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Good morning!
Let me preface this by saying I'm aware that I'm doing a lot of navel-gazing lately. At the end of the day this blog is for me, and it's a bonus that anyone reads it. If you're one of those people, thank you for following along.
Continuing on with this year's theme of self-reflection and discovery, I've been thinking less about the kind of content I want to put out and more about what I want to spend my time doing. We returned from our weekend camp last Sunday, and by mid-week my husband was already making noises about the next.
Let the record show that this makes me so, so happy. I am always afraid that I'm the overzealous outdoorswoman dragging her spouse along, and that is so incredibly not the case here.
My happy camper mind is at peace.
We're finding that as soon as we're home again, we miss being away from it all: Discord and Slack servers, constant news, constant content, scrolling YouTube and Instagram for hours, milling around aimlessly, bored. Too much choice, so we do a lot of nothing. Not wanting to go out because it's busy and crowded, so we stay home.
Please don't misunderstand; I love having a handful of near-constant connections and a dedicated space to talk to our community. I have been blessed with a fair few friendships that I haven't let completely fall off the radar, as well as those who I talk to every day, and some that are Column A at times and Column B at other times.
Friends, I love you, and I hope to create and/or resume in-the-flesh connections with many of you.
We have home comforts that we enjoy, especially our kitchen and hobby spaces, but there's something about having only a few things with you, and having to take some extra steps to cook or make coffee. Everything slows down when we pack it all out for the weekend, and it feels like we gain so much time — time to think, to chat, to listen, to be quiet.
Listen, I talk a lot. I always have, but I'm learning to be still and quiet with my own thoughts. I don't have to speak everything out loud, and I've learned (or one would think I've learned) that some ideas need to stay in my head for me to grow them to fruition. They're not ready until they're ready, and often that means I need to keep quiet and start the project on my own without telling anyone. I'm going to need to go dark sometimes and just make things.
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So, what do I want to spend my time doing?
I want to go all-in on my makes, start to finish. I want to finish what's on my plate, and then pursue one passion project at a time and see where that takes me. I'll still have a side project that's portable when applicable, but I largely want to try to keep my WIP count low.
I still want to work through my project queue by the end of the year. That's going to take some planning and dedication, but I know I can do it.
I want to spend less time staring at screens and more time staring at books, playing music, and making things with my hands. That one is going to require making some changes that aren't going to feel very comfortable right away.
I'm currently streaming roughly every other Saturday and, aside from a couple of really solid, exciting broadcasts, I've been feeling pretty exhausted by the whole thing. I try to be honest with my community, but I also don't like to say I'm going to do something and then do the opposite, or jump too quickly to taking time off when I might be really jazzed to stream in two weeks.
As it stands right now, I'm going to announce when I'll be live rather than when I won't be. I think that'll give me the freedom I need to take time and figure out where I'm going with all of this, get my shop up and running again, try some new things, and run a little experiment that requires me to hush a bit.
When you see me going live again, it'll be because I have exciting things to share!
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Speaking of exciting things, we have a little community knit-along starting on Saturday, April 16! I won't be streaming, but I'll be sharing video clips, photos, and community members' projects on my Instagram throughout the KAL.
We'll be making Stone Knits' Rad Radish Socks, and if you're reading this the day it was posted then there's a pattern giveaway happening in my Discord server! (If you're not in the server and would like to be, please reach out to me; it's not behind a paywall.)
I purchased some Knit Picks Stroll* and Stroll Tweed* for this pattern and will be using some indie dyed yarn from my stash to make the radishes.
There are no other prizes, but that's okay because the real prize is the socks we'll make along the way.
I'll see myself out.
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I'll give a quick update on my own makes, and then I think I'll wrap this up.
Spin: The Fondant Fibre Merino/nylon/sparkle blend is about halfway through chain plying.
Knit: Habitation Throw still in progress, haven't worked on it in about a week. Umaro blanket still in progress, worked on it last weekend.
Weave: Purple/Rainbow wrap is finished and will have its own finished object post Soon™. Loom is empty.
Crochet: I started some simple double crochet blanket squares with the Patons Classic Wool Worsted that I dyed last fall. I'm pairing it with the remaining undyed yarn and we'll see how many squares I can make. I'm happy to buy more to fill it out to blanket size
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That's where I'm at this week, and I'll keep posting updates here as they arise!
Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you when I see you. 💟
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