Crafts during lockdown

These strange times that many of us have to spend in isolation seem to have at least one positive element. There is more time for hobbies and crafts, to either continue with an old favourite or learn a completely new skill. Making something is truly rewarding and the process can be calming, while taking your mind off the constant news about the pandemic escalation.
I am so glad I have my knitting and a yarn stash that needs to be reduced. Everything feels all right, when you have a soft ball of wool in your hand.




Even research shows that crafting is good for mental health, helping to reduce anxiety, lower stress and improve mood. Making something requires focus, which helps to distract from worries and keep us in the present moment, exercising mindfulness.

And it looks like people are aware of this, either consciously or subconsciously. Perhaps they always wanted to make things, but never found the time for it. During the first coronavirus outbreak period in spring, many had to leave work and stay home, and were thus faced with unexpected free time in their hands. Craft supply stores experienced a large growth in online trade, some even saw sales go up more than 200 per cent or revenue from yarn sales surge by 140 per cent. People were also much more interested in craft patterns and DIY instructions.

This interest growth is also visible in online searches. The interest in crafts usually rises from autumn to Christmas time each year and then lowers towards spring and summer, but this year quite a 'bump' can be seen for the spring lockdown period in March-April, based on Google Trends:



The current growing outbreak period is yet too early to analyse and also hard to distinguish from the above mentioned annual interest rise.


Crafts are one of the great ways to overcome a period when the activities of the normal daily routine have fallen off. So stay safe and make something. Something great, something you always wanted to.


If you didn't quess, this article was part of the homework for an online course I took. The yarn on the picture looks nice, but is very acrylic.

The season of colour coming up

My favourite season is getting closer day by day and finding red and yellow leaves feels more exciting and inspirational than looking for the first signs of spring.
Colour is usually the starting point of new projects and choosing which ones to use, the most fun part. When in need of theoretical help, interactive colour wheels are very useful for visualising different colour combinations. And you can always rely on the result.
This Color Scheme Designer is what I prefer. Although intended for web design, colours are still colours:




And here is a small reminder of colours for this autumn suggested by Pantone. Just lovely.

Murphy's laws on knitting

Surely every crafter has felt that the validity of Murphy's laws will eventually become evident in the craft making process as well as in any other area of life. Here are some knitting related laws, which I most often experience:

• You have found a great position in your comfy knitting chair, taken the needles, started to cast on and planning not to move yourself for the next hour or two – only to discover that the fresh cup of coffee was left in the kitchen downstairs...
• As soon as you cut off the cast-on yarn tail that keeps messing with your knitwork, the work is doomed.
• Yarn runs out when 99 per cent of the work is completed.
• The yarn needed to finish a work is sold out in all the yarn stores within a reasonable distance, globally in online shops and its production discontinued.
• The more time you have spent on a knitting work, the more closer to the end you will realise that something went wrong at the beginning.
• The weather is fine and sunny, when a long knitting day indoors awaits, and turns dark and rainy, as soon as the work is finished and you want to take photos of it.
• If knitting work seems to go well, you have obviously miscounted the stitches.
• All horizontal surfaces shall be filled with unfinished knitworks.
• Every project takes longer than you think.

Eager knitter

A crafty spider has been living behind my window for several weeks now. This hard-working creature has knitted some amazing lace and keeps repairing her knitwork on a daily basis. The lovely textile also served well as a protective mosquito net with open windows during summertime.
Just thinking, would the spider learn to use new patterns, if I'd (completely unintentionally, of course) forgot a stitch pattern book on the window sill...
I have read about tests, where caffeine was given to spiders and that totally messed up their webs. Strangely, with me it's just the opposite.