The first week of summer camp raced by, and last night I took a break with some friends to teach them how to work on socks. We had wine, brownies, good food and better conversation.
After a breakneck week I’m taking a day to just breathe. In addition to the camp I was kept hopping by a variety of design submissions that I’m getting ready to send off. Right before I left for Yosemite, two weeks ago, I was feeling burned out. I was missing sending out design subs because I just couldn’t bring myself to come up with anything that was of any merit. I was getting a little worried about how design subs, which are one of my favorite things to work on, were becoming a task.
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| Me, working on the drawing. |
While I was in Yosemite I didn’t pick up my knitting once. As I climbed on the train for a three-day ride home, I felt sure I could get the urge to knit. And then… I didn’t knit or crochet once. I read and napped. I took multiple naps in a day, and then slept through the night – something I’ve only done when I’m sick.
I did do other crafty stuff – including a drawing that I spent several hours on. I don’t normally pull on my art classes from Highschool very often, but I got the urge to do a perspective drawing of the train we were on, based off of a picture I took (above). I made it for our most wonderful train hostess, who was amazing in the face of a late train and grumpy passengers.
It was nice to do something creative that wasn’t creative in the same way as my knitting. I based the lettering off of a coloring sheet the hostess was giving the kids. But I didn’t like the cartoony type of train they included, so I decided to do something stylized, a bit simpler, but more accurate to the train we were actually on.
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| Train picture. Note the texture to the gravel in the tracks. And the logo both on the front and side of the train. |
Almost right after our Train/Yosemite trip, we headed to the farm. I took with me Barbara Walker’s set of stitch dictionaries, which I had bought as a treat to myself and then hadn’t read at all. At the farm I finally picked but my knitting and crochet tools, and I began to swatch from the books. And finally, after a near unheard of two-week hiatus, I began knitting again. More importantly, I began sketching and coming up with ideas.
Just before we left for the farm I printed out all the design calls I knew were coming up in the next four weeks, and I brought them with me to the farm. And on the sheets of paper, I began sketching and generating ideas for the design calls.
I was so relieved.
It turns out I just needed some rest. In a very real way, I needed a vacation from my job… which meant, in a strange way, I needed a vacation from my hobby.
Now, my batteries are charged and I’ve got a bunch of things I’m sending out, along with a bunch of things that I’m working on my own.
