Community and Letting Go

I needed a shot of that – a shot of vital community. Nothing can replace it, really. I work from home all by my lonesome self. There are days when my creative output and interaction is solely limited to checking-in on the bloggy world and busy twittersphere. Connecting with other creative folks via twitter and blogs is great, but it really doesn’t compare to being with someone in person. Sharing days together with like-minded people fills you up. You enjoy what they enjoy, see what they see, make while they make. Creativity expands when you are surrounded by others’ creating too. I truly believe you begin to make within a collective, creative, energy. Can’t I bring some of those folks home with me?

Real and inspiring conversation beats a 140 character tweet every day of the week. It was wonderful talking with and getting to know Lizzy House, Stefanie Japel, Alessandra Cave, Jenny Doh, Karyn, Katherine, Kara, Gina, Sara, Beth, the Fancy Tiger gals and more. We have even formed a crafty, new group that is going to get together on a regular basis with the sole purpose of making – yay! More on that later, for sure.

Here are some explorations from my knitting embellishments class with Stefanie Japel (except for the tree – that was done by a crafty undercover group the first night). My friend Gina did the sweet pink and green crown. Stefanie was fabulous and came loaded with all sorts of yarny goodness. I learned how to do some cool things, including make different kinds of flowers and leaves. We discovered a fun color enhancement to my latest sweater design, too.

More important than the techniques though, Stefanie reminded me of the importance of letting go and not having a plan. Sometimes, okay, okay, a LOT of times, I get a pretty rigid idea of what I want to make. I forget that there needs to be room for development and change. Ah, flexibility, you are so elusive to me . . . I forget how much creativity is sparked when we let go of expectations and just play. Amy Krauss Rosenthal spoke of the same thing during the opening ceremony – how some of our most creative ideas occur when we don’t have a plan – accidental happenstance. This is hard for me, but I’m going to work on it . . . the Makerie was a great reminder.

I’ll post soon about the product photography class. Ohh I picked up some good skills there! – more to come.