A yarn windfall....

Now, mum and dad are clearing out a lot of stuff in preparation for a move. I found myself therefore in receipt of a large amount of surplus yarn.

Much of this yarn dates back to the 1980s when mum was still making knits for us kids. But some of it belonged to my Nana. I am more thrilled than I can say about using old yarn - intended for who-knows-what kind of project - to make something in the here and now. Part of the feeling of satisfaction comes from seeing something through for someone else. There's something inherently sad about someone buying this yarn and never using it. But part of it is the feeling that I have a 'connection' to my Nana. I don't remember an awful lot about her, since I was very young when she died. But I do remember her knits and things she had made for us to wear. There was one very beautiful red velvet dress she made for me - and a matching one for my cousin, a year or two older. I felt so grown up and special in it.

I take fulfilment then from relearning the feminine crafts which were important to my Nana.

So what will become of the yarn? The pale pinky coloured yarn, still in the bag at the top of the picture, is currently being knitted up into a cardigan.

The rest? I'm not sure yet. Some people feel fear at a blank sheet of paper - the essay as yet unwritten and unplanned. I used to. These days I feel enlivened by the possibilities of things I can create - cake ingredients, yarn and needles. And I enjoy feeling the connections to my foremothers, for whom all this was a daily act, a neccessity, but, I also hope, a pleasure.