Look at just how far you've come

Thoughts on trying to measure the enjoyment we get from knitting

Last week, I shared Jeff’s Groovy 70s Socks with you. I photographed them in this lovely little photography studio just across the bay from where I live. I had some extra time on my studio booking, so I took some self-portraits. This is one of them.

If you’ve been around these parts for a while, you know how important I think it is to make things by hand. Every day.

I hope you can spend a little (or a lot of) time today knitting or crocheting. I hope you can sew something, by hand or machine, if that’s what you love to do. Or bake for pleasure. Or use your hands to bend wire, or tinker with clay, or dig in the dirt. Something tactile, whether messy or neat, whether you’re making something “beautiful” or “ugly”.

Making things by hand has been nourishing and life-giving for me, and I think it’s the same for you.

Sometimes, when I’m visiting the socials (Instagram or Ravelry or really anywhere knitters might gather, online or off), I can forget that the point of making something is joy. My own, personal feeling of being lit up inside. It’s not about showing it to other people. It’s not about having the most finished object photos, or the most likes, or the most favorites. It’s about that quiet part inside that says: I made this. With my own two hands.

This feeling of pleasurable making, just for myself, often happens when I’m learning something new and am tenaciously trying to master it. I might not have anything to show for my efforts because I’m ripping out my (knitting) work and trying again. Or I might have something that looks like a hot mess because I’m still learning. And sometimes, I might be making something so beautiful that I can hardly keep making it because I keep stopping to admire it. And I think to myself: Look at what my hands can do!

This week, I’ve been learning one-color and two-color brioche stitch. I’ve knit a few brioche projects before, but it’s not a technique I use often. There are so many parts of brioche that make me feel slow and clunky: trying to read a brioche chart, understanding the gauge that will make a fabric I like, simply working the stitches and remembering where to have my yarn (in front? in back?).

I stuck with it, though, ripping out so much knitting, day after day, all week long.

And here I am, “just” one week later, amazed at what my hands can do. Once again, sticking with something and encouraging myself to keep going through the low points helped lead me to a good place.

I’m not a brioche master, but I’ve learned it on the small project I’m working. My brioche fabric is not as tidy as some others might be able to make, but I’ve learned enough to make the really cute little thing I wanted to make. I learned what worked for me—and what didn’t.

It occurs to me that making something by hand teaches us all kinds of great things. Like persistence, because making something by hand is almost always slower than buying it in a store. It also teaches that we’re competent. It embeds the feeling of competence in our bodies, so even if we aren’t thinking we’re good at something, our hands know we are.

And my favorite way to make something is to knit. So that’s just what I’ll be doing more of today.

(If you want a sneak peek at why I’ve been learning brioche, here it is!)

LAST CALL for a discount on my new sock pattern & sock yarn kits

Last Sunday, I released a new sock pattern and sock yarn kits in my shop: Jeff’s Groovy 70s Socks. I also set up an introductory discount for you, dear newsletter subscriber. I don’t like to rely on FOMO for selling things in my shop, so I don’t usually play up the “end date.” Instead I send a “today is the last day” type of email.

Only I neglected to do it. (It was a week y’all. Sometimes my brain can be extra-spicy and I needed a bit more quiet and focus than a typical “launch marketing week” would afford.)

Very nicely, though, because I’m creative, I can do a workaround! So, today, until 11:59pm Pacific Time, I’ve coded my shop to give you the introductory discount!

Today is your last chance for:

If you click either button above, you won’t need to enter any code at all. It’ll be pre-loaded for you. 😉 If you’d like to buy the pattern on Ravelry, click here, and the code will be pre-loaded, too.

(FYI, if something goes awry, the code for patterns is littlebrother and the code for kits is littlebrotherkits)

Look how pretty this little “photography” corner of my back yard was looking before all the rain! Those sprouts are alstroemerias!

If you bought the pattern or a yarn kit during the week: thank you! I will be wrapping and shipping everything on Monday (including any orders placed during today’s “last call!”)

If you ordered mid-week, did not receive a discount, and would like me to apply it retroactively, just email me (anne @ littleskein.com). I’m not fussed by these things and am happy to help.

I hope you are able to spend some quiet time today making something by hand. Not something that’s necessary (like, say, dinner), but something you want to make just for the joy of it.