'If I could do it again I'd make more mistakes, I'd not be so scared of falling.'

A new year, and I really only have one resolution. It’s not even really a resolution, more of an intention - this year I intend to learn. 

Learning, for me, can be a tricky thing. I love being able to do a lot of different things, but I really don’t like to be bad at things. And something I’ve learnt the hard way is that you’re always bad at something when you first start doing it. So often that fear of being ‘bad’ at something has stopped me from taking the first step and actually learning how. Add in a need for everything I do to be perfect and beautiful, and I talk myself out of even trying. 

I’d like this year to be different - I’ve started a crafting business, and the only way I will get that business to grow is by learning new things. I need to learn new techniques, styles and stitches, and to work with different materials. 

I’ve been researching freeform crochet, scrolling endlessly through pictures on Pinterest and looking up various artists. I’ve found spectacular hyperbolic crochet sculptures:

and beautiful freeform crochet landscapes and portraits by artist Jo Hamilton:

Textiles artist Prudence Mapston (www.knotjustknitting.com) creates scrumbles, small patches of freeform crochet that are sewn together:

Freeform crochet doesn’t follow set written patterns - it’s about combining different stitches, styles and materials to create unique fabric that can be sewn onto clothes, sewn into clothes, or just hung on the wall as art. The possibilities are endless, and I’m excited about learning the techniques to allow my imagination to run wild, and get me out of my comfort zone a little bit!

Yoga has definitely inspired me to become better at learning, to accept that the first time you do something (whether is a crochet stitch or a yoga pose), you’re probably not going to do it perfectly. But if you keep doing it, day after day, and keep working at it, before you even realize it’s happening you’re doing Bird of Paradise. Every time I’ve tried to do a particularly tricky pose, I’ve done the best that I can at that moment, and then I leave it. I keep going to class, I keep doing the poses I can, and then a month later I’ll try again. And in that month I will have built up enough strength, balance and flexibility that the harder poses become a little easier. The first time I tried Crow pose I thought there was no way I would ever be able to do it. The first time my toes came off the ground, even for a second, was so exhilarating I couldn’t wait to try again. On Friday I managed 5 seconds of perfectly balanced balancing - and it will only keep getting better, just like everything else I’m going to have a go at learning this year.