Make for the Season You're In
Last week, I asked you to choose three words describing how you want your making to feel right now.
Mine are: COMFORT • QUIET • FAMILIAR
I've been carrying those words around with me this week and the more I think about them, the more I realize they're telling me something important about what I need from my making right now.
I didn't choose adventurous, challenging, or ambitious.
That doesn't mean I don't want those things from my making again. But right now I want the comfort of something familiar in my hands.
To work with stitches I know. I want the quiet that comes when my hands can settle into a rhythm without my brain having to work quite so hard. For my making to feel like a place I can return to rather than another place where something is being asked of me.
And that has me thinking about an important part of mindful making: Does the making we want actually fit the lives we're living right now?
OUR CREATIVE LIVES HAVE SEASONS
There are seasons when we have hours to spend making. And seasons when we're lucky to get twenty minutes. There are times when our brains are hungry for something complicated such as charts, cables, colorwork or new techniques. And there are times when the thought of keeping track of anything beyond a simple repeat feels like entirely too much.
Sometimes we want a big sweater project we can sink into for months and other times we want the satisfaction of finishing a hat over the weekend. Sometimes we want to learn and sometimes we want to play. And sometimes we simply want something familiar in our hands.
None of these is a better way to make. They're simply different seasons. But I think we sometimes forget to give ourselves permission to make differently when our lives change.
We can find ourselves choosing projects for the maker we used to be. Or perhaps for the maker we think we should be.
MEET YOURSELF WHERE YOU ARE
This is where those three words from last week start becoming useful. They're more than words that sound good together. They're clues.
My words: comfort, quiet, familiar. They are telling me that this probably isn't the moment when I need every project on my needles to stretch my skills.
Could I tackle something complicated? Absolutely.
But that's a different question than: Is that what I want from my making right now?
Before choosing your next project or judging the ones you already have; I want you to consider four things: TIME • ENERGY • ATTENTION • CURIOSITY
TIME
How much time do you realistically have for making right now?
Think of it this way: Not the time you wish you had. Not the time you had six months ago. The time you actually have.
Maybe you have long stretches on the weekend or just fifteen minutes with your morning coffee. Or maybe you bring your project with you to work on while waiting at appointments or traveling.
A project that requires thirty uninterrupted minutes to figure out where you left off may not be the project you reach for when your making happens in tiny pockets. That doesn't make it a bad project, It's simply not right for this season.
ENERGY
What kind of energy do you have available for making?
There are times when learning something new feels exciting and you want to solve the puzzle. But then there are times when life Itself Is providing enough puzzles and you need comfort. That's where I find myself right now. I need simple, repetitive, familiar.
I'm In the season I don't need my knitting to challenge me, I need It to meet me where I am.
ATTENTION
How much concentration do you have available?
This is different from time. You might have an entire evening available and still not have the attention for a complicated chart. Or you might only have twenty minutes but be excited to spend those twenty minutes completely focused on learning something new.
So ask yourself: How much of my brain do I want this project to require?
Right now, my answer Is "not very much". And I'm giving myself permission for that to be enough.
CURIOSITY
What are you genuinely interested in right now?
Curiosity doesn't necessarily mean trying something new. Maybe you're curious about what happens when you use a familiar pattern in a completely different yarn. Maybe you're drawn to a color you can't stop thinking about. Maybe you want to return to a construction you already know you love. Or maybe you really are craving something completely new.
Pay attention to whatever keeps pulling you back.
A PROJECT CAN BE BEAUTIFUL AND STILL BE WRONG FOR YOUR RIGHT NOW
I think this is one of the most freeing things we can recognize.
A pattern can be gorgeous and the yarn incredible. And you absolutely have the skills to make it...and you really want to add that piece to your handmade wardrobe. But it can still be the wrong project for this season.
That doesn't mean never. It just simply means...not right now.
And the reverse is true too. Maybe you've spent years believing you should be making increasingly complicated projects because that's what experienced makers do. But right now, a beautiful skein and miles of stockinette sound perfect. So...make that!
You don't have to continually prove your skill through your projects because sometimes familiar is exactly what we need.
LOOK AT WHAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY REACHING FOR
This week's practice isn't about changing anything. We're still In that noticing phase.
Look at the project you naturally reach for most often. Not necessarily the one you think you should be working on. The one your hands actually choose.
Then ask:
TIME — Does this fit the amount of time I have?
ENERGY — Does this fit the energy I want to give?
ATTENTION — Does this require the amount of concentration I have available?
CURIOSITY — Is there still something about it that draws me back?
Then look at the project you've been avoiding and ask those same questions.
You might discover something interesting. Maybe the project isn't the problem at all. Maybe it's simply asking something from you that you don't have or don't want to give right now.
That's useful information.
YOUR MAKING CAN MEET YOU WHERE YOU ARE
For me, this season is asking for: Comfort. Quiet. Familiar.
Another season will likely look completely different. That, to me, Is one of the beautiful things about a creative life.
We aren't required to remain the same kind of maker forever. Mindful making isn't about finding the perfect project. It's about becoming better at recognizing what feels right for you, right now.
Next week, we're going to take this one step further. Because once we begin noticing what fits and what doesn't...we inevitably run into a particularly persistent little word: SHOULD.
I should finish it.
I should use that yarn.
I should stop starting things.
I should be making something more challenging.
Next week, we're going to start letting some of those "shoulds" go.
Until then, pay attention to what your hands keep reaching for because maybe they're already telling you exactly what you need.
Cheers & Stitches,
Crystal
Comments