As I have mentioned at least five times now, I participated in the Me Made May challenge last month. This is an open challenge, created by blogger and sewist Zoe to wear and celebrate garments you have made. Since 2010, the challenge has grown and people take it in all sorts of ways (as with any goal, the point is to make it meaningful to you).

Because it’s an Internet challenge, documentation is an important part (but it doesn’t have to be!). Many folks wear and share their makes which means taking lots of photos. The photos are annoying! But they are also evidence. As I mentioned in my knit sweater newsletter, having real data about what I wear is so useful, especially when I think about what I might want to make next.

All of this to say, even though I am “offline” now, I wanted to participate. I wanted to see if I could do it and I wanted to see what of my homemade garments are still working for me. I also wanted to document it in a way that made sense for my current online work. So, for the 31 days of May, I got dressed in something I had made (usually mixed with something store-bought) and recorded a short video of each outfit. I also kept track of each outfit with graphics in Illustrator. I combined the videos and the graphics together and uploaded the whole thing to youtube. You can watch by clicking the image below.

It probably goes without saying, but I love a big creative challenge. My Internet career was built on creating and completing big creative challenges. (My most successful business venture, Get To Work Book, came out of a creative challenge!) As silly as it sounds, stuff like this is my life’s work. I picked up some important lessons this time around that I think are relevant, regardless of if you care about knit sweaters or have ever sewn a stitch.