I learned (or relearned) how to crochet about 6 years ago and then learned how to knit about 5 years ago. Looking back, I think that this may have been an unconscious step on the journey that I am now consciously undertaking. For myself, there is something deeply feminine and purifying about making something beautiful with my own hands. Knitting and crocheting have also taught me some valuable lessons.
One of the more important lessons that I have learned from yarncrafting is patience. Everything that can be created in this fashion must be created one stitch at a time. There is really no other way to do it. Even something easy like a basic dishcloth takes several hours. Making something larger can take weeks, months, or even longer. There is no real way to rush it along. My fingers will only move so fast. The project will take as long as it takes. Eventually, though, if I keep working on it, the project will get finished…one stitch at a time.
On the other hand, even though I can not rush the project along, it will only get completed if I keep working on it. To my chagrin, I have many abandoned projects and yarn that I have purchased for projects I have never started, which are cluttering up my back porch. One question I have often been asked by people is how long a project takes. That is a really hard question to answer. Only the very easiest projects can be completed in one sitting. Most projects involve working on it in snatches of time over a much longer period. While some of it depends on the difficulty and size of the project, but some of it also depends on how many snatches of time one devotes to it.
The nice thing is, though, that even though projects can not be complete unless one is actively working on them, one can start again at any time. I just started a sweater. I purchased the yarn for the project a few years ago, and I had chosen the pattern. I just never started it. Yet, when I decided to start it, the yarn and the pattern were all ready for me. So, I have finally begun the project, to be completed stitch by stitch!
There are so many things in life like that. I am finding that to be the case in reclaiming my hestia. There are so many projects that need to get done, and it can be really overwhelming! If I think about all the things I have to do, I will go hide in my room and not do a thing. Yet, if I slow down and work on my projects, stitch by stitch, they will eventually get completed.
There are several task management programs out there. When I had my business, I used to use Microsoft Outlook. Now, I am using a program called Toodledo, which is a free, cloud based program. The nice thing about it is that I can set up tasks to repeat themselves daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever interval is right. When I have large projects to do, I have started to make those projects daily repeating tasks. Each day, I try to work on a least a little bit, even if it is just 5 or 10 minutes.
It may seem like only working 5 or 10 minutes a day on something would not accomplish much, especially when one has a big project. Often though, I find that once I get started, I spend more time than that each day, and even if I do not…the project still gets done faster that way than if I am not working on it at all! Last fall, I managed to finish the project of cleaning the closet in this manner. This spring, I am tackling the project of cleaning the back porch!
Oh yes, and it by starting the project of cleaning the back porch, that I found the yarn for the sweater I had planned several years ago! I wonder which will get finished first, the back porch or the sweater?