Why Do You Make?

Reconnecting With the Heart of Your Craft

Why do you knit? Or crochet? It's such a simple question. Until you actually try to answer it.

Because there could be so many reasons...

• Maybe someone taught you.

• Maybe you wanted to make a sweater.

• Maybe you fell in love with yarn.

• Maybe you needed something to keep your hands busy.

• Maybe a friend invited you to a knitting group and you never looked back.

Those might explain how you started. But they don't necessarily explain why you make today. And there's an important difference.

YOUR WHY CAN CHANGE

We sometimes talk about finding our "why" as though there is one big answer we're supposed to discover and carry around forever. I don't think making works that way. Our creative lives have seasons.

There may be a season when you're fascinated by learning. You want cables and colorwork and brioche and complicated construction. Then there may be a season when life is complicated enough. Suddenly the project you reach for every evening is stockinette in the round. Round and round. And it feels wonderful.

There may be seasons when making is about community. Others when it's about solitude. Sometimes it's about the finished object. Sometimes it's about the process. Sometimes it's simply about having something familiar in your hands when everything else feels uncertain. None of those reasons is better than another. What matters is recognizing what you need from your making now.

HOW DO YOU WANT MAKING TO FEEL?

Instead of beginning with projects, I want us to begin with feelings. Think about a time when making felt really good. Not necessarily your most impressive project or the thing that received the most compliments. Just a moment when you remember thinking: This is why I love this.

• Where were you?

• What were you making?

• Were you alone?

• Were you sitting with friends?

• Was the project challenging?

• Was it wonderfully mindless?

• What was happening around you?

• And most importantly: How did you feel?

Maybe you felt: Calm. Curious. Creative. Capable. Playful. Connected. Challenged. Comforted. Inspired. Grounded.

Those feelings tell us something. They're clues.

CHOOSE THREE WORDS

This week, I'd like you to choose three words describing how you want your making to feel right now. Not forever. Just right now.

Maybe your words are:

Peaceful. Simple. Comforting.

Or:

Bold. Curious. Challenging.

Maybe:

Playful. Colorful. Unexpected.

There isn't a correct combination and these words aren't goals. They're a compass. Because the next time you're standing in front of your stash or scrolling through patterns wondering what to make, you can ask: Will this project move me toward the making life I said I wanted?

That's a very different question than: Should I make this?

YOUR MAKING BELONGS TO YOU

There will always be another beautiful pattern. Another yarn release, a knit-along. Another project someone else finished in three weeks while yours has been sitting beside the sofa since February. And that's okay. Their creative life isn't yours.

One of the most powerful things we can do as makers is learn to listen to our own creative voice. And sometimes we have to get quiet enough to hear it. So this week, don't change anything yet. Don't start reorganizing your stash, or frog any WIPs. Don't make a giant project plan. Just NOTICE.

• Notice what you reach for.

• Notice what you avoid.

• Notice what makes you want to keep knitting.

• Notice what makes you put the project down.

• Notice how you feel before you begin—and how you feel when you stop.

We're gathering information. And next week, we'll take what we've noticed and ask another question: Does my making fit the season of life I'm actually in?

For now, remember your three words. They'll be traveling with us for the next five weeks.

Cheers & Stitches,

Crystal