# 61 - I’m Back!
Trying to live less digitally
Hello dear readers!
After a whirlwind of a summer and early fall, I’m finally moving at a slower pace and feeling ready to restart the newsletter. This summer saw many big life changes - I started a new job and moved to New York! I also spent time with family in Iowa and Wisconsin, made a trip to St. Louis to see friends, plus several trips to New York before our final one-way ticket here.
Amid all these changes, I made an effort to be on my phone less. I set my phone to display in grayscale only so it’s less interesting to look at. This has been highly effective at making the phone less appealing and now when I switch my phone to color to examine a photo or something, it’s so jarring I switch it back to black and white ASAP. I also set time limits for some social apps and I mostly don’t ignore the cutoff warning when I hit it!
Overall, I’m loving this evolving usage of my phone, but it’s also left me completely clueless as to what is going on in the knitting/sewing worlds. I haven’t checked my Meandertextiles insta account in a long time - and that’s where I follow all the designers and makers in the craft community. Anytime I get a crafty newsletter, it displays as black and white on my phone so I’m unaware of the latest color trends.
The ignorance I’m feeling is sort of blissful! Despite my big move, I was able to finish my India quilt, plus a baby quilt for a friend. And I’ve also made progress on my Hawaiian quilt and my knit sweater. I think having less influence from online helped me focus on my own making priorities.
I feel that my digital minimalism may affect this weekly letter, but I’m not sure just how yet. Perhaps I’ll reduce the frequency to monthly? Bimonthly? Or maybe the focus on textiles will expand to encompass more topics? I’m sure the right pace will sort itself out but for now I’m feeling energized to restart this project.
My digital minimalism has also made me a very bad marketer/promoter! I had two articles come out over my newsletter break and I am excited to share them here!
First I had an article about sheep breeds come out in the “Reference” issue of PLY Magazine. What an honor to write for this publication! Get a digital copy here .
My second article about women in the Art Nouveau movement recently came out in Making Stories, a beautiful publication and online yarn shop based in Europe. Order a print or digital copy here.
🧶 What am I making now?
In the lead up to my move, I wasn’t doing any crafting, but I’ve finally picked up my knitting needles again! I’m still working on this cotton/linen blend pullover and I’ve connected the front and back and am now knitting the rest of the body in the round. Of course, the first time I joined back in the round I did it backwards. So after frogging a whole round and rejoining, I’m now happily knitting along!
Have you made any changes - big or small - this summer? Let us know in the comments or reply to this email!
Your Chicago knitting friends miss you!