102 Hats, so far

 I’ve made 102 hats. Some knit. Some crocheted. Some as gifts. Some donated. Of those that remain in my home, I regularly wear about 10 of those hats. 

So, what is the point? I don’t know. I craft yarn things to keep my fingers busy, and to free my brain to contemplate. Sometimes, I make something deliberately as a wearable. More often, I feel like trying a technique or construction type, or I find a yarn I can’t resist. Sometimes a funky new pattern will get me going. 

The journey has been about discovering what I will actually make, what I will actually wear, how gauge works, what kinds of yarn I prefer, and how to finish a project. Every one should give it a shot. 

Documentaries for Breakfast

A 13th Century map of England from
Ian Mortimer's book, "The Time
Traveler's Guide to Medieval England."
There are no dragons or troglodytes here.
They're on another map.

What's really happening is not so much laying fallow as collecting material or storing up images and sensations. Documentaries about ancient Africa, Alexandria, and eastern religions (particularly Yoga, Hinduism, and Buddhism) are what interest me. And a book: "The Time Travelers Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century" by Ian Mortimer.

This interest emerged years ago when I read most of the books in the Sister Fidelma series; as accurate a depiction of the Celtic world as Perry Ellis (aka Peter Tremayne) can make. He's a serious scholar and authority on the period of the Celts. I still think of how his heroine traveled and lived in those fictions. Because, although the stories are fiction, the way she and her contemporaries lived is based on as much fact as can be garnered from history.

So, I can't say it's all about history because I'm not obsessed with dates and politics. I'm obsessed with how people lived and what they thought and believed. And how those thoughts and beliefs evolved.

One of the most telling chapters of "The Time Travelers Guide to Medieval England" is the one on Health and Hygiene. Medical practices were an amalgamation of astrology, superstition, and badly transmitted ancient knowledge. There's a lot of blood letting. A fun segment of a Saturday Night Live episode (Season 3, Episode 18 - April 22, 1978) shows what a pastiche of concoctions such treatments were. Steve Martin, as doctor, suggests treatments which patients are lucky to survive. Ian Mortimer presents the same case in his book; that you are healthier without a doctor in the middle ages.

A time of collection is a known part of the creative process as explained by Julia Cameron in her book "The Artist's Way." Although I had lived through this phase previously, I hadn't isolated it as part of a process before doing the 12 week self-directed workshop using her book. If I had, momentarily, acknowledged my laying fallow it was with a lot of guilt about "doing nothing." Which might be why I'm doing so much knitting and crocheting. Keeping my hands busy and feeling productive while letting my mind wander. Collecting.

My collecting process is more like stocking
an antique/junk shop than filing things
away neatly.

Following a Pattern

Back on the left. Sleeve on the right.

I can't believe I have knitted the back and one sleeve of a sweater. I usually struggle to finish caps and scarves. I've fallen into crochet and knitting the way I fell into spending days with my grandchildren and making day trips to Yogaville. It's the only path open to me.

Sure, there are other things I can do and have done. I still have novels, poetry, blogs, landscapes, and other art. Somehow, none of those activities are as compelling. Handcrafts seems more important to do right now. Like spending time with my grandchildren was important. The way falling into a variety of spiritual experiences was important.

Like knitting and crocheting, tending children and practicing spirituality are crafts that accrue through small accomplishments over time. The relationships builds as does the practice. Slowly accruing anything has been near impossible for me.

Jumping to conclusions, seeing the big picture, dreaming, visioning—all of these are easy for me. I can see things coming a mile away. Or even further.

I'm enjoying looking closely and seeing what is right in front of me; taking it one step at a time.

So, anyway, I have two parts of a sweater now. I've been helped along the path to steady accruing by the Lion Brand Knit Along which I followed on Ravelry. Thanks to the Lion Brand instructor (who offered a lot of excellent tips) and all of the other participants (who offered a lot of great photos of their progress and more great tips), I actually finished a vest that fits. I got the correct gauge and only made one serious mistake: a dropped stitch on the back and I was able to fix that.

I don't know where crocheting and knitting will take me. It simply seems important to do right now.