Why I Love What I Do (reposted from Rock n’ Purl)

I participated in Rock n’ Purls Blogstars 2012 Series, and I’m reposting my contribution here. It was fun to participate in, and the prompt proved surprisingly challenging. If you’ve never checked out Ruth’s blog, go now.

Her designs are combine fashionability with an I-would-wear-that-every-day look, and she posts about her design process and life as a designer.

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I chose this topic because I thought it would be an easy post to write. My desire to design has pushed me to do and learn all kinds of things I normally would have avoided: getting up early, website creation, photoshop, modeling, deadlines, and it is only because I love it that all those things have become easy. When I sat down to answer the question why I love what I do, I couldn’t come up with an answer. As I was meditating on several answers, I designed something that I didn’t intend to publish. The story of that design answered the question.

This has been a difficult year for my oldest daughter. She moved from America to Italy, started school (in Italian), and recently welcomed a second sister. She’s constantly surmounting new challenges- riding a bike, knitting, reading, the Roman bus system, or a solo in her school Christmas concert.

As I watch her grow and change, I see the independent person she is becoming, and yet she’s still a little girl (not yet 5!). She has started assuring us that she loves us so much she never wants to move away, not even when she’s a grown up. Before the baby sister arrived she would sometimes say she didn’t want her to come, she wanted our family to stay the same. Then, the next day (or hour) she will inform us that she’s moving away for 2 years, and could she have 16 brothers and sisters?

I see all of these complicated, ambivalent feelings that come with growing up, and I want to say “I love you” with something tangible and concrete.

I designed her some gloves. I used her favorite skein of sock yarn from my stash, and when she requested a big, fancy, cable on the back I created one. I drew an outline of her hand, took my measurements, and cast-on.

I was immediately surprised at how much it meant to her. Every day she started asking if I’d knit more on her gloves. Every day she would say that I was making them just for her because I loved her – even though I had never told her this. She knew without explanation that getting something hand made was a special sign of love.

When I design, I enable other people to show their love. Whether they are knitting for themselves, their friends, siblings, parents, or strangers, when they use one of my patterns I am helping them make something that can communicate love wordlessly. This is why so many of my best designs are inspired by someone I love.

I believe that making things by hand makes every day more beautiful, and I design knitwear to be a part of that. As I build my business, I am part of a growing community of people who believe that creating beautiful things is worth supporting, and working for every day.

The gloves are done now, and ironically it’s been such a warm winter here in Rome that she’s hardly needed them to keep her hands warm. But she still carries them in her pocket most days, just because.