two worlds collide.

two worlds, one space.

and then we performed at the etsy labs in berlin.

huge thanks to anda, matt and dave for helping make this wonderful evening happen.

and thanks to kayla for a fantastic tour.

yarn dazzle.

just look at this aghan my friend trixie is working on. she even sent me on my way with a square so i could be mesmerized while i travel onward to germany.

zascitna.

i know i bought this hand cream just because of the packaging.

eggcetera.

it's coming up on easter which means that these traditional slovenian easter eggs are all over ljubljana.

peppered tales.

today our friend nadine took us to her friends' (julia and manou) indie craft shop tucked away in the side streets of the würzburg city centre - {herr} pfeffer. i have to say that in the midst of this performance your, it was incredibly comforting to round a corner and see the telltale markers of indie craft - banners, colour, flags, scalloped edges, bunting. to me, the sense of similarity between shops like these is a gentle gateway into the differences between crafting communities.

i like that indie craft develops in a mixture of isolation, community and cross-pollinated inspiration. it develops work that is both recoginizable in its kinship to...say...what i do while also expressing unique personal voice. at {herr} pfeffer, i saw work that was more playful than the muted tones and minimalism i have been seeing back home. even the politics were dealt with in a more playful manner (fonts communicate a lot when it comes to political messages - see below). not that either is right or wrong, i just like the sense that overlap and independence can coexist. it's organic.

while we were in the shop, manou was working on a large crochet piece intended for public intervention. she also told us a great story about making massive beanies for the city's iconic bridge statues. they were apparently left up on their heads for months before they slowly disappeared. eventually, she saw one of them reemerge in the city on the head of a beleaguered man with dreadlocks down to the ground. this has something to do with the way indie craft operates - work is put out into the world without any control over what the world will do with it. you could say the same about the mass market, but as a maker, the reunion with a single piece would be impossible it that context. unique, handmade work inherently holds story and collects it.

if you find yourself in würzburg, i highly recommend a browse through the shirts, dolls, magnets, pins, notebooks and more of {herr} pfeffer. their stock comes from all over europe and feels like little peeks into the minds of all those makers.

würzburg.

just a few images from an afternoon walk in würzburg begining with, of course, a self-superior declaration that it has gone beyond spring here today. sorry, toronto.

swell supplies.

looking for little denim iron-ons today, i was directed to würzburg's multi-level department store. they have a little section for that kind of stuff on the top floor, i was told. look what greeted me at the top of the escalator. pure trouble. this was only the yarn part of the craft section - and the whole complex was not very big as department stores go. this clearly speaks to a greater basic integration of craft into the culture than us north americans are used to. i allowed myself the patches, some thread and a couple skeins of wool and alpaca to crochet on trains. some lucky future shoppers can pick up neckwarmers made from these personal rarities, once the weather gets cold again.

play misty for me.

so...we woke up to this this morning. hey germany, why you gotta look like such a fairy tale?

the old countries.

after sixteen hours of travel, kayla and i are finally at our first stop in wurzburg, germany. we will be here for a few days, teaching performing and getting over our jet lag.