Slow Fashion - Enough is as Good as a Feast

How we think about what we do as crafters and makers, and how thoughtfully we do it, is changing. Ideas such as those around Stash Less, Fashion Revolution Week, and Slow Fashion October have all lead to changes in how I make, what I make and why. I've spent the last few years trying to figure out what is driving my making and purchasing with respect to clothes and my stash, and have been slowly trying to clean up my own behaviour,. And I've come a long way.... but I've come to realise that I've not yet gone far enough because I keep trying to ignore one simple, but fundamental, idea.

Over the last few years I've considered each purchase - fabric, yarn and store-bought clothes - I make from a Slow Fashion/Stash Less perspective. I (try to) think carefully about what it is, where it comes from, who made it. I ask all the right questions. I consider the psychology of my purchasing ala Stash Less – considering desire, need, fomo, time poverty etc to make sure that I am purchasing the materials or making the clothing item for a valid reason.

Through this process I have come to understand that for me Slow Fashion is not choosing a particular type of ethically sourced clothing, but rather it is a way of thinking about the impact of what we wear. I thought about this so much last year that I rewrote my own definition of Slow Fashion which you can find here. But while I've been questioning and pondering what to buy over the last few years, a quiet question has been lurking in the background, and keeps coming up for me over and over again – simple, quiet but clear as a bell.

For me, the key question of the Slow Fashion/Fashion Revolution movement has become

“do I have enough?”

What is enough?

What is enough? When will I have enough clothes? Will I ever? Surely there has to come a point in time when enough is enough? When I will be satisfactorily clothed for the rest of my life? And is that time now?

What I do know, because it is so very clear, is that I'm already there - I've personally hit enough. Anything I make or purchase these days is excess to need. 

Pinterest, new patterns, marketing emails, other crafters and the wonderful Instagram have opened my eyes to an amazing world of inspiration around making and clothes. And yet

a body can only wear one thing at a time

One body. One thing at a time.

And then did you know, and this one hurts my heart a little, that it's possible to wear the same thing day after day. Variety is not a necessity.

Considered from that point of view, I have enough to last me for a good ten years, maybe twenty years, if I carefully maintain and mend what I already own. I should state here that my wardrobe is not even particularly large by XYZ standards (you can see most of my tops, frocks, jackets, skirts and shirts in the first two photos of this post), but even as I’m writing this sentence I’m concerned that this in itself is a another justification.

So, when does the purchasing stop? Am I using the fact that something is handmade or "ethical" to give me a free pass to make one more coat, make one more top, or purchase one more set of shoes? In our striving for something better, like the mecca of a capsule-slow-fashion-wardrobe, are we ignoring what we already have in, the search for something more us/perfect/cooler/more ethical/just more?

The question - "do I have enough?" -  is what I need to ask first before I buy/make/thrift.

First!

First! before I get on the carousel of justification that I am so good at - finding a way to purchase by making statements like "well it's local", "it's organic", "it's sustainable", "it's small batch", "it's naturally dyed", "I want to support small ethical producers", "I don't have XYZ in my wardrobe".

Or my favourite justification - "I need it".

Really? Need it? Because you don't currently have a grey tshirt? Even though you already have a white one and a black one and a navy one and a green one? Need?

Last year I wrote a Stash Less post called Stop Shopping - this is one of the single biggest things I have done to change my behavior. By practicing not-shopping, by not putting myself into the situation where I might be tempted to increase my stash or my wardrobe, I have changed my purchasing. I don't allow myself to be exposed to many of my triggers like “desire for the pretty”, “fomo” and “time poverty”.

And yet when I post about these ideas there is sometimes an undercurrent in some of the comments that by changing my behaviour in this way, I am denying small producers a livelihood. I think this sentiment is one that is used to justify many a purchase, that is not justifiable in a true Slow Fashion world.

We need to support small producers! Well yes, preferably we support small producers that are ethical and thoughtful, over the fast-fashion machine. But maybe what we should actually be supporting is less production?

We justify our purchasing because the materials are ethical and come from a good source that we want to support. I do it too – use the old “but I’m buying from someone doing something good” reasoning, rather than truth which is often that “I don’t need it and am using "ethical" to justify buying something for another reason like "owning the pretty”.

It has become clear to me that this question - "do I have enough" is one that I avoid – and I think that I am not alone.

So again I ask myself - what is enough?

Basic environmentalism and responsibility for the earth and the people in it, demands that we think about our resource usage. The golden rule of environmentalism is not “buy lots of environmentally friendly stuff”. The golden rule is reduce, reuse, recycle.

This rule is a hierarchy, rather than a “do whichever one of these you want”. First we need to reduce our consumption, then if we can’t reduce it we need to reuse, then if we can’t reuse we need to recycle. Our focus must be on using less, consuming less in the first instance. And this applies even if the product in question is environmentally, socially and ethically squeaky clean.

I know I sound like I'm stating the obvious but I blur this line all the time. I can start to wander around in these rules even though I know better. I start giving myself "oh well y'know - just this once" or "this is really special" kinds of rules.... And I've been away for the last few months so I've used the "it's a lovely souvenir" justification all wrapped up in a dose of "we can't get this at home".

Nice justification Semple but no cigars for you.

I have enough.

I have the feeling that the majority of you reading this will also have enough. Maybe not something for every occasion, but enough.

Consider that once upon a time, back in them ye olden days, people had two or three outfits. Each with a different purpose. They were washed, and cared for and maintained. And those people were OK. They weren't in any kind of physical pain about having less clothing. They didn't feel bereft.

Compare that to a conversation I had over Christmas with a lovely, gorgeous, smart, funny woman I know and love, who stated that in her group of friends they needed to wear something new every time they went out. Every single time. These women were in their early 50s. She said that she had consciously slowed down her shoe purchasing of late, and so now she only purchased 7 or 8 pairs a year.

Wait.... what?

She couldn't stop laughing at the look on my face. You see the thing was, I think she was quite as shocked by wardrobe, as I was by hers. She bemusedly spoke of how she sees that my wardrobe isn't exactly fashionable but that I seem really comfortable in it. Now I should just say that she faces different cultural and societal pressures than I do, but what the conversation brought home to me was just how far our society has moved away from the ye olden days when one had only a few select clothes.

Our excess is gargantuan.

Our wardrobes are no longer small. We have been conditioned to desire variety and more variety. We are conditioned to believe that having will make us happy. And we have more disposable cash available to us, which makes this different way of clothing ourselves possible. Our Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is reinforced through all that we do and all that we see.

I don’t believe that having more makes us feel any more satisfied - have a peek at this post on desire if you want a high level overview of why this is so. Suffice it to say that if more did satisfy us, then I would already feel satisfied because I already have more, and so wouldn't continue to feel desire for even more. But I do want more, even with all I have.

More didn't satisfy the lovely gorgeous woman in the anecdote I just related. She was feeling stressed by the number of clothes she owned, and the cash it cost to continue buying. She felt stressed by the pressure of having to be something. My suggestion that she just stop was met with mild surprise. It was almost like she hadn't considered that was a possibility.

The other half of my wardrobe. My stuff is on the left. The rest belongs to the fella.

This stuff is hard to talk about and think about.

I’ve really struggled to write this post. I started writing this last August and couldn't finish it - it has sat in the drafts box of the blog taunting me for the last year. It is really hard to write about something you fail at and I fail at this on an ongoing basis.

I failed at it two days ago when I purchased a metre of linen I didn't need, for a top I also don't need. Click click click and now that linen is wandering through the skies on it's way to my home without enough thought or consideration. I simply added it to my basket when I was purchasing some things I did genuinely need. It's so easy to do....

I have all I need and yet I make more, and I buy more. I am conscious, I think about it, I ponder my choices and still I buy more, and make more. Not a lot more, but more none the less. And I desire to have even more.

Again, I'm sure I'm not alone.

It would be easy to dismiss this post on the basis that even as I am talking about it, I fail at it. It would be easy to dismiss it by saying well, you haven’t got this sorted, what right do you have to talk about it? But we aren’t required to be perfect in order to have a thought or an opinion. Which is extremely lucky, because perfection is not my strong suit. Nor do we need to have a solution – maybe we can share our struggles as a way to learn more so we can puzzle it out together? I'd love for you all to chime in on this one....

So what do we do?

Making gives me deep joy, connects me to others and supports my mental health, so how could I stop making altogether?

What about the fact that having new outfits I've made sometimes makes me feel snazzy and joyful, which I then take into the way that I interact with the world, creating positive energy through the interactions I have with others. I mean who doesn’t love stepping out in spunky new threads?

And then what about the fact that humans crave beauty? We want to see it, engage with it, immerse ourselves with it. We love new.

Well maybe they are just more excuses .... for there is beauty in old, and there is joy in living our values if we take the time to notice them and be grateful. We don’t need to see less as deprivation. We can practice a new way of thinking.

Maybe there is some middle ground?

Should I stop making? The conclusion I have come to is no, absolutely not. My making practice is essential for my wellbeing. I need it.

But I do need to find personal balance around these conflicting ideas - between what I know to be true about not needing any new clothes, and my need to make and occasionally have something new for the sheer joy of it. Balance in this area would mean that my wardrobe will get bigger but in a Slow Fashion kind of way.

I need to slow my making the fuck down. I need to think about whether I actually have enough of the thing I desire. And if I do, and I am therefore creating it/buying it simply for desire and joy, I need to consider how often I am letting that joy/desire sway me into justifying that making. Because there is always a way to justify having more. Our brains are bloody clever little sausages that are capable of making almost anything valid.

Maybe my compromise is that sometimes is OK, often is not. If I am justifying making a garment simply for joy sometimes then that is OK. If I am doing it weekly then it is not. That is 52 garments a year.

And I still only have one body.

Some of this year's making....

Some was for the retreat....

 

This idea can be confronting to some people. Who am I kidding, it is also confronting to me. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t even want to think about it. And I don’t want to write it down because writing it down will hold me to account. What is learned cannot be unlearned?

But think about it I must if I’m going to achieve change. I need to up the ante and define what enough is for me personally.

We need to define enough for ourselves.

I believe it is a question I should be asking myself over and over again. "Do I already have enough?" each time I go to make. "Do I already have enough?" each time I go to purchase. Purely to have clarity. So that if I make a choice to buy/make more clothing, I can’t fool myself into thinking it is based on need.

I will make with the knowledge that it is excess to need and I will need to live with that.

Enough will probably be a blurry line. Enough will change over time and won’t be easy to figure out, but I believe it is still worth trying.

So what is enough for you? What is enough for me?
Is it five summer dresses? Ten?
Do I really "need" jeans in every shape?
Do I "need" the latest fashionably shaped sweater or can I make do with what I have? And still feel snazzy enough?

Is making a new garment justified just because I have materials in the cupboard? (Sadly answer: no) Or should I still be thinking through whether I actually need it so that I could use those materials at a later date. (Answer: yes.)

If I'm desperate to make something but don't need anything, could I make for someone I love instead? Could I let that satisfy me? Maybe I could shift some of my making to be more focused on other people through projects like Knit1Give1. Maybe I could up the ante and make things that were more difficult or more long term projects?

Could I find other ways to get what I need when I need it? Can I borrow a frock from a friend if I have a special dinner and not a dress to wear? I know the answer to this one as I actually did this last weekend! And I looked and felt fab.

Are there other things I could do that meant I could still make without overfilling my wardrobe and cluttering up my life?

For me sitting with what is enough is a work in progress and an act of ongoing practice.

The Rules of Enough?

If we are truly honest, unless our house has burned down recently, or a pack of marauding moths has chewed up our wardrobe, most of us already have enough. This means that Slow Fashion – simply considering the impact our choices around clothing are having on the world – is an incredibly inexpensive movement, because we don’t really need much. In fact I'd hazard a guess that most of us don't need anything.

And so like in Fight Club, could we make up some rules?

Like the first rule of Slow Fashion is to ask
"Do I have enough already?"
and the second rule of Slow Fashion is
"Do I have enough already?"
and then the third rule of Slow Fashion could then be
"While allowing some room for joyful making, I must think carefully about what I need. I must then make less, buy less, and when I choose to increase my wardrobe, I will choose carefully and choose quality. "

In the immortal words of Mary Poppins,

"Enough is as good as a feast".

I would really love to hear what you think on this one as it is close to my heart. Do you agree? Is enough, enough? How do we define enough? Do you have a different way of thinking about this? Do you have suggestions for how to continue to have a making practice without violating the idea of enough?

Yours as a work in progress,

Felicia x

Stash Less – SQ = Sweater Quantity = 5

Stash Less is a series where we talk about having a thoughtful stash. You can find past posts in this series by clicking here.

On social media a few days ago the lovely Rachel of @droverandclasser posted a picture of her brand spanking new sweater. In said post she referenced an early Stash Less post that talked about one of my discoveries. The discovery was simply that in order to fool myself that my purchasing behaviour was not so “bad” then I would only buy a little of something at any one time - 3 balls to be precise (roughly 1 skein). This lead to a cupboard full of yarn that was not useable.

The result is that I am still living the hangover of this behaviour a few years on. I’m working on it by making many a scrap, or single skein sweaters for the kids. This is fun and taxing and exhausting and challenging and annoying in equal measure. Sometimes I wish that I could just make something that was a little simpler than a scrap sweater, to avoid the brain strain it takes to combine multiple stray yarns into something cohesive. Sometimes I think it is an interesting and fun challenge.

Anyhoo, on Instagram the other day Rachael mentioned that the sweater she was wearing was a direct result of the Stash Less SQ rule. I didn’t know there was a rule named the Stash Less SQ rule and so I asked her what it meant.

Of course SQ = sweater quantity which in this case = 5.

I'd written many times that this was one of the outcomes of Stash Less, that now when I purchase I buy only things I adore after careful consideration, and that I buy a whole sweater quantity of it. Rachael gave this behaviour a name which has made my heart sing for days.

The SQ rule - as it is now known - is so simple but so life changing. It has definitely changed my making behaviour. By making considered purchases of yarns I love in sweater sized quantities I now have a small stash that is filled with possibility rather than problems.

A Case study of my recent purchases.

Since I’ve been away I’ve purchased three sweater quantities of wool. A lot for me these days but all three were planned.

Nunnaba yarn in Nougat.

Swatching the Linen Quill.

1.     The Nunnaba White Gum Wool
This sweater quantity has been interesting in that I’ve broken the SQ up (in this case SQ =4) and am making two girl sized sweaters. This was not my intention as I was going to steal it for myself however there was begging. A lot of begging as this yarn is pretty. That said, this is one of the benefits of a SQ-sized batch. It can be broken into two for kids. However as they get older this is changing a little. Sometimes I’m needing to use some of my scrap skeins as additions on the second kid sweater. This works a treat as the body of the sweater is normally covered by the purchase with just the collar, cuffs etc being filled in with scraps. I adore this look.

2.     Some stunning AVFKW Entwined yarn
I have lusted after Verb yarn for years in the stunning Mesa colourwary. This yarn is my favourite weight (5ply-ish) and in this case a SQ = 3. I want to sit on this one for a while as I'm not yet sure what it will be. This is good stash, rather than not-so-good stash, in that it is a yarn I adore, which is my favourite weight, in a colour I love, that I have wanted to purchase for years. A considered purchase and an exciting one. Who said that planning was boring.

So very excited about this. *

3.     Linen Quill from Purl Soho
I have been looking at this yarn in this colourway online since they launched it. In this case a SQ = 3. I don’t do much online purchasing these days, unless I have seen the yarn in real life, due to many a purchasing disaster back in ye-olden-days before Stash Less. The disaster was mainly due to the difference between what one sees on a screen and the actual colour of the yarn. I learnt this lesson the very hard way by doing it over and over again. When I knew I was coming to NY I agreed with myself that this would be my Purl Soho purchase if I loved the colour. I realise that it is fairly bloody privlidged to be able to see it in person so what I do when I won't get to go to the store in person is ask someone to send me a tiny sample by mail. Most shops are happy to do this. I can’t wait to see this knit up as a sweater – possibly another James as I am a creature of habit or a Gable as I love that shape. Again this was super planned and very exciting.

I love hearing your stories about how Stash Less (alternatively known as my trip through my chaos) has changed how you see your purchasing and your making. I’d love to hear if more of you now do this? Buy SQ worth? Or have you made up other rules that help you?

Felicia x

* I not-so-good purchasing I mentioned in the last Stash Less Post has already been knit up....

The Ongoing-ness Of Stash Less

Stash Less is a series where we talk about having a thoughtful stash. You can find all the past posts in this series here. Enjoy!

It’s the third birthday of Stash Less – not the official date of the first post, as that was sometime in October when I returned from our first big overseas adventure as a family - but the date from when I really started thinking about my purchasing, stashing, and hoarding habit. That first post came about six months after I started thinking about what I needed and what I had.

See on that trip we travelled super light – we had a 4wd Toyota Prado which was a big car but not huge, and we had three kids who we wanted to split up in terms of their seating, so one was in the back. This meant that our boot space was only a half the width of the car. I’m hoping this makes sense. We also had two top boxes on the roof but that car with a small boot and two top boxes was the sum total for five of us for five months.

Our worldly goods for 5 months consisted of....

·      5 x small bags of clothes

·      5 x sleeping bags

·      5 x sleeping mats

·      1 x tent

·      5 x camp stools

·      1 x camp table

·      1 x camp stove

·      1 x box of kitchen utensils

·      1 x box of food

·      1 x box of books/pencils for the kids

·      1 x box of wool

That was all we could fit in the car, and all we had. Not much and nothing fancy but enough.

That said the box of wool was important. It was small (the fella would say it was ridiculously large compared to what else we had with us but he is a fool, bless him) but it was enough. It contained within it both possibility, and restriction – the ingredients for creativity without brain freeze.

But the important thing was what it taught me – and that was, that I had enough. I was creatively satisfied and whole. I didn’t feel deprived and I didn’t feel loss. You see the thing about being away for six months with no space is that you cannot shop.

The story of what happened when I got home is here – in the original Stash Less post because it really did change me.

Over the next two years I went through a process of understanding myself and my behaviour around craft, materials, desire, and creative thrill. You can find that journey by clicking on the Stash Less tag and following it back through the wormhole.

Playing around with ideas for my Piece of Silver KAL from Laine Magazine.

Where I'm at with Stash Less?

I haven’t written about Stash Less in a while, not because I don’t have more to say. I do. But because I wanted to see what it was like to live with it over time. What has changed in my behaviour? What has stayed the same? What are my triggers like these days? How do I buy, why do I buy and how does it make me feel? What does my stash look like? And how does it feel to live in a new way.

1. I can tell you the following – I am changed and I believe that that change is permanent.

My relationship to materials is different as is my shopping habits. That said, many of my triggers remain the same, but their pull has been muffled by awareness, intention and practice of a new way of shopping.

2. I can also tell you that doing this in the long term is HARD.

Not hard in a physical sense but hard in an ongoing-vigilance type way. I have to watch myself and make sure I'm on the straight and narrow. My head is very tricksy, and very capable of lying to me in order to make the shiny thing I'm about to purchase look oh-so-very ethical.

I'm OK with the hard though. I expected it. The same brain shenanigans happen whenever my higher-self tries to assert it's authority, and ethics, over my lizard brain, who is a big fan of having everything it wants in the here and now.

So I thought I would share a bit more about what changes I have seen and maintained.

My stash has shrunk.

It is about 1/3 of the size it was all those years ago.

Before I left home in April, I took a few photos of my stash so you could see what it looks like these days but I can't find the photo tonight. Onwards and upwards.

What I have:
There is still plenty of material to make girls frocks and shorts and shirts. I still have enough to make tops and frocks for me (often but not always).

What I don't have:
I no longer have materials for making bigger things like the Sydney coat I made for The Craft Sessions workshop prep I did this year. I also don’t have fabric for things like boys’ shorts or a Genoa Tote.

The fundamental difference is that when I want to make a something bigger I do need to purchase materials. This is wonderful. This is the outcome I was looking for out of Stash Less, because it gives me that ability to choose exactly what I want to make something with rather than rummaging around in my stash to find something that is about 85% right.

I am truly thrilled about the level the stash is at.

Sometimes I have to purchase for a new big project.

Sometimes my line gets a little blurry due to what I do - ie. run retreats. Sometimes what I need for the retreat - like a sample of the Sydney Jacket also means a wardrobe addition for me.... A wobbly line at best.

I have to improvise

I often no longer have what I need but if I can find a way to make do then I make do.

For the Genoa Tote I improvised and used a stretchy jacket fabric for mine - so still thick but with stretch - which is fine in theory but a little crappy in use as it hasn't got shape like many other's I've seen. That said it is a functional bag so it's all good.

I’ve also had an idea for how I could make thicker fabric for a Genoa Tote that was more functional by using wadding scraps to make a quilted fabric that I use instead of the canvas type fabric it calls for. I will give this a go when I get time later this year.

I still buy special but I also use special.

This has been a massive change since I began the project. You can see the breakthrough moment in this post but since then I have got better and better at it. The nature of my relationship with my materials has altered. I am not holding on to the precious. Instead I am using it to make way for the new.

I still allow myself to purchase the odd piece of Nani Iro or Liberty or special Handyed yarn about once or twice a year. As I mentioned earlier I now purchase these in quantities that are useful for a big project, but I also make a real effort to use them rather than hoard them.

So I'm using them regularly and I'm using them for projects that I would have once got a little jumpy about - impractical projects like this dress I made for the middle kid's birthday. She really wanted floor length and she really wanted Liberty. This has already been torn a couple of times but she adores it.

Beautiful Nani Iro Linen.

I'm using scraps aplenty.

There is plenty of scraps in my stash these days - which I have been actively trying to use through creatively coming up with ideas to use them in a meaningful way. I'm still making many a stash cardy for the girls, and have been trying to make a Piece of Silver from Laine Magazine with my scraps.

I've also been a bit freer with my good scraps, allowing my girl babies to make random patchwork things that will probably never be finished. Once upon a time I would have been saving these for something special. Crazy but true.

When I purchase, I purchase with intent (mostly).

I still don't shop - as in I don't shop as a pasttime. I don't windowshop and I don't wander.

Except that I have some rules around being away from home. Occasionally when I'm on holiday pop in to see something I don't get to see when I'm home - like I recently did with Skein Sisters in Sydney - but I actively try to go with a purpose.

In the case of my recent trip to Skein Sisters I knew that they would probably have things I hadn't seen before and so I decided if I found something I really loved then I was allowed to purchase. I decided this a day before I went and I had such fun with the purchase. I am strict though. I couldn't buy to fill the "wanting all the pretty" or to fulfill the human desire for the new and shiny. But I could purchase if I found something I loved. Which I did. I purchased four skeins of the Nunnabar handdyed White Gum Wool in 8ply in the Nougat colourway and it is truly divine. FOUR!! because of the Stash Less outcome that I now purchase in quantities big enough to be truly useful rather than my old behaviour of just buying a little so as to make the purchasing more palatable to me in the face of a bulging stash. This is very exciting to me.

My other purchase since leaving Melbourne was in Cooma - I purchased two skeins of beautiful handspun at a local cooperative. This however wasn't premeditated and probably fell into the not-good-decision-making category as it was purchased for the "wanting all the pretty" reason rather than it being something I will use easily and with intent. Ba Bawm. Lizard brain was the winner on this occasioin.

I purchase things on a project specific basis.

Much of my purchasing these days is for things that are project specific. I purchase with intent, when I need them, and I use them quickly. I don't purchase and put in the cupboard. I leave the materials out until I can get to them or I just start. They don't head into stash.

Examples of this would include a sweaters worth of yarn for my SILs Shore cardy (which is now complete a mere few months after I received it), plus another sweaters worth of silver yarn that has since gone to a friend, and also the fabric I purchased - the absolutely stunning watercolour linen bundle from Purl Soho - for my middle kid's quilt.

Her quilt is an interesting one, that I will talk about in another pos,t but suffice to say it is something that I could have easily made out of scraps. However I decided that, for this special project, I was going to stick with her vision of it and purchase. I am so glad I did. It is looking spectacular. I can't wait to show you.

I'm using my Making List

I'm still using a making list - mine is an ongoing list that I update regularly. This helps to keep me on the straight and narrow as it helps me to see with real clarity that I have all that I need for what I want/need to make.

"I have all that I need" has been a point of discussion over caravan dinners in the last few weeks as we have been chatting to the kids about gratitude. For me, my making list helps me to sit in a place of gratitude, as it shows me that even if I am compromising here and there with materials that aren't quite right for the project I have in mind, I really have all that I need.

Unintentional Super Side Effects

Another outcome from Stash Less is that I don't shop - as a pastime - for clothes either anymore. As in, I don't sashay into my favourite stores to see if they might have something I might like, when I'm feeling a little bored or flat. I go when, and if, I need to buy something. This has been a massive game changer for me. I did what I suggested in the Stop Shopping post and have disengaged from mailing lists for nearly every brand, shop and designer, which means I don't have temptation rolling into my inbox of a morning. I still manage to keep up with what is happening through instagram and a few beloved blogs but I am incredibly pleased with this outcome.
 

How is your #stash_less going. I know many of you have joined in to some degree and have set your own personal challenges. I'd love to hear how you got on, and whether any of your changes are permanent, even if they are just mental.

Felicia x

Experimentation and the Fringe and Friends 2016 KAL

So I finished my sweater* as you can see by exhibit A above. And I really like it. It isn't exactly what I was aiming for but I like the fit, the shape and the idea behind it. And it feels particularly satisfying to finish something that technically was a little bit tricky and creatively a little bit odd. Because that is where the joy of an experimental project lies.

I originally came up with the idea for this sweater as part of the Fringe And Friends 2016 KAL which starts in September (I think). Karen was doing her magic and trying to encourage one and all, to step out of their comfort zone and try improvising a top-down sweater. Which is a super way to start your improv journey.

For me though, as I've made many a basic improv sweater over the years, I decided to join in spirit of what Karen was suggesting, by trying something challenging. So I upped the ante and decided to try an experimental sweater that couldn't be mapped out as simply as a standard top-down sweater.

So your normal improv process is pretty simple and goes something like this….

1. knit a swatch

2. record your gauge

3. know your desired measurements

4. multiply your measurements by your gauge and start knitting.

Yay.

That wasn’t going to work for this sweater. I wanted to make a sweater with lots of negative ease (meaning it looked stretched) across the shoulders. The rest of the sweater would have positive ease (meaning the fabric would sit flat but loose).

Originally the aim was to create a sweater with a kind of funnel-ish boat neck that sat wide on the shoulders. The shoulder shaping was designed to be stretched when worn to show off the shaping itself. As you can see by the photo at the top of the post, this lead to quite a weird non-standard sweater shape when finished, and I knew that the standard calculations I normally use wouldn't really work.

The weird shaping meant that there was no way of simply multiplying measurements. And I was a bit in the dark as to what combination of rib and stocking stitch I would use - as I hadn't decided on where each part should start and stop. I also wanted to add in a few short rows to raise the back of the neck a little but not too much.

Pretty much the only way I was going to find out if my idea worked was to knit the thing.

In other words I had no clear idea of what I wanted. It was more of a vibe than an idea. Freestyle knitting at it's best.

I started it on time and then hooned through a few iterations of the shaping and the shoulders. I ripped for joy, and started again quite a few times. And then I got a bit demoralised, put it down for a month or two and ignored it while grinding my teeth a little.

I picked it up post-wedding (hence the pretty nails) and then tried again. This time I got a little further. I knitted the body (which I liked) and came up with a way to resolve the shoulders under the arms with a panel of rib. How much rib did I need though? And should I make the yoke depth smaller than normal to increase the stretch around the shoulders? I did some more ripping after a particularly tight armhole and then I got a bit demoralised, put it down for a month or two and ignored it while grinding my teeth a little.

And then I brought it on this holiday.

This week I finally got to it after doing all the procrasti-knitting I could find and pushed through the uncertainty.

And after a few simple days of knitting I got it done!!

Which reminded me of an important life lesson.

When I think experimental sweater I think "gee that seems like fun". Experimentation will be all about the freedom and the joy. Because experimentation can be seen as play, right?  Which it is in many ways.

What I’d forgotten, is to experiment means sitting in uncertainty because the nature of experimentation is uncertain. Experimentation – especially when you are going after a specific result – is rarely without its painful parts. It's impossible to do without the possibility of failure, otherwise you wouldn't be experimenting, you would be following a plan you know works.

Uncertainty is fear and we are evolutionarily** programmed to avoid fear.

I love experimentation – the fun bit – but seem to conveniently overlook the fear part until I’m in it, and about to throw the whole thing in the bin during my various points of uncertainty. I avoid my uncertainty rather than just accepting that I am always going to hit it when I’m experimenting. Forgetting this lesson over and over again is a little dumb, but seems to be one that as a classic eternal optomist I am fated to re-learn over and over again. I continue to get frustrated with myself for my ongoing avoidance of experimental projects that I'm really excited about, but find it hard to stick with. Maybe this whole cycle is simply my process for this type of project. :)

Elizabeth Gilbert states in Big Magic that acknowledging the fear and becoming friends with it, but never letting it drive the car or even be in the front seat, is the way to make peace with this part of the creative process. And I believe her to be right in my experience!

And the resulting sweater?

In spite of my doubts, that I had until I tried it on at the very end, I'm really very very happy with it. I can point out all the things I would change if I was to go back. But for the moment I'm going to wear it and see how I like it.

I’ll grab a few photos of it on a body as soon as I manage to find a caravan park with light in the bathroom. What's that I hear you say? You could just ask a member of your family to take a few photos for you, couldn't you? Ahhhh, my sweet innocent blog readers, that has really never ever worked out in practice in my home, hence the proliferation of one-arm selfies in my instagram feed.

Who takes your photos? I genuinely want to know. Do you use a timer, a kid, a partner, a tripod?? How do you lot do it??

Felicia x

*I've not blocked it yet but hopefully in the next day or so!

**I don't think this is a real word but it's the best I could think of late last night. :)

The True Magic of Making.

This time of year – around registration for our annual retreat time – is always a little intense. Workshops being finalised, scholarships sorted, registration smooth as we can make it, makes for busy times. So each year, before things really ramp up, I check in with myself and get a little conscious just to make sure I’m on track. I think about why I do it, and should I do it, and what am I doing it for. And it always comes back to this.

I believe in the life-giving magic of making!

Making with our hands enables us to live an elevated life, where our values are deeply embedded within our everyday, infusing our lives with richness and meaning.

I believe that making things with our hands – which includes crafting – isn’t yet widely acknowledged in the same vein as meditation or even art. And yet, making with our hands has the same power to support us, to connect us, and to change how we see ourselves, our community and our world.

I believe that making should be given kudos as a spiritual practice, not in a religious sense, but because it connects us to our own spirits, to how we are feeling in that moment, allowing us to hear our own heads in all their crazy glory, and to connect with what makes our hearts sing. It allows us to practice skills we need in our everyday, like mindfulness, and courage, and letting go, and sitting with uncertainty, all the while giving us a the gifts of flow, of agency and sometimes of accomplishment.

I believe that we need to share what we know - about how craft impacts our well-being - with our wider community. Part of that means we need to be consciously creating the very community we seek - a making community that fulfills our deepest human need, the need to feel connected, and heard, and truly seen.

We need to be generous with our time and our knowledge, whenever and wherever we can, to enable others to get started or to get unstuck. The knowledge we share needs to be broader than simple how-to skills. Sharing our knowledge means speaking of making as a practice, and dispelling myths around talent and creativity wherever we find them. Making where we are all simply practicing in the gap, where we get better with experience, practice and a little help from our friends. Sharing with others that the richness and joy of the making process comes from the making process itself.

I believe passionately in all these things and so much more about the thing that we do, and the community we are part of.

So, as well as putting on a retreat this year, I am spending this year (and I spent part of last year) writing a book! A book about how the process of making supports us in our everyday, connects us to ourselves and our communities, and ultimately how it changes us over time, often in subtle ways we aren't even aware of. A book that celebrates the process of making and all it gives us.

I would love to hear thoughts - about the idea of a book, about your beliefs about your craft, and well, really anything you want to tell me about your making process.

Felicia x

PS. I’m very proud to say that I have a piece in the latest copy of Making Magazine called “Craft As An Elevated Life”. To all of you who already subscribe then I hope you enjoy it. To the rest of you – get your skates on and grab a copy. This baby sells out!