Lisa’s #KnittingResidency at Northfield Yarn
[ Re-blogged from Northfield Yarn Shop at https://northfieldyarn.com/blogs/blog/artist-lisa-daehlin-brings-her-lovepeoplebekind-project-to-our-shop-window-in-may ]
Artist Lisa Daehlin Brings Her #LovePeopleBeKind Project to Our Shop Window in May
by Laura Haave May 05, 2021
Artist Lisa Daehlin brings her #LovePeopleBeKind hearts and circles to Northfield Yarn this month!
Find her in our shop window, stitching a mandala, from noon – 4 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, May 7 – 22.
Swing by, wave hello, pick up a free crocheted heart, spread the love.
Artist’s Statement
Circles, encircling, outwardly whirling, these patterns seem to repeat themselves all around us. We, too, are part of those circles. Ours crossing over into those of others. Perhaps in these times, even more than before, we are reminded of what our bodies and spirits know: we are connected by the circle of humanity, and we miss each other during this time of distance.
While my project of hearts and mandalas has been with me for a number of years, it has become informed more deeply by the events of the past year. Bringing more sharply into focus how we feel and what we think of when we are alone, asking ourselves how that might differ from being at one. The movement of the hands when doing “fancy work” (as Grandma called it) serves as a massaging of our hearts and a soothing of our souls. One of the gifts of this difficult time of distance has been time of turning inward. The balance to that inner spiral is the outward spiral of the mandalas I am crocheting.
This “knitting residency” project (which, spoiler alert, I would love to do all over the world, yarn shops, street corners, parks, hearts of humanity) started at Knitty City in NYC. The idea of bringing some spot of brightness to a street of the city temporarily slowed and dimmed by the tides of our times. I had one idea of what it would be, but, as with many things in life, the process teaches us what it intends to unfold. The process of being in the store window, making crochet hearts and handing them out to passers by, waving to people as they burst into smiles (thankfully, we can see smiles in the eyes). All this and the constrictions of the space, I found myself bringing in a music stand to support the mandala as it grew. Round and round, with the red bird of inspiration on my head to keep me centered (perhaps a bit off-kilter, but centered nonetheless – haha!). Of course, the hearts found their way into the mandala… how could it be any other way?
About Lisa
Lisa Daehlin is a knitting designer and opera chanteuse. Her project of #LovePeopleBeKind has as its goal bringing the world together in seemingly small ways (one heart at a time) that can grow more plentiful than any we can imagine.
Lisa’s artistic identities as a singer and a stitch wielder often blend together in her performance of art song on the concert stage, in cabarets, and in windows of yarn shops. One such example, her OperaKnit Cabaret, rears its head in various incarnations.
She free-lances for the fashion industry and retail design. Her designs can be seen walking the streets of Manhattan, gracing the pages of numerous publications, including: Interweave Knits, Knit.1, Knit Simple, and Vogue Knitting magazines as well as featured in Lace Style, Bag Style, and The New Tunisian Crochet books published by Interweave Press, and Vogue Knitting: Ultimate Hat Book and Vogue Knitting: Shawls and Wraps by Sixth and Spring Books.
Over the past two decades, Lisa has taught at several venues including: 92Y, The Cooper Union, The Creative Center, Newark Museum, PS122 Gallery, Harlem Knitting Circle, University Settlement, Vogue Knitting LIVE, and the American Folk Art Museum in New York.
lisadaehlin's blog 