The best hour of my week. I feel at peace, inspired, hopeful. You are both regal and humble. A combination that presents to the world as a blessing. Thank you Daki. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas
Such high praise, I truly hope I am worth of it. Thank you so much for gifting me with your generous words😊🙏🏽 and wishing you a wonderful Christmas and holidays!
Having the privilege to amble and knit with you is pure delight, Daki. I loved hearing your midwinter thoughts, and your practices in restraint truly resonate with where I am right now in my own journey of conscious consumption and just simply *making do*. Thank you so much for the reminder, also, of our unseverable interconnectedness to the earth and nature's rythums~ you are such a beacon in this space and getting to sit with you more often is just an absolute joy!
Such an absolute delight is always to hear from you! I'm so happy to see when there's true connection and resonance with what I say and I feel that with you it is like talking to a kindred spirit. Now that I finished making my last video for this year I'm going to treat myself to catching up on your own podcast episodes and getting my turn to sit with you ❤️☀️
Thank you for this beautiful episode and your thoughts on being restrained in your crafting. I only buy yarn with a specific project in mind, whether it’s for myself or someone I love. It what my grandmother taught me, when she taught me to knit. She used to tell that when she had to knit a new sweater for one of her children she couldn’t pay for the whole quantity. Itbwas during and the years after ww2. She asked the shop keeper to hold on to the rest of the yarn, so she could buy one ball every week. She told me this every single time when we went yarn shopping. She passed away, but each time I buy wool for a project or gift, I think of her joy and the twinkle in her eyes. It’s the reason I still don’t have a large yarn stash, so I feel blessed when I can afford yarn.
What a beautiful story! It tugged at my hot strings for sure. That post war generation truly new what it was to have very little but to make a life that was enough of what everyone around them needed. Thank you so much for echoing my thoughts so beautifully, and I'm so happy you enjoyed this episode!
Everything you said resonates with me so much! I've been watching a lot of videos of people organizing their stashes and saying that they are overwhelmed and the size of their stash gives them anxiety. Our crafts should not be making us feel this way. I think a lot of us enjoy hand making things because it is more authentic than cheap store bought items, but it is still possible to over consume our crafting materials! I love having a very small stash because every time I wind up a new skein and start a new project it feels like I am using something special.
I completely agree! That anxiety is part of the symptom that I am trying to bring to light through these podcasts, that having more actually is having the opposite effect to what people expect. Instead of fulfillment and a sense of joy, more accumulation seems almost always to lead to more anxiety and restlessness. Thank you so much for your kind words about the podcast and I'm so happy to hear that the message resonated with you 🙏🏽❤️
Hello Daki! Greetings from Maine. I held onto every word you said like it is medicine for my tired soul. Your messages, thoughts and overall sense of calm in your Amble & Knit episodes made me feel at home. Thank you so much, I am so glad I am here with you and I look forward to your episodes in the new year.
Hello and greetings to you on the other far flung coast! Your words mean a lot to me, to know that my messages are finding a home where it's bringing ease and peace... it's the very reason that drives me to do this work. Thank you so much for making time to leave me this lovely message!
I very much appreciate the addition of "joyful" to "restaint". Restraint is often associated with sourness and self-denial (in my culture/mind at least it is, and I think in many parts of the world). But it can be joyful! Buying stuff gives one a "fix", when people feel sad, they buy stuff to feel better. If we can visualize/manifest NOT doing something, or even just be more concious of the choice and the act of NOT buying, I'm sure it will give us even more satisfaction. Or myself at least, can't speak for other people 😅 Thank you for this insight❤
It is indeed so much more satisfying when that restraint is practice consciously, and then over and over again. The joy in Restraint is not a short-term thing, perhaps that is why it is so unpopular in this age of instant gratification. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments and feedback as always my dear friend ❤️🙏🏽
🌴☀️Hello from S. FL🙋🏽♀️ I just happened upon this video, midway through I stopped to make this comment. Honestly this is the second BEST “subscribe” I made this entire year! The other being Green Bean Podcast” I feel so safe, so in alignment with my way of life & outlook. I’ll comment more but I just wanted to begin my comment now, just couldn’t wait till the end. I Am Home💐what a great gift☀️🌴
Oh you have made my day with these lovely, warm, uplifting words! Thank you so much for discovering the channel, and I cannot tell you how much I recognize finding that feeling of alignment and safety and homecoming through someone's words and presence. It's a precious gift 🙏🏽🧡🕯️
Hi Daki, you are such a breath of fresh air in my life. I too am living toward a deliberate lifestyle. I'm so grateful for people like you to bolster my resolve to be a better ancestor to my grandchildren and generations further.
Loved this podcast thank you. I have been trying to knit from my stash as well. I the spring I was in a thrift store and saw a color work sweater that no one wanted. The colors had a lot to do with that! But the body was a beautiful color and it was lambswool. I bought it for 3.99 and took it apart. Working now on the Age of brass and steam shawl that is a free pattern. Giving the sweater a new life as a beautiful shawl. Knitting on it while listening to your calming voice. Thank you.
i love this kind of story, of old things renewed with care and dedication and resourcefulness! Thank you so much for sharing it with me and for making time for the podcast. I hope the finished shawl gives you much joy!
Working from my stash is my #1 priority this coming year. I just spent the last two days organizing my sweater quantities. For some backstory, I had a corporate job for 18 years and began knitting in 2005. I collected an insane amount of yarn, joined yarn and pattern clubs from one designer I loved, and even had a yarn dying business in 2012 to 2014. I burned myself on knitting at the same time that I was promoted at work and my free time was eaten up even more, and I stopped knitting until very recently. I took about an eight year break and then picked up the crochet hook. My long break meant that I didn't know what I had in my stash closet. My collecting tendencies means that now that I have quit that corporate job (no regrets!) and do not have the spare money to spend, I have an abundance of beautiful wool that I can use up. I look forward to using it up. Now that my sweater quantities are organized and recorded, I will spend some time figuring out what I want to do with each type and mix and match the smaller quantities to make sweaters. I make other things besides sweaters, but those are my first love and passion. I also have a two baby blankets I need to produce by February and March. For those I use acrylic, but I also have a small stash of that as well. So here's to working from stash! It will keep me busy for a long, long time!
As for the holidays. We have not bought anything for the winter holidays in many years. We don't decorate anymore, either. We cook, bake, and get together with family. Winter means I am busy making things. I am energized similarly to you to make things. I make a hat or scarf or something for family, and I am making a giant blanket for my husband who's health is bad and is always cold. I am in the home stretch of that project!
I loved reading this story and thank you so much for sharing it with me today. For us as a family financial necessity has also been the blessing that has made us more resourceful and given us the opportunity to craft a more intentional and less wasteful lifestyle. I'm so happy to hear that you have found your way back to knitting in a way that is more sustainable and gentler for you, and I hope that working with your stash gives you a lot of Joy over the coming year! 🙏🏽
It's wonderful that as the times change and the seasons of your life change that the way you celebrate also shifts and changes with that. With kids in my life right now I know it is a completely different kind of holiday to what I would likely experience when they have all flown the nest ❤️
Oh Daki, I have to tell you a funny story! I watched this episode just before having lunch with my husband, so of course I had to tell him all about it. We've been practising a paired-back, hand-crafted, and sort of inward-focused way of celebrating Christmas since we had children. As I expected, your thoughts on midwinter resonated with him. So there I was, happily filling him in on your approach of restraint when it comes to your yarn stash as well, him in total agreement, when ... pling plong: the doorbelll goes. And if it isn't a delivery of a parcel with very shiny, very NEW yarn 😅. I should add that this was for a work commission - I can count the number of times I have bought new yarn for personal use in the last 2 years on one hand - but the timing was just impeccable. It gave us a good giggle indeed! Needless to say though, I very much enjoyed this episode. Here in Sweden the shift in the light and temperature is of course very noticeable, and I have struggled in late Autumn/early winter for years. The juxtaposition of dwindling light and energy on the one hand, and the ever-increasing social and work demands on the other, make this a time of year where I feel I am giving away far more than I have in the tank. That's one of the reasons why we approach this season in the way we do - to lessen the burden of must must must and to focus on the things we hold dear instead. When you defined that as abundance, however, it was such an "aha" moment! To think we might do what we do because we know in our bones that have enough already is rather wonderful.
Thank you so much for this wonderful generous comment! To think that what we already have is the very definition of abundance itself, isn't that something? I think this is one of the problems that most people who've been raised in Western society seem to have, from what I have observed as an outsider to both the culture and the places I'm living in right now. To view that which is already in our experience as a gift and not be burdened by the sense of continuous, unfillable lack. I think that's at the heart of what im trying to express, and I'm so grateful that you caught it and recognized it 🙏🏽 and yes having children I find has given me even more motivation to live by example, and to encourage an ethos that celebrates the bounty of nature versus stuff-accumulation. Sending you best wishes for the solstice and hoping that you will find a more gentle and easeful winter this year ❤️🕯️
I love hearing what Midwinter means to you! So many people talk about Winter being a time to slow down and reflect, but this time of year is filled with so much energy for me - crafting Christmas gifts, spending time with family members that I only get to see once or twice a year, cooking so much good food! And I have SO MANY projects I'd like to cast on and new ideas that I just have to try! You have freed me from a prison (of sorts) of trying to tell myself to slow down because "that's what I'm supposed to do this time of year", instead of listening to my body and mind that wants to create. Thank you!
I see we are of one mind about this time of year!. It's not that I don't feel the settling in of that sleepy energy this time of year, it's just that I take that as a cue to call for my energies and to spring into action even more!
What a beautiful podcast. I can't wait to listen/watch your other episodes. This time of year is so enchanting and magical...I teeter on the inclination to hibernate and yet be outside in nature and what little light presents itself. I am always creating but it changes from season to season. In the spring I am creating plans for gardening and then in the fall I start inwardly creating again and of course picking up the fiber and wool to manifest new life into them. We are all creative at heart...
We are indeed and you express that creativity so beautifully! And you're right that from season to season our creative energies manifest in different ways. Thank you so much for your kind words and I'm so happy you found the channel 🙏🏽
Hi Daki. This time of year can be lonely for me, missing departed family and friends. Your voice and smiling face help to banish the darkness that sometimes confronts me at this time of year. You are a Blessing to me and I am grateful. Wishing everything wonderful for your family. Hug from Canada.
I am truly humbled by your message, and i cannot fully express my gratitude for your sweet words. I can understand your feelings of loneliness well, being so far away from my own birthland and all the people and places I call Home. Sending love and strength to you through the dark days. May you be held and protected in the lap of grace 🕯️🙏🏽
I am feeling overwhelmed right now by your words and the awe of having found your voice, when I so needed to hear someone say these things. I am beyond greatful for that and thank you so much for your gift to me (us, really). I deny my inner tendency to feel not enough, when hearing how you already live your life according to these truths and so many aspects in mine seem to be so much atuned to capitalism, still. Instead, I view it as an invitation to get curious, to find ways to make those truths shape our everyday life more, as a family. Take my thanks and may you find a voice in an hour of disorientation, that is an inspiration to you, as well. 🙏
You've now gone and overwhelmed me and brought such emotion to my heart, i cannot express my thanks enough for your sharing this morning. Sometimes I do feel that these rather unpopular opinions will all fall on deaf ears and perhaps no one will even care to listen. But your words have given me the clarity I needed to keep talking and keep gently bringing these issues to light. Let's walk and talk and bring clarity and healing to one another 🙏🏽💙🕯️
Aww I don't normally water up during a knitting podcast but I did for yours. For all the right reasons I should add. Thank you for your chat on restraint, not only with yarn but also during crisis. I needed that right now. I'm in love with your cozy sweater. Perhaps I'll search my stash to see if I have something that could work for "Gjof".
Thank you so much this is so uplifting to hear this morning as I wake up 🧡🙏🏽 im so grateful that you made time for this little message. Sending best wishes for the season!
I also are up in the Indian subcontinent. I am a new knitter so I cannot say just yet how the midwinter affects my knitting and creativity, but outside of crafts I do get a bit slump-y. Hopefully handicrafts are an antidote!
How enjoyable watching your videos is ! I didn't realize your first episode was almost a year ago ! Time flies and and Christmas is already at the corner. This year, we weren't able to have Christmas tree because of lack of space in the house. But my husband built a wooden one that he's decorated so beautifully and it felt more christmassy to me than a real tree ! There's definitely something special in making your own Cristmas decorations ! Happy holiday season Daki, to you and your family ! 🎄
Oh I love that dearest Jenny! We had a Driftwood tree that my husband built last year as well, but we have returned back to our beloved living tree this year. I'm so happy you stopped by the podcast and I'm sending you warm hugs and best wishes for Solstice, Christmas and the holidays ahead 🤗❤️🕯️
Just started this episode, but wanted to say that your vlogs last year made a huge impact on me. Your words about being in a 'liminal space' changed how I perceive and inhabit this time of year. They became a touchstone that I return to over and over, and I've thought about them repeatedly throughout the year (not just in winter). So magical to see you here again, just when I need it. Thank you!!!!
That's so wonderful to hear Alison and it truly makes me feel humbled to know that something i shared a year ago continues to impact you in a positive way. The idea of liminality has always felt so true to me as well. 🙏🏽💙
We've been trying for years to withdraw from the excess of this season. Sometimes we have great success - like this year when we made mushroom decorations with orange rinds and twigs. Times like that enrich me in such a way that they will never be forgotten. I wish the same for you and yours. Happy Solstice!
This is exactly the reason why I have always put such an emphasis on handmade and nature based celebrations in the home, knowing that the impression it leaves on the kids will stay with them always ❤️ a blessed Solstice to you as well Ann!
I live in the rural south (US) and I was surprised to find that most my neighbors, especially the older people, that "hunt" are just enjoying being in the woods. They say that when push comes to shove, they can't kill whatever animal that they are hunting. Now there are a few that actually kill the animal, but these people are providing for their families cause again rural south. My tree is sparsely decorated. I only have those items that have sentimental value. I love the idea of the homemade ornaments. Definitely gonna to try the embroidery ornaments, thank you! One of my favorite Christmas songs has the following line, "Take the next 6 months to pay these bills. Every time I think about it, it gives me chills, but I don't care Christmas comes but once a year." It is really ingrained in the US culture. I really enjoyed this episode. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this valuable sharing! You've provided a really great example of what I was trying to find the words for. It does sound deeply ingrained and the phrase 'gives me the chills' is apt and sad. Thanks so much for your kind words 🙏🏽
You always have a way of saying exactly what my heart needs to hear. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and light! And I love the popsicle stick idea!
Thank you! I'm so very happy to have found your channel. I've liked and subscribed because this is just want I needed to hear in this season of my life. Happy Winter Solstice and Happy Holidays 🎄💚🧶💚
Hi Daki! I just discovered your channel and I would like to thank you. You made my day. I often feel alone with my views here in Québec... These days I wish for a simpler, a more grounded life and connect with nature and folks around here pass their Saturdays at Costco or buy a lot of junk from Amazon and that makes me sad. Amitiés de Trois-Rivières ❤
I know this video isn't recent, but as I watched i really wanted to offer some thoughts on your comments about hunting and even how it can relate to the main point of your video. I personally do not hunt, my role in my household is raising sheep which I butcher for meat, but my husband and many of the people in my life do hunt, and venison from any deer my husband hunts is an important part of our food system in our home. All of that being said, you commented about hunting during a time of abundance and I'd like to remind you that while grocery stores may be fully stocked currently, many Americans are not living in a time of abundance right now. Even when the US economy is doing well there are many many Americans who face scarcity. Hunting is a means to put food on the table for some of those people. Of course there are people who are not facing hunger when they hunt, but there are other reasons to hunt. A huge one is sustainability. Practicing the ability to hunt can make us less reliant on food systems that are not ultimately sustainable. Wild game is also healthier to consume than mass produced meat in many ways. Providing our own food via hunting helps us to not be "consumers". Just as crafting and making is affected by consumerism, so too is the food system in our country. Nature offers options for rural people to break away from that system and provide for ourselves and make use of what nature has to offer. Another very important but often overlooked aspect of hunting is ecology and overpopulation. In a natural landscape wildlife populations manage themselves. As Europeans moved into the North America landscape we have irrevocably changed the ecology. There are no longer enough wild predators to manage prey populations. Without hunting those populations can become too large for their ecosystem to sustain them. They flourish and populate, until the breaking point and then there is famine, disease and death. Hunting can help regulate those populations. Most states strictly control permits and bag/tag numbers for different species to help keep herds and flocks healthy. Again, this is an opportunity for humans to return to being part of nature.
Thank you for such a timely chat ❤ I'm going to follow your plan in the new year. I need that restraint and know that it's not going to be easy, but it's definitely rewarding. ❤
I'm born right before solstice, and I guess that made me a walking Christmas spirit all year round. In general um opposite most, when spring comes I hibernate and wake up at fall. Fall and winter is when I fully feel alive. Which... being a gardner does leave me with some challenges 😂 Winter and Christmas to me is all about the cozy moments you get to make with family and friends, not the gifts and the stress most seem to experience. I could easily be without the gifts, they're not important.
I sometimes feel like I'm waiting for solstice all year round! And the cozy moments are the most precious thing this time of year, and all the busyness around making things cozy at home. I completely agree 🙏🏽
We have very similar practices and you have a very soothing voice. One question I have is, respectfully, why do I keep hearing, "midwinter" when it's a week before yule? Around here no one dare say winter until we live and feel and breath every day of the three months we get to experience Autumn. Winter will have it's season soon enough. When February dumps a snow storm on us every one is so tired of it when in fact THAT is midwinter. I confess that I not only dislike winter but live on fear of it. Fall is a friend, Winter is mean and absolutely endless if we say midwinter in fall. Thank you for your beautiful video.
😄 around here i think people feel very much the opposite. We're all waiting and waiting for the snow since it lasts such a short time, and shorter and milder with each passing year, that we're gung-ho to shout Winter is here winter is here at the first sign of frost! I'm so sorry to hear that winter is hard on you. I hope your practices will hold you to through the toughest times. 🙏🏽
@@woolandtheforest thank you for sharing. I appreciate the knowledge you share. I live in a cabin in the woods as well and our only heat is wood. When we wake in the he morning and it's below freezing, the house is also below freezing. It's a gift that reminds us of the sharp contrast between seasons is an opportunity for gratitude. A fire killing the cold and a hot cup of coffee is absolutely glorious. Love and light to you.
I discovered your podcast recently And even if I don't understand everything, it's a pleasure to watch you. If you have time, can you tell me how you made the short rows for the back neckline, for your size? If not, tell me, where can I find this information? I send you my good thoughts from France
Thank you so much for watching the podcast, your words are so kind! Instructions for making short row neck shaping can be found in many places on the internet. If you just type in "Short Row Neck Shaping in bottom up sweaters" you should get a lot of results on TH-cam alone.
Lovely episode, that inspires, soothes, and teaches. Thank you for all the food for thought. I have found as I get older that winter is my season but most of all I love being in a place that has all seasons. As one draws closer I am ready for it. I don't like hot weather but, I need summer to grow a garden and see fireflies, right!? ☺️
That's a wonderful way to put it Michelle. The fireflies are a definite plus but i do understand your reservations about summer. Thank you again for your kind words and for spending time with me this morning. 💙🙏🏽
The best hour of my week. I feel at peace, inspired, hopeful. You are both regal and humble. A combination that presents to the world as a blessing. Thank you Daki. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas
Such high praise, I truly hope I am worth of it. Thank you so much for gifting me with your generous words😊🙏🏽 and wishing you a wonderful Christmas and holidays!
Having the privilege to amble and knit with you is pure delight, Daki. I loved hearing your midwinter thoughts, and your practices in restraint truly resonate with where I am right now in my own journey of conscious consumption and just simply *making do*. Thank you so much for the reminder, also, of our unseverable interconnectedness to the earth and nature's rythums~ you are such a beacon in this space and getting to sit with you more often is just an absolute joy!
Such an absolute delight is always to hear from you! I'm so happy to see when there's true connection and resonance with what I say and I feel that with you it is like talking to a kindred spirit. Now that I finished making my last video for this year I'm going to treat myself to catching up on your own podcast episodes and getting my turn to sit with you ❤️☀️
Thank you for this beautiful episode and your thoughts on being restrained in your crafting. I only buy yarn with a specific project in mind, whether it’s for myself or someone I love. It what my grandmother taught me, when she taught me to knit. She used to tell that when she had to knit a new sweater for one of her children she couldn’t pay for the whole quantity. Itbwas during and the years after ww2. She asked the shop keeper to hold on to the rest of the yarn, so she could buy one ball every week. She told me this every single time when we went yarn shopping. She passed away, but each time I buy wool for a project or gift, I think of her joy and the twinkle in her eyes. It’s the reason I still don’t have a large yarn stash, so I feel blessed when I can afford yarn.
What a beautiful story! It tugged at my hot strings for sure. That post war generation truly new what it was to have very little but to make a life that was enough of what everyone around them needed. Thank you so much for echoing my thoughts so beautifully, and I'm so happy you enjoyed this episode!
@@woolandtheforest ❤️
Thank you for sharing your wise thoughts on life and crafting , I feel I could connect on so many levels!
As do I! Thank you so much for stopping by the podcast ❤️
Everything you said resonates with me so much! I've been watching a lot of videos of people organizing their stashes and saying that they are overwhelmed and the size of their stash gives them anxiety. Our crafts should not be making us feel this way. I think a lot of us enjoy hand making things because it is more authentic than cheap store bought items, but it is still possible to over consume our crafting materials! I love having a very small stash because every time I wind up a new skein and start a new project it feels like I am using something special.
I completely agree! That anxiety is part of the symptom that I am trying to bring to light through these podcasts, that having more actually is having the opposite effect to what people expect. Instead of fulfillment and a sense of joy, more accumulation seems almost always to lead to more anxiety and restlessness. Thank you so much for your kind words about the podcast and I'm so happy to hear that the message resonated with you 🙏🏽❤️
Hello Daki! Greetings from Maine. I held onto every word you said like it is medicine for my tired soul. Your messages, thoughts and overall sense of calm in your Amble & Knit episodes made me feel at home. Thank you so much, I am so glad I am here with you and I look forward to your episodes in the new year.
Hello and greetings to you on the other far flung coast! Your words mean a lot to me, to know that my messages are finding a home where it's bringing ease and peace... it's the very reason that drives me to do this work. Thank you so much for making time to leave me this lovely message!
I very much appreciate the addition of "joyful" to "restaint". Restraint is often associated with sourness and self-denial (in my culture/mind at least it is, and I think in many parts of the world). But it can be joyful!
Buying stuff gives one a "fix", when people feel sad, they buy stuff to feel better.
If we can visualize/manifest NOT doing something, or even just be more concious of the choice and the act of NOT buying, I'm sure it will give us even more satisfaction.
Or myself at least, can't speak for other people 😅
Thank you for this insight❤
It is indeed so much more satisfying when that restraint is practice consciously, and then over and over again. The joy in Restraint is not a short-term thing, perhaps that is why it is so unpopular in this age of instant gratification. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments and feedback as always my dear friend ❤️🙏🏽
🌴☀️Hello from S. FL🙋🏽♀️ I just happened upon this video, midway through I stopped to make this comment. Honestly this is the second BEST “subscribe” I made this entire year! The other being Green Bean Podcast” I feel so safe, so in alignment with my way of life & outlook. I’ll comment more but I just wanted to begin my comment now, just couldn’t wait till the end. I Am Home💐what a great gift☀️🌴
Oh you have made my day with these lovely, warm, uplifting words! Thank you so much for discovering the channel, and I cannot tell you how much I recognize finding that feeling of alignment and safety and homecoming through someone's words and presence. It's a precious gift 🙏🏽🧡🕯️
Lovely episode, and your wee embroideries are so sweet! What treasures!
Thank you friend! I'm so happy you stopped by again. yes those embroideries are so addictively cute, I'll definitely be making more next year. 🕯️
The obstacle is the way, as Marcus Aurelius wrote. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us!
You're so welcome 🙏🏽😊
Hi Daki, you are such a breath of fresh air in my life. I too am living toward a deliberate lifestyle. I'm so grateful for people like you to bolster my resolve to be a better ancestor to my grandchildren and generations further.
You are so welcome! And thank you for your kind words to me and I'm so happy that you have enjoyed this episode ❤️
Loved this podcast thank you. I have been trying to knit from my stash as well. I the spring I was in a thrift store and saw a color work sweater that no one wanted. The colors had a lot to do with that! But the body was a beautiful color and it was lambswool. I bought it for 3.99 and took it apart. Working now on the Age of brass and steam shawl that is a free pattern. Giving the sweater a new life as a beautiful shawl. Knitting on it while listening to your calming voice. Thank you.
i love this kind of story, of old things renewed with care and dedication and resourcefulness! Thank you so much for sharing it with me and for making time for the podcast. I hope the finished shawl gives you much joy!
Working from my stash is my #1 priority this coming year. I just spent the last two days organizing my sweater quantities. For some backstory, I had a corporate job for 18 years and began knitting in 2005. I collected an insane amount of yarn, joined yarn and pattern clubs from one designer I loved, and even had a yarn dying business in 2012 to 2014. I burned myself on knitting at the same time that I was promoted at work and my free time was eaten up even more, and I stopped knitting until very recently. I took about an eight year break and then picked up the crochet hook.
My long break meant that I didn't know what I had in my stash closet. My collecting tendencies means that now that I have quit that corporate job (no regrets!) and do not have the spare money to spend, I have an abundance of beautiful wool that I can use up. I look forward to using it up. Now that my sweater quantities are organized and recorded, I will spend some time figuring out what I want to do with each type and mix and match the smaller quantities to make sweaters.
I make other things besides sweaters, but those are my first love and passion. I also have a two baby blankets I need to produce by February and March. For those I use acrylic, but I also have a small stash of that as well.
So here's to working from stash! It will keep me busy for a long, long time!
As for the holidays. We have not bought anything for the winter holidays in many years. We don't decorate anymore, either. We cook, bake, and get together with family. Winter means I am busy making things. I am energized similarly to you to make things. I make a hat or scarf or something for family, and I am making a giant blanket for my husband who's health is bad and is always cold. I am in the home stretch of that project!
I loved reading this story and thank you so much for sharing it with me today. For us as a family financial necessity has also been the blessing that has made us more resourceful and given us the opportunity to craft a more intentional and less wasteful lifestyle. I'm so happy to hear that you have found your way back to knitting in a way that is more sustainable and gentler for you, and I hope that working with your stash gives you a lot of Joy over the coming year! 🙏🏽
It's wonderful that as the times change and the seasons of your life change that the way you celebrate also shifts and changes with that. With kids in my life right now I know it is a completely different kind of holiday to what I would likely experience when they have all flown the nest ❤️
Oh Daki, I have to tell you a funny story! I watched this episode just before having lunch with my husband, so of course I had to tell him all about it. We've been practising a paired-back, hand-crafted, and sort of inward-focused way of celebrating Christmas since we had children. As I expected, your thoughts on midwinter resonated with him. So there I was, happily filling him in on your approach of restraint when it comes to your yarn stash as well, him in total agreement, when ... pling plong: the doorbelll goes. And if it isn't a delivery of a parcel with very shiny, very NEW yarn 😅. I should add that this was for a work commission - I can count the number of times I have bought new yarn for personal use in the last 2 years on one hand - but the timing was just impeccable. It gave us a good giggle indeed!
Needless to say though, I very much enjoyed this episode. Here in Sweden the shift in the light and temperature is of course very noticeable, and I have struggled in late Autumn/early winter for years. The juxtaposition of dwindling light and energy on the one hand, and the ever-increasing social and work demands on the other, make this a time of year where I feel I am giving away far more than I have in the tank. That's one of the reasons why we approach this season in the way we do - to lessen the burden of must must must and to focus on the things we hold dear instead. When you defined that as abundance, however, it was such an "aha" moment! To think we might do what we do because we know in our bones that have enough already is rather wonderful.
Thank you so much for this wonderful generous comment! To think that what we already have is the very definition of abundance itself, isn't that something? I think this is one of the problems that most people who've been raised in Western society seem to have, from what I have observed as an outsider to both the culture and the places I'm living in right now. To view that which is already in our experience as a gift and not be burdened by the sense of continuous, unfillable lack. I think that's at the heart of what im trying to express, and I'm so grateful that you caught it and recognized it 🙏🏽 and yes having children I find has given me even more motivation to live by example, and to encourage an ethos that celebrates the bounty of nature versus stuff-accumulation. Sending you best wishes for the solstice and hoping that you will find a more gentle and easeful winter this year ❤️🕯️
I love hearing what Midwinter means to you! So many people talk about Winter being a time to slow down and reflect, but this time of year is filled with so much energy for me - crafting Christmas gifts, spending time with family members that I only get to see once or twice a year, cooking so much good food! And I have SO MANY projects I'd like to cast on and new ideas that I just have to try! You have freed me from a prison (of sorts) of trying to tell myself to slow down because "that's what I'm supposed to do this time of year", instead of listening to my body and mind that wants to create. Thank you!
I see we are of one mind about this time of year!. It's not that I don't feel the settling in of that sleepy energy this time of year, it's just that I take that as a cue to call for my energies and to spring into action even more!
I'm so happy I could echo your experience and your thoughts, and I thank you for taking time to leave me this sharing 🙏🏽
I get busy this time of year making things, as well. I also bake more, and I am not the best at baking. Someday I'll get better!
What a beautiful podcast. I can't wait to listen/watch your other episodes. This time of year is so enchanting and magical...I teeter on the inclination to hibernate and yet be outside in nature and what little light presents itself. I am always creating but it changes from season to season. In the spring I am creating plans for gardening and then in the fall I start inwardly creating again and of course picking up the fiber and wool to manifest new life into them. We are all creative at heart...
We are indeed and you express that creativity so beautifully! And you're right that from season to season our creative energies manifest in different ways. Thank you so much for your kind words and I'm so happy you found the channel 🙏🏽
This was beautiful, thank you. 💚
So happy to hear that Kate, thank you for watching 💙🙏🏽
Hi Daki. This time of year can be lonely for me, missing departed family and friends. Your voice and smiling face help to banish the darkness that sometimes confronts me at this time of year. You are a Blessing to me and I am grateful. Wishing everything wonderful for your family. Hug from Canada.
I am truly humbled by your message, and i cannot fully express my gratitude for your sweet words. I can understand your feelings of loneliness well, being so far away from my own birthland and all the people and places I call Home. Sending love and strength to you through the dark days. May you be held and protected in the lap of grace 🕯️🙏🏽
I am feeling overwhelmed right now by your words and the awe of having found your voice, when I so needed to hear someone say these things. I am beyond greatful for that and thank you so much for your gift to me (us, really). I deny my inner tendency to feel not enough, when hearing how you already live your life according to these truths and so many aspects in mine seem to be so much atuned to capitalism, still. Instead, I view it as an invitation to get curious, to find ways to make those truths shape our everyday life more, as a family. Take my thanks and may you find a voice in an hour of disorientation, that is an inspiration to you, as well. 🙏
You've now gone and overwhelmed me and brought such emotion to my heart, i cannot express my thanks enough for your sharing this morning. Sometimes I do feel that these rather unpopular opinions will all fall on deaf ears and perhaps no one will even care to listen. But your words have given me the clarity I needed to keep talking and keep gently bringing these issues to light. Let's walk and talk and bring clarity and healing to one another 🙏🏽💙🕯️
Aww I don't normally water up during a knitting podcast but I did for yours. For all the right reasons I should add. Thank you for your chat on restraint, not only with yarn but also during crisis. I needed that right now.
I'm in love with your cozy sweater. Perhaps I'll search my stash to see if I have something that could work for "Gjof".
Thank you so much this is so uplifting to hear this morning as I wake up 🧡🙏🏽 im so grateful that you made time for this little message. Sending best wishes for the season!
❤ I'll be back to catch up after chores are finished
Hope you'll enjoy it dear Cary and thank you for making time for this 💙😊
I love your aesthetic so much! Especially the diya and incense lighting with the music augmenting it
I also are up in the Indian subcontinent. I am a new knitter so I cannot say just yet how the midwinter affects my knitting and creativity, but outside of crafts I do get a bit slump-y. Hopefully handicrafts are an antidote!
Thank you so much! That's wonderful to hear you appreciated and recognized those little gestures ❤️
They are a wonderful path to joyfulness I have found! Thank you so much for stopping by the channel today🙏🏽❤️
How enjoyable watching your videos is ! I didn't realize your first episode was almost a year ago ! Time flies and and Christmas is already at the corner. This year, we weren't able to have Christmas tree because of lack of space in the house. But my husband built a wooden one that he's decorated so beautifully and it felt more christmassy to me than a real tree ! There's definitely something special in making your own Cristmas decorations ! Happy holiday season Daki, to you and your family ! 🎄
Oh I love that dearest Jenny! We had a Driftwood tree that my husband built last year as well, but we have returned back to our beloved living tree this year. I'm so happy you stopped by the podcast and I'm sending you warm hugs and best wishes for Solstice, Christmas and the holidays ahead 🤗❤️🕯️
Just started this episode, but wanted to say that your vlogs last year made a huge impact on me. Your words about being in a 'liminal space' changed how I perceive and inhabit this time of year. They became a touchstone that I return to over and over, and I've thought about them repeatedly throughout the year (not just in winter). So magical to see you here again, just when I need it. Thank you!!!!
That's so wonderful to hear Alison and it truly makes me feel humbled to know that something i shared a year ago continues to impact you in a positive way. The idea of liminality has always felt so true to me as well. 🙏🏽💙
We've been trying for years to withdraw from the excess of this season. Sometimes we have great success - like this year when we made mushroom decorations with orange rinds and twigs. Times like that enrich me in such a way that they will never be forgotten. I wish the same for you and yours. Happy Solstice!
This is exactly the reason why I have always put such an emphasis on handmade and nature based celebrations in the home, knowing that the impression it leaves on the kids will stay with them always ❤️ a blessed Solstice to you as well Ann!
I live in the rural south (US) and I was surprised to find that most my neighbors, especially the older people, that "hunt" are just enjoying being in the woods. They say that when push comes to shove, they can't kill whatever animal that they are hunting. Now there are a few that actually kill the animal, but these people are providing for their families cause again rural south.
My tree is sparsely decorated. I only have those items that have sentimental value. I love the idea of the homemade ornaments. Definitely gonna to try the embroidery ornaments, thank you!
One of my favorite Christmas songs has the following line, "Take the next 6 months to pay these bills. Every time I think about it, it gives me chills, but I don't care Christmas comes but once a year." It is really ingrained in the US culture.
I really enjoyed this episode. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this valuable sharing! You've provided a really great example of what I was trying to find the words for. It does sound deeply ingrained and the phrase 'gives me the chills' is apt and sad. Thanks so much for your kind words 🙏🏽
You always have a way of saying exactly what my heart needs to hear. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and light! And I love the popsicle stick idea!
Oh my! That is high praise dear viewer! You've made my day, thank you so much 🙏🏽💙
Thank you! I'm so very happy to have found your channel. I've liked and subscribed because this is just want I needed to hear in this season of my life. Happy Winter Solstice and Happy Holidays 🎄💚🧶💚
Thank you so much for your support of the channel! Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season🕯️🙏🏽
Hi Daki! I just discovered your channel and I would like to thank you. You made my day. I often feel alone with my views here in Québec... These days I wish for a simpler, a more grounded life and connect with nature and folks around here pass their Saturdays at Costco or buy a lot of junk from Amazon and that makes me sad. Amitiés de Trois-Rivières ❤
That's so lovely to hear and I'm happy to hear you felt at home here Annie 💙 Sending best wishes for the holidays to you up there in Quebec! 🕯️✨
I know this video isn't recent, but as I watched i really wanted to offer some thoughts on your comments about hunting and even how it can relate to the main point of your video.
I personally do not hunt, my role in my household is raising sheep which I butcher for meat, but my husband and many of the people in my life do hunt, and venison from any deer my husband hunts is an important part of our food system in our home.
All of that being said, you commented about hunting during a time of abundance and I'd like to remind you that while grocery stores may be fully stocked currently, many Americans are not living in a time of abundance right now. Even when the US economy is doing well there are many many Americans who face scarcity. Hunting is a means to put food on the table for some of those people. Of course there are people who are not facing hunger when they hunt, but there are other reasons to hunt. A huge one is sustainability. Practicing the ability to hunt can make us less reliant on food systems that are not ultimately sustainable. Wild game is also healthier to consume than mass produced meat in many ways. Providing our own food via hunting helps us to not be "consumers". Just as crafting and making is affected by consumerism, so too is the food system in our country. Nature offers options for rural people to break away from that system and provide for ourselves and make use of what nature has to offer.
Another very important but often overlooked aspect of hunting is ecology and overpopulation. In a natural landscape wildlife populations manage themselves. As Europeans moved into the North America landscape we have irrevocably changed the ecology. There are no longer enough wild predators to manage prey populations. Without hunting those populations can become too large for their ecosystem to sustain them. They flourish and populate, until the breaking point and then there is famine, disease and death. Hunting can help regulate those populations. Most states strictly control permits and bag/tag numbers for different species to help keep herds and flocks healthy. Again, this is an opportunity for humans to return to being part of nature.
Thank you for such a timely chat ❤ I'm going to follow your plan in the new year. I need that restraint and know that it's not going to be easy, but it's definitely rewarding. ❤
This is such a heartening message to read. Take it gently with yourself. ❤️
I'm born right before solstice, and I guess that made me a walking Christmas spirit all year round.
In general um opposite most, when spring comes I hibernate and wake up at fall. Fall and winter is when I fully feel alive. Which... being a gardner does leave me with some challenges 😂
Winter and Christmas to me is all about the cozy moments you get to make with family and friends, not the gifts and the stress most seem to experience. I could easily be without the gifts, they're not important.
I sometimes feel like I'm waiting for solstice all year round! And the cozy moments are the most precious thing this time of year, and all the busyness around making things cozy at home. I completely agree 🙏🏽
We have very similar practices and you have a very soothing voice.
One question I have is, respectfully, why do I keep hearing, "midwinter" when it's a week before yule?
Around here no one dare say winter until we live and feel and breath every day of the three months we get to experience Autumn. Winter will have it's season soon enough. When February dumps a snow storm on us every one is so tired of it when in fact THAT is midwinter.
I confess that I not only dislike winter but live on fear of it. Fall is a friend, Winter is mean and absolutely endless if we say midwinter in fall.
Thank you for your beautiful video.
😄 around here i think people feel very much the opposite. We're all waiting and waiting for the snow since it lasts such a short time, and shorter and milder with each passing year, that we're gung-ho to shout Winter is here winter is here at the first sign of frost! I'm so sorry to hear that winter is hard on you. I hope your practices will hold you to through the toughest times. 🙏🏽
@@woolandtheforest thank you for sharing. I appreciate the knowledge you share.
I live in a cabin in the woods as well and our only heat is wood. When we wake in the he morning and it's below freezing, the house is also below freezing. It's a gift that reminds us of the sharp contrast between seasons is an opportunity for gratitude. A fire killing the cold and a hot cup of coffee is absolutely glorious. Love and light to you.
I discovered your podcast recently
And even if I don't understand everything, it's a pleasure to watch you.
If you have time, can you tell me how you made the short rows for the back neckline, for your size?
If not, tell me, where can I find this information?
I send you my good thoughts from France
Thank you so much for watching the podcast, your words are so kind! Instructions for making short row neck shaping can be found in many places on the internet. If you just type in "Short Row Neck Shaping in bottom up sweaters" you should get a lot of results on TH-cam alone.
@@woolandtheforest Thank you for taking time to respond to me and for your wise advice.
I hopo everything goes well for you and your family.
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Lovely episode, that inspires, soothes, and teaches. Thank you for all the food for thought.
I have found as I get older that winter is my season but most of all I love being in a place that has all seasons. As one draws closer I am ready for it. I don't like hot weather but, I need summer to grow a garden and see fireflies, right!? ☺️
That's a wonderful way to put it Michelle. The fireflies are a definite plus but i do understand your reservations about summer. Thank you again for your kind words and for spending time with me this morning. 💙🙏🏽
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