I always have lots of projects going at a time, and I am really good at compartmentalizing... I mean, if truth be told, I only have 4 knitting projects in the works - socks, my hoodie, my shell and my weekender jacket that just needs sewing up and final blocking.
Of spinning projects, I have 3 wheels going (and my charkha with my home-grown cotton), but these are my stress-relief time chunks and when I get an 'I love to spin' energy burst. I just have 5 weaving projects in the works... my Cricket washcloths, my bamboo warp, gifted Noro weft scarf project, my handpaint ikat-like fabric I'm set to weave for a jacket, my pomagranite shetland handspun warp for the ultimate scarf that will also use up some of my handspun stash (one of my three 2010 fiber goals), and my towel warp, yet to be completed... I won't even add the handpainted warp scarf that I'm hoping to become a kit, my silk and vicuna scarf... Let's not forget my crocheted wrap or the socks I have as another 2010 goal.
Compartmentalizing is so useful... it means that we never have to look at the whole at any one time and can rationalize why the compartment (3 or 4 things at a time) is the only thing that is important (vs. saying that I have 20+ projects going on simultaneously, all needing my attention). This is a mental health issue. It's how to cope with an imagination gone wild and a desire to try everything one can get his/her hands on without any reasoning on time bounds or responsibilities.
But every now and then, we find that this justification bites us in the behinds. And today was one of those for me. After a long day at the shop working non-stop on random, but important projects, I came home to work on something to get it done or approaching done. I sat, and pondered, and sat, and had a glass of white wine and looked around me at all of these things to be done with the idea that I would just reach for one and begin knitting, or spinning, or weaving, or crocheting... and here I sit. The more I think 'outside the box/compartment' the more overwhelmed I've become. I'm exhausted just thinking about which thing to work on next. Know what I mean?
Usually, when I feel this way, I start something new, but I've decided to give myself permission to just accept my project overload and let it all be... I acknowledge that I'm a frantic fiber project freak. But I'm holding back starting anything new. Tomorrow, I'll figure out which 2 or 3 things I'll focus on til completion. Which compartment shall I focus on?
I like that... accepting the current state of one's projects and deciding to make decisions tomorrow. Really, it makes a lot of sense to me. That's because at the end of a busy day, and especially when I'm tired, I can't make rational decisions. That's left-brain stuff, and as the day goes on I shift from all left-brain to all right-brain. So mornings are great for assessing projects and deciding what to work on, even if that work will happen at night. It's a good thing for me to do over breakfast.
ReplyDeleteI ran into a similiar problem last night: after a long day of dealling with a migraine and not eating very much, I finally felt good enough to sit down with a knitting project. After a couple of rows, I got to the point where I had to make some math decisions in adapting an unusual children's sock pattern for a man's foot. Well, I just couldn't make my brain do it. So I went to bed. lol
Sounded like a compartment for a second glass of wine...
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