#pagan knitting

[rherlotshadow]

Yarn bomb green man at Avebury stone circle

[babysfirstpentagram]

How to incorporate yarn crafts into your cottage magic journey!

If you are a witch that likes to journal or keep a book of shadows, you can use this to help plan out your crafts. You can write down what you want to make, your goals, the colors, and what hooks you are using. This allows you to focus your intentions, your goals, and even color magic into the craft! Crocheting and knitting can also be calming and possibly meditative! It can help you get ready for a different spell as well, if you are not using the yarn for the spell itself!

This can also be a form of knot magic, and you can focus protection or any other outcome as you work and make your stitches/knots in the yarn/string! You are most likely zoning out anyway while working, so thinking about your intentions should be easy to do in the moment. If knot (:3) then you can write your intentions in a journal to help you!

You can also burn incense or a candle while you work to help calm yourself, breathe life into the craft, and help set your intentions. 

Did you know that you can make a familiar out of yarn? They obviously behave differently from a living familiar but they are still used for protection and companionship! 

Yarn can also be used for jinxing and hexing. You can weave your intentions into the yarn and then burn it at the end of the project. Please make sure you are being careful and practicing proper fire safety!

You can also make offerings with the objects you’ve made. Remember, deities often prefer handmade offerings than store bought offerings!

[frojyablog]

[coriander-candlesticks]

I realized recently (read: today as I'm writing this) that while I associate certain specific fiber arts with Athena (knitting, weaving, dying, and spinning), I associate crochet specifically with Apollo, though Athena's there too, of course. I think it's because it's more free-flowing: I can freehand something with crochet more easily than I can with knitting, both because I've known it longer and because there are fewer Things To Learn, unlike knitting which has a million different techniques that may seem interchangeable but actually aren't and that all affect the end product in a pretty big way (looking at you decreases & bind-offs). Because I can free-hand crochet more easily, and I grew with it the same way I did with drawing, they have similar vibes. Knitting and weaving, on the other hand, have steeper learning curves imo and are way more structured- and I associate more solid (dare I say rigid) structure with Athena. Embroidery and cross-stitch are kinda in their own floating category, maybe because I do them less and therefore have weaker associations with them over-all. I associate hand-sewing largely with Hestia, though again, Athena is always also there, because I associate it with mending, altering clothing, and making home items (ex the quilted pillowcase I've been mentally turning around in my head for the last few weeks).

Interestingly, I find printmaking specifically to be associated with both Athena and Apollo. It leans into the latter's domain, of course, the same way crochet does Athena's, but the structure you need in order to layer & print properly without hurting yourself, ruining equipment, or fucking up you edition seems reminiscent of Athena. Dyeing, especially making & using natural dyes, feels very much like an Athena thing despite it 1) feeling similar to painting or using inks and 2) being a trial & error process that's honestly pretty free-flowing if you approach it a certain way (especially if you do solar dyeing, which doesn't necessarily need some of the more meticulous processes you need to boil-dye something).

[olekciy]

Braided belts with zoomorphic buckles. Hemp, wood, amber, malachite.

[mawce-mirari]

I always forget how helpful veiling actually is for me. I'm just so reluctant to use veiling bc I don't really have a veil that matches my overall style or enough to match on an outfit by outfit basis.

[staticonthestratosphere]

maybe someone could make something make sense to me, perhaps if you’re of the witchy/magik or something otherwise adjacent and not specified persuasion

okay so like, here’s what’s good:

I broke my leg when I was 11 and taught myself how to crochet while recovering but I had actually wanted to learn how to knit and went with my mothers advice of “learn to crochet, it’s easier”. which, whatever (funny and ironic since my mother never knit or crochet, her further reasoning was “one hook how hard can it be”)

anyway, since I’ve been very focused on on knitting this year with minor hiatuses of crochet in between, something has felt different while knitting like.. like I was supposed to be doing that all along? I just keep having these strong feelings of when I look at my hands they’re not, my hands? like obviously it’s Me and That’s My Body, but more of This Isn’t The First Time These Hands Have Crafted Like This

my first instinct is that maybe it’s my lineage and connecting way back with some of my ancestors, and them reaching out somehow or way and that they knit and knit for necessity. maybe explaining my batshit obsession with socks, but?? I would kill to hear if someone else has had similar experiences

which granted, the whole thing Is An Experience but *shrug* pleabe send help lol

[wanderingxrivers]

Making a new veil for myself. I love the color pool with the lace work.

[vanilla-cigarillos]

Magic and Fiber Arts

I’ve recently come to love knitting as a hobby through the encouragements of a very wonderful friend of mine. It’s become such a lovely way to spend my time, in fact, that I’ve begun incorporating it into my practice as well!

Grounding

Knitting can be an excellent way to ground yourself before doing any sort of ritual or spell work. The act of creating art can be very intensive, making your mind focus on something and helping you create more specific intentions that you’ll need for your practice work.

Protection

Weaving intent into your fiber arts can be an excellent way of creating protection spells. Giving blessings to the yarn as you create shawls, scarves, etc. can be either a gift to yourself or ones you love with an additional magical bonus.

Knot Work

Creating your own cords to use in rituals, ceremonies, and knot magic can add an extra layer of power to your work. Making your materials gives a level of intimacy to your practice that not many other things can.

[amieravenson]

Fiber Crafts and The Craft

Around September or October, I start getting the urge to work on fiber crafts. And it's no wonder. In an agrarian society, there's not a lot to do after the harvest and preservation is all done. The nights get longer, and we tend to go within and think more about quiet, peaceful activities after the Summer's rush. The holidays are also around the corner, and it may be time to make handmade gifts as well. But have you considered making your fiber crafts of choice a part of your magickal work as well? As you weave, stitch, knit, crochet, or quilt, you can chant magickal charms, embedding them into your work. You can even create a whole work dedicated to love, protection, abundance, any of the good wishes you would like to give to the lucky recipient of your work. There's a scene in a book (I'm not going to name the book because the author turned out to be a real shithead) where a woman scries as she spins yarn. I love that. The almost mindlessness of the spinning and the rhythm of pumping the pedal could definitely bring you into a deep trance state if you let it. Another book (where the author also turned out to be a shithead) described a woman who made wonderful sweaters for her magickal children, imbued with love and protection. I think the key is in what you concentrate on while you do your fiber arts. Crochet- Everytime you push your needle through your work, imagine pushing your intention into the fabric you create. Cross stitch- Say a charm as you create each stitch going in one direction, and then chant a second charm, meant to lock in the magick, as you stitch in the other direction. Embroidery- Imagine 'building' your spell as you 'build' your design, keep checking in and thinking about your intention. Knitting- Imagine the spell strengthening every time the needles click and clack together. Every loop ties your intention into the fabric. Quilting- Piece together enchantments and affirmations as you stitch together the pieces of the quilt. Sewing- Create something magickal, like a poppet or a pouch to carry sacred items, and breathe your intention into it. Spinning- Chant your intention as you spin, imbuing the very fabric itself with your positive intentions. You can do a lot of other things to imbue magick into your fiber crafts. Burn essential oils or incenses as you work to keep bringing you back to your intention. Stitch sigils or symbols onto your finished objects. Say a blessing over your finished objects before you give them to someone. And by all means, do your fiber crafts in a group with other witches. You can build some incredible energy that way! What about you? Do you do any fiber crafts, and if so, have you considered adding magick to your crafting time? Please let me know in the comments, and blessed be! Read the full article

[saoirsegraves]

Talking about what magic feels like over on the blog...

[dark-points]

I finally put my altar up for Circe and got the go ahead to share it! I am very proud of it! I decoupaged a thrift store find with images of her, painted the insides with four shades of gold, added a tassel, and rigged up hooks on the bottom to hang the pig suede altar cloth using yarn I braided (braids are one of her things). I am especially happy to have been able to source a piece of old European wolf pelt from a friend! The lion candle holder was a cool find, and I already had that massive sunstone pig carving that fits nicely. I’ll probably add more to it and swap some things around occasionally, but it came out how I hoped it would! More importantly, it got her stamp of approval c:

[poesielibre]

I finished my last knitting project Saturday morning, in time to wear it for the first time. I don't have good pictures yet but maybe I'll post them later.

I am now back to my neglected knitting project, a shawl with a 16 row cable repeat. Funnily enough both projects are made with purple yarn. Do I like purple ? Yeah ! But also the two yarns are completely different. The just finished project (a cowl/ shawl hybrid) is made with Han dyed variegated purple yarn while the shawl is made with a dusty and slightly heatered purple yarn.

I also finished my most frustrating project ever yesterday, my first and last woven scarf. I can barely look at it because of how much grief, anger and frustration this thing has given me. Hopefully those feelings will fade when fall comes so I can start using it. It is objectively a good project, a nice long, wide and soft wool scarf.

[bardicspirit]

Knitted friend! Available for UK purchase 🥹🎃

[coriander-candlesticks]

I've been able to work on the veiling cloth I've been knitting, but I've hit the stage where I'm used enough to the pattern & worked out enough kinks that I'm starting to lose motivation like a flat tire loses air, so I figured I'd share my progress here as a way to keep myself accountable & motivated. This is after about a week of working in several-hour chunks most days. I won't always be able to work on it that much, but if I get a good system down to prevent losing my place I might be able to take it with me to work to knit it on the train or during my lunch break.

I'm trying to make it long enough to drape over the top of a small cube bookshelf in my room and cover the top two cubbies, where I'm planning to set up my altars to Athena and Apollo. That way I can keep them hidden while friends are in my room, since I'm still not sure when I want to start talking to them about my exploration of paganism and I don't want them to ask about the altars or absentmindedly pick something on them up. I have some books I associate with the two gods that I'm either going to place in the back of their altar shelves or on the shelves under them (for easier accessibility): art/worldbuilding books, journals, & books that have inspired me creatively for Apollo's and philosophy & fiber arts books as well as texts related to ancient Greece & Greek mythology for Athena's.

I was going to just use the black speckled yarn, but I'm not sure I have enough, so I'm adding in the pink yarn both so it's not jarring and so it'll be easier to add another color later if need be. The ruffles weren't intentional...I'm using a lace pattern chart from Hitomi Shida's Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible and wrote one of the symbol keys down incorrectly, so I was decreasing every other row for a while when I shouldn't have. And by "for a while" I mean the first 20 or so rows. 🤦 The pattern should come through better in another 10-20 rows; I haven't actually finished a full repeat yet because even after I fixed the decrease problem I lost my place and got frustrated, so I just knit straight across for a row and started the pattern over from the beginning. This took way too long to cast on and knit the first few rows, so I'm not going to fully start over unless I absolutely have to. This is a learning process, after all, which is part of what Athena and Apollo are about anyway. And if I frog (unravel) it all and start over it's just going to be frustrating and feel like a chore, which is absolutely not the mindset I want to be in when making anything, let alone something that's going to be connected to a sacred space.

[briarsandbramble]

✨BIG END OF YEAR SALE✨

From now until January 1st! Receive 30% off of every item in the shop! EVERYTHING!

Thank you all for making this year so magical for me and my family. Your love and support truly means everything. I couldn’t do this without you (literally). 💫