In search for a slower life

 

I've been wanting to get back to knitting for a while. Back in the years before I was known as "mommy", and during the first few months of my daughter's life I was a proliferous knitter. I loved the slow pace of the needles, I enjoyed the calm and relaxation it offered while still keeping my busy mind and hands occupied for long periods of time. And then I re-discovered sewing (I had actually discovered it almost 2 decades prior, but never really unleashed its potential).

Sewing is a much quicker craft, yielding results in a much more immediate manner... and being the avid crafter that I am, owner of a mind with a never ending supply of ideas and projects to experiment on, I fell hard for it and its concept of almost instant gratification. Now, don't get me wrong, not every sewing project produces a nearly instantaneous outcome. Some can take several hours, or even days, but you can see progress happening much quicker than with a knitting project, and that simple fact is what makes sewing so rewarding and motivating... and addicting!

 

 

The last 3 months of the year are usually my busiest time when it comes to running my business. It gets so crazy that I may easily work 12-hour days for 10-12 weeks without a break... all that coupled with the usual responsibilities of being a parent (and a human being who is a part of a social community) can become very overwhelming, very fast. In spite of that, it is also most likely (and perhaps unsurprisingly) my favourite time of the year. It feeds my creative mind (and my personal challenges with overachievement) like no other time.

 

 

However, the crazy fast pace of the holidays usually leaves me longing for a slower life... if only for a few days (because who am I kidding?). And this year the slow-life presented itself in the form of yarn. I'd been craving to get back to the needles (the knitting needles, that is) for a while, but I just couldn't find the time, or make the time, or think of a project I'd like to dive into. So I didn't. But now, with the holiday sales winding down, and the prospect of a much-anticipated holiday break, I felt it was the right time to "get back to the roots".

 

 

The constant and repetitive rhythm of the needles also allows your mind to wonder, which I find very fitting for this time of the year. The holidays, and the end of a year in particular, are always a time for reflection and evaluation. It is also, in a way, a time for hope, new goals, and new opportunities. I'm not one to make resolutions. I find that resolutions don't inspire me or motivate me enough. I am, however, decidedly goal-oriented, and enjoy the challenges and thrill of working towards new accomplishments. So for me, the hours spent quietly sitting on the couch working on my knitting project, is valuable time to slow down and be introspective, to contemplate the year that's ending, and to think about what it is that I'd like to get out of this new year that I'm being given, both on a personal and business level.

 

 

So with that in mind, I have greatly enjoyed this short break from work and routine, diving into a slower life of simple pleasures and self-indulgence. And now that the time to get back to said routine is approaching, I feel renewed, re-energized and enthusiastic about what's to come. But as I tie up my boots, and get ready to hit the ground running, I hope that through it all I can still make time for slow living.

Later Gator,

Julia (with an H)