Saturday, April 20, 2013

I'll Be Reading

Happy Saturday!

Well both this week and last I happened to overdo it a bit with my knitting and crocheting and today I found out that I cannot do either without pain in my arms and elbows.  This is a letdown because now I actually have more time to work on my projects.  But, I'm refusing to be sad about it, and instead I've decided to just take a break for at least the next two days, or until it doesn't hurt anymore.  I had the same thing happen at Christmas this past year, and because I didn't take a break when I knew I should, but instead just kept going despite the pain, I wasn't able to knit or crochet for at least a month without it hurting.  I learned my lesson and I would much rather miss a few days then to miss a whole month!  In the meantime, I think I will read and just relax - that sounds like a good way to be kind to myself now doesn't it?  I'm currently reading Anne of Windy Poplars and I'm enjoying it so much.  There's just something about both the Anne of Green Gables series and all Jane Austen's books that feels like "home" to me.  They're like old familiar friends.  Do you have any books that make you feel the same way?
I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and that the weather in your part of the world is springlike and cheery.  Here it is well below normal in temperature and has been lightly snowing off and on, but I hear it might warm up next week and we're supposed to get some rain.  Hopefully that will help melt the snow and make things start greening up.  In the meantime, I'm doing my best to remain patient and enjoy even the small changes I see each day.

xoxo

Monday, April 15, 2013

Perfection

Hello,

I know this is something I've talked about a bit in the past, but yesterday I got to thinking about it again.  I have been working hard at being more kind to myself since the beginning of the year, but I've noticed that I'm failing miserably at it.  It's something I've been reminding myself of every so often, but I haven't really taken steps to fully apply it to my life.  Both my health and mental state have suffered in the past because of my lack of applying it, and I know that I need to really start making a serious conscious effort to change in this area.
Sometimes I just shudder at the thought of it, it goes against my nature so much.  I am extremely good at working myself as hard as possible and holding the highest aspirations, goals and rules for myself, and when I don't succeed, I get upset with myself or feel like I've failed.  I know in my head that this is wrong, but I just keep continuing in the same negative thought pattern.  Most of the time it is only my own expectations of myself, but I because I expect perfection from me, then I also find myself thinking that others expect it from me too.  This just adds to the pressure and the failure feeling I get when I don't live up to my expectations.  I feel like I've not only let myself down, but others as well.
I'm the type of person who needs to have "steps" for how to do things, for example, when I wake up in the morning I mentally run through my day step-by-step - pray, read my Bible, brush teeth, wash face, get dressed, make breakfast and tea, eat, put the coffee on, etc.  I need to mentally map out what I am going to do.  It gives me the structure I need to help keep me from getting distracted.  So I was thinking that I might need to make myself a list of steps I can take in order to to be kind to myself and then put them somewhere I can see them every day to remind me to actually do them.
One area where I need to learn to be kinder to myself in is my crafting.  My friend Jessica reminded my yesterday that "knitting is supposed to be fun."  Boy did I ever need to hear that right then!  Earlier in the day I felt myself slipping back into the "just finish it up" mindset regarding my projects.  You know what I'm talking about, where you're no longer enjoying the process of the work but instead are just hurrying up trying to get it finished so it's checked off the list.  Sometimes there are real deadlines that make projects fall in to this area, but the things I'm working on don't have deadlines like that.  I've just been rushing because that's my natural tendency - which is no excuse.  I look at those people who knit to relax, and I wish I could be like them.  Instead, I'm usually frantically knitting at top speed to get something finished up and off the needles so I can start something new.  Then the whole cycle begins again: hurry and finish up so I can start the new and exciting thing I want to make, then once I'm started on it, I'm hurrying to finish it up so I can start the next new thing, and on and on and on it goes.  It's like a vicious knitting merry-go-round.  One I definitely want to get off.  I'd really like to get rid of the "hurry up" and replace it with the calming knitting I see others do.  I guess finding "steps" in this area would be a good plan, and to start I'm going to write out "Knitting is supposed to be fun." and stick it up where I can see it every day.
Do you ever find yourself struggling to be kind to yourself, or rushing through your knitting and not enjoying the process?  If you're the type who knits to relax, can you share any tips with me?

xoxo

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Slacking, Slacking, Slacking

Hello,

I know I've been slacking in my blogging lately...but I'm trying to get myself back on track.  It's not that I don't enjoy writing my posts, quite the opposite I assure you!  It's just that I either get so busy I don't have time to post, or I'm too tired to think straight and write something that would make sense.  Work is slowing down now though, only one more week to go!  So I should have more time in the near future.

Even though I've been slacking in my blogging, I've been making up for it in creating things during my spare moments.  I've been quite busy with needles, hook and yarn this past week and last.  To date I have knit 5 baby hats, 1 bonnet, 4 pairs of booties (and three singles who are awaiting their mates), 2 pairs of baby socks, 3 dishcloths, and a tiny gnome.  That's not mentioning all the projects I have started or have on the go at the moment.  I find that when my mind is too tired to think, I can usually still knit - granted that the project is pretty mindless.

Today while starting to tidy up around here (I've haven't been only slacking in blogging...) I found that I have three pairs of socks on the go right now.  So I set myself a little goal of getting one pair done this weekend.  Two pairs are on the second sock and the other pair is on the foot of the first.  I'd also like to finish up a few other little knits I have on the needles as well this weekend, but we'll see how everything goes.  I find it helps keep me on track if I make a little list, otherwise I get distracted by new things (kobo cozy using the magic loop technique because I want to learn it) and start working on something entirely different from what I was supposed to be working on in the first place.  I'll be back on Monday to let you know how it all went.

Have a great weekend, and try to sneak in some YOU time if you can.

xoxo