For the Christmas holidays, my employer gives us from the Christmas Eve off until after New Years. Every year I make these plans to clean up things, start new projects, finish old ones. I never do. I did get a good amount of spinning done. I think I would have gotten more done if it had not been for the devil cat that I am currently catsitting for. My cat leaves me spinning wheel alone, he leaves cords alone, and he does not knock all of the laundry soap and the like off of the top shelf in the laundry room and feel happy when it breaks on the floor. However, Zippy the devil child does all of these things and more. He even chewed on my merino/silk roving that I am currently working on making a 3 ply laceweight for Deniasha. I am currently miffed at said cat and am ignoring his cries for mercy coming from my basement door. For those of you who he has not damaged their things, do not worry. He has food, water, a warm place to sleep and a litter box. I have not yet reached the stage where I will kill him for his fur. (He does have a nice coat)
What have I done with this time? I did spend two days on a new project which I will be unveiling either Sunday or Monday night. Let me leave it to say it keeps getting more and more exciting as more gets laid out. I wish I could say my house was spotless. It isn’t. It looks like the devil cat ws cooking in my kitchen. There is laundry that needs to be washed. So in an attempt to find something useful from all of the time I have spent sick (dh gave me a cold for Christmas, very thoughtful) I have made a list of things I have learned from video games. Please realize I do not play the games, my hand-eye coordination makes it look like I am having a seizure while engaged in attempting a cheerleading routine. I watch video games. This list can especially apply to knitters and spinners.
1. If you are having problems with something, go back and work on the basics. Maybe your skills aren’t high enough on something that you need to have down pat. Maybe you need to spend some happy time doing knit purls, or maybe you need to learn to predraft better. Or if you are playing a game, maybe this means killing the same stuff over and over again until your wife falls asleep on the couch.
2. Talk to everyone, and listen to what they have to say. I have spent most of my life in fear of “bothering someone” and have been trying to get over this fear. If someone does not want to help you, they can say so, but most people are happy to help and would love to share with you. Taking the time to listen to people can add to your life. I don’t know how often it will work like the game, but maybe someone will give you something.
3. Make sure you are fully prepared before you go somewhere. Take every last thing that you might need. I actually need to go the opposite direction on this since I can pack two huge bags for an overnight trip and still not have all the clothes I need for a trip.
4. Sometimes you need to go back to the beginning to see how it has changed. Maybe there will be a new perspective, or something you missed before. I look back on my scarf knitting phase and am glad I can now produce yarn and still do what I love best, the same thing over and over again.
Well, next year I plan to clean out my pantry and organize my fiber. Nah. I think I’ll just read all the books I couldn’t during the year and watch more rounds of games.
I must say that I feel as though I have found a kindred soul when I read your post just now. I, too, watch video games. I play a couple myself but none that really require hand-eye co-ordination. Instead, I watch my husband play. I have watched such great games as Assassin’s Creed (that sneaking game as I call it), Uncharted (the Indiana Jones treasury game) and Mercenaries 2 (watch out it’s the mercenary!). I agree with your four points about what we can learn from video games.
Getting back to the basics is the best thing about knitting. If I’m out of practice and want to tackle some cables or something of the sort, I just make a couple of dishcloths to practice the knits and purls.
Thank you for this post! I shall be quoting it soon I’m certain!
Great list – it’s amazing what we can learn from the most unlikely sources!