the patchwork dress

turning

It feels, today, at last, as if the season could finally be turning.

After all those weeks of enclosed grey, dark mornings and cold evenings I am desperate to see the sunlight again.  Today it feels like something has turned - the energy is on the up and the sun is shining.

I have even turned the radio off this morning to hear the frantic cheeping of the birds - they are definitely in egg mode.

My project for the new year was to teach myself to knit socks! I got this great book and new that it would be something to aim for, but first I just have to knit a pair of socks from this book to understand the technique.  It took a lot of effort to get started - first I couldn't find the weight of yarn specified in the pattern.  In fact the assistant in John Lewis wool department disappointingly didn't know what 'worsted wool' was - a good start, eh?

Next I couldn't find any stock of the needle size I wanted!  A few enquiring emails to Pebbledash, to see if she would be my sock guru.  Eventually, with patience I found some lovely merino wool here and needles here! It occurred to me that the more difficult it was getting, the more I was actually learning about knitting socks!

They may not be the greatest pair of socks ever - but last night I 'turned the heel' - the part I was most afraid of. Reading patterns is rather like gobbledegook - I just had to take each step at a time.. Another lesson I could apply elsewhere in life.  That plus a few videos on Youtube!

Consequently I have turned the heel following one of these videos, so it may be a bit different from my pattern.  I really just made it up as I went along - determined not to get any holes! I also noticed last night that I was supposed to have ribbed the heel flap - which I didn't pick up on at all until a bit late! Nevermind.

The foot of this one looks like it may be meant for a giant :) - but these are my practice socks - probably to be worn of an evening infront of the fire next winter!  However I am really happy to be learning something new that I can see progress in stage by stage.

The heel has turned - hurrah!

more about process

There is a stone-carved block in the wall at our local farm shop that says "Waste not Want not".  I shall need to photograph it sometime and show it here.

After my last post, I have also been thinking about other foundation stones, that are important in the 'principles' of what I make and sell. One is to minimise the amounts of origin 'materials' I use, and also to minimise waste.

When the materials are secondhand or being 'upcycled' this is quite low.  In making the gift tags its the small pictures from the magazines that are used.  The images are too small to become cards, but still speak to me, and see second-life as a gift tag.  

As a child I used to cut and keep images from magazines - sometimes they made it into a scrapbook.  I had no idea why I felt compelled to group them by colour or styling.  Now in making my eco-cards and tags I've taken that habit one step further - instead of hoarding them, I get the satisfaction of the process and send them out into the world again to gain a second use in a card communication or embellishment for a gift.

The offcuts of fabric or card that are too small to salvage go into the woodburner - in small amounts as kindling, but their usefulness is still integral.

We are surrounded by cutbacks and trimming down in workplaces and businesses, but when we value the whole process and why we are doing it, then every part can be valued.  That's what I want from what I am doing here.

what comes first, chicken or egg?

I think a  lot about making things and selling them and the personal processes and ethics involved in both. Shortly before Christmas I fancied reading some new ideas and ordered these two books that were featured in the Cygnus magazine.

One of my feelings about starting a 'business' is that we are often building on ideas that already exist, and the foundations of those ideas may not be in alignment with what we want or truly believe.  Practically, of course, there is a need to achieve sales and find customers, or present ourselves in such a way that these two things can find each other and occur.  

Change is desirable and there are so many out there trying to make this happen, especially in the etsy and folksy marketplace. My confusion stems from not understanding what is at the root of it all and I am keen explore and find the foundations 'within myself'  - ie a belief system I can align with where I can feel truthful.

These two books seem unconnected, but one passage that stood out for me in Clea Danaan's book is when she describes the chicken/egg industry against the 'joy' of keeping them domestically and having a personal relationship with both chicken and egg..

" Animals who produce food on such a large scale are not regarded as animals anymore, so the loss of chicken joy is unconsequential.

Our automated industrial culture has reduced chickens to their product.  The eggs are economic units produced by economic units and sold to us (also seen as economic units).  Its no longer about the chicken or the egg, but the money exchangeable for that egg."

This passage just seemed to bowl it home to me.  The what comes first analogy of the chicken and the egg, or the cart before the horse seems appropriate. When the process of the making and the selling and the reusing of that money are connected with integrity, instead of playing one off the other - then I think the fulfillment of that process is what really 'pays' us on many levels, and if that money is love, then hopefully financially too.. I am still exploring that area!

At the time of reading 'Money Is Love' which also explores the subject of titheing 10% of one's income - I coincidentally stumbled across this article on creative titheing through Diana's blog, and a remarkable lifestyle choice through Mouse's blog.

As a result, I have decided to combine the two ideas and have a form of creative titheing within the patchwork dress, in both online folksy and etsy shops, and through any other sales this year -

I will be donating 10% from every sale to the wildlife charity SWT - Scottish Wildlife Trust, and later in the year also to the SSPCA (Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - who operate both shelters for rehoming pets, and a wildlife shelter near Inverkeithing).

 

Last, but not least, in the spirit of the giveaway - I am willing to pass on the Barbara Wilder  "Money Is Love" book to anyone who is interested in reading it - the first person to claim it, gets it. - 'gone' to Sarah in Canada!