If you follow me on Instagram you likely already know that I spent last weekend away with 2 amazing women who happen to be great friends and rockstar knitters. Julie, Shireen and I spontaneously decided that we should rent an Airbnb in beautiful Prince Edward County, Ontario and spend 2 days having apple pie for breakfast, eating out at great restaurants, taking fun photos of ourselves knitting (and not knitting) but mostly just lounging and chatting about everything under the sun. And it was amazing! These girls get me. We had never spent a weekend together like this but you’d never know it. It was as though we were old college roommates, picking up where we left off.
For the better part of the past 18 months or so I have often felt like I was just getting by at Tanis Fiber Arts. And to be perfectly honest I was ok with that. I had a difficult pregnancy, an easy birth and then I had the first year of life as a mom of three and I decided to prioritize my family life over a stressful work life. These baby years go by so fast and I learnt early on that trying to do everything didn’t work for me. I like to ride the waves of creative inspiration when they come to me and I honestly just don’t find that they come as frequently, or that I have the energy to devote to them, that first year after having a baby. The thing about my relationship to creativity is that it is a constant ebb and flow. I never worry when I don’t feel inspired because I know that creativity is an always evolving thing for me. There are valleys and peaks and that’s fine. Nobody can be “on” all the time!
I’ve been looking forward to the day when I’d feel it creeping back in. When I’d feel the itch to poor my energy into developing a new idea. I’m getting a wee bit more sleep these days, so that helps, but spending 48 hours swapping ideas with 2 inspiring creatives definitely played a huge role in the return of my enthusiasm and excitement for my art! The simple act of setting up a sock photoshoot with Shireen (with art direction from Julie!) was, dare I say, exhilarating! We were happy to be doing it, we were excited by the results that we were getting. We were all into it! Now I’m back home (hugging and kissing my babies!) and back at work and I am pumped about what the future holds. I have some ideas, nothing ground breaking or shocking, but small ideas that I am incredibly excited to dive into and that is everything to me!
