Sing a new song, chiquitita

OK, my idea. While I was in Edinburgh, there were riots in Bristol about a new Tesco that was being opened. Anyway, this got me thinking about the nature of activism, different versions of activism, etc, and I was thinking that, quite a major and almost revolutionary-type-thing which has come out of the internet is that we are all able to share knowledge and skills and learn to do things which it would otherwise have been difficult to learn.

Laughing about a different sausage incident (yes really) in John Lewis in Edinburgh

For example, I was just now looking at a tutorial on broomstick lace – without the internet I can guarantee I would never have heard about broomstick lace, let alone be eyeing up my Giant Ball Of Aran and thinking, do I want a bright red broomstick lace scarf. And I have learned so many things with advice from people and tutorials on the internet which I would never have felt brave enough to do on my own. For example, making soap – I used to be really put off potentially scary things such as this, because I was never sure if I could trust the book I was using or not (and I was right to be cautious, frankly. I read a book today which said you could make soap by using a certain weight of ‘any oils’ + a certain weight of lye. NO YOU CAN’T! Different oils need different amounts of lye! Use a proper recipe until you know what you’re doing. Soap isn’t pastry!). I just find it really encouraging when I see real people making things and sharing their thoughts about the process, what went right, what went wrong, and seeing the results. I think more knowledge of what goes into the process of making things is good because it reconnects us, and when we are disconnected all sorts of things go wrong. Sweatshops, overconsumption, not valuing things, stuff like that, you know the drill ;-). Also, handmade things are better. Aren’t they?

Soap from the lovely Vivianne of Kismet's Companion, handmade and highly recommended. There is a link to her shop on her blog

So this was my idea. I have a mental list of things that I would like to try to make that I either haven’t got round to or have felt a bit intimidated by. I suspect some people reading this have got the same. So I thought we could name a week and make them at some point over that week, and blog about it. I could set up a Mr Linky at the beginning of the week, and anyone who wanted to use it to expand their skills/ have a go at something they’d been meaning to do for a while could do it, blog about it at some point during the week, and link their blog and we could have a look and admire (or learn and commiserate). It could be anything, anything you want to make, I’m entirely equal opportunities: a thing, or a skill, just something that you could reasonably do (or at least get started) in a week.

What thrilling new skills might be around the corner? This cat jumped out and terrified me, I think it is accomplished enough

There are lots of silly things that put me off the things I want to do: getting organised, fear of cocking it up, fear of wasting materials etc, so, if you are the same, I officially give you absolution. It doesn’t matter how much you bugger it up! Do it, blog about it, we can all learn from the process, and if what you learn is ‘God, this was a lot of trouble and in future I’ll just buy them from Waitrose’ well, then that’s useful to know (and we might agree). I’ve not decided yet what I might do but, here are some of the things I’m thinking about so you can see the kind of thing I mean:

Making fudge with a sugar thermometer
Making sourdough bread
Learning stranded colourwork
Learning to spin
Making liquid soap (possibly a bit too scary)
Making jam
Dyeing yarn
Planting salad leaves
And I’m sure there are lots more that I’ll think of!

I was thinking possibly the first week in June, which would give us enough time to order bits of equipment from the internet if we needed to (I’m not thinking of you spending a fortune on equipment, but you might need bits if it’s something you’ve not done before).

I thought it might be fun. Certainly I need a boot up the backside to make me brave enough to use my sugar thermometer. What do you think? Is anyone else in?

{Waits anxiously ;-) }.