Stacey aka Curious Sleuth

Return Some absences online are not silent, they’re quietly filled with lived experiences offscreen. I’ve been quiet. Not intentionally. Beginning something new has asked a lot of me. I expected interestingness, like-minded sleuths, shared enthusiasm… and while those do exist, they didn’t arrive the way I had imagined. I’m still mid-tangle, honestly. Yet now, my attention has returned without the overwhelming noise, discomfort, and anxiety. This return is quiet, an honest rethreading of what matters. I’m here, restitching the entanglements of disappointment, hope, and resilience that real-life gifts. Deep breath. I pick up my crochet hook that’s been patiently waiting for my return. More soon. 🧶

Thanks @createwhimsy for interviewing me and inviting me to create whimsy with fellow handcrafters worldwide. 🧶 Posting a few of the Q&A. Click the link in bio to read the full interview.

Dear Humanity, I’m writing with yarn entangling my hands as news headlines continue to bombard us. Despite the grief of war, reach for your vibrant yarns and subversive hooks. Crochet a small act of gentle resistance in a harsh world. I see you, Humanity, not only in your chaos but in the compassion you’ve forgotten you embody. Your anger and weapons of destruction have made you disregard the fragility of our coexistence on the only planet we call home. So, mend the fabric of us by threading multicultural societies that are inclusively tolerant. Revolutionary love is the only weapon worth wielding. We are one humanity. Love Stacey

Crochet or knit one row a day for a year! Join @craftivism_club and @curioussleuth as we begin to make tempestry (tapestry + temperature) scarves that thread weather data into coded fabric. We are collaborating with meteorologist, weather forecaster, and broadcaster Lehlohonolo Thobela @l_thobela who is learning to crochet while making his own tempestry scarf! The TMAX project is inspired by @tempestryproject a collaborative craftivism project creating awareness of climate change, globally. Now, the project has reached Africa! Here are prep tips and how to’s. We are stitching the TMAX, maximum temperature per day. CURRENT DATA SCARF Preparation tips for creating a tempestry scarf for this current year. Start on 1 March 2026, and complete on 28 Feb 2027. 1. Crochet or knit? Your choice. 2. Stash buster! Choose six colours of yarn leftovers (cool colours for cold days and warm colours for hot days). 3. Create a colour key and allocate temperature ranges in degrees celsius. 4. Choose an African city - your home turf or somewhere interesting you’d like to explore in Africa. 5. Download a weather app. 6. Cast on 15cm width. 7. Check the weather app each day for the TMAX (maximum temperature). 8. Crochet or knit one row per day in the yarn colour that corresponds to that day’s TMAX. You’re ready to start making your tempestry scarf! HISTORICAL DATA SCARF Here’s another option. Make a tempestry scarf with historical data from 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. Choose a place in Africa and a year “back in the day!” Visit the Weather Data + Art website and download the data for the city and year you’ve chosen. COMPARATIVE SCARVES DUO Would you like to make two scarves with comparative data sets? Choose a place in Africa. Make a current data scarf and a historical data scarf. We will compare them when they’re completed. Both scarves… just one row a day! #craftivism #crochet #knit #tempestry #climatechange

Crochet or knit one row a day for a year! TMAX is a craftivism project creating awareness of the rising temperatures in Africa. Temperatures across the African continent are higher than the global average resulting in severe weather outcomes including brutal heatwaves, deadly droughts, raging forest fires, and catastrophic floods. Join @craftivism_club and make a tempestry scarf that is a conversation starter about threatened ecosystems, environmental disasters, and the climate crisis in Africa driven by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Our special guest Lehlohonolo Thobela @l_thobela is a meteorologist, weather forecaster, and broadcaster. Crochet or knit one row a day for a year! Start: 1 March 2026 Finish: 28 February 2027 Follow @craftivism_club and @curioussleuth for prep tips and how-to’s. Join our hookups to get started. Jozi Hookup: Saturday 21 Feb 14:00 - 17:00 Cape Town Hookup: Saturday 28 March 14:00 - 17:00 This is a yarn stash buster! Use up your leftovers. Please note: TMAX is a comparative study of climate data across Africa. If you’d like to take part, please comment and join @craftivism_club so we can track the data. Even if you can’t make it to our in-person hookups, you can work remotely. #craftivism #crochet #knit #tempestryproject

Pages with folded corners and handwritten notes in paper books… my constant companions during my digital detox over the past month. These books hold extraordinary stories and wisdoms shared by authors worldwide. @twylatharp_ reminded me that it’s not enough to just read a book. Scribbling in the margins and highlighting sentences spark deeper thinking. My own scribbles and deep thoughts have rethreaded me to the core of craftivism and the work I resonate with. These books have invited me to reclaim my analogue life and it’s felt mindful and comforting. Now, life in a hybrid world calls me back. I’m consciously adjusting to the reintroduction of digital realities as I calmly try to charge my e-book device during a power outage. And I smile as I glance at the stack of books watching me. #craftivism #reading #digitaldetox

Grateful to be a contributing author in the newly published anthology “Global Craftivism since the Pussyhats: Handcraft Responses to Violence, War, Illness, and Isolation.” Thanks @crochetactivism for holding my story with care alongside thoughtful voices in the global craftivism community. My chapter titled “Blossoms Not Bullets” is a craftivist’s plea for peace instead of war, embodying threads that are tellers of us all at this stitch in time. It reflects on my installation of crochet yarn graffiti in Johannesburg during October 2024. “This anthology offers a framework for understanding why people urgently turn to textile handwork as a site of repair in a world on the brink and examines how craft expression aligns with political activism in a sometimes quirky and always colourful way.” - Professor Hinda Mandell, editor of anthology

Honoured to be included in this collab in Berlin with craftivists from across the world. Thanks @gretl.wand for inviting us to stitch our voices together into this yarn graffiti tapestry titled “Words of Love” which answers the call to stop gender-based violence during 16 Days of Activism. It’s been inspiring to connect with all of you over the past year as we created it. My crochet piece was made in South Africa and couriered to Germany. Visit the street art mural at Obentrautstraße 19-21, Berlin.

Purple reign. Women shut our country down… and government finally woke up. GBVF is officially classified a National Disaster in South Africa. Now, as craftivists, how many more roses do we have to crochet before words become actions, and promises become the change? @womenforchangesa has rallied us together as a force too loud to ignore. Many hands, many voices, many yarns, and many roses are a symbolic measure of the enormous scale of the GBVF crisis, and the enormity of this historical event. #G20 #craftivism #craftivists #elleyarns #crochet #womenforchangesa#womenshutdown #unburythetruth

The softness of our threads from @elle_yarns juxtaposes the harsh violations of GBVF. These yarns have connected us across South Africa from Joburg to Cape Town, Soweto, Tembisa, and Durban. Together, we are fiercely yet gently united. Our purple roses @rosesagainstviolence add beauty to the world instead of fear as we crochet in solidarity with the Women’s Shutdown @womenforchangesa declaring GBVF a national emergency in South Africa. @craftivism_club @curioussleuth #craftivism #craftivists #elleyarns #crochet#womenforchange #womenshutdown #unburythetruth #rosesagainstviolence #yarngraffiti #curioussleuth

We crochet in solidarity with the Women’s Shutdown @womenforchangesa and declare GBVF a national emergency in South Africa. Our hands and hooks are amplifying our voices and carrying our message. Slow stitching is an act of resistance and care as we collectively crochet purple roses for @rosesagainstviolence with @elle_yarns @craftivism_club @curioussleuth #craftivism #craftivists #elleyarns #crochet#womenforchange #womenshutdown #unburythetruth #rosesagainstviolence #yarngraffiti #curioussleuth

Stitching the truth. Craftivists are crocheting purple roses to declare GBVF a national emergency in South Africa. We crochet in solidarity with the Women’s Shutdown @womenforchangesa to disrupt the insufficient systemic response to gender-based violence and femicide. We are collaborating with @elle_yarns for @rosesagainstviolence #craftivism #craftivists #elleyarns #womenforchange #womenshutdown #unburythetruth #rosesagainstviolence #yarngraffiti #curioussleuth