Parallel projects

I am not a monogamous crafter. I always keep parallel projects. If they are too many I get stressed, but usually I see parallel projects as something positive. It gives me the opportunity to work creatively from pure curiosity rather than the drive to finish the project.

Current projects

I almost never work on only one project. To me there is a time, a place and a company for everyone of them. Here are some of my current textile projects:

• Two two-end knitting sleeves I have been working on off and on since 2019. I usually knit these at work. I just shove one of the sleeves into my bike pannier on days when I work at the office.
• A woven band to said jacket sleeves. Perfect for train rides or office coffee breaks. I weave on a backstrap loom, so I can just put the back end around my foot and tense the warp by stepping on the gas so to speak.
• A four meter weave in the weaving room. I usually spend an hour or two on Saturday and Sunday mornings with the weave.
• Carding and spinning two-ply woolen yarn from Swedish finull wool.
• Spinning a two-end knitting yarn on a supported spindle. Whenever I need that gentle flow.
• A secret embroidery project. When I know what to add next.
• Picking a fleece. When my hands want to dive into a fleece.
• A shawl in my handspun linen yarn. It’s been a while since I worked on this, I have prioritized wool for warming my lap when knitting. But spring is in the air and I think it might be time soon!

They are all of different techniques, difficulty level, gadget intensity, concentration levels and sizes. I can pick one suitable project for any crafting friendly occasion. My mood, the situation or the company can also steer me to one project rather than another.

Just as I spin and/or create with textiles every day I write every day, crafting words and paragraphs. Of course I also have several ongoing writing projects, all with their own contexts. I write by hand in a notebook every morning, in the afternoon in another notebook, on my computer before work on home office days and in the evenings blogging on my laptop.

Curiosity

I never work on a project because I feel the need to finish it, or at least that is my goal. I work on a project because I’m curious about it. It needs and deserves my curiosity, I want to give the best of me to the projects I work with. They are too important to rush through. If I can’t find the curiosity right now I leave the project for a while, allowing it to simmer until I’m ready for it again.

Sometimes I procrastinate to actively avoid finishing something. A project that has been part of my life for so long can be hard to let go of. Once I have finished it it will turn into something else, something more static than the project that I created every day between my hands. This concept is not far from when I read a book. Who knows what the characters will be up to if I finish the last page and leave them unattended?

Sometimes a project lies unattended for a long time. That doesn’t mean I have forgotten about it. I just need some inspiration from elsewhere to find that curiosity again. Perhaps I learn something new that will bring a fresh persepective on the technique or to my approach to it.

The forever sleeves

My two-end knitted sleeves is one such project. I started spinning the dalapäls yarn on a supported spindle in 2019 and started knitting. As I reached above the elbow I realized I needed to rip a substantial part up to alter the size, which was moderately fun. For some reason I forgot about the sleeves for quite a while. When I reconnected with them again I needed to alter them back. Just recently I caught up to the clean and un-frogged yarn and I realized that I needed to spin some more yarn. In November I visited my friend Lena who has Dalapäls sheep and I got a bag of the perfect wool for the last skeins for the sleeves.

Experience

I am a person of many ideas. Ideas are new in the world need some extra love and care. The projects will still be there, but the ideas need tending to to grow up and ripen. Not all ideas reach full maturation, though. But that doesn’t mean they are wasted. Quite the opposite, every blah idea can be the source of a brilliant idea that I do pursue. I need to kneed the blah and let it marinate to see where it can bring me. Sometimes I don’t see it right away, but sooner or later I understand the purpose of it and how it can help me move forwards.

Parallel inputs

Sometimes I work with parallel inputs – I knit while attending a conference to focus better on what is being said. I listen to music to enhance the experience of whatever craft I am working on at the moment. Sometimes I tease wool with my combing station while watching a series. Usually a costume drama from the early 19th century for some odd reason. They work very well together.

Sometimes a new idea comes during yoga asana practice, during my morning reflection journalling or during spinning. There are common denominators here – a creative activity usually gives birth to an idea involving another creative activity. The veins of creativity flow in mysterious ways. And I love it.

I write what wants to be written, spin what wants to be spun and turn to the project that I am the most curious about right now.

Happy spinning!

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• Read the new book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
• In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
• I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.