Year of Making

I have undertaken a new project this year, called Year of Making. I actually started in December, so you may have seen some posts in my Instagram Stories feed tagged #yearofmaking. I was inspired to do this by the #yearofmaking projects done by Miriam Felton and Kim Werker; learn a bit more about their take on it on Kim’s podcast here.

The idea, or the one that I’m running with, is to make something every day, and to document that daily. I’m taking a quick photo (trying not to worry about pretty pretty), and keeping daily notes. I’m not sure whether this will change my habits as a maker, or whether it will simply be a documentation of the making that I was already doing. When my work days include a lot of computer time, writing, layout, editing, website building and the like I sometimes feel like my job is all work and no play (there’s never enough knitting!). By documenting my day-to-day making that I am in fact doing, I hope to recognize that this is not the case, and perhaps be inspired to insert a little bit more making into each week. I’m really not sure what I will get out of the exercise, but it’s something that I want to try.

Ambitions, hopes, and ideas for this project? I usually have too many!

• try new vegetarian recipes (cut a bit of the meat out of my family’s diet)
• more recipes which involve PASTRY (nom nom)
• complete some sewing WIPS (so I can start new projects)
• sew BAGS, coats, trousers, shirts, …
• do more block printing (I took a fabulous class last year and got started)
• focus on the kids handmade wardrobes again this spring in Mini Me Made May
• do more art and cooking with Max (he’s 2.5 now, and interested in making things)
• complete some lingering knitting WIPS
• perhaps try knitting only 1 project at a time, to see if I can be more of a completionist!
• illustrate a book for Max and Neve
• drawings for cards
• finish a couple of quilts; hand quilting

… and I’ve got way more, really, but let’s just start there!

Rules? No rules, really

I am considering anything that I make, physically, an act of making for the purposes of this project. Dinner, baking, a few stitches on a knitting project, a drawing, play-dough creatures made with Max, etc. I am hoping this project might expand my view of myself as a maker to include the things I create which are outside of my ‘knit box’. I don’t know what, if anything, will come from this project, but it has already inspired me to try out a few new recipes, techniques, and projects beyond what I would normally have taken on. And it has made me happy and given me more pleasure to consider some of the mundane day-to-day responsibilities (ie. cooking) as creative making, and an opportunity to play with Max too.

A few of my ‘making’ projects so far:

You’ll probably see quite a bit of cooking included in the items I can share publicly, because a large amount of my knitting is for new designs, which we usually can’t share until they are published. I’ll be sharing some of my photos and projects on Instagram and more regularly on our Instagram Stories feed, so check there if you’d like to follow along with what I’ve been making! Or start your own #yearofmaking!

Do you have a project for this year?

The beginning of a new year can be an opportunity for new ideas, plans, visions and excitement. This year at Tin Can Knits we’re exploring the reasons why we knit, and considering 2017 a Year of Thoughtful Knitting. We hope to share knitters’ stories, and explore the ways in which our shared craft brings people together, expresses love, gives comfort, and brings us happiness and joy. I hope the coming year will be full of knits and full of joy for you and your loved ones.

Some TCK knits I’m planning to make this year:

Save