Katie Rempe: Hey Jim, guess what?
James Divine: What?
Katie Rempe: I have an exciting announcement.
James Divine: What are we doing?
Katie Rempe: We're back in school. We're gonna take a summer break.
James Divine: Oh, Are we gonna rest and relax?
Katie Rempe: That's right. The summer is for chill. And you know what? People hate resting. No, society doesn't prefer us resting,
but we're here today to let you guys know the magic of rest.
James Divine: Yes.
Intro
---
Light From Lantern presents: Knit A Spell.
I'm magical maker: Katie Rempe.
And I'm the maker of magic: James Divine.
Join us as we stitch together the symbiotic relationship between crafting and 'The Craft'.
James Divine: It's a trip because I always looked forward to summer vacation as a kid. Didn't we always get so excited? Like summer's
Katie Rempe: Count down the days.
James Divine: And then as adults, there's no summer vacation.
Katie Rempe: No. It just is one week after another of work and then work, and then there's work, and then after that there's work.
James Divine: And then you die.
Katie Rempe: Sometimes there's people who brag that they don't even take a day off! They never get sick. They don't go on vacations.
Is that something worth bragging about?
James Divine: Think about it. In American society especially, we are defined by how much we work. And I think that in the witchy community, we might be a little better at this. And if you're listening, you might be one of those people who's like, not me.
However, there are plenty of people and you may count yourself as one of them, and you definitely know people who are this way, who, it's a badge of honor to say I haven't called in sick in five years.
And certainly your place of business will reward you for not calling in sick, or we'll certainly punish you for calling in sick too much.
They will reward you for not taking vacation with either vacation payout or, there's a lot of these interesting, subtle things that happen that are very subversive ways to say you don't need self-care.
In fact, even the very slim amounts of vacation and time off to become a new parent in the United states are so small compared to other countries that it really shows that we live in a hyper workaholic society. When we compare ourselves to other countries.
And there's shame in this idea of rest, I need to take a nap. Oh, are you sick?
Katie Rempe: You have a bad sleep schedule. There's a lot of judgment around that.
James Divine: Yeah, exactly. And there's shame in taking a break. I really need a break. Oh God. whenever I'm saying, okay, time for a 10 minute break, everyone is like, oh really?
Can't we just get through this?
What? You can't take 10 minutes? You think that taking 10 minutes to reset your brain in this training is gonna like have us end any earlier or something?
And back when I was doing corporate training, people would get really annoyed at, you're taking all these breaks. What? That would've gotten us out two hours early.
What the hell's wrong with you?
Katie Rempe: Even when I worked at uh, a outdoor. Equipment company it was a badge of honor to be like, oh, I'm skipping my 15 minute break.
James Divine: I didn't take a lunch
Katie Rempe: though it technically was illegal and for my benefit, because the company would probably be happy to have me be there all the time, but these are things that we fought for and we should be willing to remember, therefore our benefit. Rest will help us work. More efficiently.
James Divine: Yes.
Katie Rempe: We don't have to work longer to be efficient.
James Divine: \ there's this badge of honor with the 80 hour work week. The 60 hour work week.
Katie Rempe: The 12 hour work day, you're so right.
James Divine: But I see that you're holding, oh, you just were holding pancakes in your lap. Look at our examples on rest.
How often does your cat or your dog nap?
Katie Rempe: Great point.
James Divine: And many of them are slim and fit. They're still napping all day.
Katie Rempe: And she's very happy.
James Divine: Yeah. I come home and look at my cat and I'm like, what are you doing all day? And the cat looks at me slim and sleek and stretches and is okay,
Katie Rempe: Jealous. Yeah.
Yes. I totally get it. And I have looked at my dog on many occasions as she's napping and thought, oh, if only I were a dog. Dog has no cares in the world.
And it's funny that these same habits roll into making as well. I can tell you many stories of crafters who gotta knit the new thing in the new magazine.
I gotta get my crafting done for the holidays. And it's depleting for a thing that was supposed to really be filling you up. So finding that balance even in the things that bring us joy so that they're not ruling over us is really powerful.
James Divine: Yeah. It's fascinating. Our self-care takes a backseat.
So what does it mean to take a break? I think that if we are going to prioritize taking a break, taking a vacation, taking sick time, the full amount of sick time we need.
That we are really caring for ourselves these days that we are starting to learn that's important.
I don't know if we will, cuz the culture's so powerful.
But what does it really mean to take a break if we are taking a break, Katie, don't you think it's like counter-cultural?
Katie Rempe: I know bunch of rebel rousers over here.
It's important to break so that you can regain perspective.
You found some interesting things in this as well.
James Divine: Yeah.
Greek Gods of Rest
---
James Divine: If we look to ancient Greece, we looked up a couple of deities. The first is the God of rest Hypnos. So we were both kind of tripping about the ancient Greek God of sleep.
And the God of sleep is the son of the goddess of night Nicks. There's lots of myths around how sleep is used in the myths to trick different deities.
Hypnosis powers were used in order to trick them or to do other things.
And who is sleep's brother?
Wasn't it? Death.
Katie Rempe: Oh, that's
James Divine: I. And they've all lived in the underworld. So this idea that we sleep and we're akin to death during the night, and We just are just at the tail end of Mercury retrograde.
And this is a really interesting time to go deep within into the our own underworld.
Our dreams are there and this sort of idea of this is a restorative and restful type of time.
And there are ways to ritualize our sleep or our rest, certainly by putting intention around it.
And I can think of many ways to do that. We can anoint ourselves with, oils, rest and relaxation, oil, or our peace and tranquility oil.
We can have herbs around, or certain plants, in our room itself.
Katie Rempe: Wrap yourself up in like a knitted blanket that you made for yourself. Maybe it is intended for good sleep or restfulness.
James Divine: Even a crocheted afghan that is crocheted with particular colors or intention blocked with certain waters that are intended for restful and peaceful and restorative sleep. That would be a really magical.
Katie Rempe: Like a new moon water or something like really chill
and dark to just put you right into it.
James Divine: We have a knitted bedspread that it's a family heirloom. It's all white with beautiful patches. It's like granny squares, but they're knitted.
Katie Rempe: Yeah.
James Divine: Oh.
It's just gorgeous. And I would love one of those with like moons and stars. All over it would be really beautiful.
Katie Rempe: Making notes.
James Divine: I know that'd be like from
Katie Rempe: I know A designer
James Divine: From Lantern Pattern coming soon.
Katie Rempe: There
you go. Maybe in this fall. Who knows? Wrap up this fall.
James Divine: And we've seen people who don't have restorative breaks?
So there's a couple of examples.
I think I've certainly made the mistake of taking an unconscious break. And going shopping at the mall instead of actually meditating or even booking a massage would be a better break than wandering around in the mall aimlessly.
Katie Rempe: Or planning a vacation but not actually planning anything in the vacation because you don't want the stress and then you have stress of what am I actually doing here?
Break with Intetion
---
James Divine: So I think that if we create intention for our breaks, both in our sleep and in the breaks and what we're doing, I think that can align both our psychological and our magical energy into what we're doing.
That's the importance of creating that intention around breaks and it has me think about the brakes in knitting. So I want to ask you, there's breaks in knitting, like obviously if I'm just gonna knit stockinette pattern like the whole way through, right? I'm just gonna create a swatch.
But if I'm gonna break to, I'm gonna do stocking it and then I'm gonna pearl, knit one for, 30 rows and then pearl for 30 rows. I'm gonna have two different bands. Of pattern.
And if I want to make a break in that or if I'm gonna knit like cables, or if I'm gonna, change the pattern in my texture. Or if I'm gonna do color work or blocks and I'm gonna change the color, those can be seen as breaks.
Katie Rempe: Absolutely.
James Divine: doing. So is there an idea that you have on the break between doing one type of pattern to another type of pattern, one type of color to another type of color, how would you ritualize that? Or how would you conceptualize that as you're doing some of that work?
Katie Rempe: that's a great question.
I think part of it would probably deal with what is your intention behind the piece?
But I know, for example, like my travelers' talisman, there are several break points in there with use of stitches and color. The breaks are like garter stitch, the same stitch, two in one color and one in another. So there's breaks there.
Each one sandwiched. So it was like luck and invisibility. You're gonna break between each one. You don't wanna be completely invisible, cuz luck will never find you.
You don't wanna be entirely lucky because something eventually will fall out if you just expect luck to always come your way.
So it's finding that balance and that's, I think, the break, right?
It's balance.
If it was all one stitch pattern, it'd be boring,
right? Not only just to make but to look at.
That's why there are resting spaces in art generally. The eye rests here and you direct it over here with use of this color or this stitch pattern, which is moving in this direction.
So rest is a tool for guiding things intentionally.
You can't keep knitting forever. Eventually you're gonna have to break the yarn and cast off.
Even if it's that literal.
James Divine: Yeah. The yarn runs out. You gotta get a new skein at some point.
Katie Rempe: Exactly.
James Divine: I love this because it immediately has me think about when you're designing a painting or a piece of art, how do you create tension? But also places for the eye to rest, Where's the eye going to?
And I never thought about that in a piece like the Traveler's Talisman.
I know people that have knitted it. They've told me, I knitted the travelers travel man, and I wear it whenever I am out and about cuz it is such a magical piece.
That's such a cool idea and that it's an art piece and I like thinking about. Something that is useful also being art. How genius is that?
UFOs!z
---
James Divine: Okay, let's talk about breaks from a bigger piece because how do you ritualize a break from the work?
So I start on a piece. And then it is half done and it's just sitting there in my island of the unfinished pieces. I'm looking at all of you out there with unfinished pieces.
Katie Rempe: The UFO people. That's a unfinished object.
By the way, UFOs in knitting.
I can't believe we never talked about this!
James Divine: I know we never talked about the UFOs. That's why you're into UFOs.
Katie Rempe: That's it. because I have UFOs all over this place.
James Divine: You have uFOs in Florida at your parents' house. You have UFOs in Ohio at your brother's house. You have in Seattle at your house. There's uFOs all over the nation.
Katie Rempe: The government is gonna come after me. I got 'em all in my house.
James Divine: Okay. So how do you ritualize a break from the work?
That's what I'm curious about. I'm working on something and I'm like, ah, and I put it aside. What are your insights about that?
Katie Rempe: It's funny because I used to have a friend who would put projects in time out when they weren't going to plan.
James Divine: Punish the Pro. So it wasn't about them at all. It was about that project. Bad scarf go to your shelf.
Katie Rempe: Maybe something in the pattern wasn't like clicking in their head or maybe it was a little bit beyond their skillset or just they didn't have the mental capacity to deal with whatever the pattern wanted to do.
Like maybe it needed to be something easier.
James Divine: How dare You blame them. It's the project, not them.
Katie Rempe: It's totally
the project. It's the ARNs fault. It's the knitting needle's fault. Nothing to do with the person manipulating them.
James Divine: no.
Katie Rempe: But yes, I have a couple of UFOs and I have found that having a set time, usually around this time, mercury retrograde is when I re-look into those bags. And see, okay, do I want to still finish this?
Sometimes it's not getting put out for any good reason into timeout. It's just oh, I got distracted. And I forgot about it. So even just going back to remember, you're like, oh, I'm excited for this.
I totally forgot
I even
was almost done with it. That's very powerful too. And then you can just tap on the bag, wake it up again. That's my ritual with it. Re-look at the pattern. Hope you can remember where you are. That's also another reason people don't go back to stuff because they can't remember where they left off.
James Divine: I'm glad it's not just me, cuz I don't think I could remember where I left off on anything.
Katie Rempe: Did I need all of these things cast on at once? Did I overfill my knitting plate? It even happens with the best of intentions.
James Divine: So this reminds me of taking a break in a restorative way rather than an escapist way.
So you're ready to take a break from this project? Like maybe there's a time to stop, breathe, and inquire. What is this break about?
Why are you bored with the project?
Why is the project frustrating you? What is the purpose? And if you were to look at your other UFOs, I'd love that
Katie Rempe: A term
James Divine: that.
Is there a theme?
I stop with projects and it isn't just about knitting. What about the rest of your projects in life? Are the projects that we take a break from or that we decide to put aside.
Is this thoughtful? Is it something that we've planned? Is there a plan to return to it? Do we know what our stopping point is?
How we're gonna reengage with it? Again, are we taking a restorative break do we have a plan for what we're doing in between? Or are we just gonna meander and wander and go to the casino in the meantime? And so
this is
where I think it's important to talk about restorative break versus an escapist break.
Katie Rempe: Absolutely. Yes. Are you doing it with intention? Or are you accidentally just digging the hole even deeper with this?
Because that's what happens to me. Oh, this project is boring now because all of the mystery is taken out.
That's one of my signs. Even though I'm not finished with it, which is what I want is the end result. But all of the discovery part is done and thus goodbye. Hello, new project.
James Divine: For me, it's, I'm not sure how to do the next step or I get overwhelmed cuz I haven't broken it down in small enough parts.
And then I will totally avoid it. And I know I'm avoiding it because, I'm either on TikTok, hurting my thumbs, or I am, shopping.
Katie Rempe: I have the same, it'll be Instagram scrolling for me or looking up some silly book or whatever that I'm also probably not gonna have time to read.
Avoidance.
James Divine: So we can ritualize that by, taking a, page out of mindfulness meditation. And making a plan to say, let's ritualize our break. Let's do some self-care.
Let's observe. Take a moment to breathe, observe what's going on here within ourselves, and let's choose to take and honor our body's wisdom, to take a break and reflect and actually restore ourselves so that we can also look at, am I working too much?
Am I prioritizing what I need to prioritize for my business or for my project or for my, employer and the things that are important.
Katie Rempe: For my health, for my relationships, for my family. All those things.
James Divine: Awesome.
Let's take a quick break.
And go restore ourselves a little glass of water, maybe hit the restroom and you can hit pause and do that too, or listen to a few of our little promotions while you do that and we'll be right back.
BREAK
---
Katie Rempe: If you're curious about palm reading, all you have to do is turn to our maker of magic: James Divine.
Jim offers Palm readings, tarot readings, and coaching packages all through his website, thedivinehand.com.
I just completed Jim's Intro to Palmistry class, and I was astounded at how much I learned in just four days.
As a knitter, I was immediately inspired by how different ways that you might hold the yarn or your knitting needles correspond with where that hits on our palms and what that might be saying about us.
Jim's class is helping me decode this. And in the process, making me very comfortable with his method of palm reading: The Divine Hand Method.
I can't recommend taking a class or getting a reading from Jim enough.
Keep up to date with all he has going on by signing up for his newsletter thedivinehand.com, and by following him on Instagram @DivineHandJim.
Hey there, fellow knitters. Are you looking for a community of like-minded magical makers?
Join me on Patreon in my Coven of Knitters.
For $21 a month, you can gain access to all of the amazing benefits, including my free pattern archive,
Monthly live streams on zoom, magical making tips, exclusive discounts and promotions, behind the scene posts on upcoming designs and my newly added segment horoscope for knitters, where I pull a tarot card for each side of the Zodiac to advise you on your crafting for the month ahead.
To learn more and sign up, you know where to go. Patreon.com/lightfromlantern.
See you there magical maker.
Katie Rempe: All right, Jim. We're back.
James Divine: I had such a nice break.
Katie Rempe: me too. It was restful, it was restorative,
James Divine: relaxing.
Hey, all those start with E.
Mercury Rx Episode
---
Katie Rempe: Must be Mercury retrograde.
A, which by the way, if you haven't seen that episode on Mercury retrograde that we have, we'll relink it in the show notes. because it's always good to re-listen to every few months.
James Divine: It's a classic.
Katie Rempe: So speaking of breaks, We're taking the summer off.
Well off and I use break loosely because we'll be breaking from the show the podcast?
Oh, by the way, Jim I just wanted to let you know. live on air. We're gonna take the summer months. Off
James Divine: What you mean knit A Spell is taking a break?
Katie Rempe: That's right. Just like all of our listeners should be doing. Take a break to be with your family. Go outside. It's nice out probably! Rest, regenerate and then rejoin us this fall when we come back in September.
James Divine: Yes, I did know this, and I'm only pretending that it's a surprise.
We've decided that Knit A Spell is so good that we're gonna concentrate it into a couple of seasons. And I'm so excited for what Katie is going to bring you.
She has been working on some fantastic planning around the entire.
Light from Lantern offering.
There is so much we want to tell you in what this break really means.
So katie, it's not really that you're taking time off, right, it's a little bit that we're shifting. You really are shifting focus to work on other projects.
Jim's Break Plans
---
James Divine: So I'll just get mine out of the way. I'm going to be focused on what I've always been focused on, which is my speaking. I'm speaking in Portland in September. I have a bunch of online conferences and courses that I'm teaching.
You can follow me on my email list at thedivinehand.com. Sign up for my email list or follow me on Instagram Divine Hand Jim and you'll know all the things that I'm doing.
Katie's Break Plans
---
James Divine: Katie. Really, I wanna know what you're doing. What is Light From Lantern blossoming into or bringing to the forefront?
Katie Rempe: As the person who does the producing and the editing of the show, which has always been my pleasure.
But it does take up quite a bit of time. I haven't really had the time to dedicate to. Online workshops that I have had ideas for like well over two years, but just haven't had the time to actually make them a reality.
Sometimes you gotta take a break from one to do another, and that's what's going to be my plan for the summer as I introduced two online workshops.
A course called Knitting with Color Magic, and then following, I'll be doing Knitting With Knot Magic.
James Divine: Wait, it's not magic?
Katie Rempe: Knot Magic.
Should I name it stitch Magic? Whatever. We'll
James Divine: No, I like not magic. I think the pun and the dad jokes will never end.
Katie Rempe: That's a good point in the land of knitting all the puns.
And I have some new knitting designs that I'm working on. So I have one that I teased on my Patreon and just a couple of days ago on my Instagram called Wish Cowl.
It's all about knitting a wish into this project. I'm really excited to have this one out.
James Divine: All these sound amazing. Knot magic in your knitting and then knitting with color magic.
These are fantastic!
Katie Rempe: All things we've gently talked about over the years, but I'm really ready to do a big, deep dive.
So it's all gonna be like history of colors and the dyes, how we see them, how you see them, what how they make you feel. And it's all gonna be prompting to make personal correspondences. To make your knitting more magical, more meaningful, and more exciting because I don't know about you guys out there, I've been knitting for a long time and sometimes it can be boring, that's why half my projects are UFOs in my closet.
James Divine: It also takes magic from theory into practice, and I think that's the thing that's also really great is you can listen to a podcast, but then how do I actually do magic?
And I love for knitters, this is a way to take magic that you might have read about or that you've listened to and actually applied in real life with a community of people. And when you're all knitting together, you're in a knitting circle and you're all applying magic together in a class, man, there's nothing better than that.
Katie Rempe: Oh yeah.
James Divine: Stitch and witch together, what?
Katie Rempe: I can think of all sorts of things about color, but the first person I talked to about this is gonna say something that's gonna make me say yes. And that is part of the fun in teaching these classes because it promotes your own thinking of things.
And my Patreon will also be boosted up with even more things. So the Coven of Knitters, which is my knitting Patreon tier is where you can follow and find me more there and all through the summer.
So no breaking there.
James Divine: I love this! If you are not already on Patreon, definitely get on.
If you're already a Knit A Spell on Patreon you wanna upgrade to the Light From Lantern patreon.
Because I think that you're going to pause the Knit A Spell patreon. Still good through May, correct?
Katie Rempe: Yes, the Knit A Spell fans tier will still be open through May, will still be putting new content in there. After that, we're gonna be having a break for a couple of months, so I'll be closing that tier down just so that new people can't sign up.
However, anyone that is currently signed up can either choose to stay or can come out until we come back, which is completely fine. We'll be back in September for our first new season. So I'm very excited for that.
Like I said, we're still gonna have new content in the Nita spell tier through May, so you can look forward to that before we go on our break.
Future of Knit A Spell
---
James Divine: And let's talk about the future of Knit A Spell. Are we really gonna come back?
Is this the end of Knit A Spell?
Are we breaking up?
Katie Rempe: We're not breaking up. No. If anything, Jim and I are gonna become closer than ever because we won't only have to talk about Knit A Spell the whole time.
James Divine: So when we come back, we have a new format.
So Katie, talk to us about that.
Katie Rempe: Yes. So instead of doing one episode a week for the rest of our lives. We're going to still do one episode a week, but from February through April and September through November.
We want to be with you when you're riding in your car to work and when you're, coming out of the wintry mix.
But we understand, you need a break. And that's why we're gonna have two breaks now every year, which is over the winter and over the summer.
James Divine: It's perfect.
Katie Rempe: So progressive.
James Divine: And each of those, we're gonna dive into one theme. For those seasons. I think that'll be really cool.
And it's called Knit A Spell. So our focus is really gonna be around, guess what? Knitting.
Katie Rempe: And even Jim, our maker of magic I'm gonna allow him some extra time to grow his amazing business because guess what? Jim is also working on online courses for palmistry and all sorts of things.
Which by the way, I took his intro to palmistry class. I have been analyzing people's palms left and right, probably to an annoying fashion. Even the waitress the other day, sorry, waitress at the restaurant the other day.
I can't help it. It really was mind blowing. So I'm hoping that you'll also use some of the time to build these courses so that anybody can take them on their website.
Maybe even a self-paced, who
James Divine: Yeah. It's in progress.
So I'm going to change from a co-host to a recurring guest.
Katie Rempe: Don't worry, he's not getting away. And rec recurring can recur as many times as we want, so don't worry.
Yes.
It's changing, but what is life if not change?
James Divine: It's the spice of life, right? Variety, change.
Katie Rempe: And we'll still pop in from time to time to let you know what's going on. So be sure to sign up for the Knit A Spell newsletter, which you can do at KnitASpell.com and the Knit A Spell Instagram account.
James Divine: You know what I
really love about knit A Spell?
Katie Rempe: What?
James Divine: The number 106.
The 106 episodes that we have in the archive. That is a lot of episodes. There are very few people who have actually listened to every single episode.
They are all excellent.
Go back and listen, watch, subscribe to our YouTube. You can still do that.
Continue to be a Knit A Spell fan. Continue to listen and send us email. We are still here. we are still active. We're still fascinated to know, what turns you on from the podcast?
All of the authors, all of the creators, all of our guests and including us, are still here and fascinated to know what was relevant for you and what interests you in those episodes.
So it isn't like it's archived, it isn't like it's old, and it's all new. It's all fresh and it's all still relevant even now.
And I just talked to people yesterday, they're still listening to the first episodes and loving every one of them and laughing.
So enjoy them and keep enjoying them, and have a blast.
Katie Rempe: And if you're someone who has listened to every single episode, you better drop me an email [email protected] to let me know. I'll send you something.
I don't know what, but something.
James Divine: Yeah. First a test to see if that's really true. And second
Katie Rempe: I will know if you're lying. Don't lie to a virgo. They know.
James Divine: Just kidding.
Hired as the editor. We need a production assistant.
Katie Rempe: That's right. You're gonna get trapped into working for free. Read the fine print before you agree.
Too
James Divine: During this break, I hope you have a restorative and fabulous summer and stay tuned and enjoy all the things coming.
We love you, our YouTube subscribers, we love you, our Patreon subscribers. And we love you, especially our podcast listeners.
Katie Rempe: Yes. We can't wait to see you when we're rested and relaxed and full of brand new stories to tell you about magical making right here on Knit A Spell.
James Divine: See you in September.
Katie Rempe: See you then everybody.
Outtro 2022: Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a friend, leaving a review on iTunes and Spotify or following Knit A Spell on Instagram.
You can also subscribe to the Light From Lantern YouTube channel to enjoy full episodes of Knit A Sepll and see our happy faces.
You can also learn more about readings, classes, and events going on with your favorite Maker of Magic James Divine by visiting thedivinehand.com and subscribing to his newsletter. Then follow Jim's fun and interactive Instagram account @DivineHandJim.
Keep up with Katie the Magical Maker by subscribing to her newsletter at lightfromlantern.com.
You'll receive a free knitting pattern as a thank you gift, then follow Katie on Instagram @LightFromLantern for even more magical making tips.
