The Best Laid Plans

The Best Laid Plans

So this isn't the post that I originally intended to write tonight. The post I was originally planning to write was going to feature my So Faded Pint Sized sweater that I'm currently finishing up. Why is this not that post, you ask? Because these itty bitty little sleeves are going to be the death of me. Between matching the colour changes and remembering my decreases I'm spending more time ripping back than actually knitting them. I really should just pause Netflix for a couple of hours and bang them out but really, where's the fun in that?

Instead I guess I'll tell you about my day. This morning I woke up, reasonably early, to the sun shining through my window, warming me out of my sleep with a fully formed, almost perfect, plan for productivity.

My plan started with me falling asleep last night feeling pretty inspired after reading a romance novel that reminded me how much I LOVE writing romance and also how much I miss doing it. I recently told Ashley that writing for RSBSY is so much easier than writing for myself. So long as I have a yarn related topic, the words just slip from my brain through my fingertips almost effortlessly. It helps that you guys are so easy to talk to. Writing for myself on the other hand is a constant struggle of, "who am I?", "what does this piece say about me?" and "I totally suck at this".

Nevertheless, I woke up with a plan to bang out this blog post, bang out my home work assignment and then work on writing that novel that’s been buried so deep in my to do pile that it hasn’t seen the light of day in months. Remember how I said that the plan was almost perfect? There’s a reason for that. I am a pro at negotiating with myself for a little extra time doing something else before I get down to business. At first it was, I’ll spend an hour working on the sleeve and maybe it’ll be done so that I can include it in the blog post. This, I felt, was reasonable. I had to do the blog post and the sweater was my intended theme. Then it was, I’ll watch a bit of Hotel Transylvania, but just while I ate breakfast. Breakfast lasted the whole movie. BUT, after the movie I was definitely ready to get down to business, right after I cleaned the kitchen. I can’t function with a messy kitchen. Better clean the cat litter if I’m going to take out the garbage... and I may as well do the laundry if I’m going to be on the couch.

It was at this point I remembered something that I had recently read in The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up - a book I started but never finished because, as far as I could tell, the basic theme of the book was, “throw everything away and then you don’t have to worry about things being out of place.” As a crafter this was never going to work for me. Anyway, at one point Marie Kondo talks about that moment when you feel so pressured to get something done that you start frantically tidying everything around you rather than actually doing the thing that's causing you to feel pressured. I had arrived at that moment. Rather than face the monumental task that I had set out for myself in order to feel great about my day, I was doing everything I could do rather than just start.

I parked my tush on the couch and tried to start writing. Instead, I’m reflecting on The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. That book really does have some wisdom. I really should pick it up again. I flip to the page that I previously mentioned and read, “If you can’t feel relaxed in a clean and tidy room try confronting your feeling of anxiety.” Wise. I get a text message from Mommy, “So...did you want to go for that movie?” I know the responsible answer to this question. You know the responsible answer to this question. It’s definitely confront my feeling of anxiety while watching Colin Firth and Taron Egerton rock a three piece suit and kick bad guy ass.

I throw my perfect plan into the air. There’s always going to be work left undone. Life is short and weekends are shorter. Try to enjoy them both while you have the time.  

Talk soon everyone. I'll probably have my Pint Sized sweater ready for next week but I'm not making promises. In the meantime, PEACE to you and yours and happy knitting!

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