Be a Cheerleader

Have you ever had some one who has absolute encouragement for everything you attempt and praise for your achievements? A Cheerleader.

It's very rare, but it is such a wonderful feeling to know that someone has confidence in you and will support your endeavours.

A year ago I lost my cheerleader.

It still weighs heavy on my heart.

There are a couple of ways I have been trying to move forward from this loss.

1. Become my own cheerleader. Give myself praise and tell myself that I'm doing well. Acknowledge small wins and don't get too waylaid by set backs. Give myself a pat on the back.

2. Become a cheerleader for others. I'm trying to give others the encouragement and praise I valued from my cheerleader.  People really do respond when you find joy rather than faults. Not always easy, but it's worth it.

In relation to the What Jane Knits kits; the goal for creating the kits - is to give encouragement to those who would like to learn a craft. Hopefully the kits are easy to follow and give a sense of satisfaction to those attempting their projects.

Ultimately, I would like everyone to complete their kit and feel like they have achieved their goal.
 

The world is so full of others tearing you down, a little support can do wonders for what you can achieve.  I'm sure my cheerleader would be so thrilled with what I have achieved.

Art, Style and Handknitting = Cool

When you can appreciate the talent and skill required to create art - the world becomes a little more magical.

It's the difference between looking at the brush marks and detail on an oil painting, versus hanging a poster from IKEA to match your lounge suite.

The creation of art can be found in all makers products. Hand knitting is often mocked as an old fashioned 'daggy' activity resulting in dreadful heavy jumpers.  Yet if you look at the detail of handknit garments you will see these pieces are painstakingly created - stitch by stitch. You may find it difficult to distinguish between machine knit and hand knit, but once you realize a garment/article is hand knit you really can't help but be impressed.

This weekend I attended a talk by Jenny Kee and Lynda Jackson at the NGV 200 years of Australian Fashion exhibition.

I was fortunate enough to meet with Jenny afterwards. I told her about my new project and we discussed handknit intarsia vs. machine knit.

I was absolutely stunned to learn that the detail on skirt which my friend and I had decided was machine knit, was in fact hand knitted! Wow, so detailed, so many colours. That is indeed art.

Jenny said she wished the Gallery had actually shown the reverse side of the garment in order for people to see the detail involved.

The art behind the knitting is what makes these garments Fashion; but the hand made process makes it something so much more than any off the rack jumper would ever be.

Well worth watching is this short video (click here)  which shows how Lynda Jackson used Jenny Kees' artwork to create the 'knitting patterns' on graph paper for her team of knitters to create.

Happy knitting!

Community, caring and craft

It was raining yesterday morning as I took a brisk exercise walk in my neighbourhood to Chapel Street.

I noticed a lady walking in front of me with a shopping trolley and a bedraggled dog, she wasn't wearing any shoes.

I'm kind of weird about bare feet - I am rarely without shoes. So rather unhelpfully I asked her where her shoes were. She replied she had stayed at a friends and left them outside (cause they stank) and forgot to put them on when she left. Anyway this conversation went on for a bit as we strolled down the street together.

At one stage she was looking for something in her bags and I noticed she had balls of brightly coloured new yarn. When I asked her about the wool she said that she knitted. Well we then had a great old chat. Her name is Tracey.

Tracey said she tried to make things to sell and was hoping that Stonnington Council would allow busker style permits like the City of Melbourne. (This seems unlikely I imagine) Anyway Tracey explained to me some of the things she made.

She crocheted hats.... and was excited to tell me about the hand-warmers she made. Tracey was concerned about how to get them to fit various sized hands.. so I gave her a tip about sewing up the sides with thumb gap one inch from the bottom. She had been making the thumb gap in the middle.

Tracey then went into great detail about the sculptural pieces she was making. Wrapping sticks, that had fallen from trees, and encasing them in yarn. She then decorated them with feathers or hanging pieces of yarn. Tracey was trying to get some old unwanted jewelry pieces to add for decoration. She was really passionate about these. It was a good chat.

The fact that Tracey was living on the streets was kind of irrelevant to our conversation, but obviously not irrelevant to her welfare. I didn't want to ask too many questions, but I did want to help. I only had $4 cash on me, but I suggested she head down to the Prahran Mission to get some new shoes so she didn't injure her feet.

Anyway I hope Tracey is ok, maybe I'll bump into her again soon and we can have a longer chat about knitting, craft and life. After all, that's what being part of a community is about.