I want to be an artist -Tokuko's history of knitting work 1-

May 04, 2019

Hello, this is Kuko Ochiaito, co-representative of amirisu. As a new series starting this spring, I decided to write about my knitting career.

I'm not very good at keeping track of time, so I wasn't sure how long I had been doing this job, but according to Ravelry, it's been 10 years this year. With that milestone in mind, I decided to put it all together before I completely forget the old days.
If possible, I would like to write every day, so please keep in touch.

The title "I want to be an artist" is a phrase in a letter I wrote to my husband when I was 22 years old, before I got married. My husband seems to have the letter (I'm too embarrassed to read it!), but that was the first time I expressed to him that I wanted a job where I could express myself. There have been many twists and turns since then, but I am glad that I was able to get a job like an artist.

First, from my background.
I spent my time up to high school in the countryside of Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture, where fireflies fluttered with a satoyama atmosphere. Family composition of parents, grandparents and younger sister. When I think about it now, I lived in a fairly large house, and when I was little, I used to fly around fields and fields every day.
His father is a technical office worker, and his mother is a calligraphy teacher. It may have been a dream of my father who loved classical music, my older sister and I each started playing the piano at the age of 3, and I switched to classical guitar when I was in the second grade of elementary school. Until I became a university student, I was doing it quite seriously.

My older sister, who has been playing the piano seriously since she was in elementary school, practiced hard day and night on the grand piano in the Western-style room, so it was too noisy to watch TV at all. I spent all my time reading books. Therefore, I can't get excited about talking about old TV with my classmate's husband.

Between playing in the fields, reluctantly practicing musical instruments, and reading books, I was doing handicrafts. I used to make bags and other small items from the large amount of materials I had in my closet. I still remember the dim atmosphere of the closet and the smell of the sewing machine.

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