Taa Daa!:
Do you suffer from a closet full of unfinished projects?????
To get a project finished I learned long ago the importance of patience. Patience comes naturally for some but I believe it can be acquired.
Think of moments in your life when the excitement of it made you want the time between now and then to disappear. I recall getting so excited about something in the future that when it passed I felt sad. Sad, you ask? Yes. I had lived my life for that futuremoment abandoning what I had now.
What does this have to do with patience? If I truly live in my minutes every hour and every day then I will be content with my life experiences as they occur. This small but very challenging step is the foundation of patience. I believe that gaining patience leads to happiness and many creative projects will get finished.
Being creative forces me to think now, not then or when, but just what is right this very instant. When I am exhibiting I often hear: “where do you get the time?” Or “do you ever sleep?” I’ve also heard: “I envy people like you that can finish. I started a…(fill in the blank)”. Or my pet peeve one: “how long did it take you to make that?” - Argh! Stop! Right there! If I can do it; YOU can! That’s what I say. - Find the patience.
As a needle worker creations can be challenging and require many hours or days to finish. To tackle this I always pack work to take along with me. If it’s a large project I will break it up into various smaller ones. This way my portable assignment can be completed and is easy to carry. It also helps the final larger project seem a bit smaller and achievable to finish. Once the smaller pieces are done assembling the larger one is easier too.
When I was in high school with ten or fifteen minutes between lessons I would run to my next class trying to irk as many seconds or minutes as I could till the start of the class. Maybe I could get one or two stitches done. I figured with six classes I might get a row done. Take that by five days a week and I could get five rows just by getting to my classes early and working on my project. I would play a game like: I must knit six inches in a day. Then I could look at seven days and realize how far and long it would take me to finish. Thinking about this approach, I believe is a wonderful tool to acquire how to be patient. I recall days when I would have preferred not to sit and knit but forced myself to. This is all part of how I acquired my patience. Today, at school reunions, I hear friends accuse me of always knitting between bells.
This exact approach worked for me when I was a flight attendant. One trip I worked on a jacket between flights. During one stop-over the passengers were boarding before I had time to put my piece away. I managed to get five rows done though!
In order to be a portable needle-worker it takes thinking ahead and getting organized. I have a small bag that zips shut I carry my work in. It’s soft, crush-able and fits nicely into another bag for traveling. It looks like a handbag. People often compliment this bag so make yours one you like to carry. Photo copy the pattern or instructions you are using. Why would you want to lug a book around? Besides its less wear on your cherished books. Don’t forget to copy the abbreviations too.
Some other items in my portable knitting needle organizer
bag are: a small tape measure, tiny snips, a stitch holder, some paper, pencil, various knitting and crochet needles in the gauges I prefer. A small tube that once held seed beads holds tapestry and sewing needles. I tied an orange strand of yarn onto it so I could locate it quickly in my organizer. If I'm on an airplane I may remove the snips replacing those with a dental floss container. It's enough to get a thread or yarn cut and I'm not the sad victim of a TSA loss. {which has happened to me :-(}
Did this help you get a knitting needle organizer? How do you tackle a large-scale project?
I've included thru this posting images of the intarsia hand-knit bomber jacket I knit in 1988 whilst flying for the airlines. It's made from wool and angora. Fulled lined with a zippered front opening.
Here is an image of my favorite knit bag!
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