Vive la difference! Celebrating diversity ...

My lovely new yarn gathered in my trusty jute bag

Rocking chair in the dappled sun at the entrance to the shed - bliss

My first attempt at scrumbling is in the bottom lefthand corner - I just had to make the tiny flowers and hearts because I liked the look of them, and the hexagon was just calling out to me. Don't actually know what I'm going to do with that. More pictures as my work of art progresses!

I spent a lot of yesterday scrumbling in my shed. What, you may ask, is scrumbling? Well, it is a fantastic freeform version of crochet and knitting, and to pardon the pun, I think I may be hooked. It all started because, to be honest, I've had a heavily emotional week and I woke up yesterday wanting to do something creative to soothe my soul and I knew immediately what I wanted to do - create a fabric out of lovely bright wools. Plus, buying some new yarn is a kind of (retail) therapy, giving one a double lift in the day! So, after dropping children off to school I called in at my local craft shop in the next village and bought some lovely yarns I was attracted to by colour. Then I raced home, gathered supplies and sat up in the shed at the top of our garden. I wanted to create something in the fibre arts that was akin to a painting, and knew I had to scrumble! My thought process was that fibres are comforting to work with, you can choose soft to the skin wools and use a hook or needles to make them go wherever you wish. I think it has something to do as well with these fibre arts being old and established - they give me a grounded feeling! Which I so need.

It was indeed like being in my own private paradise, sitting crocheting with no agenda and no pattern in mind, the only sounds being an occasional aircraft and the birds in the trees. And the air up in the Hills is so, so fresh - I'm really not making it up, it's so pure. Mmmm ....

You can see my attempts in the pictures above, I started by making shapes that I fancied and began to put them together today. Although I have said I had no particular pattern I was following, the actual motivation was to create something totally unique, from bits and pieces that came together as a glorious, perfect whole. My visualization of celebrating difference and diversity. Down with conforming to other people's opinions - be yourself and be proud! You see it's been that kind of a week, and the only way I could express it was through art - I am so thankful for creativity!!

To see a real expert on 'scrumbling' take a look at Prudence Mapstone's webpage - her work is amazing and may inspire you to let go of rigid patterns and freely follow a path that may be unseen but is more in keeping with your spirit!

ps - another blogging milestone - I've reached 200 posts! Yay!