Short Term Wins

Clearly business school ate my life. The end of my first semester was a scramble to get everything done, with a nice healthy dose of misplaced self doubt. I did make things, I swear, but nothing all that spectacular, nothing worth putting down the accounting and fundraising projects to write about.

My creative mojo is starting to return however. School prevented me from engaging in another Christmas cookie extravaganza, and the disappointment about that seems to have jump started me. But there is an obstacle: the unfinished objects. There are bins in my room of yarn and knitting projects that were started and abandoned. Several are at least three years old, dating to my time in New Jersey.

And then there is the sweater. It looms. It sulks. It nags like a mom who doesn't like your boyfriend. I started the damn thing well over a year ago. And while I lived in New Orleans, I had the excuse of it being too hot to work with thick, shed-prone wool. Not so in Boston, and the truth is, I have made progress. The sleeves are almost done. But it lags. I knit and knit, and yet feel no closer to the finish line.

What I need is a short term win. The concept came up in my organizational behavior class last semester. The basic idea (as I remember it, which is to say that I could be completely wrong, but I don't care) is that early success in an endeavor keeps people energized to continue to work towards their long term goals. There needs to be a small, tangible reward at the beginning to serve as motivation, and as reinforcement. It seemed incredibly intuitive to me, and I'd figured out a version of the sentiment when I was teaching knitting during my time at Down Cellar.

Learning to knit is definitely a long term project. For many new knitters, it can take a few projects to really get the hang of it. In my personal experience, the first object or two that you make will be terrible. That's just the nature of learning something new. At the time, I figured that it was best for beginners to make things that were cheap and quick, to bolster their confidence. The Yarn Harlot said it first, as she believes that the ideal first project is a hat, rather than the traditional scarf, precisely because they don't take long to make, and the joy of finishing something can spur you to start another project.

 Her suggestion has stuck with me after all these years. I find myself stuck on the Icelandic sweater. My confidence and desire to work on it is lagging. What I need is a booster. A reminder that I am a proficient former professional knitter. No sweater will hold me down, dammit! So I took the Yarn Harlot's advice, and knit a hat. It took three days, and is made from the abandoned roller derby helmet panty I started for Running of the Bulls, back in July. I will make a pair of fingerless gloves to go with it, and then redouble my efforts on the sweater.