It's winter solstice, always a happy day! I love this day so much, because from this point onward, the days will grow longer. As a morning person — or more accurately, a very early morning person — I'm excited that in the weeks ahead the sun will rise earlier and earlier.
I'm also excited to start a new project: Solstice to Equinox — Out of the Darkness into the Light. Organized by the 100DayProject, Solstice to Equinox invites you to "study, document, journal, create, practice, explore, make, observe, or initiate something new each week. This is meant to be a weekly hands-on visual, written, or audio interpretation of whatever interests you during the 13 weeks between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Whatever helps bring you out of the darkness. . . ."
Such a great idea! I already have a daily art practice in the form of a stitch journal, "Presence/Absence" (learn more about it at my Patreon page). So I don't want to add another art project to my already-full days. But one thing I would like to make more time for is swatching. Trying out new-to-me stitch patterns or combinations, or new-to-me yarns, is how nearly all of my knitwear designs come into being. Swatches are essential to keeping design ideas flowing. The more robust my "swatch stash," the better.
Plus, swatching is just plain fun! I love discovering how a stitch on the page of a stitch dictionary looks "in real life." So with the goals of fun, creative play, and developing new designs, I'm going to swatch as much as possible in the 13 weeks of Solstice to Equinox.
Some of the yarns I want to swatch with, from left to right: Stitch Sprouts Crater Lake, Periwinkle Sheep Purpose, Bartlettyarns, Inc. Sport, and Bare Naked Wools Breakfast Blend fingering.
There are no rules for the Solstice to Equinox project, other than doing something hands-on with your project at least once a week. So it's not as high-pressure as a daily project — you have some breathing room in when and how much you work on it.
I'm also doing a personal yoga project. I'll be focusing on one pose a week, studying it in my various yoga books, trying variations, watching videos, and making an effort to learn the Sanskrit name (I'm pretty bad about that).
This week I'm starting with Setu Bandha (Bridge Pose). It seemed appropriate because these 13 weeks will be a bridge from fall, through winter, into spring. And also because I tend to avoid Bridge, and I'm not sure why. Maybe I'll figure that out in the coming week!
Are you joining the Solstice to Equinox Project, or the 2018 100DayProject? Have you done a 100DayProject in the past? I'd love to hear how it went, or what your upcoming project(s) will be.
Happy Solstice!
