Choosing the Good in a Frustrating Day

Yesterday started with bog platform weirdness and it did not get any better. I thought it would but no.

I started with knitting.  I was knitting the upper back of the Anyday Sweatshirt and was really enjoying the knit.  It was just so interesting.  I made it to the end of the short row part and then sat back and took a look.  

See the puckering?  It should not do that and I am smart enough to know that it wasn't going to block out.   How did I know that?  Because once the short rows were done, the little foundation piece, which ought to have been firm but flexible, was not.  Not even a little bit.  Harrumph.

My gauge on that foundation piece was too tight.  

I put that down and went to the sewing room.  

I sat down and started working on the skirt.  This version had four seams, all straight, simple seams.  Should have been easy, right?  Or not.

I was enjoying the fabric.  I have not sewn with anything that was this weight in a very long time.  The fabric is a heavier weight cotton twill.  I had thought to make pants from this fabric but I enjoy wearing dresses and skirts so much more.  I spent time finishing all the seams properly.  I ironed everything flat and crisp.  It was very rewarding.  I was deep in the moment.  

I was laying out the pieces to put the front and back together when I noticed a weirdness at the hem on the back part. Where the back seam met, there was an alarming rise of the line of hem and it draped out gracefully to the visibly longer sides.  

I new what happened instantly.  I had sewn the side seams together instead of the center back seam.  On the circle type skirts the full seat adjustment results in a longer center back.  My back parts were gleefully parading at the sides of my pieces.  All that finishing.  Harumph.

 

That was it.  I was done for the day and it wasn't even ten o'clock.  Sometimes, you just have to walk away.  

I pulled out my book, an actual book from my personal library.  And I read.  I made another cup of coffee. 

This is a BookSeat in action.  It works great and means that I can read an actual book.  I still cannot read while I am knitting.  I cannot see the words that far away, but having something to hold the weight of the book while I read is wonderful. A big thanks to Tayler Earl of Wool Needles Hands on youtube. 

I pondered on how a day can go bad in seconds.  Life isn't only good.  Ugly can rear it's head in the blink of an eye just as often as joy can. And this was just small ordinary things.  None of it was worthy of all the drama I was imparting to it.  Being a drama queen is a perfectly valid way to be sometimes because sometimes, those moments will define your life.  I do not sniff at big or small dramas that appear in my life.  The trick is in accepting them.  And then choosing what to do next.  

The older I get, and the more knitting I do, the more I am thrilled by knitting's power to teach.  If you pull out all your knitting, what do you have?  You have a pile of yarn and a thousand possibilities of what do do with it. I took the joy of a thousand possibilities and went back to work.

I pulled  out all my knitting and started again.  

I went up a couple needle sizes and started again.  You can see the difference between the original and the new one at the bottom, still firm but not inflexible.

I pulled out all the finishing and seaming on the skirt and redid it properly with the center back as cut, being the center back seam.

The lower back hem is right where it ought to be.  Only the waistband and hems remain.  

I choose the joy, not the disgusted at myself, not the grumps and I picked being content.  It has become a habit to decide to look for the good (though it isn't all me. I have a meds for that too, but they work so I can let the bad frustrating stuff go).

As it should be.  Also in the joy and happy pile is this.

           

   

My two oldest grandchildren are at big moments in their lives. They first appeared on this blog as very little people and now Isaac is off to high school and Cassie to junior high.     

How great is that?