As seen in Peppermint Magazine…

Peppermint Magazine article

In the current edition of Peppermint Magazine, I have an article about slow notions. What are slow notions and why was I writing about them?

Notions are the tools sewers, knitters, and crocheters utilise in their craft. As someone who knits, embroiders, sews, and crochets, I’m very familiar with notions and the discussions around them. I’d seen a lot of people in the last few years talk about cheap, readily available notions from online stores and it began to bother me. These inexpensive notions do serve a purpose - I’m not going to be snobbish about it! They can be useful, fun, and in these days of budget consciousness, just what the wallet orders. But I was questioning the increased reliance upon mass-manufactured notions when their existence runs contrary to many of the values and precepts of our craft, including sustainability, manufacture by hand, and identification with the slow movement. Particularly when we’re willing to spend money on handspun, hand-dyed yarn, for example, why are we not so willing to spend money on stitchmarkers made by hand? Why wouldn’t you, in fact, want a ‘slow notion’?

While I do have mass-manufactured notions in my workbasket, I’ve also collected a reasonable stash of handmade, polymer clay stitchmarkers (who can resist a puppy holding an ice cream dangling on her needle?) and even splashed out on brass cable needles.

One day I mislaid my brass cable needle, but since I’d become a silversmith, I decided that rather than drive myself crazy trying to find it, I’d make one. And this began my adventure in forging notions!

Now, you can, of course, get brass-coloured cable needles online. Just to show you, I bought one for $1.49. That’s a lot less expensive than what I can make one for… it’s less than what the brass costs. Because they are brass-coloured, not brass. They are very light, but they’re made of cheap metal. They pop up online and in craft shops. There’s nothing wrong with them, really.

Comparison of brass cable needles

So why would you buy a solid brass cable needle that is hand-forged? Let's put aside the 'feel-good' factor before we start. Supporting local makers is all well and good - very good in fact! - but sometimes you do have to pick and choose what you'll spend your money on. Local makers understand that too. Believe me, we have bills. We have many bills.

I’d invested in my lost brass cable needle because I’d wanted to use something a little special. If I was going to labour on a cabled sweater, I wanted a tool that would be both beautiful and pleasurable to use. I also had great respect for the maker - that just as I was knitting up that sweater, they’d forged the cable needle I was using. As I explore in the Peppermint article, too, we all have favourite tools and our favourite tools often develop a soul of their own as we use them. There’s whole areas of folklore about that - and maybe a Disney film or two. Our notions become part of our process, part of our creative expression, part of us. They have life.

In forging a cable needle myself I utilise a great deal of heat and effort. I want each cable needle to be a beautiful and practical object. When you look above, you’ll easily spot the regularity of the mass produced cable needle. It has been twisted into shape by machine. It’s smooth. The one I forged is just a little heavier (don’t be mislead - solid brass is not that much heavier in a small notion and will give you no difficulty). I’ve wrangled the brass into a spiral using just my needle-nose pliers and heat, working at each curve to give it individuality and beauty. I hammered away to produce a rustic effect, but also found the marks made by my antique hammers (because I do love using old hammers!) gave the needle that bit more grip. I also refined the point of the needle so that it’s just a little easier to pick up fine yarns. As someone who cables, I know what is on my wish list in a notion.

The bonus is also that the spiral can be worn as a shawl pin!

I’m awfully passionate these days about slow notions. I’ve been making darning needles and even crochet hooks, understanding the process of forging the metal and working with it in order to produce something pleasurable to use and sustainable. The idea is that ‘slow notions’ last, crafting a multitude of objects in your lifetime, carrying within the metal the memory of your clever fingers.

On a final note, in the Peppermint article, I mention a yarn bowl made by my friend and amazing ceramic artist, Erin Potappel. She made it to look like my favourite steer, Beauregarde. I thought I’d finish this post with a photo of it.

Thank you, too, to Peppermint Magazine! If you’re interested in sustainability in sewing and craft, it’s a marvellous publication produced by a small team with infinite kindness.

Yarn bowl with photo of Beauregarde