Making things with your hands
new year journalling | knitting in summer | crafting plans
In the mornings I set my alarm early, beginning the slow process of recalibrating my circadian rhythm back to one that is conducive of school term life, before things take off. In the next fortnight we will reach the end of January, when I feel the new year truly begins. January feels like a little warm-up, a time of dreaming and expansion, of longer days and space to wonder and plan. It feels like there is still a bit of that time left, but I can feel it fading.
This week, in preparation for the new year we have done a school uniform stocktake, bought new school shoes and shorts, started organising shelves and school books, purchased more post-it notes, and I may have even begun turning my mind to school lunchboxes. I know that no matter how much forward planning and thinking I do, when February hits, there will be overwhelm. I think it’s the sheer volume of school related emails and required actions that knock me sideways. Do there really have to be so many?
Like everyone on the internet (or, in real life?) we’ve also been sourcing our dopamine starting new journals and diaries. In the last week or two before school returns I like to start to reign in the evening routine - from timeless dinners that appear whenever hunger strikes and nights spent watching movies after the sun goes down (we’ve been enjoying the Star Wars movies this summer), to bringing dinner forward, and choosing a quiet activity after dinner instead of the screen. Bringing out a mug of pencils, sketchbooks, stickers and journals seems the perfect evening antidote to the high octane ‘pew pew pew’ energy of Star Wars.
In the smaller buffer moments found within these elongated days I have been bouncing between two projects. One is the Sweater No. 23 pictured above that I’m making for my middle girl. I think I’ve been working on this jumper for around about six months (taking slow fashion to the extreme). For moments when less concentration power is available, I’ve been crocheting these little pouch bag charms for some of the smaller people in my orbit, which has been a bit of fun:
Other things I would like to make this year:
Weekend hat by Petit Knit. I bought this pattern last year and am planning to make it in red.
This for a new baby. (Elizabeth, look away!)
I made one of these last year. I’d love to make a quilted version with ties, later in the year.
After two years of studying, and two to go at this rate, I am heading into this academic year embracing the ebb and flow of parenting/studying/working life. I’ll be studying for three sessions this year, meaning three blocks of eight to ten weeks where I will be absolutely run off my feet trying to stay on top. Eight to ten weeks doesn’t sound like a long time, until you’re in the thick of it, which I know all too well. Having small projects at hand is essential for my sanity during these times. Like I said here when knitting my first jumper:
Knitting this jumper has stimulated my brain and quelled my tendency toward anxiety in ways that parenting/work/writing/study/walking hasn’t. It has had the capacity to absorb almost every piece of my attention and focus. It has helped me to feel connected to generations of women in my family who, going back a way, knit for purpose and utility - when the wool is moving rhythmically through my hands, I can’t stop thinking about them.
It might look like just a jumper, but somehow it holds everything in each tiny stitch (the effort, the genetic memory, the embodiment of my hands and the places it was stitched in, the intention) and the feeling of wearing it now against my skin and feeling its warmth is unfathomable, truly.
Do you knit, crochet, draw, sew, embroider, mend, or otherwise make things with your hands? What does it mean to you?
Things I’ve loved on Substack recently:
Amy Pigott’s perspectives on the ‘analogue living’ movement. I think Amy is providing a really healthy critique of something that has fast become an aesthetic that has to be met by a certain criteria of labelled tasks in order to be done ‘right’. For those of us of a certain age ‘anaglogue living’ is not segemented or planned; patting the dog, reading a paperback, going for a walk or using a pencil don’t have to be performative acts to be meaningful. In saying that, if the romanticism of analogue tasks is the difference between someone attempting to spend more time offline or not, then by all means. However, like Amy explains in more eloquent terms, these movements can have a way of becoming exclusive, so: move with caution, and enjoy small moments of your life in ways that are meaningful and accessible to you.
Petya K. Grady’s generous explanation of her personal planning system that allows her to find more time in her life to read.
Rachel’s short post about embroidery, because this has been a periphery craft I’ve tried my hand at half-heartedly over the years + I have a very large mending pile + as mentioned above, I can very much relate to that contented slash amazed feeling of ‘my hands did that’.
This fortnight will see the beginning of the new school year. Go well, everyone.
And that’s quite enough for now.
Until next time, travel light x
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About the author
Lucinda Bain is a contemporary Australian writer based in Melbourne, whose work explores motherhood, place, memory, suburban life and the natural world. Lucinda is mother to three daughters – a role that deeply informs much of her writing. She is currently studying librarianship at the master’s level, which complements her identity as a reader, writer, researcher and observer of how stories locate themselves in both home and landscape.
Hi Lucinda yes I am a knitter too, have been for along time now. These days I keep it simple and close to hand for phone calls ,Zoom calls and any meetings I can get away with pulling out my needles. I find it incredibly calming and soothing, it helps me to settle down and listen . All best for start of busy part of the year, so much to attend to by the sound of it , but stitch by stitch all will get done.
A beautiful rumination on the last weeks of the summer holidays and the beginning of the school year. All the best with your tribe. I love reading about your creative knitting and crochet projects. It is inspiring me to pick up my knitting needles again, and to schedule some restful time knitting and sipping tea. I have all 4 of mine in full time school this year, feels like quite the milestone. Kate :)