Kate's Curly

Here, I think, is an interesting example of the idea of domain change. From knowing crochet as a tool for designing pretty or useful items that are usually made from fabric, Daina Taimina created a paradigm shift when she saw crochet as a scientific/mathematical tool. She was seeking a concrete and mathematical way to express constant negative curvature (the hyperbolic plane). This curvature is found in nature in plants like curly kale and animals like the nudibranch. She is now well known among mathematicians and crocheters alike.

I have a copy of Daina's book, Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes. The other day it called to me to pick it up. I read the first chapter and then set my hands to this strange form. After about ten rows I stopped to play with it, variously: opening it up, folding it, twisting it and wondering whether I should sew the side edges together or leave it as it is. I wasn't sure. In the end, I sewed it up and recognized it as a very cool baby toy, making my own domain shift. It is soft and lightweight, easy to pick up, colorful, can be packed into a pocket and shaken back into shape. As you can see Kate is a great tester!

My Own Hand-Brain Connection

I can put my finger on a specific place, on a specific night when I became consciously aware that in pursuing my own handwork skills, creatively, I had changed my brain, maybe my IQ and definitely the way I would look at handwork forever after - even the way I would see the world.

I had gained a material compass. I understood that all material has its limits of size; things can only be built so large or so small without reaching the limits of the material. I understood that all material had a grain, a bias, a dimensionality, and that to make something in 3-dimensions, those factors in the source material had to be taken into account. Wood, fiber, fabric, metal and even the universe has its own limits to be reckoned with. Yet within those limits, creativity is boundless.

I understood something of the ideas of telescoping and spiraling. Think of: nesting boxes, matroyshkas, a photographer photographing a photographer, photographing a photographer.... These are good skills to have when deciding the form of an object coupled with its texture, line, pattern and color or when changing sizes and proportions. The brain must be able to slip-slide with purpose. Isn't it true? And sometimes we shut down and forget those functions when we most need to transfer them, as in scheduling a hectic day or planning a complex meal. Another thing I learned was how to keep the overall picture in my mind while paying attention to details.

How did I learn all these things? Mostly by pursuing a range of fiber crafts that culminated in original doll making. They taught me skills and philosophy I could never have learned in school. I strongly support handwork as an educational endeavor!

Original Wrist Distaffs

My husband has been playing around with a new application called Diptic on his iPad. He presented me with this little gift this morning after shooting the photos of my newest wrist distaffs. I love this small collage! I want to learn how to use Diptic myself. In the meantime, both distaffs have been added to my Etsy shop. For those who don't know, a wrist distaff is a wonderful way to keep a supply of roving ready for drawing out and spinning. It makes drop spindling much more fun.

Little Explorers

Very young children want to explore everything in their world and their most important organ for doing that is their hands. In their unconscious manner, children want to know about the properties of materials: metal, rubber, plastic, wood, stone, fiber. They need to experience by feeling, such characteristics as smooth, hard, bumpy, rough, crumbly, floppy, and rigid. And, yes, it is very important to safely learn hot and sharp!

Yet, too often, we abruptly tell them, "no!" or slap their hands when it really isn't necessary. I worked in a toy store for twenty years and I wish there had been more parents, who, instead of keeping small fingers completely at bay had been actively teaching their children how to touch and giving them the language and the experience necessary for further growth.

Young children need to pet, stroke, bang and manipulate all kinds of items made out of all kinds of materials. The most child friendly environment is one in which children have a rich variety of things they are allowed to manipulate: blocks made from different kinds of wood, books both hard cover and paperback, magazines, leather purses and belts, bits of silk, velour and wool, baskets, simple tools and age-appropriate goodies from the hardware store. The nerve endings in our fingers are among our most important assets and children with rich early experiences will be on intellectually sound ground toward preparation for later learning.

Kate's Hat

Kate's hat is pretty folky. I think of it as a "Baby Voyager Hat" because it reminds me of the red hats that early French explorers wore in the American Northeast. I worked this hat in back-and-forth single crochet with the stranding along the inside. The yarn is DK weight superwash merino wool. For the first time, I broke away from the 4-stitch repeats I had been using and included my 10-stitch chevron. I embroidered French knots in the lower triangles. After decreasing nearly to the end, I worked several rows straight including a row of half-double crochets for the drawstring. The last two rows reflect the colorwork of the body. 

 Richard took some fun family shots of Naomi with both children in their one-of-a -kind hats.

Tiny Hands

Many of us are familiar with this charming image of a fetus in utero sucking its thumb. What most people don't realize is that the fetus is already developing a more extensive relationship with its hands, touching its surroundings and its own body. New imaging technology has allowed doctors to catch glimpses of a variety of tactile movements during regular prenatal exams and scientists have been able to schedule more frequent exam rhythms to learn even more about fetal activity. Heidelise Als, Ph. D. studies developmental psychology at Harvard Medical School. She describes fetal tactile stimulation this way: "It touches a hand to the face, one hand to the other hand, clasps its feet, touches its foot to its leg, its hand to its umbilical cord." I am wondering, what early incarnation of the hand/brain connection these movements represent?

Primary Hand Skills

When I brought home my first kindergarten report card, my mother unconsciously stood and read it aloud. Toward the end, she read one category of growth called "large motor development" and another called "fine motor development." They sounded funny so I asked what they meant. I was especially intrigued, even then, that my teacher had been watching my hands, or at least, watching what I did with them. I believe the grade was something as simple as "satisfactory." I was probably too young to absorb any kind of criteria if such had been written on the card. But I am curious about those criteria now.

What do we want children to be capable of doing with their hands? We focus so much on intellect in our schools and, secondarily, large motor development through sports but if we were to focus on developing children's hands, what characteristics would we want to develop?

I have four core criteria that I think are important: strength, control, dexterity and grace. Strength is required for all the grips and grasps we use to hold all kinds of tools. No one wants a hammer to go flying out of the hand while in use. A needle, thin though it is, must be held firmly to sew on a button. Every day we wring out dish cloths and wash cloths; tasks that take strength. When I was young, I slipped off a rock while crossing a creek. My father wrung out my wet socks so well that when it was necessary to head home, my socks were nearly dry on a rock in the sun.

Strength needs to be moderated by control. When we change a light bulb, we must meet the friction of loosening it with strength but also with the control not to break it. When we learn to use a saw, we require the strength to draw it back and forth and apply pressure yet the control to allow the saw to do its work without too much pressure.

Dexterity allows our hands and fingers to adjust to a variety of tools and manipulations. These can be as simple as a good grasp on a mixing spoon or a pocket knife to as complex as the movements required to use knitting needles, a crochet hook or a sewing needle and to adjust the position of the material we are working with.

Strength, control, dexterity and grace are all required to play musical instruments. Grace allows for fluid movements and expressive timing. Grace should also be inherent in the expressions our hands make as we communicate. I would want a child to have a graceful hand for the sake of pure beauty, for the ability to create beauty and to be beautiful merely to look at.

In the photo of Liam you can see the strength to hold his tool and break the crab shell, the control not to knock his plate off the table, and the dexterity to steady the crab with his other hand. Grace will enter this picture most obviously when he brings his food to his mouth and eats in a manner appropriate to the social setting.