Friday, January 16, 2009

progress

Friday afternoon. I sit at my desk in the heavy afternoon sunshine, making slow but steady progress on my Shalom cardigan, savoring every stitch of this gorgeous alpaca and tussah silk.


Also on my desk is my first little foray into stranded knitting, which was one of my fiber-arts resolutions this year. Even in its unblocked, unfinished state, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy to see what I've made.


That's what I'm doing at my desk this Friday afternoon, on one level. On a deeper level, what I'm really doing is procrastinating on my dissertation proposal. deep, sad sigh.

This is interesting to me: In knitting, I happily take on new challenges (fair isle) and progress through the tedious parts of larger projects (yoke of a sweater) with nary a flicker of self-doubt or anxiety. In 'real' life, even just thinking about working on my proposal sends me through hours of paralyzing, painful self-criticism and angst. How can a person be so functional and competent in knitting and so dysfunctional in the rest of life? Something to meditate on.

And, yes, in case you're wondering, this post falls under the category of procrastination ...

6 comments:

sophanne said...

no one judges your knitting- every knitter friend (real or blog) is proud of your achievements and understands and sympathizes with your set backs. Would that the academic world were so kind.

cksknitter said...

You choose beautiful yarns for your projects. It's all about texture. The stranded knitting looks perfect. I would never believe you are a beginner!

turvid said...

I'm working on Shalom right now (almost done), looking forward to see yours. :)

Turtle said...

love your yarn choices and project designs!

kathy b said...

Oh, Dont be so hard on yourself. Shout that criticism out. What you have to say to a professor or team of collegues is essential and unique. Now be nice to you!

Marcia Allen said...

Well, procrastination can really a part of dissertation writing. And I think it is not bad at all. Just like you, some people procrastinate doing the things they want which can be a stress reliever that is cause by PhD dissertation writing. Anyway, what happened to your dissertation? Your knitting was looking great, and I hope the dissertation also was.