I am not a consistent crafter. The commitments in my life call all of my
attention, and I put the act of making to the side for a while. Of all the
creative pursuits I have explored, knitting is the one I have returned to, year
after year.
I know I'm not alone here, that their are others like me who suddenly find
themselves back at their craft after a hiatus. But sometimes it feels that way;
that I'm the only one who puts on hold something they so obviously enjoy while
other events in life sweep them off their feet. How absurd.
This time I stopped knitting because of a new job. Only a week after I finished the
final requirement for my music teaching credential I received a call to be a
long term substitute. While exciting as my first full time teaching position,
those first weeks were emotionally and physically exhausting. I don't really
know why I stop knitting. It probably would have been a quiet respite in the
middle of that upheaval. I still carried my knitting around in my purse and for
weeks it sat in the drawer of my filing cabinet at work, untouched. Maybe I was
too overwhelmed to put any of my energy in to any kind of creative pursuit.
Maybe I was just tired of it. Maybe I needed a break.
I know why I come back though. The simplicity of the act, the push and pull of
yarn and needles, and the feeling of familiarity. I come back and it feels like
returning, after a long journey, home.
