I used to knit. A lot. Enough to love crazy, hand-dyed yarns. Not the carefully, packaged skeins. Instead, yarns that come in loops and hanks, that I’d have to wind into balls before I started knitting.
That is relaxing. Then I’d start working and one of the kiddos would try to play with the ball. Or it rolls off the couch. Or in the imperfection of creating the ball, I actually created a tangle.
Usually, I can work out the tangle and move forward. But every once in a while, I get a real mess and I get torn between untangling it and cutting knot and starting again.
I hate giving up. I hate tossing an artisan’s work that I love. So, I keep working the knot. But sometimes, you just have to stop.
That’s a challenge in work and in relationships too. I don’t have any great answers, but I am curious how we decide when to stop and start over. How do you decide?
Julie
PS: One of the ways I manage stress is art. Making it. Looking at it. I recently started a practice of posting a picture of my work – painting or photography everyday on Instagram (@jjakopic). You can follow along. If you want to see the work of masters, you might try a video tour of the Louvre.
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