Creativity Matters

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have”

Maya Angelou

This is one of my favourite quotes on creativity - so much so that I have it written in the front of my journal where I see it every day.

Journaling is a big part of how I connect to my creative side - through words rather than images - which sounds a little strange at first. Often when we think of creativity and art we think in terms of painting, drawing and other visual representations - and with that can come a whole set of baggage (complete with wheels and a carry on bag) about stories we have told ourselves over the years.

That we ‘aren’t good at art’ or that we aren’t ‘the creative type’.

I’ve written about this before - You are creative, even when following a pattern - and it’s something I feel really strongly about. I believe that we all have the capacity to be creative, we just might not recognise it in ourselves.

If this sounds familiar to you, I thought I would put together a couple of the prompts that I use regularly in my journaling practice. I find that they help when I’m feeling a bit stuck or I feel that my brain needs a creative boost. I grab a notebook and pen (coffee helps) and let the words do the talking.

If you’d like to have a try at journaling for creativity, please just tap the link below.

Five fun facts about Herdies

Photo credit: chandler-media-xb_oRYa-TJ0-unsplash.jpg

Try saying that 3 times fast :)

Seriously though, Herdwick sheep are the most amazing of creatures and every time we visit the Lake District I’m always thrilled to see these little smiley faces peeping at me through the bracken. Or - more usually - standing stubbornly in the middle of a single-track road.

Over the years I have amassed a few interesting facts about these most handsome of sheep and I thought, in the spirit of Wovember I would share them with you here:

1. 95% of all commercially farmed Herdwick stock lives within 14 miles of Coniston and they have an unparalleled homing instinct which means they can be left to roam free on the fells with very little human intervention. It’s known as being ‘heafed’ or ‘hefted’ - the process by which they actually belong to and are part of the landscape itself. Each flock carries knowldge carried down through generations of mothers so that each sheep instinctinely knows how to not only survive, but thrive in what can be a harsh environment. They know where the best shelter is, the best grazing at a given time of year and they pass that knowledge on from mother to daughter.

2. They are born dark brown (usually with amusingly shaped white eye-goggles) and gradually get lighter over time. A year old Herdwick has a brown body with a light grey head, and over the course of their second year the wool on their bodies also lightens.

3. Herdwicks are smaller than most commercially farmed sheep and slower growing. They are a dual purpose breed - used for both meat and fleece. In the past their use for fleece fell out of favour but thanks to the efforts of conservationists and sheep enthusiasts the unique properties of Herdwick wool are now being appreciated again - in companies such as this one

4. Beatrix Potter was passionate about Herdwick sheep and campaigned strongly to ensure the breeds survival in the 1940s. She bequeathed 4,000 acres of land to the National Trust, with the proviso that it be used for Herdwick sheep farming.

5. They can survive the harshest of winters and there are many reports of them being dug out alive after days trapped in snowdrifts. There are even reports of sheep which have survived such conditions by eating their own fleece whilst waiting for rescue.

In short, they may look cute but they are seriously tough cookies. You never want to mess with a Herdie - and they always get right of way on single-track roads.

Addi Unicorn circular needles: A Review

Addi Unicorn circular needles

With the bright pink cable and the shiny, spiral grooved tips these new needles from Addi are hard to miss, so when they crossed my social media feed a few days ago I immediately wanted to snag a set for myself. (This is not a paid advert feature - I bought the needles myself and haven’t been asked to write this).

I was a little sceptical of the claim that the unique spiral tips help to massage the hands while knitting - but that aside I have to say that I really enjoyed using these needles and I’d definitely buy more.

The cable is super flexible with absolutely no memory so it’s great for magic loop projects - my favourite way to knit socks. There’s also no join at all between the cable and the tips, meaning that your stitches slide really easily from tip to cable and back again.

The 100cm cable is a bit long for me - in my enthusiasm to buy I didn’t realise other lengths were available. Next time I’d probably buy the 80cm as that’s my preferred length for magic loop knitting. But honestly, that’s the only thing I didn’t enjoy about knitting with these.

It’s hard to convey how super smooth I found knitting with them, but I filmed a short Reel of me using them which you can see over on my Instagram page.

Heaven knows, I have no shortage of knitting needles, but a sock knitter can always use a few more 2.5mm needles…right?

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.

How to make a blanket grow faster

Do you ever have one of those projects that just steadfastly refuses to grow? It seems to defy the laws of physics - yarn is being consumed, time is being spent and yet each time you measure it, it remains stubbornly the same.

I have a blanket like that on the needles. It’s a stripy garter stitch baby blanket and I’m on a deadline but no matter how much I knit on the thing it still refuses to reach the finish line.

For the purposes of private amusement yesterday I compiled a tongue-in-cheek list of the strategies I had employed so far to make the blanket knit up faster and I thought they might make you smile too.

1. Keep stopping to stretch it out and measure it. Be sure to stretch it hard for maximum optimism.

2. Put in progress keepers - lots of them - so that you can see physical evidence of progress.

3. Use snacks as a reward. My preferred method is a square of chocolate after every pattern repeat or set number of inches.

4. Persuade yourself that rectangular is the new square - much more practical. You aren't giving up you are just making a design choice.

   Only options 2 and 3 have ever had any measure of success for me. But I'm totally open to other suggestions.

PIN FOR LATER

From Socktober to Wovember

Contours shawl - buy here

It’s a busy time of year for Knitting bloggers as we transition seamlessly from Socktober into Wovember. The month-long celebration of all things woolly took a bit of a break for a year or two - let’s face it, there’s been a lot going on. But this year it is back and carrying on the good work.

Wovember was originally set up as an awareness campaign to promote the use of 100% wool and to counter some of the myths and received wisdom surrounding wool - it’s not ‘all scratchy’ for example even though this is often an accusation levelled at it.

This year the Wovember campaign is mainly taking place on Instagram as @WovemberWool and Twitter via a series of daily prompts. You don’t have to do a daily post or anything, you can just dip in and out as you please. or you can just scroll the hashtags #Wovember and #Wovember2022 for lots of wool-based inspiration.

Over on the Everyday Knitter Facebook Group we are having a month long KAL - the only rule is that the yarn you use must be 100% wool. It can be a long standing WIP or a brand new project and it doesn’t matter what size it is - it can be a coaster or a blanket. The main thing is that we celebrate wool in all it’s gloriousness.

If you are looking for a pattern to make the most of your lovely woolly stash I have listed a few of mine which might fit the bill - details below. And if you are looking for a bit of further reading on the Wovember project and some of their older blog posts (still just as relevant today) I have listed a few at the bottom of this post under ‘Further Reading’

Happy Wovember.

Contours Shawl

£6.50

Log Cabin-ish blanket

£6.50

Hebridean Hap

£6.50

Further Reading

Yarn that tells the story of Uist

Hebridean seafaring sheep in the UK

Between producers and consumers of wool