How To Make Time
As knitters we make a lot of interesting items from our projects.
We just wish we had more time create!
There is a lot to unpack with the correlation of time to make = better making,
but for now I want to start helping you
MAKE TIME
I know you may be a bit skeptical, but I am going to help you add 30+ minutes a week durning the month of March so that at the end of the month you’ve made 2 hours of knitting time for yourself.
“Mel, I take my knitting everywhere with me, so I don’t really need more time.”
You may be the knitter that sends me emails and instagram DMs telling me how bored they are with their knitting.
And FOR YOU this added 2 hours for March will hold something even more dear:
INTENTIONALITY
It always brings a new sense of joy to spend time outside knitting on hikes, even if it is just 5 minutes, And even if it is COLD!
So, if you want to make some time be sure to connect with me. I will be emailing weekly to you with ideas and actionable steps to get yourself prepped. I will also share special “how-to’s” for a hat pattern and creating your own yarn ensemble for it.
So be sure to get on that special notification list by signing up below.
If you want to watch, at your own pace, any time that you determine there are a few ways you can connect:
Here on the blog
This is meant to be an easy practice to claim minutes for yourself, and I will try to make connecting as seamless as possible.
So if you are eager to join in and be a part of things, reclaim minutes that do add up, and have me encourage you for a few moments every day then:
Giving Pumpkins
Summer slipped to Autumn gently. And Autumn has glowed in her most beautiful way, giving golden moments of joy, but also stealing minutes and hours of our light.
Mornings I used to wake seeing sun streaming in my back yard windows, and afternoons where the brilliant strong beams made you squint- - - INDOORS- - - have changed. The sun now waits until the kids open the door to head to school before making an appearance. And seems to be tired earlier in the evening, needing to tuck in sooner, too fatigued from a summer of late night settings.
The feeling of crisp air has me happily humming by the fireplace, even now as I write to you, but also furrows my brow as I look at the calendar, trying to plot how many more open ocean kayaking adventures I have left before the seas embrace their season of whitecaps and wind chops.
The Farmer’s Market will have different produce soon. The lovely beefsteak tomatoes I ate with abandon for breakfast, lunch and dinner…and snacks in between!…will soon be replaced by gourds and pumpkins. Just last week I purchased the first local apples, small and sweet and tart! I look forward to seeing the pumpkins, like old friends reminding me of cosy times curled up on the couch reading under a blanket while the afternoon sky over the water grows dark.
Pumpkins mean tucking in together, soups and pies, friendship and slow moments inside thinking of late evening hikes to the peak of any and all mountains available. Penning snail mail at the breakfast nook table looking over my shoulder to check if another log needs to be added to keep the house warm like the summer just gone.
Pumpkins mean together under the same roof talking softly and laughing loudly, wondering if I should knit mittens or socks, and pulled back to a well read book and oddly feeling the need to deep-clean a room- - -and scratching my head wondering if I wasn’t just here in the spring doing the same thing…
Pumpkins mean sharing, having enough to brighten someone else’s day, but not enough to waste. Little orange and gold reminders of good stewardship and hard work, and luck and blessings, and Thank God the weather never got too hot or too cold too early or too late.
Pumpkins mean an opportunity to give to you.
And so I shall.
And then I am off to enjoy the last beefsteak tomato and savor the taste of summer one bite longer.
Kerchiefs & Quiet Places
Today on our podcast adventure, we sit in the woods with lake and ocean behind us. It is a pretty amazing combination to have both at your back. The place where we sit together is a special spot off the actual trail, nestled amongst vibrant green moss that covers earth and rocks. It is quiet and still in this particular spot, unless of course you consider Sasha. Actually that isn’t a fair assessment. Sasha is very well behaved and I love having her keep me company.
In the podcast I mention the kerchief I am wearing. Below I share a little about it, as well as the free pattern if you’d like to knit one.
My Babcia, what a thrifty grandmother she was! She had a corner of her house where little scraps of things turned magically in to just what you needed. Having grown up in a time where everything was in short supply except, as she always said, “hunger and drafts”—those were two things there was always more than you wanted!
Babcia had a way of not only making leftovers brilliant,
but that woman could take the worst of hair days, shake the wrinkles off a kerchief or remnant of material and tie her hair up in a way that made me wonder why I didn’t always see her as a spirited, lovely woman…instead of simply my grandmother. I inherited her wiry, curly hair. But those kerchiefs give me a headache! It’s that blasted knot at the back of my head and neck that does it. So I started thinking like Babcia…and improvising using the remaining pieces of yarn from other knitted projects, I devised way to honor her resourceful nature and create a kerchief I could stylishly wear. You can use whatever leftovers you have on hand. This kerchief doesn’t take much. But it uses perfectly good remaining yardage and makes my neck feel good and my hair look tidy while wearing it, even if I wear it off of center, which I do actually prefer!
And work up fast!
Babcia would be proud of us both!
Click below to download the pattern.
If you enjoyed the podcast I would be grateful if you’d share it. Maybe a friend would enjoy a free pattern or spending 15 minutes in Alaska! If you have a question or suggestion definitely feel welcomed to post in the comments. And if you have trouble posting a comment, contact me via email or instagram with links below & tell me!
kindly,
Mel