I’ve been a big fan of the blog Whip-up for years…and was horrified to learn of the drowning death of Kathreen Ricketson and her husband Rob, while they were on a year of travel with their 2 kids.
Kay and Ann, of the Mason-Dixon Knitting blog have come us with a great idea: have folks post their favorite whip-up posts all Memorial Weekend long, to share the work of Kathreen, making sure many many people know what a great fount of crafty knowledge she has created..
Let me do my wee part by sharing with you her manifesto:
Whip up is for experimentation, innovation, self expression and the sharing of information and ideas.
Whip up is against mass produced small plastic crappy stuff designed specifically to extract money from wallets, last less than 10 minutes and spend eternity in landfill.
Whipup is about taking time out of your hectic schedule to make. To make something by hand. And by making something by hand instead of buying it, you achieve personal satisfaction, then by teaching yourself and others new skills you will enjoy life more fully.
Whipup is for the slow movement, slow cooking, slow living, slow schooling, slow sundays, slowly enjoying life. By living life out of the fast lane we will hopefully notice more, learn more, enjoy our children, friends and family, enjoy our time doing the things we love.
Whipup values time over money, values skills over things, and is for creating a space in a hectic life for making.
Whip up is all for the handcraft movement.
Some people say Whip up should be against frilled toilet roll holders, but I say if they are made with love then why the hell not eh!
Whip up is against such polarised views as for and against stuff.
I so strongly relate to these words – they so totally describe how I try to live my life, day after day…and values I work hard to teach my boys.
As for a favorite post? It’s so hard to choose one, but if I did, it would be a guest post, written my Victoria Gertenbach, of The Silly Boodilly, on “Finding your creative voice“, a topic that I have struggled with for years, and I find Victoria’s words so helpful. Although it’s not actually written by Kathreen, perhaps that’s the point…a big part of her work at Whip-up was to share the work of other makers, and she did an amazing job of that!
Words can’t express how incredibly sad this situation is. My immediate thoughts are for those two beautiful kids – and luckily, friends have set up a way for folks to donate to an education fund for Otilija and Orlando, details can be found here. If you’d like to help, well that link will provide you with all the details. And make sure to take a look over at Mason-Dixon, I’m sure they’ll be hosting a big list of posts just like this. If you’ve not yet visited Whip-up, please make sure to spend some time there, there is so much awesome content to absorb.
Candy,
Love your words. I, too, loved the generosity of Kathreen’s guest posts. Always something fresh.
Love love lurve your fabric hanging bags, too!
Xxxo Kay
I just learned last night about Kathreen, and am so sad and shocked. Very touched that you choose my post, Candy. I keep thinking of her children and my heart just aches for them.