End of Summer Lunch

Today is the last Friday before school starts. The boys and I will be going out for lunch to celebrate the end of summer and the transition into a new year. We do this every year; it's a tradition. This year, we can also celebrate my transition. I'm done - as in completely and totally finished with no loose ends.

Louise wrote - You must be feeling very good to have this work completed so much ahead of the exhibit and get to enjoy moving ahead with your other creative plans. Congratulations!!!

Thank you. Overall, I'm excited and feeling great about my decision. I'm really glad that I made the choice on Monday to cancel the Victoria workshop because otherwise, as I had suspected, it would have been my last business decision. I could tell with Tuesday's loneliness in a crowd (always a sure sign) that I was beginning to feel a bit of sadness. If you suffer from any form of depression, you're probably aware of your own signs. This is one of mine.

Over the years, I've learned how to catch them early and deal with them better. Being somewhat sad right now is normal. It has been twenty years. It's not an overwhelming sad. It's more like waving a child off on a new adventure. You don't want them to go and you want them to go. Having this long weekend to "change over" to my new way of being is just perfect.

This morning, I woke up early, took coffee into the studio, curled up in the chair, and knit for a while. You'd think I'd be completely knit out by now - after knitting Tuesday morning and night and Thursday afternoon and night - but I'm not. Instead, I'm determined. I've been knitting and re-knitting this sweater for what seems like forever. It's time to be done. When I had to rip the sleeve out again yesterday because it was once again too small, and then again, that was almost the last straw BUT...




... it's not in me to give up. Before I pulled that sleeve apart for the second time, I started a new ball of yarn and the "second" sleeve to test the numbers. Three inches of ribbing and two inches of stocking stitch later, I knew they were going to work. That's when I pulled out the first one. This morning, I'm just about at the sleeve cap. My goal for the weekend is to finish the sweater - at least all the parts.

If it's been so long that you don't remember, the yarn is a mix of a rayon boucle and a jean coloured cotton. They look and feel fabulous together and it's such a beautiful and wearable color. Perfect for my own all about jeans wardrobe. It'll look great with green, blue, black and quite possibly with just the right shade of magenta. I have a few other combinations in mind too. Combinations whose themes are having fun. I've been playing it safe long enough.

Lyn wrote - Interesting what you say about groups - I get very frustrated when (mainly in classes) other class members focus on my work - or someone else's - and go on and on about how they wish they had those colours, or look how neat that is, you don't need to be here, etc. There have been very few classes that I have been to where I haven't learned something, or used it to improve my skills or knowledge, and it frustrates me to have people commenting on my work instead of focusing on their own. I'll get off my soapbox now! Enjoy your day.

THANK YOU for understanding Lyn. From a psychological level, I get what's going on. I've studied the theories behind this kind of conversation however, theories don't mean a whole lot when you're dealing with it in the moment. On a personal level, you (I) just want to say "enough now" because the talk has gone beyond flattering or teasing and has edged into annoying or ridiculing. My way works for me. I could loosen up a bit at times and perhaps others could "tighten" up a bit at times. We might all function ever so much better with a touch of the opposite.

Interesting also what you said about taking a workshop. Learning is so important to me. It's perhaps why I'm so goal oriented because goals give structure to my learning such as my goal to improve the quality of my workmanship in knitting or good fit in fashion sewing. The goal focuses me in on what I want to achieve.

I always learn something new when I take a workshop however, I've almost completely stopped taking them because of similar reactions to what you mentioned, some of which come from instructors who appear to feel slightly threatened to have an accomplished student in the class. That always surprises me. I'm thrilled when I have an advanced and eager student. That's a whole different level of teaching and learning.

I was reading Why You Should Take a Sewing Class Taught By Experts on Lindsay T's sewing blog. It's about a group of women who just took a class in New York city with Kenneth King and Susan Khalje called Sit & Sew. This was a four day workshop in which you worked on your own project with the expert instruction of these two instructors. How amazing that must have been.

After the workshop I took last year in Portland with Patti Palmer and Marta Alto (Palmer & Pletsch) Lindsay's advice makes a lot of sense. All of the students in the class I was taking were on the same level skill wise and the projects were individual. You were doing what you wanted to do and learning what you wanted to learn.

Unfortunately, this kind of class can get quite expensive because they are usually somewhere else and involve travel and accomodation costs however, they are definitely something I'd like to do more of. Earlier this week, I read about a jeans making and a bra making workshop. The schedule for 2010 wasn't up yet but how interesting. These are "gourmet sewing" items and the workshop was within driving distance which I always prefer. We'll see what happens.

In 2012, when we turn 50, my friend Caroline and I are planing to go to San Francisco to shop and hopefully take a class. I have a few "big names" on my "want to study with" list. LOL - none of that will matter until I get a job so for now - I'll be exploring in my studio. With books, DVDs, and the Internet, there's a lot to learn.

While knitting, I was pondering the space and what I'll need to move around and fit in for the switch in focus from textile art to fashion sewing. I want to move my construction desks around and I don't want to because when Wendy or Barb or Caroline or another friend comes to sew, they use that desk. I'll have to figure that one out - maybe over the weekend - while I'm knitting fast and furiously. I'll let you know how that goes.

Happy weekend - talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - I'M DONE!!