The Little Bits that Add Up

If you follow us on Facebook, you’ll know that we’ve had a lot of loss in 2023 already.  Jeanna has spent time caring for her sister as her sister cared for her son, and she’s also managed the care of her mom while wrangling her teenaged twins and young adult son who are all under her roof.  I’ve been circling her like a worried new mother wondering what I could possibly do to make things easier.  (Nothing.  The only way past it is through it.  But I did try.)  

Meanwhile, my mom required a visit and some shoring up of care.  That meant a trip across the country to clean out a few campers and a shed, boxing up paperwork, sorting through important papers, and prepping to move her across the country and back home to Michigan.

When she was able, my mom loved to quilt. . .and then she fell in love with the Viking embroidery sewing machines that she sold at her last job before retirement.  Much like knitters and hookers, people who quilt accumulate lots of little bits.  Boxes of thread and totes full of fabric.  Quilting books and CDs with embroidery designs.  Patterns printed from the internet and pieces of fabric nearly sewn into blocks.  None of it very much, but it all added up to an overwhelming amount of supplies that will be brought back to Michigan to be sorted when I have more time and a clearer mind.

Jeanna and her sister will soon begin the sorting in her mom’s condominium.  Coralee was a quilter and knitter and while I knew her, didn’t meet a craft she didn’t like.  She’s got a lot of little bits in her crafting room too.

I love how as crafty people, we see the potential in the smallest bits of things.  Potential to be a bit of trim on a project or the tiniest of totes to carry a project or a quilt for the newest one to join the family.  We hang on to the little bits until suddenly there is a box or bag or closet full of potential that feels more like oppression than the excitement of making something new from a bit of cast off lace or a few yards of leftover yarn.

Sometimes those little bits can be HEAVY.  

I sent an email to Jeanna this week with our confirmed dates for shows this spring and summer, and they all seem like little bits too.  A trunk show here, a festival there, a new event. . .all manageable.  But if I’m honest?  Knowing they’re all going to sneak up on us quickly has me a little freaked out about how to manage all of the details and to coordinate all of the moving pieces to ensure that we have our poop in a group when we welcome you all into our booth.

So I’ve committed to focusing on the little bits.  Mostly because I know they can add up and make a difference.

I’ve got a list of small, manageable tasks that won’t take too long, but I am going to do one every day. . .and pretty soon?  We’ll be ready to welcome you to our first spring show–Yarn Con in Chicago.  In February I’d planned to participate in the #MarchMeetTheMaker posts, but those little daily posts feel like a bit more than I can manage this month.  I’ll share a few, but no promises that those become daily snapshots.

And because I need a bit of beauty and creativity in my life, I pulled these little bits of sock yarn from a kit our guild made a few years ago.  I’ll be knitting up these little bits into a cowl. . .ten yards of color at a time. . .simple knitting and compounding the little bits into something that will add up to a functional spring accessory to keep me cozy and grounded when my little bits of lists and to dos start to get me down.  A tangible reminder that the only way past it is through it, and I’ve got the stamina to make it to the finish line.

Jeanna will be stretching and icing and doing all of her physical therapy and loving up on her family. . .and maybe, just maybe. . .she’ll do a little bit of sample knitting toward the end of the month.  For now she’s sitting with a couple of new skeins of Welcome Home near her while she drinks her tea, and pets them on occassion and is wondering what they’ll become.

I’ll post a list of our shows soon–but if you want them a little sooner, subscribe to our email list.  I’ll be sending a discount code for Yarn this week as well as the list of events to plan your vacations around!