Donna Druchunas's Blog

I get a lot of knitting books. When I first started buying them, I told myself that I had to knit at least two projects out of a book before I could buy another. As you can imagine, that goal fell quickly to the wayside. Today I don't normally buy books (only) because I like the projects in them, but because I like the stories and information they provide. I don't have any rule about making even one project from each book. As long as I learn something and am entertained or inspired, I'm happy with my purchase.

A while back I tech edited the patterns in Fiber Gathering: Knit, Crochet, Spin, and Dye More than 20 Projects Inspired by America's Festivals by Joanne Seiff. While Joanne was working on this book, we met up at several nearby fiber festivals and we've since become friends. This first book of Joanne's included projects by many different designers, which were wonderful, but I was happy to hear that for her second book, Knit Green: 20 Projects and Ideas for Sustainability, Joanne was designing all of the projects herself.

I was privileged to receive a review copy of Joanne's new book from her publisher. I've got to say that this is one of my favorite knitting books, and not because the author is my friend! This is exactly the type of knitting book that I love. It includes projects, stories, and useful information that can help me, not only with my knitting, but also with my personal goals. In this case, the book has given me some wonderful ideas about how I can use my knitting to promote sustainability in ways that match my own priorities about the environment. The table of contents itself is a springboard to many ideas, including several categories I would never have thought of on my own in a million years:

1. Supporting Biodiversity
2. Sustainable Farming Practice
3. Vegan Knitting
4. Maintaining Folk and Indigenous Traditions
5. Promoting Fair Trade and Fair Work
6. Organic and Natural Fibers and Labeling Use
7. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
8. Buy Local Goods
9. Changing Our Habits
Conclusion: Every Little Bit Makes a Difference

This book reminded me of Rick Steves's Travel as a Political Act because it has practical suggestions for small, realistic things that we all can do to help protect our planet and make the world a better place. It sometimes seem so overwhelming and hopeless, that it can be tempting to just sit back and do nothing. But I do believe that small things can add up to large results. And so does Joanne.

I found interesting ideas in almost every chapter, but my favorite is chapter 4, which talks about about preserving folk traditions, because that's where my obsessions lead me.

As the world becomes increasingly globalized, many folk traditions that involve textiles may disappear. While we know that small-scale, environmentally friendly co-ops and family businesses are likely the best way to purchase our fiber, sometimes it's hard to find or prioritize this. When it's easier to buy something mass produced, these highly individualized traditions can be lost. We've all faced this. When it is less expensive to buy something you need than it is to make it, we begin to lose the skills to spin and/or knit our own garments.

This is interesting to me. I don't think it's just because it's less expensive to buy finished goods that the traditional techniques fall away, but because it's easier and less time consuming. I don't believe anyone wants to spend all of their time spinning, knitting, weaving and sewing. Just imagine if you had to make every fiber item in your house from scratch -- including spinning thread to weave your bed sheets! But I do think that by supporting local artisans who create traditional textiles, either for fun or for profit, we can help these traditions survive at the same time that we become free of the requirement of constant labor. I feel like I'm rambling a little, but I think that's because I have mixed feelings on this topic. On the one hand I love the time-honored traditions and I believe in honoring women's work, on the other hand, I can't see that it is necessary for people to make everything they own by hand. I would like to find some kind of balance between producing and consuming. And I think Knit Green can help me in that search.

Sometimes it seems like we are constantly hammered with peer pressure to "live green" but when I'm in Europe, I see so much more action than I do here in the states. And I've had several European friends tell me that, after visiting America and seeing how wasteful we are here that they began to feel helpless about their own actions at home. How sad to think that my country and my fellow US citizens are examples of how not to care about our planet! Joanne's now a Canadian, but when she wrote this book she lived in the USA. I know that she walks the walk, she doesn't just talk the talk. She's an inspiration to me, and I hope her writing will inspire you, too.

So, if you knit and you care about the environment and you want to be a force for good in the world, not an example of waste and wanton consumerism, please read this book. You won't regret it. Plus, you will find some really nice things to make.

Coming soon: a review of the projects!

Remember when I said Cumbria is boring and I wouldn't want to live there? Well, guess where I'll be spending big chunks of my time starting next summer? You guessed it: Cumbria!

So what's up with that? Am I becoming a compulsive liar? Did I change my mind? Am I mad?

Not sure, actually. All of the above. None of the above. I desperately want to live in Europe for half of each year. Maybe someday I'll want to move permanently, but I'm not ready to make that kind of leap yet. My first choices for relocation would be Vilnius and Geneva. But it turns out that I have a wonderful place to stay in Cumbria, with a good friend, in the countryside. And it's much easier to visit other parts of Europe once you're already on that side of the pond.

For our entire lives Dom and I have lived in the suburbs and for the past 15 or 20 years, we've been dreaming of living in the country. I wanted sheep. He wanted peace and quiet. We just wanted to get away from it all. Recently, we've both been more interested in small cities, say 400,000 to 1 million people, and have been thinking that the countryside is out of reach for us. So once we let go of that dream, here it comes, dropped on our laps, and we get invited to come and stay in the English countryside - and there are sheep! How could we say no? (Maybe we'll move to a small city in another 10 or 15 years, when we make our next transition!)

So, next year, we will be spending 3 or 4 months in Europe, based in Cumbria and I plan to have the most wonderful time of my life. I will be working - both at my day job, which travels on my laptop, and teaching in a few places - and Dom will be on a mini sabbatical. He needs to figure out what he wants to do next, some kind of portable work so we can continent-hop every year, and he is well deserving of a big break after working at a dairy for over 10 years, with no holidays off or paid sick days (because the cows never get a day off from giving milk). If it all works out, we'll be spending more and more time away from America in future years.

So for those who wanted to know a bit more, that's what's coming next summer. Between now and then: a personal vacation for our 20th anniversary, teaching in Wisconsin, an Alaska Cruise, a book launch, the Arctic Lace audio book release, and more!

I read and knit in spurts, and lately I've been reading. But I did finish two projects in August. I've been wanting to post about these projects since then, but sadly it's taken me until today to get photos taken! I've also been very busy with work at the day job, mostly bookkeeping but also procrastinating about writing some software tutorials, and I've been working on the Lithuanian knitting book and some articles as well. So much for excuses, here's the knitting:

First, I was inspired by my friend Anna, who was knitting an Estonian lacey leaf pattern in wool. I love lace and leaf patterns, and this one had a few unusual details that attracted me. Anna asked me to proof the pattern for Ravelry, and I loved knitting the stitch so much that I decided to make my own shawl using some lovely rayon/silk yarn that my mother had bought me. Anna named her shawl Füüsal (juudikirss), or Ground Cherry, because the pattern stitch combined with her yarn color reminded her of that plant. I didn't have enough yarn to make a large shawl, so I made a scarf/stole and shaped the ends to take accentuate the leaf shaping. My version reminds me of tomatillos on the vine, so it's the Tomatillo Salsa Stole.



Second, if you recall, I made the End Papers Shawl from The Knitter's Book of Yarn a while back. It was very enjoyable to knit, being made from Koigu which is my favorite yarn, and because it's made with an easy lace stitch that I memorized quickly (after I recharted it). I started another one for my mother. I haven't blocked it yet, but here's what it looks like so far.



And soon back to books, but knitting books! I recently received a copy of Knit Green: 20 Projects & Ideas for Sustainability by my friend Joanne Seiff. I received the book just before leaving for a trade show in Las Vegas, so I was able to read through while waiting at the airport and during the flight. I'm working on a review, which I hope to get posted later today or sometime tomorrow.

I don't have knitting pictures yet AND I'm going through a stage where I am listening to music while I write. This happened to me once before and it was very strange because it's so unusual for me. Whatever, something is going on in my brain and I'm not sure exactly what it is. I'm more in tune with my emotions these days, and less interested in thinking things through logically, and I'm completely enjoying the feeling. I'm diving into this by reading fiction and listening to music. For the past 10 or 15 years, I've mostly been reading nonfiction and suddenly I find that novels are calling to me again. I guess Euro Donna is more right-brained than Ameri-Donna. There's so much that I want to write about all of this! But I'm trying to write a book now, and I need to write some software tutorials for my day job before I get fired. Which leaves little time for blogging.

Things I would write about if I had time:

How language changes the way you think and see the world, and how that interacts with visiting new places and interacting with other cultures. Sources for my thoughts: Dreaming in Hindi by Kathering Russell Rich and A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (a novel) by Xiaolu Guo.

Moving to Europe! If you don't follow me on Twitter then you've missed the news that Dom and I are going to start spending half of each year in Europe beginning next summer (because we need some time to plan, unload stuff, and get organized enough to live in two places or be vagabonds).

Speed. Or the lack thereof. I used to do everything fast. Now I seem to have two speeds: slow and slower! It's wonderful but also frustrating, especially when I have a lot of work to get done and deadlines. I think I need to let Ameri Donna out a little bit to manage this. On the other hand, I'm not feeling very stressed about the slowness, but I don't want to let it build to where anxiety starts keeping me up at night.

OK, more soon, I promise. About knitting: projects I've finished, online classes, cruises, tours, and so much more!

My current music: Jason Mraz, We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. I can't get enough of this fun, sexy album. I have been listening over and over and over the way I used to listen to vinyl albums when I was a teenager.

I am so far behind on blogging! I finished two lace shawls since I got back from Europe, and I've been writing and daydreaming and visiting with friends and reading and and and oh yeah, working.

Last week I was a Photoshop World in Las Vegas, working in a booth for my day job with Media Lab. I sort of wanted to go and sort of didn't, but I had an amazing time. I didn't realize how much teaching knitting classes had changed me. I am so much more comfortable with myself and less shy, it's much easier to talk to people -- one on one or to a group -- and I actually enjoyed working in the trade show booth. On top of that, I hadn't seen some of my colleagues in several years, and I also got to get together with an old friend who lives in town. So all in all something that I was halfway dreading, turned into a great experience. Of course, now that I'm back, it's taking me another whole week just to get caught up. And the bookkeeping mess is still a mess, although very slowly starting to show signs of improvement.

I guess that's just a big excuse for not blogging. I need to work on my next book and I'm not sure how much I will be blogging for the rest of the year. But when I don't put my thoughts online, I miss it. Strange thing, isn't it? I used to be such a private person and now I am spilling my guts to the world. Oddly, I don't mind so much that strangers read this blather. Sometimes, though, I am embarrassed when someone I know says they've been reading my blog.

Right now I'm listening to music. Or, rather, in between writing parts of this, I'm listening to music. I have a really hard time with music. I love it, but it consumes me. I can't really just have music in the background. I have to stop and listen and close my eyes and let the music flood into me. Once someone told me that it was better to listen to music you are familiar with when you want to work and have music playing in the background. But that doesn't help me at all. I still fall in, head over heels, like Alice down the rabbit hole.

So perhaps I've just filled up the screen with nothing. I promise to get pictures of the knitting soon. Enjoy the day.