Journalist Sacha McNeil has a few ideas up her sleeve for those pondering on what else to do other than stare at their screens during the lockdown.
Her new project, Of Small Matters, celebrates New Zealand homemade crafts and their makers.
Photo: Sacha McNeil / Of Small Things
McNeil describes herself as a "serial learner" with a passion for understanding how things are made.
"I've done a few different things now, courses in ceramics and pottery, and then I've learnt how to knit and crochet and bake and do all these things with my hands," she tells Jesse Mulligan.
"But I don't excel at any of them I would say, but when I do them I appreciate the work people put into them and I see other people doing them at this level, which is beyond me.
"I just love the idea of having a platform to tell those stories because we've got so many makers in New Zealand, so many clever people who do these things and don't really consider them to be amazing, but they are I reckon.
"People have always got great stories to tell so it's a good way to get into them, through the creativity."
A horizontal stitch sampler. Photo: Sacha McNeil
One of the people she talks to is a woman who crafted little fairy houses, with intricate details, underneath trees in Hobsonville.
"It's just gorgeous and the kids are just right down on their knees looking in there, it's pretty magic and it's just been done by a woman over the first lockdown who decided she wanted to bring a bit of joy to everyone and got out there and made all these tiny houses and hoped the fairies would come along."
She hopes people will find some inspiration from the stories, and says the projects are useful for children's development too.
"Like me, you may not be amazing at it, but the feeling of achievement and fulfilment when you've made something with your own hands and particularly if you can give it to someone as a gift, it's pretty special."
On her site, she's got a variety of projects for people to give a go, from recipes, sample stitching, and upcycling old clothes as well as a few of her own "crazy ideas".
"So far I've got to talking to a few of them [makers] and people who are well known as well who do things that would be quite surprising to people.
"They're so inspiring and you look at them and think 'well I can't do that but I can do a bit of it' and work towards something else."
One that has garnered attention has been Al Brown’s caramel slice recipe, she says.
McNeil also has a pattern for knitted fingerless gloves as well … and a woman who asked for a smaller size for her grandchildren turned out to be Jesse’s mother, who remembered McNeil from when she was Jesse's classmate.
