Granny Square Blanket
Maria José Fernández Oroz, 27 November 2023
I was reflecting that for me creativity is the expression of my soul. I connect with the divine through my senses and my existence is filled with beauty, it is a melting pot of colors, flavors, smells that manifest in some way externally.
In this particular case, I wanted to share with you a project that I started a few months ago. The purpose was doing social service and supporting in a "creative" way the suffering of those children who must leave their country and take refuge somewhere else in the world, escaping the horrors of the Ukrainian war.
I began to imagine that I could knit a Granny Squares blanket with leftover wool, and the materials that I needed quickly manifested through donations that came into my hands in order to begin creating something wonderful.
Since finding those little balls of wool I believed that they were going to be part of a warm blanket that would shelter someone who was in need of love and support.
Obviously, the purpose was not to knit a blanket but to send, through it, a symbolic hug that would embrace someone with something made with passion and tenderness.
As always, life surprises us and the process was more interesting for me than for whoever will receive the blanket.
Weaving was a ceremony. It started the moment I connected with the colors that I would define into a pattern result or small "mandala" that would be part of a whole. I was just putting a little of my creativity at the service of something even greater.
We then formed a group of weavers. Over time, each of us contributed our energy and love to this project and turned out to be a very positive gift to the spirit of our blanket. As expected, we made mistakes and learned together how to do it better, all part of our personal learning and enrichment.
Today, almost at the end of this project, I consider that creativity as service can generate unexpected results, such as recognizing the importance of a loving and compassionate expression towards oneself and others.
