I had some time this weekend for some fiber-related activities and it was difficult to make a choice. I really wanted to work on the jacket and finish it. But I also wanted to finish up the sweater I have been knitting so it was really difficult to make a decision.
That always seems to be my biggest problem, deciding what I wish to work on. It is actually quite a luxury, having the leisure to decide what interest I wish to indulge on any given day; the issue is not really that there is no time, but that there are so many options to fill that time. (well perhaps there could be more time as well) I really don’t stress about this a lot, until I get too many unfinished objects on my plate, a situation I have been approaching again recently. I think I have finally come to terms with the idea that I am not a particularly focused person.
Long ago I accepted the fact that I am never going to be one of those people who is focused on a career, a person who defines herself by what she does for a living. G is one of those people, and I actually know quite a few of them and admire them greatly. They have something in their personality that I just don’t possess. I get all wrapped up in whatever I am doing, and whatever job or career I am pursuing until I get bored and then I move on to something else. I don’t regret any of the choices I have made in my professional life and I have never been one to define who I am by what I do.
By the same token I don’t really define myself by my hobbies. They tend to be longer lasting than my interests in various careers, but they too wax and wane. I actually am interested in sewing now, although I know you have heard more thoughts and dreams of sewing than you have seen concrete results. Part of this is because it is easier to make time for knitting — I can do it sitting with DH in front of the TV, whereas sewing requires that I isolate myself more. I feel like I am focusing more on the sewing even though I did not get any sewing time in last week due to the general combination of seasonal activities and the resurgence of construction on the deck, including more meetings with contractors, more errors and oversights, and further changes in the plans.
The sweater needed to be finished because I want to wear it to Christmas Eve Dinner at our neighbor’s house. But I also wanted to work on my jacket. I had hoped that I would be able to wear the jacket into NYC when I meet my friend Mary on Tuesday. But that was beginning to look less likely. Aside from the fact that I haven’t cut the lining yet, the weather does not look promising for that jacket. Despite the warm weather we have been having, it will cool down some, and it will not be warm enough to wear the jacket as outerwear. The cut of the jacket is not really meant to be a suit-type jacket under a coat, and I don’t think I have an appropriate coat to wear over it. So that is out. What a relief.
Oddly enough, in many aspects of my life I work very well under pressure and deadlines, but not with my sewing and knitting. Perhaps because this time is for me also a creative and relaxing period, and pressure is not relaxing, nor does it allow the mental freedom to channel whatever little creativity I might possess.
Finishing the sweater was the right decision for me this weekend. I am wearing it as I write this and it makes me very happy. I am still trying to find ways to balance my knitting and sewing time, but at least I am free of deadlines and I can be inspired to work on whatever catches my fancy. The jacket is still high on my list, as are all the other projects I have started this year and never finished. But there is no pressure.
Comments
2 responses to “Trying to find a fiber-balanced life.”
Ah, yes I am very familiar with this struggle. More so now than as little as a month ago, since I have “foolishly” let myself be lured into knitting again after an almost 20 year break. So far, knitting is a afternoon or evening activity, that goes well with watching tv or listening to an audio book, plus it goes along to appointments and other waiting room related events.
I have been discovering something about myself lately. I love to start sewing early in the day and then I can do it for hours, but if I am out in the morning and do not get a chance to get started until the early afternoon, I often don’t quite get the hang of it and end up doing something entirely different.
Since I work swing shift hours, I could theoretically sew before work and knit after, but that’s not that easy, what with chores and all. I think I may try it for the rest of the year, just to see….Happy holidays to you!
Ah, yes I am very familiar with this struggle. More so now than as little as a month ago, since I have “foolishly” let myself be lured into knitting again after an almost 20 year break. So far, knitting is a afternoon or evening activity, that goes well with watching tv or listening to an audio book, plus it goes along to appointments and other waiting room related events.
I have been discovering something about myself lately. I love to start sewing early in the day and then I can do it for hours, but if I am out in the morning and do not get a chance to get started until the early afternoon, I often don’t quite get the hang of it and end up doing something entirely different.
Since I work swing shift hours, I could theoretically sew before work and knit after, but that’s not that easy, what with chores and all. I think I may try it for the rest of the year, just to see….Happy holidays to you!