Feature
| ThoughTS froM a deSIgner
(Left) Annette will be
spending this summer
crocheting memories.
(Above) Annette Petavy
designed the tank top in
this issue, see page 24.
designer
Thoughts from a
BY anneTTe peTavY
Talented designer, Annette Petavy
tells us how she crochets memories.
ime is elusive. What do you have left warm and sunny, because I was sitting outside in the
T
from times gone past, except your garden, in the dappled shade of the plum tree, while
memories? But how do you know working on it. It must have been the same year that
which moment in time a memory my family gave me the comfortable, lightweight
relates to? There are different techniques, of garden chair, because I remember how thrilled I was “
I was working
course. Some people are precise about weather to push it around easily when the shade moved.
on a shawl
conditions. They know that the summer of 1997 A little earlier the same year, I was working on a
was a very rainy one, and will say things like: “It shawl for my mother when the neighbours had their
for my mother
was March 2001 when it was so warm, we had house rebuilt and a truck backed into their apple tree.
when the
lunch outside three days in a row.” But don't ask me what year that was… the shawl was
Personally, I have difficulty remembering what a birthday present so I could probably work that out
neighbours
the weather was like last week, let alone in years if I could remember my mother’s date of birth!
had their
past. The possible exception might be the summer There was the Christmas when I survived holiday
of 2003, when the heatwave killed people all over hysteria through lace stole therapy – I think about the
house rebuilt,
Europe and it was almost too hot to breathe. At least, soft, thin, turquoise yarn and the soothing, repetitive
but don't ask
that’s what I heard, since I spent this time on the stitch patterns, and suddenly I remember all sorts of
island of Åland in the Baltic Sea, where the chill and funny little things about that Christmas. And then
me what year
the mosquitos forced us inside in the evening. there’s the autumn when I tried (and failed) to find
that was…
Family events also work as points of reference the perfect way of crocheting socks – it was the same
for a lot of people. “Oh yes, it was September 1989 year my daughter learned how to read.
when Aunt Lizzy turned 80 and her son came to visit I could mourn my incapacity to remember dates.
from Australia!” I can vividly recall Aunt Lizzy’s But instead, I will plan for memories. This summer,
birthday party (the cake was delicious), but I've I will work on a green, short-sleeved jacket. Before
no clue when it was. So don’t ask me what year I even starting, I know that each time I touch it, even if ”
finished university, or if last summer was sunnier it’s just to push it aside on a shelf, I will recall this
than the one before. I simply don’t register passing season. I'll remember how it felt to sit in the shade,
time in terms of weather, family events or even crocheting away, the green yarn running through my
years. But this doesn’t mean I don’t have memories. fingers as I keep an eye on my children at play. I will
I remember the wonderful late spring when I was remember the Band-Aids, the barbecues, the laughter
working on a lacy violet cardigan. The weather was with friends. This summer, I will crochet memories.
www.insidecrochet.co.uk
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