unusable. Crumbs of rich chocolate cake hide behind cups and jars. And a small line of birthday cards lines one of the shelves. The fridge is stocked with leftovers rapidly being incorporated into sandwiches, pasta dishes, pizzas...

Yesterday my little boy turned 6. It seems so grown up. And I am woefully unready for that. I haven't yet got used to the idea he is in Year 1. Kindergarten seemed safe. 5 seemed safe. 6 - well, 6 seems like we are hurtling towards being much bigger. I know we will say the same thing at 7. And 8. And 9. You never get used to them growing up and being older. In the here and now, I have the most beautiful adorable boy. Someone who is strong and energetic, respectfull of others, well mannered, creative and detailed in his exploration of the world, who knows so much, and knows so little, but who greets each day with a bounce and a smile.

And who, for now, still holds my hand as we walk to school. And those moments are trully savoured.

LITTLE PIECES OF LITTLE STEPS TOWARDS LITTLE THINGS

 

It's been wet and dreary here for days - a complete turn around from the heat and humidity of only a few weeks ago. I've swapped hot and flustered for cold and goosebumped. Suddenly all the projects I had earmarked for late summer....seem a little unnecessary. My mind is now turning to winter and autumn projects - and the fact neither of my children have suitable cooler weather clothes is exacerbating those thoughts. Pia, bless her little growing body, has also decided to grow out of everything - double whammy. My sewing room has been cleared, and this afternoon I will be making small piles for various projects, trying to use up fabrics I already have instead of buying more, looking at what I might like to make for Pia, what I might like to knit her, and sorting through some wools for small projects for both Max and Pia [and a few little things in there for me too]. It's been frustrating recently that I just haven't had blocks of time to get into things, to plan or indulge in the processes for. Little steps - I feel like all I'm taking is little steps.

Amongst those little steps are little projects outside of my four walls. Charlotte and I have started 44timestwo for the year and it will be nice to focus some of my photography work again. We had so much fun putting it together last year, and I hope we continue to find amazing pairings this year as well. And I'm late in announcing this, but I can now say that in March a book devoted to australian crafters will be released in which I have a pattern for something small and very beautiful. It's fantastic to see a book with wholly australian crafters involved - a wonderful collection of some seriously talented people. The book is available for pre-order now.

My mind is wandering again. Dinner. Stew, I think. Piles. Wools. Cashmere. Liberty print. Lists. And some socks for my cold feet.

re: GENERATION

 

I've wanted to write all week, but nothing I want to say is right. I am trespassing.

I have no words.

No words for the extremes of natural destruction across our country. No words for the innocence lost. I feel pain for those whose lives need to be rebuilt. Not just bricks and mortar. But the emotional healing which will take the rest of their lifetime. It's that which I feel for most. The loss, stress, frustration, anger, sadness, trauma, horror which will play through the heads of everyone affected by the fires. I fear for the response of social workers, or the passage of time when everyone else has moved on, the camera crews have gone elsewhere, and they're left. I hope, how I hope, that as a country, we find a way to embrace those communities, and give them the long term support they will need, long after the tv crews have gone, the rubble cleared, and the new homes appear.

I have realised intensely, that I - we - live in a bubble of isolation. My world is very limited. My day to day live is small and focused on our immediate neighbourhood. We have our set routines, dictated by need, and we're fine with that most of the time. My head though, remains firmly floating somewhere above the earth, seeking new places, new experiences, open to other places to exist in. There are parts of me left all over the world. Sometimes they only exist as memories. Sometimes as reality in the form of buildings. Sometimes as friendships. The big scale of our existence - there, omnipresent.

 We live on.

I have thought very much this week, about minutiae of existence. About what it means to have, to loose, to rebuild. To reinvent. I wanted very much to write something positive, which focused beyond this week. That this moment of intensity will pass. And then how we progress through that is far more important. There are choices. And chances. There are opportunities. What comes is a period of renewal. A process of regeneration - physical, mental, spiritual. The bushfires have done exactly what the australian bush is designed to do. Burn. And regenerate. Life will blossom. *

Seeds will open.

* I've delberately spoken in extremely general terms. I have even less comprehensible words for those who deliberately and maliciously start fires, for those who take opportunity and loot burnt out houses, who feed off the sorrow of others, who thought it would be great to drive up and see the horror themselves as a daytrip. I am acutely aware of the immense pain many people are going through. I've sat my vigil out waiting to hear in the past as well. And I've seen the regeneration that occurs afterwards. We need, as a country and a community, to focus longterm. 3 months. 12 months. 5 years. And to find life amongst the embers.

There are a number of art and craft auctions raising money for the bushfires if you would like to contribute in a positive way. Michelle is auctioning one of her beautiful paintings, Leonie is auctioning a Lithograph, and there is a great site for how you can help in other ways here.

DICHOTOMY

 

Sometimes, things don't always work out the way you think they will. You start down one path, and as you proceed with trepidation, you wonder what will await you at the other end. Often you might think along the way it would be easier to stop, turn back, and find a different path. But something makes you keep going. And in the end it's worth every step.

I'm not sure what it was with this path. Perhaps it was a stoic resolve to not give in to the beast that says Stop, Make Your Life Easy. Perhaps it was lack of any other project to move on to. I know it was in large part because I wanted to see this particular garment made. I've been planning to make it for about a year, bought the wool in the middle of last year, and spent a great deal of time getting frustrated with this wool on other projects I thought it might be better suited to. All those projects ripped out....were all with this wool, all because I re, really didn't enjoy knitting with it, the knit result.

It's a harsh, scratchy, thick, stiff wool. It's quite natural, not completely overprocessed. Which wouldn't ordinarily appeal to me. But there's something about the idea of an outer piece in a thick fibre, something to confront the cold winer temperatures, something to keep at bay the wind, and to act as shelter to the lining clothes underneath it. I love the idea of harshness against something softer and more delicate, a brushed wool skirt or scarf, or a cotton liberty skirt. I think Pia is at an age now where dichotomy and contradiction in texture is ok. It's been washed and blocked, and it has softened a little, and with the addition of 2 vintage buttons, the whole thing looks a little less stiff. The stiffness gives it a great structure though, without it being rigid, and it looks really lovely on her - incredibly stylish and elegant, despite its utilitarian feel. The pattern was easy, and my only grumble has been unrealistic sizings which meant I knit this half up before undoing it and starting again in a larger size - and I still don't think Pia will get the full winter out of it.

Now though, I'm ready for a new project, on a previously well worn path.

[for those unable to view the Ravelry link above, it's Gilet #466-T6-503 by Phildar, from Phildar No.466 Pitchoun Spring/Summer 2007]

COLOUR THEORY ii

 

 

 

Very slowly the children's room has been coming together as we've pottered around it while children are away/time permits. It's still not 'finished' as I have been wanting to make a few things to go in their room - cushions and duvet covers, and I need time, space and money to do it. Time I can make. Space I can clear. Money, well, that's another issue altogether. They will happen, but not anytime soon.

 

For now though we are enjoying this new space. A clean, crisp, open space. All we've done is rearrange furniture, display it better, hide a lot of the clutter and toys in large boxes and under the beds, paint a few walls, hang some pictures, and add some wall decorations. To break it down:

 

[Green] - The green is a playful colour, gender neutral – very important because the children share and I don’t like delineating gender in bold statements like this – it bounces a little more light through the room, but, importantly for me, teaches children about complex colours. This is an intense chroma colour, and will change depending on what goes against it and as the light changes through both the day, and the year. It has richness and depth, is clean and sophisticated, works well within the entire house, and achieves a wonderful balance between the Child House, the Grown Up House, and the Growing Up House. While we don’t demarcate spaces, it is nice to know there are things done specifically for the children, and things done for us, so that we all feel ownership of the house and the spaces within, and we all have our spaces we call our own. Martha has achieved a wonderful balance of this in her recent children’s rooms, and I like to think that amongst the invariable clutter of toys and children’s stuff, we can provide a beautiful clean backdrop so on the odd occasion when the room is tidy, it looks considered, and a reflection of both of us [as designers] and our children [as not just children but growing people] and an integral part of the house.

 

[Pictures] - After talking to myself sternly about the lack of hanging pictures in the house, I got out the pencil, and the ladder, and we've been hanging. There is now a neat line of framed photographs running down the corridor. And there are now the three prints pictured all hung as well. There is a Jen Corace Tiny Showcase print [and the matching illustrated book], A Studio Violet large print, and another print bought at a local market. I want also to get artwork from the children up, and have been trialling which ones look good where so I can frame them and hang them also. I have two very special prints from Ana which I need to hang as well. But let's not rush things. Considered. I like considered.

 

[Bed] - The bunk bed is this one, although not from that company or under that brand name [I will give benefit of the doubt and say it's a design sold to various companies worldwide to manufacture]. It's excellent. The kids love it. It's sturdy, and definately a 'piece of furniture', and makes a very real statement in their room. When they're ready, it will become two beds. The duvet cover is from Ikea.

 

[Out of sight] - White Ikea boxes [now discontinued], full of cars and lego and doll things. A timber dolls house and dolls bed for Pia. A white wall. A green wall decal. Small green birds foraging for food underneath the canopy, along the wall. A collection of hanging bags because Pia loves bags. A white ikea chest of drawers.

 

[Space] - There is now space for the children to play - to pull out whatever is their current obsession, and create and play. They have room to sit and read, and room to build train tracks across the floor, under things around things, room to have a dolls tea party, and to put on theatre productions. I like to hope we've done something which provides a great backdrop to whatever they're playing, allows them to express themselves, and doesn't dictate themes or ideas.

 

And so far it's remained clean and tidy for two weeks. I believe that may be a new record for us.