It’s time for my annual blog post! I don’t even pretend anymore that I’m going to blog regularly from now on, but that’s ok.
I can only focus on one creative endeavor at a time. I haven’t been writing lately; I didn’t even do NaNoWriMo this year. I started the sequel to Sword and Knife and realized I was in over my head. I hadn’t, of course, revised hardly any of the first book. I hadn’t even resolved all the loose plot threads. And I had other things I wanted to do that month. So I dropped it. In the past, this is the kind of failure that would crush me, but now I don’t perceive it as a failure. I just put other priorities first. I’ll get back to the writing. I always do.
Now to the exciting part! I’m knitting! I know not everyone finds that exciting, but I need something creative to do, always, or I get antsy. Sometimes creating stuff with my hands is the best way to exercise my brain. Knitting is very process oriented with lots of specific directions to follow, so in that sense it’s easy. But it involves training my hands to do what my mind tells them to do. And wrapping my brain around diagrams and abbreviations. I love it.
I’m still doing simple stuff, but I have a list of favorited projects a mile long in my Ravelry account (you have to get your own account to look). I took a beginning knitting class, which was wonderful when I had questions like, “what the hell did I do now?” I finished a cute little blue baby hat the other day, which was rather thrilling, even after I realized that I’d been knitting through the back loop instead of the front. So it’s a twisted stockinette stitch instead of the regular one. Works just fine. Next, I’m working on a hat for me and a dishcloth (pictures and progress in the sidebar). I’m using circular needles for my hat, but the pattern is otherwise easy. The dishcloth has a lot of counting but simple stitches. I like the balance of something new, something a bit challenging, and yet projects that are do-able, even for a beginner. No pressure. I like it.
I also like the social aspects of knitting. My Saturday morning class is a great group of people, and many of us go to a Thursday night knitting group as well. A few of my coworkers are also interested in knitting, and it’s fun to hang out with them outside of work.
So I’ve put my writing aside for the moment because my mind is set on “knitting mode”. My stories peek in from time to time to see if there is any room for them, but there doesn’t seem to be for now. And that’s ok. I’m having fun, and I’m creating. That’s all I ask.
