Journaling prompts to boost creativity

I think we have all felt a bit stuck in a creative rut at one time another. Particularly when I’ve reached the end of a long project or I am at the stage where I can’t (or won’t) make progress on long standing WIPs. There are times when, frustratingly I find myself with time on my hands and the desperate urge to create something, anything, but yet I’m almost paralysed by indecision and choice.

I tell myself I’ll just have a look through my yarn stash but an hour later I’m still there. Pawing through my stored yarn, thinking of plans, maybe starting a few but then ripping back and ending up back where I started. Just with a busier brain.

I’ve found that keeping a super long-term project on hand is really helpful for times like this. My giant granny square blanket for example can always be added too and it can keep my fingers busy and my brain distracted.

My other go-to solution is my journal. I grab my trusty notebook and pen and either free write (great for releasing frustration) or use a prompt that appeals to me.

Anything to get words and feelings out of my brain and to free up a bit of space for me to be me again.

If this sounds like something you might like I have put together a short, free PDF containing 5 of the prompts I use most often when I’m feeling in a creative rut.

You can tap the button below to download it, or save the Pinterest image for later.

PIN FOR LATER

What kind of Christmas Knitter are you?

The Knitting Quiz rides again - this time I have redone it with a festive twist.

We all have varying attitudes to Christmas knitting - and just the mere mention of it in knitting circles, from September onwards is likely to generate a multitude of responses.

So, just for fun I put together a short, 2 minute quiz to see what kind of Christmas knitting category you fall into. We have The Grinch, The Elf, The Fairy and The Angel.

Want to see which type you are - just tap the button below to take the quiz - and please feel free to share it with a knitty friend or two.

Supporting small businesses

Credit: @angela.chick.illustration

If you’ve been here for a while you’ll know that I am a passionate supporter of small independent businesses both in my blogging, my designing and in the Everyday Knitter Facebook Group.

This year with all the pressures that we are all facing it seems even more urgent to support and promote indie businesses as they face stiffer competition from the big box stores and customers, understandably are more concious of their spending.

This week I’ve been having great fun taking part in Indie Week event run by the amazing Just A Card team. It’s a week long celebration of a wonderfully diverse range of makers, artists and other small businesses and I’ve really valued being part of it.

You can find out more about the campaign at the links below as well as their Christmas Fair which offers an unparalleled opportunity to explore a great range of makers, artists and independent businesses - perfect in the run up to the festive season.

LINKS:

Check out Just A Card on Instagram or on their website: www.justacard.org

Just be kind...

Be kind - that’s the slogan. A handy little hashtag you can pop in your bio to show to the world that you too can #BeKind. Unfortunately if it was that easy we wouldn’t need the BeKind campaign and Social Media Kindness Day in the first place.

I first got the idea to write this post after reading a blog post by Thistleflat Crafts - Leaving those glitter trails of kindness - please go and read it immediately as she absolutely nails it. And her words really stuck with me.

She wrote about how kindness is often perceived to be weak or passive which in fact it is anything but. Far from being the easy option it is an active response. A deliberate choice, often made under difficult circumstances and it often requires a lot of effort or thought to ‘be kind’.

All too often on social media you see #BeKind on someone’s profile or bio and then scroll through their feed to find shining, glaring examples of them being less than kind to others. Retweeting hatred, mocking others, indulging in hurtful ‘celeb’ gossip - downright bullying sometimes, let’s face it.

Be kind is often used as a shorthand for ‘be kind to me while I continue to be unkind to others’

Anyone can put #BeKind in their bio. It takes a very different person to bring that behaviour through into their everyday life and their dealings with others. Particularly on social media, the kind response might actually be one you can’t see. It looks like walking away from an argument that someone is trying to pick with you or not joining in with the latest gossip/drama in your sphere.

Sometimes ‘BeKind’ is invisible. Unseen, unthanked and you can’t share a selfie of yourself doing it.

It takes a village...

Knitting on a West Yorkshire Spinners sock

There is a well known phrase which originated from an African proverb

It takes a village to raise a child

It refers to the idea that raising a child is an incredibly difficult thing to do, and that by banding together and seeking support from others you not only improve your own child’s situation but you benefit and strengthen the whole community.

Whilst knitting is in no way comparable to the difficulties involved in raising a child, I firmly believe that it ‘takes a village’ to raise and nurture a knitter.

In the past knitting was seen as a solitary endeavour, and if it was done in company it was usually by necessity as women grouped together to undertake chores - and they simply knit along with everything else that they were doing at the time. There undoubtedly was some support and help available though, to help guide the new knitter and it was very common for skills to be shared among friends and passed down to children.

These days many knitters are self-taught and knit, often at home for recreation and relaxation. Today’s knitter might not be able to call on a network of friends and relations for help but they have the whole internet at their disposal. Whatever the time of day or night, whatever the question there will undoubtedly be a knitter online somewhere who can answer your question, or a quick Google search might reveal a whole host of tutorials and ‘how to’s’ to answer your particular question.

Such a choice can be a little overwhelming of course, and as with everything it’s important to get your information from trusted sources, but for me, the online knitting community is unparalleled in the information it freely offers. People in general are incredibly generous with both their time and their expertise in a way that I have rarely encountered in other spheres.

By contributing to and learning from online knitters, we not only improve our own skills and knowledge but we help to strengthen and integrate the whole community - everyone benefits and it’s a brilliant thing to feel you are a part of.

One of the reasons I created the Everyday Knitter Facebook group was because I wanted to have a freely available resource for knitters to come together and share their work and their experience. I know that Facebook certainly has it’s issues and it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But a well-run, spam-free Facebook group (which the Everyday Knitter group is) is an invaluable online community, something which I would have loved to have had access to when I was a beginner knitter all those years ago.

I’m a bit biased obviously, but if you’d like to check it out for yourself and you are looking for a drama free group that’s ‘All about the Knitting’ then please just tap the link below - I’d love to see you there.

Why are we here?

A slightly more existential question than you usually find on a knitting blog, so please bear with.

The thoughts behind this blog post arose from a chance conversation on Instagram with @ofsimplicity, who was asking a simple question of her Instagram followers - “Why are you here?” And some of the responses were just so moving it prompted me to think a little bit more deeply about Instagram and how perhaps our use of the platform has changed over the years.

I joined Instagram years ago, back in the day when it was all about the filters, vignettes and fancy borders. Your feed was chronological and you could happily scroll through in a morning looking at what everyone else in your time zone was up to.

A far cry from the heavily curated feed we see today. Filters are still very much there (although much more subtle) but still images have been crowded out by video/Reels and a lot more content competing for attention. It feels like a much noisier place than it did, ‘back in the day’.

However, I’m still there.

For me (and I suspect, many others) Instagram isn't just a platform and I have way more invested in it, emotionally than I do with maybe Twitter or Facebook. Twitter is a fun place to hang out for a bit but, to be honest I often go there to have a moan about something - and being around lots of other people also venting in a similar manner can deplete my energy reserves pretty quickly.

In contrast, Instagram is home to some wonderful supportive friendships. People that I have connected with there and remain good ‘insta pals’ to this day. Human connection is ultimately why we use the app, and why, Reels notwithstanding, I don’t think that Instagram is going anywhere although the way we use it might change a little.

Without Instagram for example, I probably wouldn’t be taking part in Blogtober - and writing this post in the first place. I wouldn’t have set myself a challenge to read 50 books this year without being inspired by the various Bookstagram accounts that I follow. And I don’t think I would be as inspired to create some fabulous new autumn designs if it weren’t for the daily dose of gorgeous hand dyed yarn content that I see served to me alongside my morning coffee.

For all of my dislike of the present format, starting my day without at least a little scroll through Instagram is unthinkable. It's part of my routine along with coffee and cat cuddles.

How about you - are you still there and how do you see your use of the platform changing? Drop me a line in the comments or come and say hi over on Instagram - @LouiseTilbrookDesigns