Ostra

please ignore the trash can and our fresh food delivery cooler

I've been working all weekend on coming up with a new class for the LYS and it has been a slow mental grind of numbers and stitches.  Not all patterns come in a flash of inspiration as evidenced by this previous post.

I wanted to make something with flowers to evoke spring...but I'm not sure that spring is quite ready to make an emergence here.  Sure we've had some beautiful warm days but this morning it was back in the 30s and there was frost on my windshield.  Brrr.  Was that snow today?

My LYS wanted something challenging but not too challenging...something with new elements but not too difficult...and something that can be taught in two hours.  There were many, many flowers before I came up with this one.

what a great way to use up leftover sock yarn

I had hoped to have a finished project by the weekend, and now I am just happy to have a flower to show you.

I've never tried something like this before.  You see it was Pi day and I was thinking about how that translates to knitting when you are doing something in pieces and I started doodling with charts and decreases and the like and I came up with a huge mess that curled into itself.  My second flower had a huge...errr...protuberance on the front that made it impossible for it to lie flat.  And this is the 3rd incarnation of my original idea.

I was thinking that it would be nice to be able to use up leftover sock yarn when making this pattern. But you could also pick out colors and stagger the flowers in a pleasing way as well.

What pattern you say?  That remains to be seen I suppose.  I have an idea but I need to knit a scad of these little darlings and I'm feeling a little under the weather so...I'm just going to do the best I can.

I've been so good about being focused and working on the secret project, but coming up with a new class sort of put all that on hold.  I think that is what always happens.  I almost finish something and then I get a deadline and just never get back to working on the first project.

I am determined not to do that this time.  That is why I put all these projects into my little app.  My app remembers that I did not finish the secret project and keeps moving it to the next day for me.

I'm trying to tackle my goals the same way that I managed to get rid of my debt:

There are three categories that I assign to everything:  have to, small and long-term

There are the things that you just have to do that must be done first.  These could be things you want to do or have to do but they take first priority.

Then there might be things that seem really small and so you keep putting them off.  These are the things that you should do next.  The reason is that finishing something, even a small something is an accomplishment.  It gives you space.  In Feng Shui one learns that there must be space around things for the energy to flow.  It is the same with your projects...or anything for that matter.  If you finish something then you can breathe a little easier.  The Fly Lady (an organizational guru that helps you get a handle on everything in your life one day at a time) says to start with your sink...and all else will follow.

In between your have to dos and your smalls you might get another have to do...and that shouldn't put you off because life is about ups and downs and doing things and having to do things and if all those things are more or less balancing out then...then sprinkle in a little love, fun and family and that my friends, is living.

After you've got rid of those smalls it is time to take stock of what long-term goals you have going on as well.  Revisit these projects and see which ones can be broken down into smaller goals and treat that section as a small goal working in have tos when they pop up.

When you finish that smaller goal of a larger goal then take on the next piece of your larger goal and work on it...soon your larger goal will be completed and you can move onto the next one.

It is kinda like making a salad.  When you make a salad you don't take on the salad as a whole you break it down into manageable parts.  For example:

• Clean and wash lettuce and spinach and cut or tear into manageable pieces, put in a bowl
• Clean and wash pepper and dice, put in the bowl
• Clean and wash garlic, mince and stick in oil to meld while I make a salad
• Clean and wash tomatoes and cut up, put in the bowl
• Clean and wash carrots and pare, put in the bowl
• Cut up broccoli florets, and pare stems, put in the bowl
• Mix in some seasoned salt, Craisons, and bacon bits
• Mix in the oil and then the vinegar

...and voila...I have a salad.  This is the salad I ate last night with some roast beef.

When we make a salad we know that there will be lots of ingredients and steps and that is okay because that is how you make a salad.  If we take that same mindset towards say a sweater then we accept that making a sweater has a bunch of steps as well.  This breaking down of a bigger task can really be applied to anything and makes any large task very manageable.

What does it mean for me?  Right now I am in my have to stage on this new project, but as soon as it is done I will get back to the "secret project" and then I am getting back to finishing up a whole bunch of smalls.  I have patterns that just need a tweak here or there, projects that just need the ends put in, adding a blog roll to my blog and charts that need to be imported.  In a few hours, I could really accomplish a lot...and then I need to start chipping away at the next long-term goal and break it down into small goals.

On the whole, even though there is a lot on my list of projects in their various stages, it feels good to know that I've had all these ideas.  When I have an idea I make a folder right away for it and then I add in any notes or swatches or whatever will help me down the road when I get back to it.  Then it goes into my idea drawer and when I finish something I grab one of my idea folders and start working on it.  Not everything works out and most things evolve into something else but that is okay. Life is ever-evolving and changing and our goals need to be fluid so they can change as we do.  

I wish you a very Blessed Ostra!  May the dreams that you plant today grow beautiful vibrant fruit.
Hugs,
Ruinwen
:)