While I still have another week of work to do on Drawful the Awful, I’m already looking ahead to the break I’m taking after this project. I spend approximately 10-12 hours per week on my writing, sometimes more depending on what phase of work I’m in (definitely more when I’m in editing mode). That’s a big chunk of productive time I’m about to have free, and while I’m all for enjoying some respite, I don’t want to feel unproductive.
So this past weekend I decided to take up knitting. I bought one of those teach yourself kits at Barnes and Noble (along with some other books), and sat down to start teaching myself.
It took a little while for me to get the hang of the motions and patterns, but eventually I started getting in a rhythm, and was ecstatic once I started seeing the actual weave and pattern of the slow rhythm and repetition of the motions.
After my sixth or seventh row it occurred to me why I liked knitting and was enjoying seeing a scarf take form bit by bit: It’s just like writing. It’s a slow repetitive motion and gesture that eventually adds up to a line, then weaves over with another line, and another until a shape begins to take form that is unified and tied with everything that came before it.
It’s safe to say, I’m enjoying the parallel, and I’m eager to finish my first scarf and am even asking friends who may want one as well. I’m going to, just as with my writing, take time and patience to learn different techniques and designs to make my future knitting projects a little more fancy, or tighter, or have different feels.
As far as hiatus projects go, I’m enjoying the fact that I picked one so analogous to my writing.
optionalirony.com 