Because December is crazy for us and then the semester starts right after New Year’s Day, I never feel like January is a slow time. But I do enjoy the shorter days while watching the sun return. While I love spring and watching the world wake up, it brings too many expectations of “you must put in the garden” and “you should be doing lawn work”--all of which I do not enjoy but seems in the Midwest to be almost heresy to say out loud.
So I will happily knit these next few months and allow myself to just be.
Thank you so much for being here, and sharing life at your own pace. Your words and thought resonate deeply with me. I always look forward to your next post/essay/update, and become MORE encouraged when you space them out.
I’m the primary magic-maker for my family during the holidays, too. Plus, my husband had an extended work trip in December... the holidays were exhausting. Lovely! But exhausting on me. January - I’m skipping the “new year, new me” to lean into “just me” - giving myself rest, slowing my creative pace, and enjoying the process.
About a paid perk - I love the idea of deep diving one of your projects. I don’t knit as much as I crochet, so I’d love to learn more about knitting through reading. Alternatively, a KAL for paid subscribers would be something I’d be interested in.
Wishing you a restful rest-of-January, and wisdom in the decision making process!
Thanks as always for sharing a little of yourself with us in the blog. My hibernation knitting project is a cotton tank top for spring. I don't get much time to knit and this project feels just right for the rest of my winter Sundays. Still just making a gauge swatch at the moment. I like that I'm feeling more comfortable going slow and using my knitting time to be mindful of the present moment rather than pushing myself to knit fast towards a significant output. I get the sense that many people these days are on a similar wavelength and that feels really hopeful.
I enjoyed your take on January and this continuing to be the season of rest and recovery. Your preorder shades of blue yarn completely have the winter vibe.
Replying to the survey here because the survey doesn’t contain the choices I need. I am a fixed income retiree. I value your writing and your take on the world, and the values you embody and enact in your making, in your business, and in your writing. Your newsletter makes my life better. I think you deserve to be paid for your writing. Yet, I am unable to become a paid subscriber.
At this point, I allocate discretionary media spending to a newsletter with information that helps keep me alive, Your Local Epidemiologist, and on media that is teaching me a specific skill, spinning. That's as far as the checkbook stretches. So, while all your survey categories would be interesting, they fall into a category of totally delightful to be able to partake of while I can for free.
I have limited contact with Substack and had no idea that there was an issue with hate speech and Nazi propaganda. I was considering rebirthing a long neglected blog on this platform. I'll have to seriously reconsider that move. Thank you for making me aware of the issue.
Happy new year to all! Thanks, Anne, for putting together your thoughts that I found very timely - I am finishing up a sweater that I'm already realizing is not quite right, and I'm going to for sure take time to re-do the cuffs, and see what else can be done to get it to a place where I really will love wearing it when I've already invested all this time on it.
I'm excited to see how you update the cowl pattern, as I have a few combos of fingering and lace I'd like to try out on something.
I have missed your essays but appreciate you taking the time you need for you. As a paid subscriber already--I wanted to click all of the choices in the survey. Realizing that, since one is "no change is needed", that really made no sense...but truly, no changes are needed but I would enjoy any of them!
I have become more of a process knitter as I age. Realizing that it isn't how much I knit, but getting the project just right (for me, or for the intended recipient). I have begun the process of letting go of yarn that is no longer right for my needs--although your yarn occupies its own shelf as it waits for the perfect project.
I have to admit--I haven't fully embraced the "remaking" idea just yet. However, one of my daughters recently returned a sweater to me that no longer fit and that she didn't wear. Although it was knit in 2016, I still had a skein of the yarn in stash and so I repaired the moth holes and took the cuffs off the sweater and reknit them. I sent the sweater home to live with another daughter's partner. It was one of most satisfying knits this year! (well--of 2023!)
Such a comfort to read that not everyone needs the New Me of the new year. “I’m craving the thing that’s just right for me” really resonates with me. In the past I’ve been desperate to move onto a new project but recently I re knitted the bottom half of a sweater twice until it properly fitted. Now I know I shall wear it for a long time rather than it end up at the back of a drawer. What a revelation!
Because December is crazy for us and then the semester starts right after New Year’s Day, I never feel like January is a slow time. But I do enjoy the shorter days while watching the sun return. While I love spring and watching the world wake up, it brings too many expectations of “you must put in the garden” and “you should be doing lawn work”--all of which I do not enjoy but seems in the Midwest to be almost heresy to say out loud.
So I will happily knit these next few months and allow myself to just be.
Thank you so much for being here, and sharing life at your own pace. Your words and thought resonate deeply with me. I always look forward to your next post/essay/update, and become MORE encouraged when you space them out.
I’m the primary magic-maker for my family during the holidays, too. Plus, my husband had an extended work trip in December... the holidays were exhausting. Lovely! But exhausting on me. January - I’m skipping the “new year, new me” to lean into “just me” - giving myself rest, slowing my creative pace, and enjoying the process.
About a paid perk - I love the idea of deep diving one of your projects. I don’t knit as much as I crochet, so I’d love to learn more about knitting through reading. Alternatively, a KAL for paid subscribers would be something I’d be interested in.
Wishing you a restful rest-of-January, and wisdom in the decision making process!
Thanks as always for sharing a little of yourself with us in the blog. My hibernation knitting project is a cotton tank top for spring. I don't get much time to knit and this project feels just right for the rest of my winter Sundays. Still just making a gauge swatch at the moment. I like that I'm feeling more comfortable going slow and using my knitting time to be mindful of the present moment rather than pushing myself to knit fast towards a significant output. I get the sense that many people these days are on a similar wavelength and that feels really hopeful.
I enjoyed your take on January and this continuing to be the season of rest and recovery. Your preorder shades of blue yarn completely have the winter vibe.
Replying to the survey here because the survey doesn’t contain the choices I need. I am a fixed income retiree. I value your writing and your take on the world, and the values you embody and enact in your making, in your business, and in your writing. Your newsletter makes my life better. I think you deserve to be paid for your writing. Yet, I am unable to become a paid subscriber.
At this point, I allocate discretionary media spending to a newsletter with information that helps keep me alive, Your Local Epidemiologist, and on media that is teaching me a specific skill, spinning. That's as far as the checkbook stretches. So, while all your survey categories would be interesting, they fall into a category of totally delightful to be able to partake of while I can for free.
I have limited contact with Substack and had no idea that there was an issue with hate speech and Nazi propaganda. I was considering rebirthing a long neglected blog on this platform. I'll have to seriously reconsider that move. Thank you for making me aware of the issue.
Happy new year to all! Thanks, Anne, for putting together your thoughts that I found very timely - I am finishing up a sweater that I'm already realizing is not quite right, and I'm going to for sure take time to re-do the cuffs, and see what else can be done to get it to a place where I really will love wearing it when I've already invested all this time on it.
I'm excited to see how you update the cowl pattern, as I have a few combos of fingering and lace I'd like to try out on something.
I have missed your essays but appreciate you taking the time you need for you. As a paid subscriber already--I wanted to click all of the choices in the survey. Realizing that, since one is "no change is needed", that really made no sense...but truly, no changes are needed but I would enjoy any of them!
I have become more of a process knitter as I age. Realizing that it isn't how much I knit, but getting the project just right (for me, or for the intended recipient). I have begun the process of letting go of yarn that is no longer right for my needs--although your yarn occupies its own shelf as it waits for the perfect project.
I have to admit--I haven't fully embraced the "remaking" idea just yet. However, one of my daughters recently returned a sweater to me that no longer fit and that she didn't wear. Although it was knit in 2016, I still had a skein of the yarn in stash and so I repaired the moth holes and took the cuffs off the sweater and reknit them. I sent the sweater home to live with another daughter's partner. It was one of most satisfying knits this year! (well--of 2023!)
Such a comfort to read that not everyone needs the New Me of the new year. “I’m craving the thing that’s just right for me” really resonates with me. In the past I’ve been desperate to move onto a new project but recently I re knitted the bottom half of a sweater twice until it properly fitted. Now I know I shall wear it for a long time rather than it end up at the back of a drawer. What a revelation!