The festivities are coming!
Finding joy and calm in the busy months.
INSIDE: tips for the holidays, swatching trials, spinning dreams, a mystery series, tartan tales, knitted + real life cuteness.
So winter is coming for you guys living in the northern hemisphere.
This season brings busy times, and it also offers a chance to do some cozy making. As the cooler weather comes along, I’m sure you’re snuggling up on your favorite chairs, keeping yourselves lovely and warm and bringing out your gorgeous winter knits.
I thought about some tips to keep your crafting going through these busy times.
Embrace me-time. Amid the hustle, find those little moments you have just for yourself. Even if it’s a few minutes with your yarn, take that time and have a cup of tea or coffee and perhaps listen to your favorite audibook or podcast, and you’re all set.
Mini projects are a wonderful idea because if the thought of big projects feels too daunting, having something bite-sized is a great idea to keep you motivated. They also make excellent gifts too.
Let what you see around you in winter inspire your making. Maybe you’re seeing the pattern that frost makes on your window or the hues of a late sunset. Winter is such a wonderful season, and it lends itself to inspiration. It might spark an idea for a different color palette you may not necessarily use in your making.
Crafting with company is so much better! If you know someone else that crafts and you can get together, invite them over. It can be a moment of shared company, but doing something you love at the same time. It’s a great chance to swap ideas and get advice from somebody else with fresh eyes on a project you might be struggling with.
It’s important to keep your expectations in check. It’s so gorgeous of people who make hand knitted items as gifts. They take lots of work, care and time. You’ve got to be kind to yourself first before you take on a herculean effort of making lots of knitted gifts. Craft from the heart and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Be realistic about what you can actually finish between now and the time of giving.
Another way is to stay curious. While you might think easy things are the way to go, if you’re staying curious, you might keep your eye out for a complicated pattern or a technique. Because you’re spending more time indoors, you might dive into something new. That helps us keep motivated.
Repurpose and revive. Have you got leftover yarn from an old project? This is a great chance to unravel those yarns you won’t use. Breathe life into that yarn by turning it into something new, like a patchwork blanket or mix and match the yarns into a functional scarf. This way, you can gift these projects or you might donate them to charity.
I’ve always believed crafting has a meditative effect. Take a moment to feel each stitch, the rhythm of the movements in your hands, and the softness of the yarn. Coming back to center helps you feel grounded.
For those of you living in the southern hemisphere, like me, you can adapt these tips to suit our sunnier setting. Perhaps lighter yarns, breezier patterns, and projects perfect for the summer.
Now for a project update. I finished the yoke of my True Nature Tee!
This was the second attempt because I frogged the first one. Now I’m hopefully onto smoother sailing with knitting rounds of knit stitches. There’s a section of stockinette stitch before I divide the body and the sleeves.
So this week I’ve been focusing on a test knit I wanted to do for my next project: Flow by Trin-Annelie.
I did a swatch using the Continental method. I picked the yarn with it being held in my left hand to create the knit stitches. It was very slow going and looking at the swatch, my tension is all over the shop!
I also tried the Eastern Knitting style, which I’ve never done before. I learned the stitches are mounted differently to what I’m used to. In Eastern knitting, the right leg of the stitches are at the back of the knitting needle.
To create a knit stitch, I held the yarn in my left hand and I knitted into the back loop. Again, the yarn is picked, like Continental knitting.
Truly, when I was doing this, I asked myself: am I really prepared to knit an entire project with this style and learn how to do all the stitches for the Flow Tee? The answer is no!
I stopped after a few rows. I just thought, no, I’m not putting my energies into this.
My intention for this swatch was to see what effect wrapping a yarn clockwise had on the fabric. When I do English style knitting, I wrap my yarn counterclockwise.
I realized I was still wrapping the yarn counterclockwise when picking it! That was a complete failure for testing how the fabric turned out trying to wrap the yarn clockwise. There will have to be some more work done on that.
I’m not so sure I’m going to persevere with my tests!
My aim was to see if the smaller 3.25 mm knitting needles allow me to get more rows per inch. I’ve been able to reach 35 rows but not 38.
I’ll have to work out how that will affect this pattern, but that’s for another day.
And my son found a knitted whale toy kit at an Op Shop and decided to knit it. He’s never done increases or decreases, but he’s having a red hot go.
And another question for you: what have you made in past winters?
A trip down memory lane…
While I was in Melbourne, I visited the Handweavers & Spinners Guild Of Victoria at their shop in Carlton North.
A kind and lovely member showed me around.
The members had finished listening to an interesting presentation by a woman talking about how to reuse scraps in hand spun yarns.
What I found interesting was all the roving yarns they use for spinning. (They're semi-unprocessed yarns.) It just looks so soft!
One day, I'd love to learn how to spin.
What I’ve loved this week: reads, listens, visuals and gratitudes…
The series The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper was fabulous and it has me dreaming of traveling to Wales someday. I highly recommend this series!
It's so beautifully written, particularly the depiction of the locations the characters find themselves in. There are parts of the UK and Wales which are just extraordinary. And the myths that are talked about: King Arthur and Merlin, it's very magical. I really enjoyed that.
Now I'm listening to the first book in the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. His book was recommended in a podcast I recently listened to by Leigh Sales of Chat 10 Looks 3.
It's about four unlikely friends living in a retirement village who every Thursday meet up to discuss unsolved murders.
Except one day, they're thrust into trying to solve their first real murder, which affects them because it has something to do with their retirement village.
So far, the book's been engaging and the characters have an interesting dynamic.
Here on Substack, I found a lovely read by
called A Slower Pace: Hotel Waldhaus. It talks about a beautiful old hotel in the Swiss Alps and the surrounding area. If you love old architecture, or want to see some pretty pictures, I highly recommend having a look.What are you currently reading?
As recommended by
in the comments of a previous Fiber Friday, I listened to an episode of Haptic & Hue called The Tangled Tale Of Tartan.It was about the history of the cloth and the host Joe Andrews, interviewed guests who discussed the meanings and controversy that surround tartan.
I'm currently living in rural Victoria while we're visiting family. The one thing I love about this area is its natural beauty.
While the region is hot and dry during the summer months and there's very little rainfall during the year, the cool mornings in spring have just been lovely.
As have the flowers!
This area is famous for Jacaranda, which are beautiful flowering trees that are this gorgeous purple. They flower first in this abundance of purple and they go to leaf closer to when the weather becomes warmer in the summertime.
If you're looking for a reason to smile this week, look no further than the delightful videos by India Rose Crawford on Instagram.
If you've seen these already, you'll know what I'm talking about, but she makes little day in the life episodes about Frog and Toad creatures. She's knitted and dressed them in either knitted garments or little hand sewn garments.
She does the filming of these characters and they are just adorable. The amount of work and time she must put into them is outstanding.
And speaking of cute things, one of my favorite Australian animals is the stumpy tail lizard. AKA the shingleback or bobtail lizard.
They're a type of blue tongue skink only found in southwestern and eastern Australia. There are four species, and I think the one I saw investigating the place I was staying at a few weeks ago was the Eastern one.
Isn't he lovely? They're such fascinating creatures.
I'm thankful for the changing seasons. Each brings its own crafting inspiration. As I work on my summer projects in Australia, I love hearing about your wintry creations. Big thanks to all of you for being part of this crafting journey with me!
A thought for you to ponder this coming week…
Amid the winter hustle and summer warmth, remember each stitch can be a moment of peace.
So, may you find pockets of joy in every stitch you make this coming winter. Remember, it's not about how much you craft, but the warmth and memories each project holds.
How’s your crafting going? Leave a comment or press reply!
(Disclosure: Any purchases made through links may earn me a commission.)
Before you go…
Your tips for crafting through the busy times are so valuable! Now that I’m even remotely competent with knitting I’ve wanted to make a million gifts but that’s just not realistic, my hands wouldn’t allow it if I tried. I’ve decided to give myself grace and the folks who’re deserving will eventually get handknit gifts, even if it’s a few years from now.
Kudos to your son for trying something new with the whale! I hope that you’ll share his finished project with us 😊
Learning a new knitting style. Ugh. I’ve developed carpal tunnel probably from throwing. I’ve tried continental over the years, and it doesn’t seem to suit me. So I’m trying Portuguese, which I’ve read is good for hand and wrist pain. I’m so slow and awkward but it seems to be better for me than continental. But I hate the slowness. I hate the uneven tension. I get discouraged and go back to my old way. Then the pain starts again. I keep telling myself it will get better. Doesn’t help this may stop my holiday knitting plans. But I have to remind myself that’s better than having to quit knitting.
I will get there. Thank you for the reminder slow is okay. And I love that blue of your True Nature Teen