Saturday, April 6, 2013

Hiatus

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.