Now I Can Focus on Knitting

Before I knit anything of substance, I sewed. My first project was a Hawaiian-print bikini out of regular cotton. It was a horrible idea, obviously, but when you're 12 and they haven't even begun to sell blow dryers at the store, cotton makes a heck of a lot of sense.

Now that I knit and knit and knit--now mostly for work--it feels good to have a go-to project that isn't related to knitting.

In this case, I chose to hand sew a skirt from Alabama Chanin. You've probably seen this sort of thing around online, and I drank the Kool-aid. Boy, oh boy, it took a lot of time, but once I finished all the panels and sewed it all up, it became so very much worth every moment. Hand sewing reminds me a lot of knitting. Why? Well, it's not a quick fix. And when you're finally finished, there's such a huge sense of accomplishment. I enjoy using a sewing machine because I can whip up a dress in a matter of hours or even fewer, but this slower way of making something definitely has its charm. Working on this and completing this helped me slow down a LOT and savor the process.

There are a handful of books devoted to this style of hand sewing. The two that I referred to are Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns and Alabama Studio Style and Alabama Studio Sewing + Design. You can also purchase a DIY kit from the website.

This has to be the most satisfying non-knit that I have ever, ever made. It's far from perfect, but I like it anyway. Plus, it makes me happy.