I am knot a quilter. Yes, that was an intentional pun. I am a semi-proficient knitter when locked in a sensory deprivation chamber in which I can focus entirely on the next stitch and avoid any outside stimulation.

I have been known to crochet cute hats. I am attempting to learn embroidery and realizing that I am no longer qualified to throw shade at the microscopic whales on Vineyard Vines shirts. That stitch work is serious business, of which I am entirely unprepared to duplicate by my own hand.

I am now testing out a documentary format with my podcast, choosing to attempt a more polished (READ: more editing) style for each episode. This means that instead of just a few cuts and trims I am actually layering audio, selecting sounds bites and writing and recording voice over tracks, learning to edit tracks on top of one another. The best description I have come to in my mind is the idea of quilting together a larger story, with more depth and storytelling, and a lot more patience and work required.

My current audio editing skills work well for interviews. The amount of editing I am doing is akin to my son’s summer camp sewing project. That consisted of two pieces of burlap, a needle the size of a fork tine and some neon green polyester yarn. Even then, he needed help to finish the burlap coaster. Even now, with as little editing as I do, I still ask for help with the final mixing and mastering of each episode from a professional.

I recently spoke with a friend who is a quilter and she explained the process and the detail work that goes into a project. She said loves to choose the fabrics, to lay out the pattern and sew the pattern together. Then comes the hard part, piecing together the top of the quilt with the bottom and the batting in between. By description it seems to be the most tedious part of making a quilt. I think it is because the vision of the pattern, the story you are trying to tell, is assembled in that top layer of the quilt. Now it has to be finalized and perfected and sent into the world.

This reminds me of so many short stories, essays, comedy sets of mine that have yet to be finished and put out into the world. This also reminds me of a pair of socks I began knitting before my son was born. He just entered first grade.

So, the following piece of audio is meant to directly combat my fear of tackling the harder finishing touches, to pushing past the unknown and get a little more acquainted with the technical finishes of a creative project, whatever it may be. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a start.