Winter (knit) progress report 2

Firstly, I’d like to wish everybody a happy New Year, I hope you made it through the celebrations well in whichever manner you prefer. 😀

It’s time for reckoning! How much did I accomplish?

We also need to talk about the other challenge I set myself.

I had decided beforehand to make a report whether I succeeded or failed – and really, if you make the effort, can you truly call it a failure?

I did make an effort. In good spirits too, no pointed fingers. I didn’t exactly make the finish line with 3 items done, but I’ve decided to be pleased with myself nonetheless. (is that one or three words?) I could have knit every day and met more goals. Worked really hard until my fingers bled, but I’m also determined to only hurry so much that I don’t get stressed out about it, since that is (still) poison to my system. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from that completely, and perhaps it’s a good thing if I don’t. The only “danger” is, once you allow yourself some slack, more slack has a tendency to follow when it’s not a life or death situation. So yes, I could have knit more. But I did finish one big thing without getting caught in second sleeve syndrome or starting up a number of random displacement activities.

Of course in my eagerness to have at least one sweater not fitting like a sausage skin, I made this one enormous. As in, I really should reknit the whole thing…. And this is why I made my no-knit resolution! I must be some sort of closet masochist. It’s a bit odd though, I swear it was ok when I tried it on around halfway through?! A shapeshifting sweater?

bluedelight2
Ribbit!

Worse is, the slack oozed over to my paint challenge. In fact, I more or less forgot about it. Resistance does that to you. We’ve determined that faking it doesn’t work, I do in fact have to be “in the mood”. And Resistance makes sure I’m not in the mood if I know I only have half an hour before somebody visits/turns on the tv/asks for dinner. I could say that I lucked out on opportunities for uninterrupted worktime, which is true, but there were things I could have done to prepare for “the moment” in advance, such as making sketches in the relative safety of my kitchen office, and I carry the full responsibility for ignoring that option completely. The truth is, I did not touch my canvasses AT ALL apart from clearing them from my work table to convert it into a dining table for a family visit.

inktense0001 Played a bit with my new waterbrush today just to have something to show. We are NOT quite friends yet, all of a sudden it gushes a huge drop, making all the colours bleed and spread. I guess here’s my chance to try working on the same image multiple times! 😉

It’s a bit like writing with ink and old fashioned pens, the way they splatter just as you’re working an elaborate curve or dotting the i.

And I know I said I’d been getting better at keeping a schedule, but the real truth is, I spent most of the time planning projects, not doing them. Oh I’ve played with photos, made yarn, knitted, read books. Gotten more ideas for things that are not paintings. (I now desperately need a rigid heddle loom 😉 ) So I need even more focus. I’m going to keep pushing until I find the right combination of work flow for me, if that’s even possible when you don’t have control over your workspace.

When I was running my bizz, I had the house to myself most days, but the last couple of years, G has discovered the joys of working from home too. I was grateful for this while I was feeling poorly, but now I’m having a hard time kicking him back out LOL. And I can hardly blame him!

new hat
My brother brought me this thinking cap the other day, when I wear it nobody is allowed to talk at me. Just have to remember to take it off when the doorbell rings…. I think it’s made for grown up heads, but if I tuck my hair in it stays put.

How about making a habit of doing housework in the evening before bedtime, when I’m too tired to think useful thoughts anyway? Tidy up especially, but even laundry and such (no dusting). Fewer things to clutter my brain during peak hours so to speak. Because I AM getting things done, it’s just the wrong things, you know? It’s usually tv time then and it’s an excellent way to avoid that. Never met anyone who felt accomplished after 2 hours in front of the box. As for entertained, no, not really, only thing I watch is The Doctor. Oh well, it’s worth a shot.

And now, for a new calendar. Are you doing anything new this year?

31 thoughts on “Winter (knit) progress report 2

  1. Hello! I’ve been following your website for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Houston Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the excellent work!

    1. Godt at se, at der trods alt sker fremskridt. Og ja, oprydning osv lige før sengetid er en fin idé. Man falder til ro både ind- og udvendigt, og så gør søvnigheden sit til at den indre perfektionist får en over nallerne når den stikker hovedet frem 🙂

      PS. Hvad sytten er en rigid heddle loom på dansk? Jeg er ikke særligt vævende (læs slet ikke – jeg breder mig for meget allerede), og billedsøgning er ikke tl megen hjælp her.

        1. Det ligner en voksen-udgave af den, jeg havde som barn. er det den faste “dims” man skubber op og ned inde i midten der giver den navnet?

          1. Ja, med hensyn til navnet. Man kan så få dimser med forskellig hulbredde til diverse garntykkelser, man kan sætte 2 kamme på og lave 4-skaftemønstre osv, så der er muligheder for andet end bare “tabby” vævning (det kender jeg så ikke det danske ord for)

        1. Nej, det er jeg heller ikke – kun når rengøringen bliver til en overspringshandling – og det er sværere lige før sengetid 🙂
          Jeg har det lidt som Nemi og hendes nullermænd der holder party under sengen.

  2. Hi Pia, Happy New Year!
    I have not touched my canvases in quite a while too! I also kind of need to be in the mood. and I need proper space, which I don’t have yet. I have decided to not be so hard on myself if I can’t do all I would like because I don’t have the space, resources, time, or inspiration.
    I love your sweater you are making. I very pretty.
    hoping you go easy on yourself this New Year and try to enjoy and be less hard on yourself for not getting everything done!!!!!
    best wishes,
    maureen

    1. Ah, you hit the nail spot on. About being hard on myself. I was writing another blog draft on these topics and completely forgot about that particular aspect.

      I must remember to do things in joy.

    1. I wouldn’t have been caught dead in it 20 years go. Now I realise I haven’t even tried it on in a mirror! Age seems to bring with it a healthy dose of self-irony. 😉

  3. Happy New Year!!! I do love your posts so much. I’ve finally dug a few knitting projects out of storage boxes. It feels good to have my hands as busy as my brain. I think that what would really help us distracted procrastinators is being able to work within a different schedule altogether. Couldn’t we just check a different box off on some form and have longer days and more weekends? In my world, that would be an option, lol.

    1. I’m not sure I’d benefit from longer days, I’d be knackered. How about just more days? I figure if I make it to 130 y.o. I’ll have learned most things and perhaps even mastered a few….

      I saw a book the other day called “The free range human”, about quitting the 9-5 and still make money. Right up my alley.

      1. The only people I’ve heard of doing that sort of thing successfully are into IT or computery-businessy sorts of things. The technomads. The question is how to make that work for those of us who work much more labory kinds of jobs? I’m still waiting to wake up independently wealthy with nothing to do but travel the world and be all philanthropic. One of these days, right?

        1. Yeah, that would suit me just fine. We need a maecenas. I read somewhere recently, that to win the big one in the lottery is like traveling 400 miles on a train and somewhere unspecified along the journey you have to hit a waste basket (outside the train) with a wad of paper.

    2. And btw a special thanks for your reply today. I woke up around 4 and could not sleep, so thought I might as well get up. I was having second thoughts about all this private stuff on the blog, like, what’s the point and am I going to regret it? But if I can entertain even just one person and they respond to my doubts within minutes, I guess I’ll stop worrying a while longer. 😉

  4. Do things in JOY is a must! It is so hard to do it all…to get all the things on the list of things to do done. I now make one goal…I say the night before what I am going to accomplish and I do it. I get it done most of the time. I think mostly because its realistic for me. Like I won’t say I will finish building the back deck by the weekend or paint the room in a day (though I have done that). I set attainable goals. I try not to be so hard on myself as I know my life isn’t my own. I am pulled in a hundred different directions that some days I barely remember to take a breath. I think blogging/reading others blog helps too. WE can see we all have challenges and meeting deadlines can add to stress. It really helps to know there are others out there with challenges and feelings those challenges creates within us. Great post. I really like your sweater. 😀 Happy New Year to you! ✽ ✾ ✿ ❀ ❁ ❃ ❋

    1. I actually do enjoy all the things I do (apart from housework, LOL), even when I’m bitching about being unstructured. Your strategy for getting things done and not having too much on your list is great, I’m learning to do the same thing, that is, I make my lists but I no longer panic because they are long, I no longer try to mark everything as important and urgent like I used to.

      I’m still a bit flakey though when it comes to long term focus, so I’m working through various versions of workdays to see how I can incorporate that – and that process I’m enjoying too, it fascinates me how our minds and bodies work with or against each other sometimes, can you reprogram yourself, retell your story etc. Great learning experience once you become aware of such things.

      Also true that discovering others on similar paths and connecting, is a great tool and a gift. I always did things on my own. So thanks for visiting and for your support!

      1. Thank you too! So nice to know your not alone in you way of seeing things. We all can use support near and far! Have an awesome evening! Well it’s two am here! And btw … I’ve been known to clean late at night, though I don’t normally vacuum… Normally, lol.

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