Aurélie/La Comtesse tells the story of how she came to make her knitted covid comfort blanket that she wanted to share with everyone…
As a single parent, I have to stay strong and be my four children’s rock. I’ve been a lighthouse in the storm many many times in the past 13 years, but this is the strangest storm so far. I have coping mechanisms not to crumble, but I dread to think what would happen if I started to fail at that.
I keep my hands busy, I let my mind wander, I make stuff. In many ways, making is meditating. I feel connected to women across the ages, the handicraft, the community, the sense of purpose.
So this quarantine knit-along made perfect sense in the circumstances. I started knitting one patch and then another and it soon became a routine to make one a day and to look forward to the next one. It was one of the very first things I would do right after breakfast in the morning. It would ground me, and allow me to be in the moment.
The children would gather around me and get their chores and plan for the day. I would take pictures and post to social media and smile at people’s response. Once it’s out there it’s not mine anymore. It felt like I wanted extending my comfort blanket to everyone.
I wanted to stop at times. I didn’t touch it for days in a row, and then I would knit three a day. I had big plans of keep on going until the lockdown was over but then it seemed like it would last forever. I want the project to be a comfort rather than an extra chore, so I decided 42 was enough. I joined the squares and lined them. It is now a complete object, useful, beautiful, meaningful. The children have been using it constantly, throwing it on a chair or a corner rolled into a ball.
This is how heirlooms are made. This is how artists and crafters cope in difficult times. We make stuff.
To find out more about Aurélie’s work check out her artists website The Aesthetics of Motherhood and Other Projects.
By Aurélie/La Comtesse