This is my Transmute pullover, which I have been working on since March. It’s my only knitting project these days. I’ve been more concentrated on getting my new home in order, doing DIY projects to furniture and other antiques, and working on smaller scale projects like cross stitch, then my usual mainstay: knitting.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the maker movement, the maker community, and the making. I am indebted to parents  who taught me the value of exploration with hands, and that having hobbies is life’s most important adventure. I hold true to those values and want to practice in those as much as I can. But, I don’t want to just make for the sake of making–that pattern everyone MUST knit right now, I don’t feel tied to, or obligated to, any longer. I used to have the urge; everyone knit an “Amanda” cardigan, does that mean I need to have one, too?

No.

Transmute is my homage to my new attitude toward making. Make what you want, but don’t feel the need to churn out project after project. Take extended breaks if need be; its healthy. Choose one thing to focus on for awhile, rather than having 10 projects going at once.

And so, Transmute is my current project, knit up using some Plucky Knitter Feet in the Good Ole Pip colorway for the main, and some Shi Bui sock I had laying around without a skein mate. I really love the subtle color difference between the purply gray and the pink–it’s not something I’ve seen before. That’s what I want my making to be; unique.

Snaps when its finished. I’ll be bringing it on my road trip right after Pitchfork Festival, which I’m sure will boast plenty of time for miles of knitting.