It's true that I haven't had much to say over the past month. This is mostly because I have not done as much needlepoint (or knitting) as I was before the holidays. I can explain this by offering my One Simple Rule for fiber arts (or any hobby, really):
"Do not practice [Fiber Arts|Other Hobby] at any time unless the activity is appealing and exciting at that moment."
I developed this rule after my first bout of knitting. I taught myself to knit, loved it, and threw myself into several projects of various complexity. I forced myself to knit. Every day. No matter what. At first this was easy -- I was loving it, I was learning new things, I was making progress. But then my energy started to flag. I wasn't doing other things. I began to view knitting as a chore. Eventually I burned out and just stopped altogether. For years!
When I got the knitting bug again, after several years of Not-Knitting, I resolved that I would approach it differently. I like to knit (and do other crafts) because it is fun and rewarding. I gain a personal sense of accomplishment with each completed step, garment, and new skill. But I only gain these benefits if I choose to knit. If I force myself to knit, then any of those accomplishments are just completed chores.
So for the past few weeks I haven't done as much knitting or needlepoint. I did make some progress on a sleeve of a hooded aran sweater I have been working on for quite awhile, but not much else. When I get home in the evening, I look at the various projects I have, do an internal soul search and decide, "Nope, tonight is for [catching up on magazines|watching Amazing Race|lying face down on the carpet with a pint of ice cream next to my face]."
However, I have been gazing at Turnberry Ridge for a few days and my boyfriend is out of town, so.. who knows what tonight will bring?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment