Simple is just fine.

Frustration has set in over these last few weeks, mostly at not being able to do all the things. Trying to dance around sciatica so that I don't end up spending a week or more in bed has meant not doing a lot of the things I want to do, which in turn has meant plans are on hold.

Added to that frustration have been a few head crashes, caused mostly I think by being in limbo. Limbo doesn't suit me. After all the work on this website, portfolio relaunch, gearing up for big teaching events, after finishing all the jobs that have been hanging over my head for the last 3 years or so, I finally now have time to push ahead with all the exciting ideas that I've been sketching and planning and swatching for. My brain was starting to piece itself back together again, and I felt able and confident for the first time in a long time to do all the things.

I've no doubt that I'll pick that up again once my body is in better form, and that taking it easy will no doubt do me some good. But it seems rather cruel to stop me now, just when time is my own again. I guess that's just my body pointing out that I probably need a bit of a break...

garter stitch with slipped stitches pixie Hat - a new design in Bilum Pikinini (a hand-dyed Merino 4ply form Hungary); colourway unknown.

Enter the quick, simple knits. Well, the quick simple designs.

As much as I want to learn new skills, explore ideas and structures and experience those light bulb moments, there's plenty to be said for gentle design projects that don't push the grey matter (or neck/shoulder/sciatica). We don't have to be constantly pushing ourselves all the time. Simple is just fine.

I've got lots of words stored away about the value of the simple, and I'm slowly putting them all together. So often simple is overlooked or undervalued, yet there's a real skill to getting it right. Simple is understated. It's not showy or fussy, it's refined and considered.

I appreciate the designs I work on through these phases, as invariably they lead the way to new ideas that I hadn't previously considered, and often end up becoming strong patterns in their own right. So I'm going to indulge my need to rest for a while longer, and continue making the happy little things.

(the current theme for the happy little things are Hats for kids in hand-dyed yarn. Of course.)