Biofore Magazine 2020

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A step-by-step guide to whittling a crochet hook 1. Find a stick that fits the purpose. If it’s wet, let it dry. You’ll feel it! At this stage, you can also peel the neck, but you don’t need to necessarily remove the bark from the handle. 2. Use abrasive paper to shape the head of the stick as you wish it to be – some like it sharp, some like it round. 3. Use a coping saw to shape the bowl of the hook. 4. It’s whittling time! Whittle the neck towards the bowl of the hook, never towards yourself. 5. Then, finish off the work with another piece of abrasive paper, getting rid of sharp corners.

free!) and small, just as are yarn and wood, and the tech- niques are relatively straight- forward, yet versatile. When it comes to teaching, Mills is excited to see how things turn out. She doesn’t consider herself a guru, but more as someone who can share inspiration and enthu- siasm. She also doesn’t think workshops are – or even should be – just about learn-

Meditative moments ForMills, her dad’s workshop remains her safe space, a spot where she can just relax, forget about the outside world and focus on what is – literally – at hand. Although at this point in her career, handicraft isn’t as much meditation as it is work, one of the things she loves best about her job is seeing others experience ameditativemo-

ing, rather, she approaches them as a way to build community and even as a kind of therapy. “It’s been incredible to see how people begin to bond and form friendships as they get to know each other in the work- shops,” she says. “I remember a workshop in Chile where the women seemed to get along sowell, I thought they’d known each

other for ages, but it turned out that they’d just met.” Whenitcomestothetherapeuticsideef- fects of handicrafts, Mills believes that get- ting to know new people and sharing and caring is helpful formental health as well. “Half of the workshop is actual work,” she says, “and the rest of it is just being together.”

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