stitch book 2025 – pages 1-3
percolating ideas – it’s all about the space between
The sensation of an idea percolating in the background is my most favorite thing in all the world. The 100 day stitch book project has the percolation phase built in. The formula is: work on a problem and then give your subconscious a crack at it.
After I add my stitches each day my brain keeps working on it – feeling for the next move. Sometimes this is entirely passive – all the magic work your subconscious does while you’re otherwise engaged. And less passively, but still without conscious effort, there’s a perspective shift – you notice things, colors, shapes, ideas that might inform your page.
Repeat this enough and new connections form. You get better at listening to yourself. Better at pulling out the deeper ideas.
This is the fourth stitch book and my pattern has been pretty consistent – days 1- 3 are more feeling around, less intensely thoughtful. I’m having a beginning and usually creating a problem. On days 4 and 5 I solve the problem. Or try to anyway. I do love having a problem to solve. Even when I fail I get tons of new insight, information and ideas.
And what exactly is a success? It’s a feeling… Something that surprises me. Something that feels balanced, energetic and compelling. The sensation of getting out of my own way. Getting someplace new.
purging
Pretty New Yearsy. I dive into this every year and then fizzle before I get to the level of possession management and relative minimalism I aspire to. This year I’m going to chunk it, make it a recurring time commitment that I can definitely follow through on.
It will be like the refrigerator situation – I review, toss, clean and make my list every Saturday. It’s a habit. The sorting and purging is getting a time slot too. A modest time slot. Let’s say Tuesday morning – 30 minutes.
So doable. I’ll chip away at this forever as opposed to making ambitious plans that run out of steam.
the glorious emptiness of my worktable
This was a happy accident new years accident. I had to totally pack up this room for some unplanned maintenance work… That resulted in removing a ton of delightful clutter. I ended up leaving most of it packed up and I’m considering carefully and slowly what I really need and want as I add stuff. Can I maintain this level of austerity? Absolutely not. But I’m inspired by it and taking a lesson from how good the emptiness felt.
The calendar is definitely a keeper and bringing lots of joy. It’s by my remarkable friend Sid.
magnetic bookmarks and a tiny mechanical pencil
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So much joy. I went back to an old school paper day planner last year and it agrees with me. It’s where I track the aforementioned habits. I’m the sort of person that gets a huge amount of satisfaction checking off a list item. I linked to *this planner last year and took a bunch of heat for it. As planners go it’s small and pricey. But I love everything about it and shelled out for it again this year. I’m particular about the stuff I use everyday and this one was a big win. The paper is deluxe (and very erasable). And it has an awkwardly translated quote for each day.
It’s also a place for recording ideas as soon as possible, in writing. That’s a big part of my process. This little book is always with me. And so is this *tiny mechanical pencil.
“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.”
Linus Pauling
And for finding those ideas later – *mini magnetic book marks. They are magic. And like the little pencil and book they are aesthetically delightful. Which can’t hurt.
*The magic fabric above is courtesy of my Brooklyn neighbor Sri threads. There is more about it at the bottom of the post
