Divine Discontent

I am re-reading Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach this year.  Yesterday's entry included a quote from the English historian, Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, "Discontent and disorder [are] signs of energy and hope, not of despair."  Sarah expanded on the quote by naming Divine Discontent, the grit in the oyster before the pearl, our creative second chance, when we learn to spin straw into gold, when we come into our own. 

I am discontented with my work life.  Grit has found its irritating place in my oyster.  Yesterday at work I allowed myself to speak my mind freely in front of the owner and two colleagues.  I expressed my discontent in the right context, without malice, and with professional delivery.  They did not disagree.  More importantly, they could not disagree, for what I said was the truth.  They did not like hearing what I said, but they could see my point in the context that it was delivered.  I walked away from the meeting feeling like my contribution was worthy. 

I believe that my spoken opinion should introduce a small piece of grit into the oysters of my colleagues.  The question is, will they continue in the path they are currently taking, or will my thoughts irritate them enough to influence their direction?  My lack of trust in them is the source of my discontent.  Should I continue to speak my mind, to try and influence their thinking?  Today's entry in Simple Abundance says to trust your instincts.  The grit in my pearl got a tiny layer of silky covering yesterday.  I look forward to the Divine Discontent that today brings.

TGIF

Let's go back to January 1, 2013, when I posted my 2013 goals:
Resolutionists. When I was a regular gym member, we would make fun of the new people showing up at the gym in January. They would slowly phase out over the course of the year and eventually never show up again. Meanwhile the rest of us kept showing up every day, every yoga class, doing our weight routines and aerobic machines.

My goal was to post every Tuesday.  Today is Friday.  I hereby resolve to do better next week.

But today is Friday.  YIPPEE!!!  It is time to be grateful.

1. Grateful that I am getting in my blog post before the end of the week.  Late yes, but still blogging.
2. Grateful that I have a job.  Stressful?  Yes, but it pays the bills and provides health insurance.
3. It is jeans day.  My jeans fit! 
4. I have many new choices of sweaters to wear today from the bonanza of sweaters found at the thrift store last week.
5. The house is clean, laundry is done, plants are watered.
6. My Mom, sister and I are planning a girls night/sleepover//knit fest tonight. 



St. Patrick's Day Sweater

Ah yes - the knit fest.  Knitting is my release, my expression of talent, my connection with friends.  I am happily engrossed in a sweater project and have enjoyed the elements of personal influence required during the bind-off process this week.  The texture of this pattern is engaging.  The emerging product makes me smile. 

TGIF.  Here's to the end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend.

So many options, so little time

Instant Gratification-Super Bulky

This weekend I stashed all of my yarn on www.Ravelry.com.  It took the majority of my afternoon, and it was worth every single moment.  Now I can look at my stash, look at patterns and decide what to do with my time.  Should I use a Super Bulky for an instant gratification project?  Should I enter the knitting contest with the worsted browns in my stash?  Should I finish the socks already in progress?  So many options, so little time.

Last April, three of us started a Big Year project to mimic the book, The Big Year.  We each chose a BIG goal to accomplish and decided to e-mail each other on Sunday nights with our achievements, so we could be accountable to each other, cheer each other's success, and encourage each other when goals were not reached.  I had three goals:  Make one knitted or crocheted project a month, finish a journal, lose 10 pounds and keep it off.  I have achieved two out of my three goals and it has been a great year so far.
Last night when I was talking to my sister, the Big Year initiator, she talked about the time it has taken to achieve our big year and how we have put off other things in our life to accomplish these goals.  It has taken a lot of time, as both of us have not only achieved our goals, we have expanded on them.  She was going to ride her bike 1000 miles.  Now, she is on track to ride 3,000.  I have completed 18 projects and have 5 in process.  My journal is complete and I am blogging again.  It's been a hard month for my diet, but I am down from where I started.  I still have until the end of March...



Sedona Sunset - worsted

So many options, so little time.  If I had all day at home to knit and write, would it be such an achievement?  Would my satisfaction level be higher?  I do not think so.  It is because I have put a focused effort to one goal in the time that I have for play that I have satisfaction.  Last night at knitting, I was the one who helped another with fixing her work.  I have learned so much in the last 10 months.  There is still a world of knitting knowledge out there to learn, and I look forward to every  minute. 

 It fills me with satisfaction when I wear my knitted socks, or when the cowl around my neck defines my style.  The time was well spent. 

So many options, so little time.  I am so grateful to have 63 items in my stash, free patterns to explore on a website specifically made for knitters and crocheters, friends to knit with (including my sister), and time that I make, time that I savor, to explore my options, to enjoy successes, and share time with others in my life.

 

Chocolate and Cream

My Mom said Ree Drummond's show was fun to watch, so I decided to check out Ree's show one day.  She made Ladd's birthday cake using 4 cubes of butter and frosted it with 3 cups of cream mixed with chocolate for the frosting.  My mouth called for a taste!  Two of the best things in the world, chocolate and cream, mixed together in one of my favorite forms of dessert, cake.



Kyle and Linda's Big Birthday Cake

Des and I made a half the recipe the last time she came to visit.  It was excellent. 
Since we actually had a birthday party planned last weekend,  I volunteered to bring the cake.  The directions were followed fairly closely.  Two packages of chocolate chips replaced the semi-sweet chocolate because a) they were on sale and b) they were already broken up!  All four layers were baked at the same time, so it took 10 minutes longer than the directions stated.  ALL of the frosting recipe, minus multiple tastes during the whipping process, was applied between the layers and on the outside.

As you can see by the photo, it turned out quite tall, too tall for the cake carrier I borrowed from Andrea.  It weighed 8 pounds.  When served with Linda's homemade ice cream, every bite was a fantasy of chocolate and cream. 

This is now a favorite family recipe.  Diets are good for resolutionists, but birthdays are for chocolate.  Make it.  You'll be glad you did.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/big-chocolate-birthday-cake-recipe/index.html

Fix or Rip?

This week my dilema was, should I fix it or rip it out and start over? Below are pictures of my current knitting project - a textured turtleneck pattern out of the current Vogue magazine. It's a beautiful pattern. The yarn is fabulous. My current style of knitting, taking great liberties when errors occur, does not work when the texture is the primary part of the pattern and the yarn shows each and every error. With the help of my knitting friends at our Monday Night Knitting group, I learned how to fix entire sections of my knitting. Below is a picture of the "oh no" stage.  The "oh no" stage focus on the doubt that you can put it all back together again. Feels like Humpty Dumpty just fell off the wall.

Ripped out / Ready to Fix

Fixed

Through several iterations, I was able to do the reconstruction. The process was very tedious and required all of my focus. After I got into a rhythm, I found myself actually enjoying the process. It required total usage of my brain and helped me learn more about the dynamics of each type of knitting stitch.

So, what is it about this silliness that makes me want to write a public document professing the fact that a pattern and yarn pointed out to me that I am less than a perfectionist? I gained insight into something my boss said to me long ago. I'm more likely to walk away from the problem, fix it by using a workaround and get out!  His point was that I need to learn how to dig into the issue and figure out why it occurred.

I spent four nights figuring out why the errors occurred on this project, and how to keep them from happening again.  -

I can't say that I enjoyed the exprerience, but what I did enjoy was looking at the project after I was done and realizing that I was no longer afraid of making mistakes because I knew how to fix them.  I'm sure there's more to the lesson that I will still uncover, but for now, I'm glad I know how to fix things.



Back to happiness

In April 2011, I wrote about Episodes of Happiness.  The last two days of reading in Simple Abundance is about making happiness a habit.  What is this elusive thing - happiness?   Is it always there, just covered up by stress?  Today I resolve to focus on the happiness and continue to make it a habit. 

One of my friends says she chooses a word of the year.  One year it was "enough".  She said it was a great year, with great focus.  I was thinking my word for this year should be resolutionist.  Resolve to write on a daily basis.  Resolve to knit 3 sweaters.  Resolve to find happiness during the day.  The word itself is too militant to live with for a year, but for today I am happy with it.  Today I am happy about Brown Sheep yarn purchased at close-out prices through another friend.   Today, I resolve to be happy.

Beginnings (Again)

Resolutionists.  When I was a regular gym member, we would make fun of the new people showing up at the gym in January.  They would slowly phase out over the course of the year and eventually never show up again.  Meanwhile the rest of us kept showing up every day, every yoga class, doing our weight routines and aerobic machines.

Today I feel like a Resolutionist.  I did not blog once in 2012.  Not once. No excuses. 

Today, I am ready to start again.  I was reading some of the excellent blog posts that were noted by Blogger and while I don't think I can be a daily contributor, I do believe I can do a weekly post.  That is my goal. 

After looking at my past blog posts, there are some lovely pictures. My most recent lovely picture is of our Christmas tree which came down yesterday. 

Today is the first week of 52 in 2013.  Happy New Year. 

Signed, The Resolutionist