You may have noticed that I got rid of the old half-finished and going nowhere fast projects that used to be listed in my side bar. Frankly, my whole life has felt dull, boring, stressful and not much fun recently. So I decided to clear the decks, figurately speaking, of all the old junk that was boring me, including in my knitting life.
When I was a younger woman, I was a total bookworm and would finish reading any book I started, no matter how boring. I'd trudge through to the end regardless. When I hit around mid-thirties my reading philosophy changed so that if I didn't love the book, I put it down, gave it away and didn't read it if it no longer interested me. Well, I'm applying the same philosophy to my knitting life. If I am not passionate and excited about the project anymore, I'm shelving it, frogging it or abandoning it with absolutely no regret.
And I'm casting on . . . several things actually. If any of these new projects take hold and interest me, then I will continue with them. If not, then release and turn my attention to something better.
There are false starts, like yesterday, when I tried to cast on for a La La Prayer Shawl and paired it with varigated yarn that is pretty, but tends to obscure and overpower the uncomplicated and basic nature of the shawl design. So I'm going to start over today with a solid color. False starts are fine too, they give us a chance to try something out, to gather information - and then to make another choice if a better idea is found.
Speaking of Casting On, have you listened to the Cast On podcast by Brenda Dayne lately? In Episode 75, called Epiphany, she talks about her new philsophy of being much more light-hearted, ready to take risks and be WRONG. To, in effect, play more, and worry less about making a mistake in her knitting and in her life in general. I'm feeling much the same thing lately. And by the way, Brenda's podcasts are really refreshing and wonderful to listen to. So if you haven't heard her ever . . . or lately, have your own little Epiphany by going over there to her website and listening to some of her latest musings. It's really doing my heart good.
2 comments:
Chelle, I had the same experience as you with regard to reading, and now I have NO problem with stopping a book in the middle if I don't enjoy it. It's so liberating, isn't it? And I think you're really on to something when you apply that thinking to your knitting as well!
Sounds very freeing.
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