Two ways about it

I have asked myself lots of good questions about blogging lately and why and how I am here now finding myself routinely coming to the bright screen on armchair evenings, excitedly finding my flow in words and images. My ideas for blog posts are so many fold now I cant keep up, literally I simply cant. I love writing and I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of building this blog. I yearn for more time to spend at it, its often stolen late hours. So why am I here in another kind of network?

 I have found here a place for my words, and the further along I go, it becomes truer and closer to who I am. My voice is here and I care about who is reading and what I am saying, imagining I can have some kind of impact in my way offering something within me, that I know exists, and try to portray and express it in such a way that it becomes meaningful, and hopefully inspiring. I do this for me, to write and play, but I am also doing this for you. I am trusting that there is a part of me that reaches you, and that that is a good thing, and whatever happens I enjoy the part I play for now.

I imagine you and wish you so very well. I have always wanted to do a kind of  something: ) like this. Here I can be my own writer, writing my own story, decorating my story with images and great songs that I have chosen, filtered through with poets I love and periodically my own attempts of rhythm and pattern in both word and line. My art is coming soon, my drawings will come out of the studio and onto these pages and I will ask for your attention, just a little while to share with you this process. Why ever not? Would I be human if I did not want to share my experience. Humans have always had a story to tell, thats what we do, and we dance and sing and make art and cook and create things and once upon a time, we all lived together in a familiar community in an interdependence that was our survival, we all worked together, and we all understood that very well. 

And, as I strive forward, trying to raise my daughter, widowed and brimming with art I want to make, and deeply inspired to live a holistic way, I yearn for that community without having realized it at all. I have placed myself here like I did on facebook because thats what we do in some way or another, and without allowing ourselves to be consumed by all the extraneous stuff on here, online, there is community. I need to tell you my story and listen to yours, and know that we are all in this "beautiful and terrible place" all together, sharing the wonder of our experiences. Blogging and facebook is a proverbial fire we sit round. WAIT!!!!!!!If that concept disturbs you, Dont shy away aghast, it is a warm fire still, it is beautiful HERE, even if it is wired and separate it is bright and you are welcome. 

If much of our communities disintegrated from our natural mechanisms of communing through industry and technology, we have rediscovered them again, through technology ironically. What survivors we are, what spirits we are, finding heart and soul everywhere we go. Maybe greed brought us online, for more time, less energy, more energy, more convenience, more time, however you choose to look at it. Something good comes of everything eventually.

I am sitting alone in the night writing, I am here and you are there, we are together. This can be our evolved selfs, having caught up with this technology. We have our tribe, reaching further afield, across oceans to each other over common ground and new ground. 

For me this is a nocturnal space, by day, I see my local folks in school and village, in family.

There are two ways to look at everything, I believe this now to be an absolute truth. In such an unsure time, we can be sure of impermanence, we loose and we gain. Everything passes and we can watch, and see, look and know, and if we want to, and if we can, we can love everything about it. 

I can sit at my computer for hours if I like, writing my experience, and notions of things, my memories of how things were or could be and of this most perfect now in all its artistry, sharing it with you, if you like and it is a lively thing to do so. 

A big beautiful Thank you to all readers and bloggers inspiring me, encouraging me and teaching me. xxx 

"beauty anywhere"

People say walking on water is a miracle- but to me, walking peacefully on earth is the real miracle
Thich Nhat Hanh

I walked baby steps down to the end of the garden the other day, slowly slowly, breath by breath. An enforced walking meditation, so it seemed. I was in pain, wincing with each step but made my way down with kitchen peelings for the compost heap. I stopped to rest just about at the fig tree. There I found myself smiling at the earth under foot. "Hello down there" I said, "it is nice to feel connected again at this pace, its been a while".
The sun shone behind me, casting my shadow long across the late afternoon lawn. Here I finally gave in to accepting, yes, I have really hurt my back and I shall have to simply rest and do nothing. What a battle I had had previous to that, trying all my tricks of healing and remedies to determined wellness, but to no avail. Perhaps though they helped me along to the point of resting, a weary me I was.

I went to my Father's for a few days, Me and M packed a wee bag and made our way down. I wasn't sure what to bring but got my sketchbook in there and my crochet with hopeful thoughts. He cooked for us, and was all matter of fact as he is about organizing us, and seeing that I get well, his way of loving and supporting us.

I have had lots of rest and oodles of thinking time. Going between bed and than up to watch Madeleine play, or talk with Dad, sitting out the front of his house in the sunshine.
Sitting perfectly straight has been the only way I could manage it. As any self respecting and proper lady might: ) In fact I fantasized about a beautifully ribbed corset embroidered richly with the flowers all about and gold threads, simultaneously supported and styled seemed just about right.
I also wondered which came first, the incredibly erect and perfect posture or the corset. Did one bring about the other? I cant imagine I could sit like that always, but am trying. My posture is much improved from my younger days and perhaps there is more room for improvement, especially if it helps my spine to stay happy.

Madeleine and Dad get along beautifully, and they had their time together. He lives with his magical garden that he has shaped and worked with for almost twenty years to finding himself now the keeper of a haven for small birds and wildlife, filled with little paths, trees and old places and new ones he has created for Madeleine to explore. With surprises around corners and sweet fruits to eat and smell, things to wonder about, for a six year old girl, its an enchanted place.
She spent hours consumed in summer grasses, picking strawberries, making leafy houses and making barley wine, she informed me, and all manners of flowery feasts for fairies and the likes.

I took these photos of her on our last day. I think they are asking to be painted and drawn. Which reminds me I haven't been posting anything from my studio, and I wonder about that. Is is a secret what I am making? Don't I want to share with you sweet ones? Ach, I do indeed, but I have thought a lot about what it means to blog, and during my respite I had plenty of contemplation time and came up with a few interesting ideas. I think I would like to write about those first before the art comes, but come it will.
Baby Steps; )

Here is madeleine in the beginning of a crochet piece I am making. I call it a sun hug, its my own design. It will come down over the shoulders and will have a button up collar a bit like a poncho but shorter, more of a hug; ) The yarn I have used is a silk blend and handspun, I bought it locally from my friend Jenny at woollygathering.

I did take a little time to catch up on some of my favorite blogs I follow, I am such an avid blog reader now, and am completely hooked. You will find some of my favorites on the list on the right hand side.
A year ago I didn't get this at all, and here I am settling into my place in the blogosphere, a virtual wonderland of folks sharing so generously their lives and creations, And their readers and the conversations that come about.  I feel very inspired by The Girl who married a Bear these days and her hive of activity, thoughts and peacefulness in the forests of Northern California, in what must be a " bee loud glade".

I am home again, and listening to my beloved music in these old walls. I am well enough, walking freely seeming like a small miracle, and will get my strength back in no time, with great thanks to my chiropractor and plenty of EFT I will start stretching again in a few days.
My body says rest now though and its good to be listening.

The moon is rising and its time to dream with eyes closed. Its quiet now, step by step we go "into the mystic".

thank you dear reader xx

E

Visiting Motherhood

This is Mom! This is her passport photo from when we were tiny tots. We recently had a remembrance day for her. She passed ten years ago now and of course we miss her. We, me and my family, wanted to do something for her, to honor her beautiful, kind, generous, and most graceful spirit. 

We invited all her lovely friends and ours that had known her well, all together. We reminisced all day about her, sang together, played together whilst eating her favorite foods, listening to her favorite music and having tea with proper cups and saucers: ) as she would have thought to.

Me and my big Sis Joanna, couldn't let the day go and stayed up till all hours singing songs with the night owls. We miss the music so. She had been a singer and what a rich and resonant voice she had. I would hear her late at night when she thought we were all asleep, she would sing and play and lull us all to some perfect place. I would have joined her on the weekends. 

But to drift asleep with the sound of the piano and her efforts to sing softly would be heaven to me now. Like so often in life, it takes loosing something to know how much you love it. But hang on a minute; )Right now, Maddy sleeps softly upstairs, the Guinea pigs still scratch about kept awake by my typing and lamp light, the clock ticks and tocks. The stars shine above me, the earth moves below me, my feet are planted firmly tonight. I am here now, undisturbed in this now. 

I am mother as my mother was mother to me, listening to night breathing and anticipating my early bird by my side. First thing in the morning she will tweet to me about the coming of the day, and something always is. That now feeling, and You let go and you get something in return, an dfind you have lost nothing, Really? Yes, and it always just goes like that. Life following life. And Love coming into it with some feeling of grand spaciousness in your heart when you decide to accept things as they are.

I have moments locked in me of holding my Mother's hand as a child, roughened from Winter work and washing dishes, but warm and perfect to me as in summer with the smell of strawberries from picking in the garden. Perfectly formed memories too and staying always. Those warm sweaters, always in blues or browns, that wrapped me like a cocoon of absolute softness and her voice that always had care in it somewhere. 

I watch Madeleine's hands animated in play, talking to each other often, or clasping a beloved doll or even clasped in mine, so small, so big since I last looked, so perfect. Just right for now. 

In some true way we are all here, I know it. And, on her remembrance day I felt like I gave her something for the first time in ten years. I could give her a song, a cup of tea, a piece of shortbread, as I served her friends and myself, I was serving her, sharing and visiting with her, and her with me. Smiling with her.

 I wonder is there a better way to say this. Ach I don't wonder, I bet there is

 But its just such a kind of feeling thing. To fathom the idea of separation from death seems so much more difficult than to accept that we are all in this together now : ) And That she is sharing my Motherhood is a very nice thought indeed. When I think that thought, a whole lot of real heart seems to awaken. 

Rest in Mother

What else matters now?


you sleeping soundly from your long day of running through the greens of May, June, July


Its just another part you know?


This is my life, and this is another part


Whats this?


Joy?


Were you expecting this?


Whats this?


Love
with a capital L


And Hope, for more love and more joy and space for more, and anything and everything now.


What is this child in my arms?
let me lay down and listen to her breathe. Let me breathe with her.


Nothing else matters now.

                

xx E


Thank you dear reader

Resplendence

                                  

"This is Splendid", says Madeleine yesterday evening. Yes it was indeed I thought, Sitting by the fire in the garden with supper in our hands. A sunny evening too!!!!!

Summer arrived Yesterday to Ireland! The clouds finally parted, the rain curtain lifted and we were all covered in sunlight, all day. We spent the afternoon in the garden to make the most of it, mowing, weeding and planting. And having been stopped mid -mowing at least eight times to be exact by Madeleine, who had a question or something to tell me, which happens frequently whenever I am doing something that needs my attention for a prolonged period of time. I was feeling a little a little aggravated and impatient to get finished, cook supper, Maybe get get her to bed; )

Then, I remembered there was no hurry to do so............... I found my hands in the earth momentarily planting flowers with her and planning a campfire for the evening to have supper by. How easy it is for me to get get caught up in the stresses of life even in the most perfect of places. My garden in all its lovely secluded peace, the sun shining and my daughter running down the paths the mower made and dancing up them with daisies in her hands. Where am I?  but in the paradise of the moment of being, will I always keep on forgetting that? and having to remember again and again. Thats how it is, right? To be just glad of a sunny day in the garden, to watch the flames of campfire leap in the evening sun, to eat outside again after a long winter, with such a great friend of my spirit, I have waited for this feeling to come to me, this FEELING to come to me. 

Its tricky here about summer, no one knows when it will come and sadly sometimes it doesn't last long. We spend hours, in fact days discussing with friends and neighbors how the summer might be, how it has been forecast and what we can hope for. If we deserve it at all for that matter, after having a good March, and whether it will be a heat wave in August or an indian summer in September. So light deprived we are, we obsess and rightly so. That we are deeply interested in this most important part of our lives, is quite reasonable. We must have light, and after the long dark winters, it seems natural that we would be ever hopeful of a bright summer. 

What ever the weather, Madeleine brings me new things to learn, and seems to manage to find even more space in my heart to grow. She makes everything brighter and Lighter and has dragged me along to this place, where I want soooo much for her to grow with a sense of peacefulness about life that I dedicate myself to practicing my own kind of Peace to pass on. That will be my inheritance to her. If I can show her a sense of peace about being alive and joy about the magic of that very experience, I will be the most satisfied mother. Ironically it is her being here that brings me there. In learning to be her parent, to love her, accept her, support her I learn to do the same for myself. Her presence excells my own evolution many fold. I never knew it would do this.

All This reminds me of this below : ) A wonderful poem I heard about last summer from a wonderful lady I met in Asheville NC, we had a lunch in Laughing Seed ( I am linking this, because its not the first time I felt some magic in this restaurant, and the food is truly delicious!!! but thats another days stor/ blog) one of my most favorite spots and desert in The chocolate Lounge, all with a wonderful conversation and exchange of poems and fascinating life stories. Here it is!!!!!!

HOKUSAI SAYS (by Roger Keyes)

Hokusai says Look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice.
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing.

He says Look Forward to getting old.
He says keep changing,
you just get more who you really are.
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat yourself
as long as it’s interesting.

He says keep doing what you love.
He says keep praying.
He says every one of us is a child,

every one of us is ancient,
every one of us has a body.
He says every one of us is frightened.
He says every one of us has to find a way to live with fear.

He says everything is alive -
shells, buildings, people, fish, mountains, trees.
Wood is alive.
Water is alive.
Everything has its own life.
Everything lives inside us.
He says live with the world inside you.

He says it doesn’t matter if you draw, or write books.
It doesn’t matter if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn’t matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your verandah or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.

It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that life lives through you.

Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength
are life living through you.
Peace is life living through you.

He says don’t be afraid.
Don’t be afraid.
Look, feel, let life take you by the hand.
Let life live through you.

Thank you dear reader

Love

x Elizabeth

Tea, guinnea pigs, pompoms, fairies, and a rainy day weekend

Oh thank god for rainy days!!!!! : ) I have to say that quietly, because I am in Ireland, the true home of rainy days, and not everyone is enjoying the weather presently.
I am though. Its kept us in on this first weekend at home for a while. I have been so busy between studio, school and other commitments that I have hardly come up for air, and that never suits me too well. Now long lengthy tea days do. And I mean real tea making with pot warming, tea cozies and refills: ) that is a tea day.

Madeleine is choosing her tea, she always goes for liquorice every time but still likes to browse

So we unusually didn't make it into the woods this weekend but we did make tea and craft and be together, which was just as lovely and just what we needed. 

I cant go a moment further though without mentioning our two new additions to the household. Patches and Nutmeg arrived a couple of days before Madeleine's birthday in April, we have quickly become friends and Madeleine has assumed the role of Mother, asking me repeatedly if I think, they think, she is their mother. She speaks to them with a Mary Poppins like tone, like, "Come along now little guinnea pigs", and brings them for little adventures around the house, or makes them treasure hunts of carrots and cucumber under the couch or behind a shoe: ) She especially likes laying on the floor and places them on her chest so they can hear her heart, I think I may have encouraged that by doing the same with her. 

We discovered on You tube that guinnea pigs do like a luke warm bath with rub down and Madeleine has been very enthusiastic to say the least about doing this. 

Yesterday was the day!! They weren't so keen on the idea, but did settle down after a bit of cuddling in the towel, and do look remarkably fluffier today. 

They will be well loved little pigs and although they may have to endure a moment or two in a dolls pram or in Madeleine's dolls house as furry visitors, I think they should have a good life here.

Other weekend pursuits was POMPOM making, Does pompom need capital letters? Such a great sounding word and soooo reminiscent of childhood days. I was making a hat, which was ordered last week and a pompom was most importantly requested. I thought we should make two and Madeleine agreed, helping to make one for her own hat.

Pompom making instructions

below is said hat completed- I think I love the pompoms,  I also think I might be trying to find reasons to write POMPOM.

I edged it with some beautiful hand spun wool from The States. I found it in the bottom of my yarn basket and there was just enough to finish this in hand spun beauty. I remember the spinner called this yarn Dawn on New Snow. Its gorgeous to work with, if a little unwieldy. The main yarn was supplied to me by the buyer, a lovely Mom and Artist herself from School.

In the evening the wind roared around the stone corners of this home and trees bent and pulled up again. their new leaves shimmering wildly to hold on. We watched from upstairs, its been a while since the wind has blown so strongly. We can see the tops of the linden tree in the centre of the village from where we sleep. 

I was getting the feeling we were in for stormy evening, which made all the more sense to stay cozy as we were and allow the sky to be so loudly if it need be. Being in the crafty mood I got out the sewing machine, intending to start curtains for my kitchen, which I have still not gotten around to though I have lived here nearing two years. But, Madeleine had different ideas and I decided we could set ourselves up for a sewing sunday morning and we did, we got the bobbins and spools, fabric and ribbons and my trusty singer machine which I have had since I was 15: )

Its a fickle machine, only works when it really wants to. I have to stay calm and speak nicely to it, otherwise the tension gets all screwed up and it spits out all sorts of tangled messes of thread and ruffled fabrics.

Slowly sunday awoke us and we meandered through breakfast, me still on my detox/raw/caveman/ wanting to get off sugar diet which consists of lots of fresh juices and gorgeous salads, nuts other good things raw, but no dark chocolate sadly. Madeleine had a bowl of honey pops contrastingly.

To sewing!!! A lovely friend gave Madeleine a wee box for sewing for her birthday, stashed with some wool felt, beads, buttons, embroidery threads, and she was more than ready to use them. We set about making a brooch for her, in felt and bead and thread. She wanted to make a moon fairy, and it so happened that Mia had put a crescent moon button in there that made a perfect face. 

We machined the dress and arms, Madeleine having her very first go at pushing the material through and cutting threads, We then needle felted her white hair, as only a moon fairy should have. 

To my amazement Maddy blanket stitched the edges onto a backing where we had sewed on a safety pin. 

She has been learning sewing these last couple of months in school. I am so delighted at this part of her education as you can well imagine and its great emphasis on handwork. I love the thought that so much of it will be natural to her, a part of being.

I pulled out one of my UFO's ( unfinished objects), A Bag O' The Woods I like to call it. It will be my bag for little sketchbook, penknife, apple and whatever else I pick up along the way. I am thinking of making it with straps for the bike, so it will attach on to the front and a shoulder strap too for walking days. I started in winter and perhaps will finish it by summer. Here it is below with handsome heads of lettuce from Jim on the market in Killaloe. 

Its leaves and shapes are appliqued scraps of felt left over from my crown making, sewn onto boiled wool, and next the lining.

  

Well now I look out the window and see the sun is breaking through on my rainy monday and that entices me out to walk in the woods, to walk to the studio and draw before collecting M. 

What a log today for one weekend, and all the other days between will come another day, maybe in May. I love to write here, I get to write and spin words, share my little way back to art, and the lightness of being that comes these days, quite unexpectedly I assure you. 

Thank you dear reader and for all the lovely responses on facebook, by face and spoken word, and email, and here too. Its a lovely thing to share experience, thats another days blog though and I have a sun to catch.

xx

Art is Coming Home

I think Art is coming home. Its making a huge and magnificent full Circle.



Art must have begun with a yearning, a longing to express like dreams and visions, transferring and translating the experience of life for all of us to see. I am so moved by what I see as so much socially engaged and aware art making, and offering around me these days. Finally it seems art can stand up on its own two feet again without the heavy weight of commodity alone.
Maybe there are two houses of art making. That which is decorative and that which moves to decorate your soul. We need so much more of the latter, and of course nothing wrong with the former, it enhances life after all.
But let artists fully be the translators of the depths of being, let us lay it out for on the walls of our cities and in sculpture on our lands or let us do performances that transfer an aliveness of a moment of being from one to another. Like shamans, like the original artists, who valued art for its ability to transcend, artists all over the world now are trying to inspire and uplift society from its complacency of how things are. Life is here to be lived and honored, art can do that in a most intuitive and human way.

Here is two projects that I have come to hear about these last few weeks that have me inspired to say the least.

Sing out with Strings a community project set up by the Irish Chamber Orchestra based in Limerick, not too far from here, I have heard such great news about this project and its far reaching and positive effects.

And here is Ludique a new body of work by Aideen Barry placed in a primary school in the Padraic Pearse home in Dublin. This work is permanent and made specifically for the space.



 I feel I have finally reached that compelling part of me again, that breathes with a drawing and smiles with every mark. If I can keep up this practice of getting to the studio in the woods, I am welcoming the practice so far. When I am there I am completely focused, its wonderful. Perhaps one day, the work will ask me to bring it out and it will achieve something in the doing of that. That my art could inspire someone with the sense of the majesty of being, is all I could ever ask for in working.

So many artists have done this for me.

Just this weekend, a dear old friend ( young and beautiful friend) came to visit. She is an artist driven more than any other I know.
She traverses the oceans on artists residencies and finds her self in all kinds of incredibly creative spaces, where  great art has been made. We chatted late into the night on Saturday and I even had a couple of glasses of wine( my first since Christmas: ), drunk of course on my first glass.
As we discussed our present positions in life, we realized we had come to some similar conclusions. That we must make art because its important. Its as simple as that, and artists must be supported in doing so. Arts importance is so misunderstood. Oh to be patient not passive( there is an evolution to all things) as we can continue to legitimize or better still sanctify, if we could, the role of artists in community and society. I feel it in my bones though, that art is making such an impact socially like never before. In your library, gallery, museum, school, your festivals, city halls, art is coming out in all its generosity, even to our homes. Oh If only I could be a rich patron ( another dream job, I must be making a list now)

My Friend Aideen actively works for bettering the support and understanding of artists and does so through her work, both in art making, her teaching and writing. Such a pleasure it was to speak to her about such things and feel the desire again to do what I love to do.

Another wise friend lately described all the pain of life like a pile of compost: ) and that some day I can turn it and have a rich soil in which to plant my new life. Wow, even the thoughts of that again brings tears to my eyes. To really believe that the whole spectrum of human emotion and experience is worthy and valuable, that the painful days can determine so much about the capacity one can have to really feel the joyful days. It is a good thought. Being open to the part you play, and to play openly: ) Artists can translate life like this in all its joy and suffering and give us a visual, auditory or kinesthetic impression that can help us really experience ourselves deeply, on this gorgeous blue- green globe.
Being an artist in a creative process speaks so clearly about affirming the moment of being alive here, and real creative energy flourishes in that environment- And you know what else I think you can truly play as an artist and with art that is made.

Its the simplicity of that thats been so difficult for me to understand at times. Making art, experiencing art, viewing art, can bring you to that rich place in yourself, where new beginnings can be inspired and old ways understood, where you find yourself in some gallery or other space being reflected, beautifully, poignantly, sorrowfully, profoundly, spirit fully, and other sorts of other fullys by some artist who dosen't know you. It makes me long to make art and be around art, I am compelled to be creative no matter what the outcome. Like the first fingers that made marks on walls because they felt to, we are still moved by their work and we can always be sure that Art is ours as is life.

Artists need space and our support, they are making a huge investment in all of us by sharing their very nature with us, by being artistic.

Aideen and me at the black box theatre sometime in 2001-2002, having just completed some performance's with a great show of our co- students art.

Woolly Gathering

A blog written for Jenny and Mia and the Woolly gatherings, you can also find this there, at Woolly Gatherings

On my way to the woolly gathering last week, I was full of knitting musings and inspirations. Up the sunny hills, along by the woods, the bog, the perfect curving horizon in the distance all out in Spring’s green glory. I was returning to Jenny's equally light filled kitchen, where a warm welcome and great chat was assured from fellow knitters and crafters alike. 

Sara Thompson has been kindly leading us through the knitting gatherings. The second craft block/woolly gathering that has been provided here, the first being crochet. We will have had six sessions of knitting classes, where everything from very beginners to the old hands can come and knit together, learn and share the experience. Sara’s skill and wonderful guidance has been available throughout, for any of those knitty gritty questions, pattern related, needle sizes, yarn size, or like me, How do you start again? 

I have not knitted since I was about 10 years old I imagine. My last project being a jumper in lilac wool yarn. Taking me well over a year to make, and moving house in between. On completion, it was far too small for a growing me. But you know,  I was so absolutely satisfied with finishing alone, I don’t think I had an ounce of disappointment about the size. My mother had assisted me too, with pattern reading and bringing it all together, another reason why I liked it so much. I still feel a little like I did then, when I finish making something new. I beam with a sense of accomplishment, and thats saying nothing about the value of the process of making. 

But firstly tell me this? How have we come to be knitting again after all these years. So willingly we are sharing skills, meeting old and new friends, and truly making beautiful things. 

This knitting group would for so many generations have been a working group, the social and fun element would have been secondary. These gorgeous yarns could have been hard to come by, and a mountain of work to produce. Like the women of the Aran islands, not so far from us here in east Clare. They worked their needles and yarn hard to keep their fishermen warm and dry at sea. It was a serious business, a necessity.

In far contrast to those who knitted to keep their families clothed, I am making a frivolous pair of pink wooly legwarmers for my two year old niece, who has joined me at some of the knitting classes. I am under no pressure I can assure you. But, I am reclaiming something old, brilliant and rightfully mine. 

In honesty I did it with crochet first( which I adore) but confirm my position now with the crafting revolution as I knit: )

We are good at this knitting, it heals us to makes things and gather together, be supportive and creative simultaneously. Its a virtuous skill to come back to or learn for the first time. It can become artful and inventive, or stay simple and functional, either way your hands are performing, producing, and imbuing some piece of fiber/yarn/fabric with love, good intention and you are putting in your real attention. In a world of so much strife and crisis, and a pace thats hard to keep with up, its such a wonderful attribute of knitting, that you can find yourself transported to calm, like a place at your granny's kitchen, fire hissing, old cat purring and a warm heart at your side to share the time of day with. 

Agnus, my great grandmother would rip back jumpers that my father grew out of and add another ball to make the next size up. Talk about recycling!!!! I love it. And with slogans like “Mend and Make do” being popular in those, her times, we can imagine what it meant to them to have the ability to work and provide like this. 

I have no knitting of hers, but I have some crochet pieces, now treasures to me, and can see her obvious skill and artfulness. It was undoubtedly more to her than work alone. I wonder did she gather with other woolly lovers?
See Mia's blog on crochet Timeless Stitching from the Woolly Gatherings, she writes beautifully about her own experiences of crochet and knitting with her grandmother.

Speaking of our grandmother's, Is it a thrifty thing to make your own jumper? Yes, if you take into consideration, the cost of a well made, or handmade garment, especially if you are using pure and natural yarns, merino, cashmere, silk, alpaca, bamboo. Anything containing these would be a substantial investment to buy off the rack, and more expensive than making yourself, and thats before you think about the experience of making it. 

The woolly gatherings seem to have cultivated quite a passionate attitude towards the kind of yarns we are using. I have learned so much about what and how and which yarns to use for what, and Sara imparts her real love of color and texture through her own work, patterns choices on offer and books she has shared with us. 

I am quite certain knitting has evolved far beyond its original functionality and necessity, and has quite literally taken on a whole new life, but not so far that it cant still poccess that part of itself, that knots threads together with two needles, and makes something that wraps you in the utter pleasure of texture, softness and warmth. 

Its craft, its artform, its revived and suffused with a love of something ancient and natural, its personal, and its social. The woolly gatherings are full of a sense of community spirit. With knitting and craft groups springing up all over the place from New York to these Clare hills( equally cool of course) in such numbers, it IS a revolution, and one filled with goodness, carrying with it both sentiment and respect of the past with exciting possibilities of the future.

Guerilla knitting/yarn bombing/extreme knitting is another wonderful spin off from the knitting revival. If you don’t know about it check out some of these blogs and sites devoted to it below. The more I think about it the more I love this idea of soft graffiti. Who can protest against a bike rack wrapped in stripes of yarn, or a tree in a park, or a telephone box, a bridge. It is such an antithesis to the hardness and aggression present in the world and a bright reminder of our softer side. 

Also below some artists who are using this knitting rebirth in an amazing way.

http://www.carolhummel.com/?p=portfolio&nav=recent&pid=41

http://dneese.blogspot.com/2011/04/sarah-appelbaum.html

http://www.glittyknittykitty.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVvC037SuLQ

*****Here is another link to a wonderful you tube about the importance of handwork in our lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfoByYLSBY8

Two little pink leg warmers complete: )

I have wanted to knit again for the longest time, but find it is much more realistic that I can actually learn with other people and in person rather than from a book. The woolly Gatherings are offering that space and its golden. 

Thank you dear reader!!!!