In the pursuit of a pass time more fulfilling than doomscrolling, I’m revisiting some of the crafts I learned as a child and have picked up and out down sporadically ever since.
It’s funny how muscle memory returns on these things. Knitting is a prime example. I learned to knit with my maternal grandmother when I was very young and I made things for my dolls, mostly. I enjoyed learning new stitches: how to cable, some basic lace, but I don’t think I ever finished a sweater or anything. Mostly I was given scraps of yarn, so that’s probably why! But when I picked up knitting in my early thirties, and again, now, ten years later, I’ve found my hands know what they’re doing and it’s a great way to prevent myself from getting distracted by my phone whilst I watch television.
Anyway, all this is to say that I am applying my art school conditioning to my creative practice and I’m doing it here. It’ll mark a different direction for this blog and, hopefully, more regular posts: musings on making, on the history of making – both personal and otherwise – and thoughts on the current state of these very traditional crafts, their popularity, the industry that has arisen around them. I don’t claim expert knowledge, I speak only from the perspective of a participant and enthusiast.