unleash the power of inspiration...

                                         unleash the power of inspiration...

By the way Lesley the owner of Rosehaven is a big fan of podcasts including Grocery Girls (here they are visiting River City Yarns) and has recently started her own. She was recording for her next one over the weekend so check it out here for an interview with myself & Kate.

Unleashing the Power of Creativity


Throughout 2016's losses and much grieving I have tried to hold on to the things that bring pleasure and make my heart sing. Usually this is something that comes easily to me, but this year it's been hard and it has often eluded me. But for the past couple of weeks I have managed to have days of joy, and I have felt more like myself. Today, however, I have once again descended into sadness but I'm resisting it with all my might and for this post I'm going to concentrate on the positive & describe the lovely weekend that I just spent teaching in Prince Edward County.


One of the things that I love most about being invited to be an instructor at a knitting event is being able to spend lots of time with knitters. Time where talk is of technique, of fibre and a shared dialogue on all things creative. This past weekend I was at a retreat organized by Rosehaven Yarn the LYS in Picton ON nestled in a beautiful part of Ontario, it was fabulous. 


Among the highlights, aside from seeing the area in its final flourish of Fall colour, was riding the train there and back with fellow instructor Kate Atherley. Even though Kate & I are friends this was a rare opportunity for us to sit and brainstorm designs ideas and discuss our current sources of inspiration. It set the tone for a weekend of sharing. These events are always full of very accomplished people, both in knitting and the many areas of expertise that they work in on a daily basis. This lends itself to an environment that fosters not only learning but also imagination.


I always get a thrill when students come back to me after class to tell me of their ideas. This can either be the next day or weeks and sometimes months later. They usually describe how after class, armed with a myriad of sources,  they set off to explore their world and in doing so have discovered something that they find inspiring. I especially enjoy the flood of exuberance that comes with it all. In these moments I usually pretend to dust off my hands and say "my work here is done". But it's the single most exciting thing about my interaction with other creative minds - being part of sparking their creativity. I refer to it as "unleashing the power of inspiration / creativity".  And I truly believe that it is a really amazingly powerful force, which is why I use it as my tag line here on my website. 


Occasionally the tables get turned on me and a student will say something that makes a light bulb go on in my head. It happened this past weekend. As I described how my current fascination revolves around the intersecting of ideas and that I am planning to name these designs after street intersections in Toronto (Adelaide & Spadina is the first in the series) a woman in class threw out some great ideas and then pulled up Google Maps on her i-pad....and bingo I suddenly saw something that had been right under my nose for probably a very long time. Proving that inspiration is indeed a two-way street! 

Thanks for reading...I hope that you enjoy the photos! 

This month I decided to make a collage of things that I saw during my daily walks that spell out the word November....I struggled a bit with some of those letters so ended up cheating a bit.


Please check back next month to find out what my latest fascination is.

See you next month      
Fiona xxxx

On-line, On-nine
Monthly post on the 9th of each month! 
On-line, On-nine  Nov 9th 2016

Loyalist Stone walls, Silver nail colour is a neutral & I promise I only had one local brew in spite of the blurry photo