Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Details

I just finished a big work project that also happens to commemorate the end of the organization's fiscal year. It happens every year, but it's always a big undertaking. As you wrap up a year, there's always time for reflection and lessons learned. In finishing this big project, the satisfaction I usually feel has not rolled over me quite yet. This is partially due to all the work still to be done in the last few days of this year, but it's also because I was able to accomplish so much, but none of it with out mistakes.

I mentioned in a previous post that I started a Procrastination Shawl 'just because', even while I have an ever-growing gift pile that needs attention. It knitted up quickly at first, but has since stayed the same size.

Before: When I cared about presenting you with a quality blog

After: when I did not care what your precious little sensibilities might make of my
horrible cell phone camera

Not because I haven't been working on it, but because I've had to rip out rows more than once due to lost counts, dropped stitches and even forgetting which side was the Right Side and the Wrong Side. Interestingly, this hasn't bothered me very much - probably because the yarn I'm using is cheap and ugly and the pattern is interesting to me but not something I fell in love with ages ago. I'm just enjoying the process and learning new skills along the way. This is known as "process knitting", a simple concept I heard about on an old episode of the KnitPicks podcast. You're knitting to knit and not for a result. This type of approach has taught me more than I can say and has really helped me not only learn from my mistakes but also freed me from constantly beating myself to death over every problem. I think I'm going to apply this a new approach to my workload and see if it helps me avoid mistakes and ultimately overcome them. I'm going to try to enjoy work for the sake of being busy. I'll let you know how that works out for me - if I even remember typing this in the morning.

In other news, the year-end project had it's perks. Yummy hors d'oeuvres and a gift - new plastic cup with straw! It may not be my beloved Tervis Tumbler, but it's a close second, pal.
Cup shown in foreground. Dog included for scale.

This post is brought to you by: an ill-advised late night stop at the Rock n' Roll McDonald's for a large Diet Coke.

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