And on the seventh day

I have enjoyed many of Paulo Coelho's books, starting with The Alchemist, his best known work.  I heard it first when I was at summer camp as a teen and it was read out loud to us each day at lunch.  I know that sounds cheesy but it was an amazing opportunity to take a mid-day break and stories read aloud are really special. Paulo has written many other books over the years and most are variations on a theme but one theme (and set of books) I have been thinking about is his "On the Seventh Day" series where he drops the reader into the life of a character for just a week as the protagonist experiences transformative change. The idea being that everything can change in just one week.

While my week has not exactly been extreme, it has been a "helluva" week (for lack of a better term).  Last Saturday I was at the Knitter's Frolic in Toronto and enjoying a wonderful day with my sister.  Sunday was equally quiet, but then Monday I found out I got a new apartment in Bracebridge, which lead to a week of signing a lease, notifying my current landlady, making arrangements for moving and all that.  At work I was in 5 days and working like mad because we had two big events this week, saw the new office space we are moving into in June, making plans for the other large events we have coming up in the next few weeks.  And the big bomb dropped Thursday, when I found out that a woman who I sang with in the choir had died of cancer that morning.

Well, that pushed a busy week into an overwhelming week, oh and cancer fucking sucks.

Nancy, who was in her 60, was a friend of mine.  We were in the same section of the choir (2nd Soprano/Lead in barbershop arrangement) and often butted heads about pitch and timing.  She was a incredible, wild, amazing woman who gave so much to her community and sang her heart out, despite only being on pitch some of the time.  She knew she wasn't a gifted singer, but what she lacked in natural ability she made up for a thousand times in spirit, caring and general gusto.

Since finding out on Thursday I've been intermittently crying (which I am right now as I write this) and singing some of her favorite (and a few of her most hated) choir songs.  Her funeral is tomorrow and so I'm heading to Parry Sound this afternoon to spend a bit of time with my sister today.  I will be singing with the choir at the service.

It feels like a lifetime ago that I found out I got the amazing apartment.

Oh and knitting, I do that too, but with all the upheaval this week and spending time at the gym I haven't made it very far into my knitting.  I've nearly finished another pair of socks (half a foot and two toes) but I started up a new shawl with some of the madelinetosh Tosh Merino in Astrid Grey I got at the Frolic.

Astrid Grey

 

I also rescued a few items from the frogging pond, and already had several other project on the go.  Oh and I need to make sure that I have Carla's wedding shawl done before the leaves start changing color so I have time to make my shawl as well.

So, seven days.  A whole lot can happen in seven days.

Learning to run ...

Blog Header Inspired in large part by the breakthroughs I've been having over the last month or so (like the Broken Windows and the A Year From Now ...) I've decided to start on a new blogging project about my work to get healthier and more fit.  I feel like the change of tone and theme warranted a new space, and a chance for me to try something new.

However, I'm not going to be abandoning this blog. I will keep on sharing my ramblings about knitting/crochet/spinning/weaving here and move all talk of food and exercise to the new blog, Run Bean Run, runbeanrun.wordpress.com.

So here's to a grand adventure to learn how to run, one step at a time.

It's still wool season here ...

Happy First Day of Spring from Muskoka

Spring in Muskoka

Considering the lack of spring like weather I will have to console myself with more winter sock knitting, (Business Casual by Tanis Lavallee and the yarn is one of her OOAK yarns in Blue Label).

Business Casual Socks

And colorful new yarn from a new-ish Canadian indie dyer, Blueberry Pie Studio in Toronto.  The colorway is called Muskoka Sunset, and while I'm usually wary of multis the name and vibrancy of this colorway made it a mid-winter pick-me-up.

Muskoka Sunset

Hopefully soon we will be getting some actual Muskoka sunsets, on days like today its hard to remember what summer looks like, but summer will come back and we will get those sunsets that inspired the vibrant colorway.

Trying to fix those "Broken Windows"

Broken and Not Broken Windows During work this week I ran across this blog post by Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project about "Broken Windows".  I'll let her explain:

The “broken windows theory” of policing holds that when a community tolerates minor examples of disorder and petty crime, such as broken windows, graffiti, turnstile-jumping, or drinking in public, people are more likely to commit more serious crimes.

As a law-enforcement theory, it’s controversial, but whether or not it’s true on a city-wide level, I think it’s true on a personal level.

My “broken windows” are the particular signs of disorder that make me feel out of control and overwhelmed.  - Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

Looking around my apartment, and my mind, I recognized a whole pile of "broken windows" staring me right in the face and I have a feeling like I'm a slob who can't get her shit together.  Not at all a woman who is closer to 30 than 20 and wants to feel like a real grownup.

My broken windows seem to include:

  • Dirty dishes beside and in the sink
  • Random bits of garbage sitting on my desk and coffee table
  • The box for my new electric toothbrush under my desk
  • The blocking mats on my floor, the blocking pins in my window sill (both of which have been there since I unpinned a shawl on Feb 14th)
  • The amigurumi in need of repairs sitting on the floor where they got tossed when Carla visited 4 weeks ago.
  • My notoriously unmade bed
  • The laundry drying rack with a few items left on it from doing my laundry, also a month ago (I have done laundry since then, but that pile is also unsorted, unfolded and half on my floor)
  • And about a half dozen things I'm not quite as keen to make public

However, it is not hopeless.  Gretchen herself mentions how spending little seconds to prevent the window from getting broken, in my case, spending the 10 minutes to put away my clean laundry, or to wash out my two or three dishes and wipe down the counter, can make a big difference in your mental health.

I think this is the other half of what I was thinking about when I talked about letting go of my FIFO knitting mentality.  I think I need to let go to the idea of a system in my crafting life, letting go of "have to" and "must" when it comes to yarn and fluff, knitting and crochet, spinning and weaving, and apply some of that mental energy to dish doing and bed making.

Despite the fact that it will take me a half second to pick up the box of tissues that fell on the floor 2 weeks ago, I have managed to pretend it's not there and kick it around my living room several times. And when there is a box of tissues on the floor, why does it matter if I just leave that mug there on the coffee table, oh and that tupperware bowl that used to have leftovers in it, it can just stay at my desk for a week.

While I'm feeling this surge of " have to " and "must" I'm going to spend the better part of the weekend putting away my clutter and getting my apartment set up in such a way that I have a much tougher time "breaking the windows".  However, this is an on going process.  I'm putting this here as a way of being accountable to myself, by telling you about the work I need to do I feel more obligated to myself to actually do the work.

So what are the "broken windows" in your life?  Do you have any in need of fixing?  What tricks do you use on yourself to stay on top of your clutter?