Change (in the house of WLM)
Change, matrescence, new people and Kate Bush!
Hey folks!
How is it October already??!! So, we haven’t posted anything on the substack since (checks notes)… July! Blimey! In a way, that’s pretty symbolic of what has been a very busy time at What Lydia Made HQ. Busy and full of change. Behind the scenes, we’ve been working hard on the Joyride Jacket, which we will be launching imminently (watch this space!) As well as another very special pattern… But before we get to that… I have some big news…
Hellos and Goodbyes
You may have seen on Lydia’s Instagram… I’m pregnant! This is my first child, due in mid-November, and what an exciting, surreal, mind-blowing time of expansion it has been! This inevitably means that after 2 wonderful years of working with Lydia I will sadly be leaving WLM next week for maternity leave. Honestly, I have no idea how I’m going to feel once I become a mum, so we’re leaving it a little open-ended. Maybe I’ll be back, maybe I won’t. Regardless, Lydia and I plan to collaborate on projects in the future, and our friendship lives on. I feel so incredibly lucky to have worked with Lydia over the last couple of years and I’ve learnt SO MUCH. It’s sad, but it’s also exciting and I can’t wait to see what happens next… It’s very hard to put into words all the emotions I am feeling. Mainly, I am feeling grateful for all the life circumstances that led me to the precious earth angel, ball of sunshine that is Lydia Morrow <3
Another exciting element of this is that we have not one, but TWO new people joining the WLM team this month: Maria Suessmilch and Becca Lewis.
Maria, aka Wild Knits Glasgow, is a knitwear designer based in Glasgow, who I have been training (training seems like a strong word… she already knew so much!) to take over the grading and more technical stuff I’ve been doing for WLM patterns.
Becca is an artist, also based in Glasgow, with lots of experience in sustainability and project coordination. She’s involved with the Alexandra Park Food Forest, and has previously worked for the Glasgow Women’s Library. She’ll be taking over the more general support work and will no doubt be incredible.
Consider this their soft launch as I’m sure there will be much more in-depth introductions to come, but rest assured they are two absolute gems.
Jiffy Jumper!
Some of you may have seen this post by Novara Media recently, after Kemi Badenoch stated that statutory maternity pay is ‘excessive’. (IN WHAT WORLD, KEMI?!)
Regardless, WLM doesn't have the money to do maternity pay in the traditional way as I work for Lydia as a self-employed person, and my pay comes directly from her Access to Work grant. But Lydia had the idea to try to find a way to find the extra money by designing a baby / child’s jumper! Ingenious and generous I KNOW! As Lydia says, it's important to us to try to do our best to respect and value each other even though it's not a big business and part of that is engaging our audience in this community moment to get a great pattern while also creating a more liveable mat leave for me than the one the gov offers self-employed folks.
So, after the Joyride Jacket, our next pattern will be the Jiffy Jumper! This is a cute pullover for babies and children from 3 months - 12 years old. Above is a prototype I’ve been knitting for my wee wean! The finished design will involve stranded colourwork and embroidery, and I predict it will be the perfect Christmas pressie for all the bab-ies in your life. We’re seeing the jumper as a crowd funder to top up the minimal statutory maternity pay that I am entitled to.
We’ll be sending out a call for testers very soon, so watch this space.
Matrescence
Finding out I was pregnant serendipitously coincided with an incredible podcast on BBC Sounds called ‘Child’, hosted by India Rakusen (who also made the podcast ‘Witch’, which Lydia has mentioned in a previous post, and ‘28-ish Days Later’… both fantastic). Everyone should listen to this podcast, and I mean this sincerely. It has been a gateway into further research and writing for me and I’m so grateful for it. It’s WILD to me how little I knew going into this… about the process of pregnancy, the politics of it, the history, the magic… I’ve been going through a seismic transitional shift! Other recent publications (below) that come highly recommended for anyone interested in diving into both the bodily realities of motherhood and the concept of it are: Matrescence by Lucy Jones (2023), Mother State by Helen Charman (2024), The Long Form by Kate Briggs (2023).
I have been listening to a lot of Kate Bush this week. King of the Mountain came on the radio while I was driving back from Yorkshire through the Scottish borders on Monday, and it floored me. I was sobbing in the car. Her album Aerial came out during another hugely transition time for me and it made me think… if there was ever someone who musically embodies the hope, pain, magic, wisdom and wonder that I’ve been processing the last few months, it’s her. (I have this realisation periodically throughout my life to be honest… Also, also… how had i never noticed that she’s impersonating Elvis at the beginning of that song!? I have such a vivid image of her in the studio recording those opening lines like ‘the king’. Ah, I love her). I’d love to end this post with some Kate Bush, but between Aerial, The Red Shoes and The Sensual World it’s hard to choose a final song. Instead, I’ve made a playlist (quelle surprise!) of my current top Kate songs. (Please enjoy David Gilmour’s explosive guitar solo on Rocket’s Tail. As my baby’s due in November this song felt especially pertinent).
HUGE love,
Rose xxxxx