This past weekend was one of those blissful kinds of weekends when many variables came together to create a deep contentedness.
There was gorgeous, warm weather; kid baseball; great conversation; a visit to my favourite local bookstore to buy a birthday present for my niece; a knitted gift for her cast off and washed and drying; a lovely backyard evening celebration of her; a visit to a nursery to pick up some marigold plants (the extent of my dye garden this season, sigh); being asked to help someone with something important; planning out my next weaving project; warping my loom for that project; starting a new book.
It got me thinking about the next few months. It’s a different kind of uncertainty I feel about them, compared to the uncertainty I felt a year ago as summer approached. Then, the uncertainty was tinged with worry and a fair bit of dread; now, it’s tinged with hope.
I don’t know what the coming months will bring. When will our social restrictions start to ease? When will we be able to hug our friends, or have them over inside? When will the border open? How soon after it opens will my parents come to visit? What will it feel like to hug them?
And then there’s the rest of the world and the uncertainty I feel about things like I always do. Will we get our collective act together to ensure global vaccine access? Will we forge peace? Will we curb climate change?
In my state of contentedness over the weekend a plan began to form without my even deciding I needed a plan.
I’d find myself thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little plan to help me breathe through this season of uncertainty? To provide a tiny bit of structure through whatever tumult is to come?”
By the end, my brain had even decided what the plan should be. As I busied myself with all those other satisfying tasks, it decided I should simply do a Summer of Making—a slight variation on my previous Years of Making.
First, rather than commit to making something daily, I’d instead commit to posting something about making every day, for about 100 days. This would let me have a day like yesterday, where I did loads of making and worked on a variety of projects, and then post about them over a few days to add in some buffering and wiggle room to accommodate the days when I probably won’t make anything at all.
Back when I started doing a Year of Making—for which I committed to making something, anything, even just a few stitches, every day for a year—my goal was to establish a creative habit and to ensure that creative acts became a priority in my daily life.
Several years of completing that project really did change my relationship with making. I don’t need to establish a habit or a priority, because I already did.
What I need now is something deeply pleasant to focus on that’ll get me out of my head for a few minutes a day, that’ll get me connecting with people over our creativity and shared curiosity. I need a reminder that the things I make are an important part of my experience of all of life, and that making things and talking about it helps me to ground all of the other things I navigate that I have far less control over.
Starting today, for about 100 days, or maybe a bit longer to get all the way to September, I will write and/or share something about making. Probably mostly on Instagram; also here in the newsletter; maybe on Twitter, too.
As with Year of Making, there’s only the one rule I’ll be following: to post something about making every day for 100ish days. What I make or write about making is, well, anything at all.
If this sounds like something that would make you feel the good feels, too—a wee commitment and a bit of structure and a lot of flexibility—and you’d like to join me, use the hashtag #summerofmaking2021. We can follow each other as we go, and cheer each other on. Grab the image if you want to add it to a post about your plans:
Onward!
Kim
We’ve got May discussion threads going:
One about books, and one about crafts.
Come hang out and chat!
Items of Note
Loads of felting (two tutorials!) in Digits & Threads last week.
This might be the apron pattern I’ve been looking for my whole life.
What I’m making: Dish towels!
What I’m watching: Coroner, which I really enjoyed.
What I’m reading: I mentioned starting a new book, but as I write this last part a full 36 hours after I started writing this newsletter, I can’t pluck the title from my brain. Pretty sure one of you recommended it! I’ll be sure to remember the title by next week. The kid and I are onto the second Magic Misfits book, which we’re listening to. Christina Hendricks reads the audiobook, and it’s delightful.
What are you enjoying (or hating) reading these days? Head over to the book discussion thread!