JANUARY’S BLUES…AND MORE THOUGHTS
2019…
a new year!
I don’t know about you but I found January a bit of a difficult month…especially after the whirlpool of activities, family, parties, food, visitors, birthdays and so on.
January means the fizzling out of the holidays and that life is about to crank back into action and so I welcome the new year with a mix of relief and sadness, relief because I quite like to go back to my normal routine with the added bonus of a fresh new start, and sadness because I miss having a “full house” as I wave goodbye to Valentina on her way back to London and Giuseppe to university.
my babies…
January, for me, has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It’s a time to reflect on the changes I want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes. January is about lists, hopes and resolutions.
I found the resolution’s part quite funny in a way because there are 364 other days to make resolutions, but we choose to make them on a single day!
If you follow me on Facebook and Instagram you probably have noticed that my crochet slows down during the holiday’s period, I finished my beautiful Havana just before the holidays and that was really it..
I made a few hats and a Valentina shawl, but nothing very exciting.
My creativity seems to take a break as I need to empty my head and start to re-focus.
I feel creativity is about imagination and yet it is also about reality too, seeing the world as truly is and observing carefully, so I welcome the peace of these few days to gather my thoughts
about observing…
I read this last night: an extract of a letter Vincent Van Gogh wrote during his stay in Saintes-Maries :
“One night I went for a walk by the sea along the empty shore. It was not gay, but neither was it sad – it was – beautiful. The deep blue sky was flecked with clouds of a blue deeper than the fundamental blue of intense cobalt, and others of a clearer blue, like the blue whiteness of the Milky Way. In the blue depth the stars were sparkling, greenish, yellow, white, pink, more brilliant, more emeralds, lapis lazuli, rubies, sapphires. The sea was very deep ultramarine – the shore a sort of violet and faint russet as I saw it, and on the dunes (they are about seventeen feet high) some bushes Prussian blue.”
Saintes-Maries, 5th june 1888
is it not just amazing? to be able to see reality in such a way? I thought you might like it too.
So after not lifting a hook or thinking about crochet for almost a month, I started ephemerizing again…which means collecting ephemera like pictures, colours chips, dried flowers, quotes, books, photographs anything that catches my eye and I feel my “crojo” akka “crochet mojo” is coming back to me slowly . I needed something easy, rhythmic, relaxing, no headaches of pattern writing… just concentrating on the simple pleasure to see the colours mixing and morphing into each other.
Here it is my new project, it is just 2 days old..so I m not sure where I am going with it but I will share it with you next week..pattern, colours etc.. just give me a few more days to see how it develops.
Love to you all,
Lucia xx
The colours just warm my heart! I enjoyed your lovely blog post and can relate to your words. Creativity comes in spurts for me….and a lot of my ideas get discarded early on. I’m not sure why, but I think I need to have more patience with them. Ephemera is a lovely word and your description is very inspiring.
thank you Carmen,
I would keep a journal with your ideas, I do that all the time as I collect all sort of things, you might do not know what to do or if they are any good, but when they get all together you can see a pattern. it helps me a lot having a visual aid. sometimes I go back to old journals and I see something I had not seen before.
So you are right patience and perseverance are the key!
lucia xx
Looks like another stunner, Lucia! I’m glad you’re getting your crojo back. After a couple of very low years, I am now feeling on top of the world and am forging ahead with my Macaroons blanket (it’s about time, I’ve been working on it for nearly a year…). Happy New Year! xx
Love what you are working on Lucia, looking forward to your updates.
Happy New Year xx
Hello Lucia
Your blog is great
Where can I find the pattern and tutorial for the Havana blanket
Thanks
Hi Dominique ,
thank you . 😀 the Havana is available on Ravelry here the link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/havana-cal
Oh, Lucia!
What a beautiful post! One of the things I have come to love about the crochet community is discovering how much we have in common. Not as lovers of the craft, but as people. As I read your post, I immediately recognized myself in you. Now, if I only had your color skills….!! Thank you for sharing your heartfelt thoughts. Thank you, too for all you do and all you bring to this community. My best to you and yours for the New Year, and always!
thank you Tawana, what a lovely message xxx
Wow beautiful colours and pattern. A belated happy new year to you xxx
What book is that in the picture?
you will find the details above as a reply to Kerri.
Thank you, this is a lovely blog post to read early on a hot morning in Australia. That is an amazing pattern, I love your colours. May I ask what book you are reading, pretty please?
hi, Kerri, the book is not about crochet but is about been an artist, keeping a journal, improving your skills. I love it!
the author is Danny Gregory and it is called ‘the creative license’
Thank you so much!
you are fantastic, I love to read you. I wish you and your familly a beautifull new year,
continue, do not change at all !!!*
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Love this blog. Relating crocheting and colors to painting is such an inspiring idea since I do both! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity and spirit with us Lucia! <3
Hi. I love this beautiful blanket and have already started making it. I want to set up a project for it on Ravelry and link to your blog in the comment section. Would this be okay?