Dear Friends of The Blue Purl,
Do you ever start the day asking yourself βAm I the person I want to be?β
It is hard when we are running to simply keep up with daily demands to have that kind of presence of mind, to stop and assess our choices and our actions, to think about who we are and how we are using our time.
Knitters, and those who create, have an advantage over others in this regard. Why? Well, we are constantly making choices and acting on our decisions with our projects. We are constantly asking ourselves how to proceed.
And when we choose a direction, we are making a statement. When we pick a yarn, or decide to improvise a pattern, we are not only deciding for ourselves. We are actually, contributing to a dynamic culture of innovation and creation that we all plug into.
We often talk about our community at The Blue Purl. Well, itβs real, and part of a community is its culture, what we do and donβt do.
When you share an insight, you participate in building our culture. When you give us feedback, or share your thoughts with another knitter, when you choose one skein over another, when you cast aside caution and take a class you think is beyond your abilities, rip out a project and start over, all of that is part of our culture.
Our culture is about nurturing creativity. Our culture is about listening, sharing, and caring. Our culture is not about demands, impatience and anger.
At The Blue Purl we are continuously passing around information. Whether it's gathering around a pattern Ravelry, a new hand dyed yarn, an ongoing sweater project, or the bubble tea menu from across the street (check out Casapinka's latest pattern below.) Just look at this newsletter - top to bottom it's our little team here and our larger community sharing ideas and pushing and celebrating creativity of knitting and crocheting.
In a text thread recently Kathleen shared the Yarns at Yin Hoo audio podcast that featured a series of discussions with Dr. Lilly Marsh talking about Elizabeth Zimmerman and the Emergence of Critical Knitting. It's a five-part series that we recommend you spend some time with. You will also hear much that is familiar to you because we are part of a community that has been built on the foundation Elizabeth helped to lay. (This idea of control was discussed in the podcast:)
Let us bring this all together for you, maybe it will make more sense. During the pandemic, what was one thing that we all lost? We all lost CONTROL.
When we feel out of control, we often turn to activities that make us feel back in control. Did you ever go home to clean the house just because it gave you back a sense of taking back control?
Well, we are sure that your craft became therapeutic during the pandemic. Whether it was knitting, crocheting or something else, picking up needles and yarn, making something is a way of taking back control. You can follow the pattern and use predicable choices, and still feel the therapeutic effects. Or you can really step out, experiment, change it up, do you - either action works. Either one should help restore a feeling of control. Both contribute to a culture of inclusion.
Come work with us to make this a truly inspiring, uplifting, supportive culture.
connect + create
Patty, Wendy & TBP Team
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