WEEK FOURTEEN (april 3-9)
Finally I have finished Knit One Purl One and it is not until I have seen it a few times, viewing with others, that I have lost my ‘attachment’ to it and can begin to feel its worth as a thing separate from me/the maker.
There was the value of making it first as a technical challenge.
Working out how to cleanly and simply represent the mechanics of knitting took a few trials – and I am very lazy with trials…very impatient…
Also, one of the most important things to me of late is the story, the narrative and the personal connection I have to the piece. I just don’t want to start something or continue with an idea unless it links back to MY experience.
This piece does that. It represents parts of my simple and happy life. It is family life represented in feminine form.
So…. done, photographed, and documented.
That means I need to choose my next plan of concentration which I thought would be Knit One Purl One #2…but apart from lacking materials I require, I have busy times ahead that will preclude making of any sort. Instead it is more practicable to return to one of the many of the unfinished works or thought lines to see if they can help me mark time?
That’s not a negative though. I do like multiples of works that help explain each other but it would be nice to simply move in one direction.
Cleaner for me mentally.
Whichever direction I take though, I am achingly keen to return to that happy/arduous place of making.
A big day, in a week of big/busy days mind you, was yet another visit to the home and studio of Elisa Markes-Young, where I and three others were to be guinea pigs in a design class. Elisa is a font of knowledge and experience and everyone left with new insights.
I reckon she will be offering these classes up to a larger audience soon, so if you want to know about them contact Elisa direct.
A class held here in my studio was also lovely as always.
In this busy week we had a few social outings as well.
A friend from interstate.
Needing to catch up with other friends over dinner and babysitting X multiples which really filled out the week – days and nights.
After the busyness of the weekdays and nights I set out, on my own, to punch nails into the almost fully lining-boarded girls’ shed. Hard Yakka…. but worth it to inch this project forward. Quite enjoyable too, this challenge of trying not to smash my fingers….though I do prefer this job to next week’s chore of filling nail holes that I have made…
Still, we are moving forward….
After the days’ work I took my regular walk around the oval, along the train line, into the bush and back.
These walks also have me ‘ant-watching’ – on the lookout for feathers – and I was amply rewarded with a big bag full.
Interestingly I regularly gather more on our property with its big trees than elsewhere or perhaps it is just that my walking pace is faster once I am out the gate?
There are also the occasional bodies, sometimes achingly beautiful, that astound me.
The photos this week are of a ‘feathering’ discovery.
The bloke stayed home to cheer on his team successfully/suprisingly.
The week’s disaster? Being laid out for close to 24 hours with a ‘stomach bug’ – the polite wording of the event.
The bug had visited Esther, then Flick, then Miff so it was no surprise that with all those cuddles this week that they wanted to share everything.
The advantage of being down south, in my own misery, was that sharing a day/night timetable wasn’t necessary. I slept, then slept, then slept until I was able to head home.
