TACKLING TIME

Time is my enemy. There isn’t enough time to knit everything. Life was simpler in the olden days for me. I worked on one project at a time, and I allowed several years to go by between projects before I began contemplating what I might start next. It took however long it took, and it really didn’t matter because I wasn’t a very good knitter, so what I was making would never really be useful anyway.

This is true! In my whole life up till two years ago, I never got use out of any item I knit. I did manage to crochet two very usable afghans during a spate of family funerals about 30 years ago. One wonders why I didn’t continue crocheting; I’m sure if people had continued dying, I would have. Fortunately the deaths stopped; unfortunately so did my fiber art.

So two years ago I resumed knitting. I started with a splashy novelty scarf. I got a lot of wear out of it, and the rest is history. Here I am, wearing my newest scarf,

wrapped up in a shawl for warmth, on the finishing triangles of my Which Way shawl, finally cast on for the second Fluted Bannister sock, contemplating just what I’m going to do about Hanukah and Christmas gift knitting, and yearning….I mean really yearning…..to cast on for Mom’s Antarctica Jacket (I’m Mom), or maybe the clever Celtic Scarf that will match the jacket, to help quell the yearning, since I don’t have time to start the jacket, because I have these deadlines to finish the socks, and knit some gifts, and oh yes, I keep putting off working on swatches for the Master’s Knitting Group which meets again next Sunday. Whew, did you get all that?

I want to Take Back My Time. I want to shuck off the Tyranny of the Deadlines. I want to knit what I want, when I want. Isn’t that simple enough? Is it really an awful thing if I declare myself independent of these mostly self-imposed deadlines?

For example, the Fluted Bannister socks. These are sock #3 of the Six Sox-Along. I will finish them eventually, because I always have a sock on needles for an easy carry-with project. I am intending this pair as a gift for someone, but that means I have till Christmas to complete them. But the deadline for the knitalong is November 30^th. What will happen if they aren’t complete by then? Nothing. Simply, nothing. What will happen if I don’t start sock #4 on December 1^st? Nothing. What will happen if I don’t start sock #4 at all, ever? Nothing. Knitalongs are fun, and it’s great to have others working out the pattern problems, or finding shortcuts or tips or better ways to do things, and sharing that with the group. It’s wonderful to see how things look in a different color or type of yarn. But truthfully, no one will be hurt, and nothing bad will happen if I knit-behind instead of knit-along. Or if I watch-along. Or if I run-along.

Or the Master’s Knitting group. In theory, this sounded like a great idea for me. Work on my knitting skills a little at a time, with a social group to meet with and spur me on. And I’m not saying I won’t do it. But if I show up next Sunday with no new swatches, Sarah won’t boot me out, or make me go to detention for not doing my homework. She won’t call my mom. I won’t get grounded. I won’t be banned from any yarn shops until my homework is done. No one will be hurt, and nothing bad will happen if I wait to start my swatch when I get there.  I could do it later instead. I could knit something else instead. Or just watch and listen instead.

And then there’s the matter of gift knitting. I really do like the idea of knitting special things for special people. But I have a long list of special people. Even if I stick with simple hats and scarves and small bags, it adds up quickly to all my knitting time. I’m begrudging any of my knitting time right now. Call me the Knitting Grinch, but most of my recipients are getting the more traditional kinds of gifts this year. Books, CDs, jewelry, coffee mugs, giftcards, magazines. The people I want to knit for….they’ll get something sometime. Sometime, when I’m working on a project that doesn’t know who it wants to belong to yet, and suddenly it calls out…give me to you-know-who. I’m perfect for her.

In the meantime, I’m taking back my time. 

HIGHLY AMUSING DEPARTMENT
Here's a sneak preview of the pictures that will be up on the MMKG BLOG in a couple of days. This one is so funny, I just had to get it up right away. What on earth are Sarah, Tamsyn, and Jessica doing in this picture?

A. Auditioning for the parts of the three witches in McBeth.
B. Auditioning for a spot on Extreme Makeover.
C. Showing the results of their Extreme Makeover.

Comments

[julia fc]

you ask, why didn't you continue crocheting?
What a can of worms.
But for me, knowing as I do HOW to hook but having no inclination to actually DO any of it but for edges and the odd embellishment, I would proffer that perhaps it's because crochet has an inescapable air of frump about it, and the designs just haven't kept up with fashion like knitting has (until, perhaps one might argue, recently. . .)
Besides, did you see what a joke David Letterman made out of Lily Chin being the world's fastest crocheter?
Would you really want to introduce yourself as a "Master Crocheter"?
It just doesn't have the same, uh, oomph to it.
p.s. I want a fuzzy hallowig.

[Vera]

While everyone has their preference for knitting and crocheting. I love both for different reasons.

When I was a teenager and only crocheted, I only took on one project at a time--mostly afghans and hats. Now, over 20 years later, I've lost control and I've many projects on my hooks and needles.

Funny thing is that even though I'm starting more, I am finishing more too. Of course I have more UFOs as well.

I have no idea what to make to presents. My sisters want hats to match the scarves I made last year. I could just give them stuff I've already made, but I'm feeling selfish. I don't want the stress of having to make something.

BTW, I still check out your guild site to steal ideas.

[Larry]

Take back your time! You're so right! I'm only doing things that I want to do when I want to do them. All my close friends are knitters so they won't even expect anything for Christmas. Last year it was February for some of them. But if I don't finish something soon I'm going to have to buy more needles. Maybe I'll get some for Christmas.

[ann]

Sharon, I have been feeling the same way for a long time. It's not that I mind knitting for other people, but I like to do it when the 'spirit' moves me. And I get especially peeved when people ask me to knit for them - I have started offering knitting lessons instead! Are there any other hobbies that devote so much time and energy to making things for other people? Would you just blithely ask a woodworker to whip you up a bookcase? or a garden hobbyist to come over and plant a bed for you? Are knitters the welcome mat of the universe??!! ergh.... now you've got me started .... I'll just go back to my own blog (at the top of Grinch Mountain) and rant there for awhile ....

[Allison]

Great post! I know you have been in my head. Or maybe I have been in yours. Regardless, I think we all have to take back our time. Thanks for helping me realize that has been one of the things niggling at the back of my brain lately!

[jenifleur]

I've been kind of doing a similar thing in my head lately. I've been so snowed under by things I had to knit-all self-imposed, of course, that I lost the desire to do any of it. You know it's one of the few bad things about the blogs. We see how much others get done and compare our speed, abilities and ambitions to them. We put things up that we will be doing and once it's public, it feels like cheating to change our minds.

I've had the Master Knitter's Level I since spring and can't get motivated to do it. The more I read on the yahoo group, particularly from reviewers, the less I feel inclined to participate. Seems like it's a little subjective. One reviewer prefers a type of weaving technique and returns the swatch. Another rejects someone's interpretation of a decrease. The more I learn, the more I subscribe to "no hard and fast knitting rules". I have tremendous guilt about spending the money to get the packet, having had the dang thing up there on my blog for months and now saying "well, I'm gonna flake on it." But that's ridiculous. Knitting is a hobby, a passion. We've all got plenty of other ways to book a guilt trip, so I say take back your time. All anyone wants for Christmas is gift cards, anyway!

[Karen]

I feel so bad that I'm neglecting that poor fluted banister sock. I've only gotten to the gusset decreases on the first sock, so you're doing better than me. I want to take back my time as well and just focus on knitting for me. Therefore, I started a project for me, because I won't take it off the needles and it will get done. It sits there taunting me, but I know that there is a project for me among all the projects NOT for me, and that makes me feel a bit better.

[Lisa]

Barbara Jean Sonntag - World Fastest Crocheter!Everybody calls Lily Chin official the World Fastest Crocheter, but she never made it to the Guinness Book. What is about Barbara Jean Sonntag? You don't know her? She is the real Guinness Book World Fastest Crocheter since 1981 and she is still alive. I just don't understand why nobody talks about Barbara Jean.