It’s been a while.
Late spring is A Time. Pretty sure I write about this every year, and it’s almost shocking that I’m writing about it in the second late spring of pandemic, but here I am. I always think the looming summer will come with relaxation, and it always comes with chaos, and yet I go through this every single year.
I have more on my plate now than I have in a long time. It’s a very good thing. I’m engaged with all kinds of life. I’m social(ish). I’m involved with causes and communities that are important to me. I’m a small-business owner doing work I love that I don’t have enough hours in the day to do. I’m making things and learning about making. I’m parenting, etc., etc.
So I hope you’ll understand that I’m going to stop doing anything beyond writing this email to you, which I do hope to write weekly but may sometimes need to write less frequently.
Substack, the platform I’m using for this email, allows for financial membership/support. When I first moved my newsletter over here a few months ago, I thought I would keep this going as a way to support my writing habit, inviting folks to pay monthly or yearly to gain access to exclusive discussion threads about books and crafts.
But I just can’t swing doing this for money anymore. I can’t be obligated to you when what I really want is just to write to you. I need to just write to you and talk with you about all the things we’ve talked about and explored together for many years. What we’re making, why we make stuff, where our creativity comes from, what books we love and hate, and all that.
I spent the morning looking around to see if I could move off of this platform to something less focused on money, but everything costs money (not a complaint), and this place doesn’t.
So I’m staying right here, and while you are most welcome to kick in a few bucks to keep me in the realm of “working” writer, I will no longer be adding obligations to my overflowing plate of obligations by doing things other than writing to and with you.
To those of you who are currently paying for that gold-star membership here, thank you. If you want to stop doing that, I will not mind one bit. If you want to keep doing that, I will continue to feel grateful to you and for your support.
And now I will tell you a little about what I’ve been making.
I pulled my ridiculous kitchen towels off my loom the other day. I love that I made them, I think they’re absolutely hideous for the colours I chose, and I am looking forward to probably not ever making kitchen towels again (though I do have more yarn, so maybe I’ll use it up for kitchen towels but maybe not).
I’m now planning to see how fingering weight yarn will weave up on my 10 dpi reed, fretting over how yarns from my stash will weave up, and wishing I had a swatching loom. Who am I even becoming.
Speaking of swatching, I made not one but three crochet swatches this week for a sweater project I’ve just started. (We’re publishing our first crochet design at Digits & Threads soon, and it feels so good to be doing that!) These swatches occupied quite a lot of space in my brain, in a good way. In the end, I went with the one I liked the least, because it matches the pattern gauge most closely, and also liking it the least is relative – it’s actually quite lovely.
So. What have you been making this late spring? What are you looking ahead to making this summer?
Onward!
Kim
Items of Note
I picked up some yarn for that crochet project at a local yarn shop this week, and had the first in-person conversation about Digits & Threads that I’ve had ever. It blew my damn mind. Over a year after we started working on the business, my first in-person conversation about it! I was a maniac talking with the shop folks. A total maniac. I cannot wait to have more chances to be amongst fibre and textile folks again.
I’m finally beginning this course.
Receiving an inkle loom from someone in my neighbourhood Buy Nothing group (and not using yet) has me increasingly obsessed with bag straps. We watched Mosquito Coast (not so great) and I couldn’t stop looking at the main character’s woven bag strap. Which is all to say, I’ll likely sign up for this course, too.
Have not read this yet but 😍.
Mesmerizing is the right word.
What I’m making: The very start of a crocheted sweater. Weaving plans.
What I’m watching: The Handmaid’s Tale, season four. So intense. Still loving it.
What I’m reading: I’m still struggling hard with reading, except I’m refusing to struggle and just go with it. Last week I read One Last Stop, by Casey McQuiston. You may recall that the book I have most recently insisted you read is Red, White and Royal Blue, by the same author. Now, that latter book remains one of my favourites. It is perfect, whether you are a reader of romance novels or not. It’s just perfect. (And it’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face, so go read it if you haven’t already.) For a year, I have followed McQuiston and read about her sophomore novel, which just came out this month. I bought it the day it was released, and read it immediately. I was very concerned, going in! The premise is just as batshit as the premise of her first novel, in completely different ways, but I knew she could pull it off, and she does. Had I never read Red, White I probably would have thought that One Last Stop was super. But I fell into the trap of the sophomore novel, because One Last Stop isn’t as magnificent as Red, White. Which presents you, dear reader, with a tremendous opportunity: If you’ve read neither, start with One Last Stop, which I am confident you will enjoy immensely, and then read Red, White and Royal Blue, which will blow your mind. Yay!
The kid and I started reading The Wanderer, by Sharon Creech, this week. It makes it undeniable that my kid and I enjoy reading books of the sea. So, what are other super books of the sea that we should read together? Our absolute favourite is Swallows and Amazons. We also enjoyed, years ago, Dave Eggers’s Captain Nemo. (For the sake of narrowing our tastes, we both absolutely hated Treasure Island and gave it up partway through.)
Isn't our whole world a bit of a vortex now? I think so. I totally understand the "obligation" part of writing. I wrote my newsletter every Sunday for just over three years without missing a week! And then I got burned out, so have been taking a break. I too looked at other platforms, and have poked at my blog a bit. I miss the (small) engagement I get with the newsletter, and am starting to feel like writing again. This next iteration will be randomly-timed, shorter missives.
I haven't read Casey's new book yet, but am excited to tell you that we will be hosting her for a virtual event on July 8th at 3:00 pm (Pacific time). You are welcome to attend! Unfortunately we won't be recording the program for later viewing, so there's just the once chance to catch her. You can register here: https://sno-isle.bibliocommons.com/events/609d67a1428df5450013b2ea
I appreciate your newsletters, no matter when or how often they arrive! You've been a big inspiration to me over the years and have helped in my creative journey.
Cheers!