knit together

It’s an abbreviation—

—a technique—

—an infatuation—

—and a manifesto.¹

It’s wooly joy—

—and my kind of fun.

It’s also—

—an unfinished—

— tapestry-in-progress—

—and that I’m making it at all—²

—is as disconcertingly delicious a surprise—³

—as (briefly) being barefoot—

—in February. ⁴

1. As a manifesto, Knit Together (abbreviated no less) is pretty short. But it is to the point. For like yarn and bones, I believe humans can knit together too.

I’ve been thinking about manifestos thanks to Anna Brones’ recent Substack post: Being Creatively Proactive . In it she talks about a visit to an art museum and how energizing it was to be in a space that was dedicated to creation instead of destruction. She went on to say: we can’t reside solely in response. We also have to build. This is art as preventative care. Looking into the future and identifying what kind of a world and systems we want to construct. Investing the creative energy now in the name of the ripple effects it has in the future.

And at the end she writes:

ANALOG INSPIRATION: CREATIVE MANIFESTOS

We’ve covered creative manifestos in this newsletter before, but I like to think of manifestos as living, breathing documents. Which means that even if you’ve made one in the past, it’s worth coming back to and revising. Manifestos offer the chance for clarity in your own creative values. Certainly needed in this moment!

For making your own manifesto: this is the how and why of what you create. What are you for? What do you want to build? What drives you?

Needless to say, I was inspired. Do check out the post both to read all her wise words, and see the fabulous images, including Anna’s paper cuts—which, you may have noticed, helped nudge me to weave this particular image. What could be more clearly black and white than cut paper? Well, maybe a block print… Or text… or..

(BTW, Anna’s following post, Prescribe Yourself Some Art, speaks directly to art as preventative Care).

2. —is due in large part to these two fleeces and the yarn they nudged me to make.

3. First figurative, cartoon-based tapestry I’ve woven years—and the first bigger-than-tiny one too. I’m oddly astonished by how captivating it is. But that’s tapestry—fantastically patient while I explore other things, and oh-so-kindly ready to welcome me back when I return. If I were sensible I’d wait till it’s done to show photos. But who wants to be sensible when something feels so right?

There is much more to say about Knitting Together and I will hopefully get to it in next week’s post—by which time (I hope!) I’ll have finished the tapestry.

4. I’d rather be walking in snow this time of year as next summer we will very much need the high mountain moisture and this early warmth is decidedly worrying. But given that there is bare ground, there is no need to forgo the pleasure of cool damp duff (sometimes frozen), beneath my toes.