Boots are made for walking

So today I had a meeting in town and I decided that I was going to wear my new winter boots that I raved about when I picked them up four months ago and have worn maybe twice!

I had to plan my whole outfit around them so they could be seen as they should and it was a surprisingly powerful feeling to be in that persona again. It connected to that part of my brain that has been mulling over next steps career wise.

One of the weird things I've noticed about myself is that around this time of year I start getting job itchy feet. September through November is the most common date on my job applications. And I quite often do a 180 degree turn about a decision I've only affirmed recently. One of the classics was September 1999 when having decided to wait til after Christmas to get a job (when Jon would have been one) I had a job (and under two childcare - the real miracle) within four weeks. Many of my jobs have an October in the start date. Nick thinks it might be a spring thing...

Anyway I've seen a job that I'd really love - despite it having many qualities that I know will frustrate and sadden me. Certainly a job I'd feel unhappy about not at least putting my hat in the ring for. And so after declaring my supreme satisfaction with my current working arrangements, that is - not working full time, working from home etc I'm going to apply.

Funnily enough I was playing with a new personal website yesterday and because it wasn't "real" wrote quite a cool piece about who I am and what's important to me in terms of work (no I'm not telling you where it is yet cos I checked this morning and it has typos!) I read it back and thought why can't I write stuff like that when I'm doing a cover letter? While the obvious answer is the absence of pressure - it's good to know I already have something to start with (typos corrected of course).

Just to add to the story ... I was doing the "what would I do if I had a million dollars" game that's quite effective in uncovering your deepest desires a couple of days back... and apart from wanting to move back to Canterbury ... I realised that I had most of what I was listing off already - you just need to see abundance.

So keep your fingers crossed - the universe will provide the answers which ever direction I'm meant to go.

So it's ages since I posted

Mainly because I have been kind of busy with writing and working in lots of other spaces. But this morning I realised that I have had an incredibly productive winter with my knitting. I finished my fifth pair of socks!!! This pair are made out of some pretty hand-dyed wool Tash sent me for my birthday and they are my best yet (Including the lacy pattern)
As well as the five pairs of socks, I have made 6 pairs of handwarmers, a beanie,finished the back of another cardigan for me, and progressed three other projects. Which isn't too bad given my record over the last ten years or so for knitted garments is ... zero!!!
The picture is of the socks in progress that I have just finished this morning.

In the meantime the kakabeak and kowhai are flowering, it's a lovely sunny day - and life in general seems pretty promising.

I must be on a bit of roll

Because I have already finished two more things and started another couple of knit projects. I had a bit of a hiccup with my sewing as well but first things first -
The photo on the left is some handwarmers I knitted for a friend who was turning 60. They ended up being bulkier than I wanted (Tash's were a lot finer) but she still loved them! They only took a couple of evenings and I now have "orders" from three other friends.
The second picture is of my socks which again once I got going on were only a few evenings work plus a couple of sessions in the car during rugby practice. I reckon that another pair would only take me about 12 - 14 hours based on the second one (the first one had a few back tracks on it)
I've also been sewing - finished Jon a sweatshirt - he is now nagging for me to do a hoodie. I had almost finished a hoodie for Toby but when he tried it on while the length was OK it was way too wide so I need to take it in. I had added length to a meduim but he is really an extra small width wise and a large body length wise.
Now if only I could find some of the same kind of energy for the garden and the final de-clutter of the spa room and garage!

A touch of failure...

Well after trumpeting about my new discipline I promptly stopped posting on any of my blogs... maybe I could argue I gave up blogging (inflicting my bright ideas on the world) for Lent.

Anyway in the meantime life has been moving on... I have a small contract facilitating an online community, am working 10 hours or so a week in a local yarn store and am gradually recovering from the last few years of being a public servant!

One of my amazing acheivements has been to complete this cardigan which I started about June last year. What is so incredible about this? Only that I think the last time I actually completed a knitting project for myself was in about 1988 - if not before. The last thing I remember clearly was a mohair jersey I started during our OE in the UK which I don't think I finished until we got home. It is also the first knitted thing I have finished (if you dont count the six month old baby jersey I haven't sewn up yet i.e. not finished) since... possible since we moved to Wellington (15 years) and I went back to full time work. I have a number of UFO's but I can't recall a completing anything - partially because my MIL has been there to meet the kids urgent requests.

As well as the cardigan I have also been working on a pair of socks - largely due to the degree of hassle I've been getting from my mother and elder daughter about my wimpiness with double pointed needles and this photo is proof for both of them that I have successfully turned the heel. I must admit as my stitch a day calendar suggests they are a nice portable project that despite the fineness of wool does grow quite quickly. I think I am also getting slightly inspired by the new colourways that we unpacked at the shop last week!
And then last but not least my next cardigan project which started with me making the effort to remember the one needle cast on - I do believe I am turning into a knitter again. Of course the ultimate irony in completing the cardigan and starting on the second one (which was actually an older stash of wool from two years ago) is that the cardigan concept was so I'd have something cuddly and warm to put on when I got home and took off my suit jacket from work! Ah well, never mind...

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Implementing my new discipline

I've decided if I'm serious about this writing thing I better make sure I do some every day and of course this is my most random blog so what better place to start.

I was reading an article in a writer's magazine yesterday about having a place to write and I have been thinking about that. I suspect my procrastination today will be cleaning out the spa room as one option and the front lounge is also pretty cluttered with Tash's stuff. It's my age old habit of clearing the decks before I create!

It's kind of frustrating in a way that I am not getting a lot done during the day - housework and busywork stretching to fill the available time. And it doesn't help that I dont have a strong sense of urgency about earning any money at the moment - the stillness of not having to be anywhere or do anything is a wonderful space.

Of course there are things to do and say - and that's why I want to get some space sorted so I can get into the habit of contributing and playing online again. In the back of the mind there is the thought that it will be easier once Toby is back at university and Tash is off to London and my house will be properly my space during the day. In the meantime here are two beautiful photos from my cellphone of Arthur's Pass in the weekend.

So its raining outside

My bag is pretty much packed for a trip down to Christchurch with Tash and I'm sitting semi watching Antiques Roadshow on the Living Channel. It's already 11 oclock and I should be finishing off a proposal which might contribute to my moving back into the world of gainful employment. Today was a bit of a late start as I didn't get back from the gym (that's four days this week!) until just after nine.

It's great having my laptop back! Not the least because it lets me capture random thoughts. Yesterday at the gym I was listening to a audio book version of Stephen Covey's The Eighth Habit. He was talking about the change between the industrial age and the knowledge age and how many businesses still operate under the industrial age principle where machinary and plant (capital) has value and people are replacable. Whereas in a knowledge economy the value of a business is in the knowledge of the people who are working there. He also talked about co-dependency of dysfunctional thinking that reflects that and how most people when hearing him talk about it tend to think how someone else should really be listening to this.

So to resist being co-dependent (as I was contemplating previous places of work as I listened) I thought about what that might mean if I applied it to me. It's quite difficult to put into words but it seems to translate that people aren't easily replaceable and in fact that I am uniquely knowledgable and valuable - there isn't anyone who can do what I do, the way I do it, because it depends on my brain and how I synthesise and organise information and ideas. This has all kinds of consequences as how we value ourselves and our skills - but given the pervasive dysfunction the cynic in me wonders if it matters that much.

Total distraction - there is this elderly lady on AR with two "odds and ends" from her mother's sewing cupboard. One is an engraved silver bodkin which she uses and the valuer has just said that it was made in 1649! And he can't identify the maker from the hallmark because the records were destroyed in the great fire of London! The other was a little tool for skeining thread which was dated at about 1720. (and the combined value was 700-800 pounds!)

To new beginnings

My plans to keep up with my blog were rather de-railed when a lightening storm blew out the Vodafone reciever in Arthurs Pass! So there went my internet connection and phone for several days. Then when I got back home and to work there was only three weeks to go before my contract expired which meant my focus at home was my CV and job applications. To compound it all I am still waiting for my replacement laptop which is cramping my style as well.

Anyway last Thursday was the end of my contract and after seven and a bit years I am no longer a public servant so I'm up to reflecting on what my next steps will be. I'm pacing myself a bit until Jon gets settled back into school and a planned weekend in Christchurch.