Late summer dispatch

Where I've been, where I'm going

Every spring I start to feel that itch for the summer months, the long days and the generally relaxed aura of the season, how I’ll have so many more daylight hours to get all my projects done. Yet time never seems to slow as I imagine it should, in fact it tends to speed up. This summer especially has passed in a quick blur.

I traveled for work and then for my sister’s wedding, followed by relocating to Upstate New York for nearly 3 weeks. I started reading The Artist’s Way (again) and posting on TikTok (shout out to my 100 followers). My desire to knit dramatically decreased—as it usually does in the hot weather—but I also procrastinated on sitting at my beloved floor loom. The days felt long, but the creativity appeared to be stuck inside my brain.

I told myself that ideas were seeping, things were marinating, good things take time, but I also have been feeling extremely unproductive in this never ending liminal space between two dreams which seems to be my current reality (and I’m not just talking about this summer season). Reorienting myself to focus on my process—versus an outcome—has become a daily practice, something I am in constant need of reminding of. I have a Post-It note on my wall just above my laptop screen that says “Serious art is born from serious play,” a quote from Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way.

I feel the most “me” when I’m exercising my creativity and making a daily practice out of it. For someone who wants more than anything to spend all my days making art, I have finished very little so far this year. But again, process over product. A constant reminder.

I’ve been slowly weaving away at what I hope will become a coverlet. The act of weaving is something close to magic for me, but I also thoroughly enjoy the planning process of researching patterns, digging through my stash yarns, calculating the warp, modifying the draft, re-doing the math until the stars align.

As I write this, I’m halfway through the first of the two panels and so far the blocks and colors have been guided by intuition. There is a level of co-creation with the loom that I like to make room for but often forget about in my practice. I’ll think I know what the next color should be until it comes to the moment to weave and a different yarn will speak to me instead.

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In the back of my mind, I’m giving myself until early September to get this weaving off my loom, which is when I’ll be heading to my first ever artist residency (!!!). Stay tuned.

Speaking of deadlines—I’ve also declared August the month of wrapping up as many knitting WIP’s as possible. Here’s where I currently stand:

This list is mostly the smaller projects that I casted on over the last 6 months rather spontaneously—and while I love all of them, I need to reclaim the mental space and knitting needles. My next big cast on will be my 2025 Rhinebeck sweater… 🙂

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<3

Madison