Hi there, I’m excited to be diving into the spring knitalong with you! If you watched the intro videos all about the KAL, then you know I’m a big believer in self care and taking time out of our crazy days to quiet down and do things that make us happy, like knitting! Each week, there will be a theme here on the blog to accompany the technical tutorials and knitting you’ll be doing. I plan to dive into many topics surrounding these ideas: slowing down, being present, tapping into and leaning into your own creative spirit and gratitude. This is here for you if you feel moved, if not, no biggie. The last thing I want is for this to feel preachy in any way. In fact, what excites me the most is learning from you and seeing what works for you!

So to kick things off – this week’s themes are Going First & Goals. I’m going to talk a little bit about the goals first. To set the stage, I want to give you a little background here. As you can imagine, running a small business can get crazy stressful. Add in being a mom to two young boys and this insane notion I have that I can do it all and it’s a recipe for burnout. The KAL time is my busiest time of year because there are so many moving parts we’re managing. It can be a lot to juggle. On the flip side, I want to bring my absolute best self to the KAL group. This is the part of my business that means the most to me, so the last thing I want to be is stressed. This time around Jessie and I are doing a little accountability challenge to combat those feelings of overwhelm. Our hope is that you’ll join in. There’s no need to have an accountability partner, if you want to keep track on your own, that’s fabulous. What Jessie and I did is identify a few things we want to do every day to keep ourselves in a good space for the duration of the KAL. I’m a huge believer in the idea that you actually do your best work when you slow down enough to take care of yourself first. Work (especially creative work!) seems to flows faster and you feel better too! So, the very achievable things I’d like to stick to are: 10+ minute meditation every day before the boys wake up, exercise every day (20+ mins could be a walk) and (of course!) carve out time to knit, even if it’s just a few rows every day (for me this will be at night).  Truth be told I’m not going to get to each of these every day but If I get most days done, I’ve done well! My biggest piece of advice is to pick things that are not too hard to accomplish and as Jessie suggests, getting in touch with your why, hopefully that will help you stay motivated. Most days I will probably meditate for longer but I want to put that goal at 10 minutes because many mornings I'm already working before the boys wake up too.  So let us know if you’re up for this! Nothing competitive, just your own personal challenge going on.

The next idea I want to talk about is Going First. If you’ve done my KALs before, you know this one. I find I need constant reminders on this. This was first introduced to be Gabby Reece on the Tim Ferris Podcast (episode 89 for anyone interested) – the idea she mentions is the idea of going first – smile first –open up – take that first step. Not many people take this first step, especially in the busy hustle of our everyday life. But when you go first and smile or open up first, chances are the other person will too but it takes someone going first – why not you? I realize my mom set this example for me my entire life and now reaps tremendous benefits because of it. She’s friends with everyone, almost everywhere she goes. I recently went to a conference in Phoenix where I knew nobody and WHEW, it was so hard to go first. I realized how often I stay in my bubble and never meet new people. It took some courage but I tried my best to spark conversations with new people and left the weekend with a few new friends too. SOOOOO I say all this of course to encourage you to open up and introduce yourself in our KAL group. This a perfect safe space to get to know like-minded friends. How can we apply this idea to our community for the KAL – by introducing yourself – opening up in the groups, share first, cheerlead first. Let’s make it a place where we all feel comfortable to go first and support each other. I love this idea as small as it may be.

That is all I have for this week guys. Just one final note, if you see others finishing their projects super quickly, don't let it get you down. This happens with our KALs sometimes. Some participants have the time and the knowledge to race through it but the majority of us will take our time and knit the pieces over a 4-6 week time frame. Just know whatever your pace, it's all good. For help at anytime email cheryl@knitcollage.com

Thank you so very much for joining in. I am really excited to see these projects come to life!

Amy