A child's world

This blog post must start with a textile crafty item before we get to the world of children: here are a few flowers, made of leftover Rowan Kid Silk Haze (see Medallion Wrap). The winter 2012/2013 has been unusually long and I felt I needed to hold some blossoms in my hands! The flowers are really easy to crochet (or knit): chain 30, turn work, make 2 sc in every chain stitch, turn work, make 1 treble into every sc, cut thread and weave in, roll up, pull bottom edges together and secure with some stitches and while you are at it add pearly bead in the center and there you go. I made a slip stitch chain (See this excellent Bosnian crochet stitch Tutorial) at the very edge with a contrasting color and some beads for extra dew-drop glam and to accentuate the spiral shape - click here to see the purple flower brooch as the final touch to a scarf. The flowers are For Sale - contact me and while you are reading on, listen to this alltime favorite: Petite Fleur, played by Sidney Bechet.

In recent years there were several trends, dare I say fads, of taking pictures from unusual angles. The Lomography craze, shooting from the hip and from all angles was state-of-art... for a while. Then the trend to take pictures non-stop with a Memoto camera, as if documenting every second of one's life, or rather every two minutes. This reminded me of the 15 minutes of fame, proclaimed by Andy Wharhol in 1968 - and this statement held so many interpretative options - especially the question of "What is fame?"Or even: "Andy Who?"

Our grandson Victor received a sturdy children's camera for Christmas last year. One might assume that a small child, not even four years old, would not be able to make pictures like adults do, chosing the object, the frame, focus etc. And what a surprise! Victor chose carefully, delightfully tried out angles and places and we found amazing pictures on that sturdy camera chip. First things first:  He took a picture of his face (above), of his his eyes and nose (below) ...

And then of his face, drinking juice through a straw, again taking a picture of himself just to see what he would look like drinking juice through a straw....

He fully understands the process, focusses the camera on what he wants to photograph, and expertly checks the result right after the click. And the pictures are literally taken at his level.

Maybe we should try more often to meet small children at their eye level, and it will be quite helpful to go down on your knees to share the child's view, it is truly a big world out there! Come to think of it: Easter seems to be a perfect time for that - crawling around on a level playing field under bushes looking for all those Easter eggs!

(For a nest chockfull of helpful knitting/crochet tips and tricks click here and go to bottom of post)