A Stitch in Time - The 365 Knitting Clock

I do a little less knitting since becoming hooked on crochet (sorry, pun not intended!) but more and more often there are knitting related projects that catch my eye and this is certainly one of them

The 365 Knitting Clock by Siren Elise Wilhelmsen is art in motion; not quite what you were looking for in terms of everyday functionality when searching for the perfect time-piece nor for helping the kids learn to tell the time. This clock is nothing short of genius; it makes a singular stitch each half hour, thus completing one full round per day. The result is a 2m long scarf in 365 days. The Norwegian artist explains that,

"(it) was made to measure... time in a three dimensional form... to visualize the otherwise invisible time factor that connects us all. Instead of showing time in numbers... the knitting clock aims the philosophical point of the ongoing process of time... and shows the time as something that is constantly moving, changing and developing. "

As a creative person, it is all to easy to focus on the finished item - particularly if there is a client waiting for said item or an Etsy shop waiting to be filled. Sometimes the thought of the finished item, and in turn its financial reward, takes away the enjoyment of the creation; the process. I love how this piece is all about the process and that it takes a full year to produce a scarf; what a painfully long time to wait. I can just imagine the sense of impatience that would build if you watched this clock daily in anticipation of the finished scarf. Can you?

To me it signifies a rebellion against the mass produced, the quick fix and the consumerism we see so abundantly in society these days. It embodies the notion that skilled craftspeople take their time to produce their work and that this is something to be appreciated and worth waiting for; that the process of creating is as beautiful as the finished piece. The same analogy can be applied to cooking

The 365 Knitting Clock can be loaded with a new ball of yarn for each year. As a big-time yarn aficionada, this makes me smile; I like to think it means that the future is a but a ball of wool, just waiting patiently to be created into something of great beauty...

Do you enjoy and appreciate the process when you are creating?

Lisa x

{photos by Miriam Lenhart via How to be a Retronaut}

Vision Boards - a window into your future

 I'm no stranger to the practice of tear-sheets, mood boards, sketchbooks and vision boards. After all, as a creative person it comes with the territory. At Art School you document ideas, inspirations & techniques constantly in sketchbooks. As an Interior Designer I would create mood boards & room settings to get my ideas across to clients. As a Stylist I reference style ideas with tear-sheets, & all of the lifestyle magazines I have worked for have walls full of vision boards for their current issue. I guess they could be considered the  

visual version of list making 

- they serve as a memory jogger, a goal setter, a 'this is what I'm aiming for'

Without realising it you are probably familiar with them yourself, especially if you follow design led blogs such as Design*Sponge or The City Sage. These blogs regularly visually round up a collection of images based on a theme (my all time fave is the Living In posts on D*S. Pride and Prej inspired board pictured above). You may even have a pile of tear-sheets yourself; things that have sparked an interest, an idea that you'd like to refer back to at some point. Perhaps you are more reserved & simply fold over the corner of a page in a magazine. Either way, the principal is the same & it also translates into the digital world too. Do you bookmark sites that you like? If you are anything like me you have about a gazillion pages bookmarked for later reference - not always an efficient filling system, but hey!

It is no surprise then, that you can now produce an all digital, fabulously professional looking, vision board online. Hurrah for technology! Olioboard comes recommended but I have yet had the chance to play around with it. Don't you worry though, I have ideas brewing for its uses!

So back to my earlier point of being familiar with this exercise when it comes to my creative process. It HAS proven success. It helps reach the intended goal. It documents the idea. All good then. But until recently, I had never thought to  

apply this tried & tested approach to ME!

I have, of late, been struggling to get to where I think I ought to be in terms of achievement. I've been feeling unfocused and a little (ok, a lot) stuck in a rut. Less so in creative terms, but hugely in Life terms. This has led to some soul searching; some questioning, and plenty of research. (yay for the internet!)

I have been subscribing to the wise words of Christine Kane (amongst others) via her Be Creative Be Conscious Be Courageous blog as well as her Live Creative e-zine, and she actively advocates the exercise of producing a vision board to help you get to where you want to be. She is so encouraging in this field that she has complied articles & a free download to guide you through the process. I feel like I have taken a step in the right direction - I feel that by dedicating a few hours to ME and what I would like MY FUTURE to be that I have begun the long journey in getting there. Perhaps I'll share my vision with you in a later post. If I'm feeling brave enough!

Do you sometimes feel you have lost your way? How do you get back on track?

{image 1 by Emily Burlingame on Olioboard, image 2 by Amy Merrick for Design*Sponge, image 3 by Polly Rowan on Olioboard, image 4 from Christine Kane's Blog}