The very first blog I kept was called “The Slow Knitter”. It was 2006, I’d learned to knit a couple of years before and I got hooked on all the crafting blogs popping up like wildflowers on the internet, especially the ones with free patterns.
The “Slow” in the title had a double meaning. I was still very much a newby, so it took me a long time to knit each piece. But I also meant “slow” as in the “slow food” movement, as in taking the time to enjoy the making and the using of something; hand-crafting, local, simple, all those adjectives.
The blog helped me maintain momentum in my newfound crafting life, and it provided me with a space to reflect on how my knitting tied into wider things. I explored sourcing local yarn, organic cottons, milk protein needles, natural dying…all the political, social and environmental issues of handcrafting.
Eventually The Slow Knitter grew beyond the bounds of crafting and became Green Living Ottawa. I learned to crochet, gave my knitting needles away and never looked back. However, that whole experience gave me entry into the blogosphere, into crafting, and into the idea of strengthening personal accountability by sharing myself and my values publicly.
Of course I could always lie. Lying in public is kind of what defines us as a civilisation in the second decade of the twenty-first century, and the internet seems custom made to make lying that much easier. Which is why I admire all those bloggers online who take a stand against the tide of bullshit, who try to find their own way in the world and live their values out loud. Their voices are life lines thrown out to the rest of us. So today I want to give thanks to the simple and creative living bloggers whose posts I’ve been hanging onto recently:
And as I make a return to active blogging, I want to share my intention that what I post will be a means to find, follow and embody my values.
Restorying the Earth 