🌼 Stitching through Summer Solstice

Sunday June 21st is the Summer Solstice. It is the day of the year that has the most sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. Where I live, we will have around 15 and a half hours of sunlight. Crazy to think that! I know that there are some places in the world that have even more than that right now. It is such a contradiction to the Winter Solstice where we experience the least amount of sunlight in one day. That is probably my least favorite day of the year. Actually, any day without knitting is my least favorite day.

I have always loved the summer. It always felt like the time of year that we were most free. When I was a kid, we had summers off. It was a care free time when we were not encumbered with responsibilities. We would ride bikes around the neighborhood and go from pool to pool with our neighborhood friends. The nights were filled with bon fires, fireflies, and giggles. When I was a teenager and had a car, on warm summer nights my friends and I would just cruise around town. We would roll down the windows (because who had AC in their car back then?) and turn up the music and sing until our throats hurt. I remember a time when we would drive down to the airport and lay in the fields at night and just watch the planes take off. It always seemed so magical. And even now as an adult, the summer just feels less busy, less hurried, less stressful.

Back in the day, and I mean wayyyyyyy back in the day, like even before the 1900s, the summer solstice was celebrated as a time when the world and nature flourished, crops were abundant, and all the animals were raising their babies who were born in the spring. It was a time (and still is) to reconnect with nature. Be outside and feel the soft grass between your toes. Enjoy those little things that we miss so dearly when the earth is cold, covered in snow, and we are huddled inside our homes to keep warm.

Now I would be remiss if I didn't tell you what this means for you and your knitting journey.

For knitters, the Summer Solstice can symbolize:

• Growth — the skills and projects you've cultivated. Celebrate this! You have come so far. Remember when you started and the things that seems so far out of reach? Those things that you have conquered. Celebrate those milestones that you have achieved.

• Creativity — embracing new ideas and inspirations. All knitters (and crocheters too) are artists. We don't do what we do because it's just something to do. It allows our minds to expand and create. Allow yourself to enjoy the creativity that flows through you when you are knitting. Every stitch is a piece of artwork being woven together.

• Community — gathering with fellow makers. Summer is time to be around others and enjoying their company. I think our knitting community is pretty freaking amazing. I haven't met a knitter I didn't like. All of us are so inviting, generous and kind. And I dont know a knitter who isn't out there trying to get someone else to join in the fun. We're a pretty badass group, if I say so myself.

• Mindfulness — enjoying the process one stitch at a time. Knitting is meditative and can slow the mind down from all of the ongoings of the day. Take time this time of year to just enjoy the project without the hurry of trying to get it done. When you are knitting this summer, allow yourself the time and space you need to disconnect from the hustle and bustle and just be present with your needles and yarn.

• Gratitude — appreciating the traditions and handmade heritage that connect us to generations past. Toast to those who have come before us and figured out the techniques, wrote the patterns, and laid the groundwork for each of us to be able to cast on our stitches. For without them, we would still be cooking or cleaning or doing something we don't like nearly as much.

Take a moment to think of the Summer Solstice as a gentle invitation to bask in the light, celebrate what has grown, and carry that warmth and creativity into the seasons ahead—one stitch at a time.

🔥 A Solstice Ritual for Knitters

Use the longest day of the year to:

• Cast on a new project.

• Finish something that's been lingering in your project bag.

• Knit outdoors in the sunshine.

• Gather with friends for a summer knit night.