Day

March 14, 2018

14
Mar
2018

puttering, percolating, steeping and brewing

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at.

Last week I wrote this Wednesday morning with every intention of posting it. But then never got around to it:

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at.”

That’s the beginning explanation of what I posted each Wednesday for about five years (more sporadically at the beginning), and I’ve missed a couple here and there, but it’s been fairly consistent.

But, I stopped around the New Year, posted once a couple weeks into the new year, and haven’t posted again for a couple more weeks.

At the moment when I read this my immediate reaction is, what am I working on?!

I’m always working on ongoing client work.
I’ve finished knitting the sweater I started a couple months ago, and it’s just waiting for the ends to be woven in.
I’m slowly spinning up a couple batts from a friend.
I’m reading a lot.
I’m writing and talking about the Shawl Geometry Books to introduce them to a wider audience.
I’m working on background things for Who Wears Who. Talking to people about their wardrobe aggravations. (How do you feel about your wardrobe? If we waved a magic wand and your wardrobe was now your dream wardrobe, what would it look like? That sort of thing!)

But after two years of consistently working on a REALLY BIG PROJECT, that feels like nothing.

That list feels like puttering, and housekeeping.

Which is totally valuable!

And also doesn’t feel interesting/desirable/exciting enough to be blogged each week.

And also, also, I know the value in teeny, tiny, seemingly inconsequential steps (after all, a sweater is knit one teeny tiny stitch at a time).

So, I guess the project I’m working on is puttering, and I think I’ll keep puttering until I find a new “big project” to dive headlong into.

But I realized right now that “puttering” isn’t exactly the right word. It’s more like “percolating” or “steeping” or “brewing.” And those tiny gwish-projects are asking for space.

Tiny gwish-projects are brewing. That feels like a FAR more accurate statement.


In the meantime! (While the gwishes percolate).

Penny wrote a lovely review of the Shawl Geometry Series, which you can read here.

And she asked me to write a bit about the driving idea behind the update for the Shawl Geometry Series, so I wrote about how the series has grown and evolved, but always been a place where math didn’t need to be intimidating, or overwhelming, or unapproachable. You can read that piece right here.

I wrote about what is possibly the world’s oldest tee-shirt hack over on Who Wears Who.

And finally, I’ve (slowly) started adding all of the patterns & shapes that are in Shawl Geometry Books to Ravelry! Book One is taking shape right here, if you’ve ever wanted to queue or favorite your go-to shapes.