Knitting & Writing

So last night, at art night, I decided to try to knit and write longhand at the same time.

I bought some moleskine cahier journals a couple of months back as a way to try to write more longhand. I don't write longhand. I make notes, jot down ideas, brainstorm, but I don't usually write full sentences out by hand. From my very first short story I wrote as an undergraduate student, I have always used a computer. So, attempting to write legibly and quickly enough to match my thoughts has been frustrating. I do think that it's still a valid way to change up my creativity...like all the other things I do for that, so I don't want to give up on it. I figure that my handwriting will approve the more I use this method.

So back to art night.

I brought my knitting along with my notebooks, journals, pencils, pens, watercolors, anything and mostly everything I would need to go with my creative flow. After completing one piece with pastels and ink and posting that to Instagram, I decided to just open my moleskine cahier and bring out my knitting and see what happened.

As I knitted, I thought about what I was working on, letting my mind wander. Any time something came to me, I would put down my knitting and write until I exhausted it. Then, I would pick up my knitting and continue. It was actually pretty productive and I didn't get frustrated just staring at an empty page. I was still being productive and creative, but in a different way, when the writing and the thoughts weren't happening.

It was so successful that I am thinking of implementing this at home when I am knitting on the couch. I plan to leave my notebook open and write when I feel the need. I hope that this helps me get through my latest project.