October 22, 2009

Handspun magic

Knitting with hand spun is totally different to knitting with ordinary yarn.
It has a heart, it is alive. It moves in harmony with you and the needles . There is an electricity to the stitches you make. An eagerness to become "something".
I realise now that other knitting yarn has been dead in comparison.

Hand spun wants to weave magic, to transform and become something special.

By that I don't mean my knitting is particularly special, but what I create with this yarn can be.
Maybe it is the transformation from fleece to garment. Most especially I am sure with fleece you dye, spin and knit. Putting intent within each action, focusing on the item and the object.
Turning lanolin soaked sheep's coats into gossamer thin clothes that wrap themselves around you as you don them.
That would be a hypothetical gossamer at this stage of course.
Working a sympathetic magic the pair of you, the fibre and yourself.
Trapping within all good thoughts and well wishes for the recipient.
Then,
take it further.

Choose the phase of the moon to do such things.
Did the women of old do such as they spun and wove?
Is that the basis of magic stories and fables?
The pricking of finger on spindle to put a heroine into a deep sleep.
The witches chanting spells to weave into their fabrics as they wove.
But yet,
from that we can harness the mystery and ritual too.
As we prepare and use the fibre we can put into it all our hopes and wishes for the intended recipient.
Surely if we do so the magic will transform a greasy fleece into an object of beauty with a little hint of otherworldly mystery.
Prayer shawls after all do so much good for the people who receive them. They know they have been made to help.
Can they perhaps feel a little of the great mystery travelling down through the ages?
Do they feel the power of good hopes and wishes the creator of the shawl sends to them?

I believe everything we create is for a purpose, not just fibre items.
If we put within them good intent we are honouring the gift we have been given also.
We are also honouring our contact with the muse of creativity.

There can be nothing better than harnessing an idea and seeing it take form within our hands.

5 comments:

Blue Witch said...

Yes, that's what fascinates me in the process too.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

A magickal post! Dear Ambermoggie, there's an Honest Scrap Award for you waiting at my blog today, if you want to come by and pick it up!

Sea said...

If I knit for another person...I try to weave some of my hair into the garment...so there is a bit of me with them....looking over them if you will.

Suzi Smith said...

Oh yes... i heartily agree... the magic of creation... Your creations are positivly zinging with energy!

laoi gaul~williams said...

lovely~reminds me of morgaine in 'the mists of avalon' going into magic trance as she spins and weaves...wonderful :)

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