When I was quite young, definitely under the age of 10, I remember my mother chastising me for starting more projects than I could reasonably finish and exhorting me, for once at least, to stick to something long enough to get it finished. Obviously, 40 some-odd years later, this is a lesson I have yet to learn. There remain piles of projects yet unfinished and ideas teaming around in my brain all just waiting for the opportunity to give birth to the next project.
Although I refuse to make lists of promises at the beginning of each new year, I remain determined to whittle down the project pile, and they are not all fiber-related projects. And actually, I feel like I have a good grip on the situation. But still I am torn. It is not that discipline is completely foreign, but that there is no pressure from outside forcing me to stick to some strict regime of one-project-at-a-time. And the biggest hurdle, for me at least, is actual mindfulness, at least where my projects are concerned. The idea that I should have a plan, and approach my projects in some kind of orderly and informed fashion, rather than just dropping everything and running breathless after each pretty idea that flits through my brain, remains a struggle. My thoughts get ahead of my hands, and truthfully even my words, or my ability to express my ideas. More times than I care to think about this year, I am working on one thing while my brain has moved on by leaps and bounds and I have no idea what I am working on, or even, awkwardly, what I am speaking of or writing about, and the ideas become all jumbled into some incoherent tangle which wasn't at all my original intention. I become a fool, an exuberant enthusiastic fool, but still a fool: this is not the desired goal.
And so perhaps the best course remains to take baby steps and work slowly, finishing small things, and working in manageable bits.
I have not progressed on to the cutting or sewing stage of my gray and yellow tee project.
I am nearly done with a pair of socks to wear with my heavy work boots, a project that was supposed to have been started and finished last fall. Had I not seen fit to rip a half-done sock and start over due to a silly mistake, these might be done. But mindfulness seems to be an ongoing problem. I have been out tramping in the garden and the woods several times this year already so the call of the mud and grass and trees is strong. A pair of thick cushy socks that actually fill in the gaps in my boots becomes an increasingly urgent need.
At least I have made a small dent in the stash, a little appetizer before the bigger projects that must come.
Comments
28 responses to “Tiny Steps”
Oh, Mardel, I can *so* identify with this!!! I don’t knit, thank goodness…just garment sewing is enough to pile more inspiration on me than I’d have time to work out in two or three life times. Inspiration is new and fresh and full of energy when it hits; somewhere in the process it begins to feel very yesterday and it’s hard to persevere when there is new inspiration arriving in the mental inbox! I’ve looked at the pile of projects …The Queue…more than once and thought, ‘Now, what was I doing?’
But the good news is that if you can keep focused just one sewing/knitting/etc session at a time, the projects will get done and you can enjoy them and move on.
Unfortunately I haven’t quite figured out how to drop the focus on the projects and put it on other things…like cleaning the kitchen floor…in a timely fashion.
I know, I know. Baby steps. 😉 😀
Oh, Mardel, I can *so* identify with this!!! I don’t knit, thank goodness…just garment sewing is enough to pile more inspiration on me than I’d have time to work out in two or three life times. Inspiration is new and fresh and full of energy when it hits; somewhere in the process it begins to feel very yesterday and it’s hard to persevere when there is new inspiration arriving in the mental inbox! I’ve looked at the pile of projects …The Queue…more than once and thought, ‘Now, what was I doing?’
But the good news is that if you can keep focused just one sewing/knitting/etc session at a time, the projects will get done and you can enjoy them and move on.
Unfortunately I haven’t quite figured out how to drop the focus on the projects and put it on other things…like cleaning the kitchen floor…in a timely fashion.
I know, I know. Baby steps. 😉 😀
Those socks are beautiful! What is that yarn?
Those socks are beautiful! What is that yarn?
I can really relate to this! It’s so me, especially ” just dropping everything and running breathless after each pretty idea that flits through my brain”. That says it all. I guess I’m a butterfly-brain. Sigh.
I can really relate to this! It’s so me, especially ” just dropping everything and running breathless after each pretty idea that flits through my brain”. That says it all. I guess I’m a butterfly-brain. Sigh.
Oh, Mardel, I can *so* identify with this!!! I don’t knit, thank goodness…just garment sewing is enough to pile more inspiration on me than I’d have time to work out in two or three life times. Inspiration is new and fresh and full of energy when it hits; somewhere in the process it begins to feel very yesterday and it’s hard to persevere when there is new inspiration arriving in the mental inbox! I’ve looked at the pile of projects …The Queue…more than once and thought, ‘Now, what was I doing?’
But the good news is that if you can keep focused just one sewing/knitting/etc session at a time, the projects will get done and you can enjoy them and move on.
Unfortunately I haven’t quite figured out how to drop the focus on the projects and put it on other things…like cleaning the kitchen floor…in a timely fashion.
I know, I know. Baby steps. 😉 😀
Oh, Mardel, I can *so* identify with this!!! I don’t knit, thank goodness…just garment sewing is enough to pile more inspiration on me than I’d have time to work out in two or three life times. Inspiration is new and fresh and full of energy when it hits; somewhere in the process it begins to feel very yesterday and it’s hard to persevere when there is new inspiration arriving in the mental inbox! I’ve looked at the pile of projects …The Queue…more than once and thought, ‘Now, what was I doing?’
But the good news is that if you can keep focused just one sewing/knitting/etc session at a time, the projects will get done and you can enjoy them and move on.
Unfortunately I haven’t quite figured out how to drop the focus on the projects and put it on other things…like cleaning the kitchen floor…in a timely fashion.
I know, I know. Baby steps. 😉 😀
I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. Is it still your mothers words in your head telling you HAVE to finish something? Just do what makes you happy and don’t feel guilty. Put two pairs of ordinary socks on to go for those wonderful walks in the woods – see problem solved and you can take your time with the knitting.
I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. Is it still your mothers words in your head telling you HAVE to finish something? Just do what makes you happy and don’t feel guilty. Put two pairs of ordinary socks on to go for those wonderful walks in the woods – see problem solved and you can take your time with the knitting.
Those socks are beautiful! What is that yarn?
Those socks are beautiful! What is that yarn?
I can really relate to this! It’s so me, especially ” just dropping everything and running breathless after each pretty idea that flits through my brain”. That says it all. I guess I’m a butterfly-brain. Sigh.
I can really relate to this! It’s so me, especially ” just dropping everything and running breathless after each pretty idea that flits through my brain”. That says it all. I guess I’m a butterfly-brain. Sigh.
I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. Is it still your mothers words in your head telling you HAVE to finish something? Just do what makes you happy and don’t feel guilty. Put two pairs of ordinary socks on to go for those wonderful walks in the woods – see problem solved and you can take your time with the knitting.
I don’t think you should be so hard on yourself. Is it still your mothers words in your head telling you HAVE to finish something? Just do what makes you happy and don’t feel guilty. Put two pairs of ordinary socks on to go for those wonderful walks in the woods – see problem solved and you can take your time with the knitting.
Baby steps. I would say your should really just approach your projects with mindfulness and intent. But that’s just the Hip Tanquil Chick talking…
Baby steps. I would say your should really just approach your projects with mindfulness and intent. But that’s just the Hip Tanquil Chick talking…
I think creative people often suffer from the same syndrome. In one’s mind, one sees the completed project–gorgeous, colorful, and fitting perfectly! The steps that must be taken to achieve all that perfection, however, are mundane. That’s one reason I’ll never be a great seamstress. Another is, as Thomas Edison said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
I think creative people often suffer from the same syndrome. In one’s mind, one sees the completed project–gorgeous, colorful, and fitting perfectly! The steps that must be taken to achieve all that perfection, however, are mundane. That’s one reason I’ll never be a great seamstress. Another is, as Thomas Edison said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Baby steps. I would say your should really just approach your projects with mindfulness and intent. But that’s just the Hip Tanquil Chick talking…
Baby steps. I would say your should really just approach your projects with mindfulness and intent. But that’s just the Hip Tanquil Chick talking…
I think creative people often suffer from the same syndrome. In one’s mind, one sees the completed project–gorgeous, colorful, and fitting perfectly! The steps that must be taken to achieve all that perfection, however, are mundane. That’s one reason I’ll never be a great seamstress. Another is, as Thomas Edison said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
I think creative people often suffer from the same syndrome. In one’s mind, one sees the completed project–gorgeous, colorful, and fitting perfectly! The steps that must be taken to achieve all that perfection, however, are mundane. That’s one reason I’ll never be a great seamstress. Another is, as Thomas Edison said: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Sounds like we all could use some focus. I think the creative mind just rebels against it, until it is totally absorbed in something that is so engrossing that all else is eclipsed. I’ve found very few projects, once they leave the design phase, are that engrossing.
Meanwhile, to train the mind toward mindfulness, have you ever tried yoga?
I keep saying ‘next week’ in relation to getting to the new yoga studio around the corner. I think reading this post has prompted me to make This Week the week to go. I can justify the time if I think it’s helping me gain project focus. 😉
But Mardel, I’d never call you a fool. Never.
Sounds like we all could use some focus. I think the creative mind just rebels against it, until it is totally absorbed in something that is so engrossing that all else is eclipsed. I’ve found very few projects, once they leave the design phase, are that engrossing.
Meanwhile, to train the mind toward mindfulness, have you ever tried yoga?
I keep saying ‘next week’ in relation to getting to the new yoga studio around the corner. I think reading this post has prompted me to make This Week the week to go. I can justify the time if I think it’s helping me gain project focus. 😉
But Mardel, I’d never call you a fool. Never.
Sounds like we all could use some focus. I think the creative mind just rebels against it, until it is totally absorbed in something that is so engrossing that all else is eclipsed. I’ve found very few projects, once they leave the design phase, are that engrossing.
Meanwhile, to train the mind toward mindfulness, have you ever tried yoga?
I keep saying ‘next week’ in relation to getting to the new yoga studio around the corner. I think reading this post has prompted me to make This Week the week to go. I can justify the time if I think it’s helping me gain project focus. 😉
But Mardel, I’d never call you a fool. Never.
Sounds like we all could use some focus. I think the creative mind just rebels against it, until it is totally absorbed in something that is so engrossing that all else is eclipsed. I’ve found very few projects, once they leave the design phase, are that engrossing.
Meanwhile, to train the mind toward mindfulness, have you ever tried yoga?
I keep saying ‘next week’ in relation to getting to the new yoga studio around the corner. I think reading this post has prompted me to make This Week the week to go. I can justify the time if I think it’s helping me gain project focus. 😉
But Mardel, I’d never call you a fool. Never.