The new year has begun and I am aiming to rededicate myself to writing more in 2025. I will start with the rambling post below that I began drafting last month. I thought the theme would be KNOTS, as I sometimes visualize problems as knots to be untied, mental knots instead of roadblocks, so my post focuses on that a little. But, I changed the title as I now choose to focus on staying positive in a stressful world, opening my mind to new information and ideas, and simplifying my life as much as I can.

Wishing you all a successful year ahead, however, you define that for yourself.

My hands are a mess! My cat has mistaken them for a play thing and left a few scars then I accidently scraped my left knuckles on a wall. They are healed now but, ouch, not fun. And, I still have ink residue that will just not wash away easily.

Recently, I had to deal with a river of black ink that was leaking from what I believe was a misaligned cartridge in my big, cumbersome, Epson printer/copier/scanner. I found several suggested repairs on YouTube, none of which seem to apply to my situation, and by the end of my attempts, I had thoroughly stained hands, and my spirit of adventure was gone. 

The stains remained for days in a few areas of my cuticles, just enough to remind me that this exercise in futility broke me for a short time. I will admit I had a few tearful moments as I realized that this was not my forte. 

After finding an easy way to print on a self-serve machine at a local printshop (I just had to email them my documents and copy down an access code) I decided to let the printer go. I am going to put it out on the sidewalk with a sign that will read something like: “I am free, but I have a leak that needs to be cleaned up. Overall I’m a very good printer and I have a full store of all four colors of ink. Please rescue me and give me a second chance to print again.”

So, even though I didn’t learn how to repair a printer, I did learn that there are other ways to get things done. I learned that being gentle to my now arthritic back is more important that fixing a machine that is way too heavy for me to manage on my own. It is realizing that I’m really just one person and I shouldn’t be doing things like this that stress me out when there are viable alternatives. 

While on the phone with my older daughter, I grabbed a random piece of cotton-linen-bamboo thread I had laying about. A scrap from a crocheted shell style top I made over the summer. I took this short piece of thread and tried the technique outlined in the video. I turned my efforts into a little circle, which magically fit perfectly on my pinkie finger. So now I can look down at my hand and remember:

1. that I was ink-stained because I would not let something outdated go

2. discarded scraps can be made into something meaningful and thought provoking, 

3. small creative ideas/techniques can have a big impact around the world, and,

4. there’s always something new to learn.

FURTHER KNOTTY REFERENCES: The almighty YouTube algorithm suggested a video describing the lost art of knotting. https://youtu.be/fcvjQZzoLwI?si=RSnRCXA6DcpcMoZo. I had never heard of it, but had experimented when I was a child with a similar technique using long blades of grass. So now I am fully informed that this threadwork has a historical context. Not only is it an 18th century European craft (circumscribed by tatting and crochet), in the comments of the video I learned that it was also a Native American and Puerto Rican craft.   I did a quick Internet search and found more global references of using knots as textile embellishment including ancient Egypt and China, and I’m sure there are many other examples. Here is a nice overview from the Sidney Herald: https://www.sidneyherald.com/the-origins-and-history-of-knotting-tatting/article_cfe4e812-4d44-5c5e-bab1-ada38b77402c.html

Combining knots and new ideas, and tapping into my biological Viking heritage, I have planned for some lucet fork cord-making as a new skill for 2025. If I create anything interesting, I will certainly post about it here.