Hit my 50th hand-sewn binding last night without realizing it

I was finishing up a little poetry collection for a friend (just 80 pages, nothing crazy) and counted back through my journal. Turns out the small green hardcover I just finished was number 50. I started binding two years ago in my tiny apartment kitchen with a cheap awl and some waxed thread from a craft store. It felt weirdly good to see that number, you know? Has anyone else kept count of their projects and hit a milestone that snuck up on them?

2 comments

2 Comments

anna_fox71mo agoMost Upvoted

Hold up, you started binding books in your KITCHEN with craft store thread and a cheap awl? That's like learning to drive in a go kart and then waking up one day realizing you've made fifty actual cars. Did your countertops survive or did you end up replacing them with cutting mats at some point? I'm still stuck on the idea of waxed thread from a craft store holding together real books.

olivia_allen1mo ago

That's awesome, fifty books is a real accomplishment. It's funny how the number snuck up on you like that. I had a similar moment with a different hobby - I was repairing old fishing reels and hit a hundred without planning to. What strikes me is how the first few bindings probably took forever, while the later ones just flowed from habit and muscle memory. That quiet progress might be the best part, not the big round number.