Check out my Etsy Shop!
Finding my center
May 15, 2007
I specialized in ceramics when during my undergraduate degree in Art Education. I loved getting dirty and working with clay. One of the things about throwing on the wheel that fascinated me was centering the clay. If you didn't get it right before you opened, your pot ended up lopsided. The harder you tried to fix it, the worse it got. Throwing on the wheel was all about balance and understanding the capabilities of the material you were working with.
I looked at four skiens of Cascade a couple of days ago and realized that with only one skien of each color and no skiff or ball winder, I was going to have to learn how to wind a center-pull ball by hand if I wanted to knit with two strands of one color at a time. I looked up the information online (www.knitting-help.com has great videos of all kinds of knitting realted things!), and I found that these balls actually wound faster than the method I had used before.
I haven't knit with them yet, so we'll see if my "centered" balls of yarn actually do the trick. I'll let you know.
And then there's Mother's Day. I had a wonderful Mother's Day during which I learned what MD is all about. It started Saturday night when we went to bed. Neither one of us felt very well and I had trouble sleeping. After a bit, my hubby got up and went downstairs. After another bit he came up to see if I was asleep and shared that he'd thrown up. (I'm sure he's thrilled with me sharing this information with the WHOLE online world... ;) ) While I felt really bad for him, I couldn't help selfishly thinking, "And tomorrow's Mother's Day..." I eventually went to sleep and was awakened by a crying baby at 6:00 AM. I fumbled into the baby's room, picked him up, and wnet to sit in the rocker. While I mulled over what to do with a 10 month old at six in the morning when it wasn't time for a feeding and I hadn't even brushed my teeth yet, I realized that he was quite content in my lap. So, we snuggled in the rocker together for 20 or 30 minutes, and I got my first MD present ever. During that 20 or 30 minutes my son taught me that MD is not about me getting a break from my child; it's about me enjoying being with my family. My whole attitude changed about the day and I was able to enjoy it even though I didn't get to sit on the couch and do nothing all day or go and do whatever I wanted. It was a wonderful day that helped me get centered and remember that it's not about me.