Towns sweater, finished
It's finally done! It has been for a few weeks, actually, but we needed the weather to cooperate for some photos. After being together for twelve years (married more than nine) I finally knit a sweater for Nicholas.
It's finally done! It has been for a few weeks, actually, but we needed the weather to cooperate for some photos. After being together for twelve years (married more than nine) I finally knit a sweater for Nicholas.
I've written countless times about how organizing and planning my creative projects helps me ward off overwhelm and stay "on track," so that I actually finish projects. And much the same, a general outline of my projects in various statuses continues to be greatly helpful to me.
This particular project has been on my needles since March of this year. At the very start, it felt like a mindless, but very uphill project. I knit it on size 2 needles, and at first, I had to look down a lot as I knit, and it just felt slow. But bit by bit, I picked it up and worked on it.
Apart from short errands around town, whenever I leave the house, I nearly always have my knitting in hand. A few stitches here and there really add up over time, and if I'm ever in a position where I'm waiting, I would prefer to occupy my hands with some knitting, rather than mindlessly scrolling my phone.
It's been some time since I wrote a post about my creative projects, and since a lot of my creative energy has gone to smaller projects like socks and accessories, I've been rather prolific (for me, anyway).
It's been just about a month and a half since my last creative check in. A lot has happened in that time, most notably the arrival of our newest family member. In a flurry of last minute nesting, I finished a few projects, and in the wake of postpartum life and Nicholas home on parental leave, I've finished (and modified, more on that below) a couple more items. Completion of things will naturally be slower, of course, since our hands are more full these days, but I wanted to document and share what I've been working on.
As part of the nesting of late pregnancy, I find myself eager to wrap up a few projects, and work on some to get them into a place where they don't require a lot of mental energy. I know my making time will be reduced and will look wildly different in these coming months, but I want to have a few things "on the go," so to speak, so I can knit a few stitches here and there, should the opportunity arise. And, before baby boy's arrival, I wanted to share some recently finished projects, as well as what I'm currently working on.
Each year, I like to loosely outline creative goals or desires for the coming year, including bookmarking specific patterns or mentioning materials (yarn or fabric) that I'd like to use. I always keep in mind that my creative plans or whims will likely migrate somewhat, but taking a moment to think through projects at the start of a year (sort of) makes me excited feel refreshed in my making. Also, I find that I'm less impulsive in my purchases when I have a plan to actually use materials from my stash.
I always think of how January feels like a continuation, rather than just a new beginning. We kind of slide into the new year, only a day older, not truly that different. It can certainly be helpful to think of January first as a new start, as it is, of course, in some ways. But I also think there's a joy and a perseverance of the continuing on that I like about the start of a new calendar year. Here's a few snippets of life in that transition: the closure of a year and the beginning of a new.
Each year, I enjoy glancing back and making note of what knitting projects I worked on and completed throughout the year, noticing trends or patterns in my making. I've noticed that my creativity or how my creative pursuits "serve" me in a given season can vary widely depending on life circumstances.
Every January, I assemble a blog post of sorts that catalogs our year. Largely organized in list-form, I touch on the big and little things, events and thoughts and experiences that shaped our life over the last year. I do find this incredibly helpful as a sort of reflection, a glance back on the Lord's faithfulness, to show me, time and time again, that He is a good God. And with that mindset, I feel less encumbered as we continue on into the new year, more ready to face a full year of new, fresh days, with the heart attitude that regardless of what the days will hold, mundane or exciting, difficult or good, I can walk into the future with hope and trust in Him. Plus, I do enjoy looking back on a lot of the little details of our life, the ones that make me smile or think, Oh, yes! We loved that! What a little joy in our life.
Over the last several months, I've been working on several Christmas crafts—both sewing and knitting. Some are for our own home as decor, and most are gifts. Since some were mailed off relatively early or opened at early Christmas celebrations, I can now share them here, just in time for Christmas. The links with the knitting projects are to project pages which then include pattern links.