The Red Sweater

…before I drop off the rotation on blogger.com’s home page and the traffic to my blog dies down…

I knit because it quiets me. I smoked for 10 years and one of the reasons I had such a hard time giving it up was that I knew the only time I was still, doing nothing and taking time to really reflect, was when I stepped outside for that cigarette. I started knitting last November and quit smoking in March, my hands occupied with clicking needles and smooth wool and cotton slipping through my fingers. My cigarette breaks became a hindrance to my knitting progress and I worried that the smell would linger and infect my precious fibers. Obviously, I was ready to quit.

I also used to work through lunch every day, grabbing a sandwich at my desk and barely ever looking up to see the seasons change. When my obsession with knitting began seeping into my 9 to 5 brain space, I took some advice from Eva and started bringing my projects to work. Sitting in my car, under a tree with the windows open and classical (89.9), jazz (89.1) or NPR on the radio, knitting for at least 45 minutes every afternoon - this is what gets me up and headed to work in the mornings. There’s a peace in the simplicity of that, and the reflection that space of time gives me.

Eva and I took a quiz on Oprah.com a couple weeks ago - a stress test. I scored very low in stress levels - probably the first time in my life I would have. One of the questions stuck out to me - something about how much time you took each day to do something just for yourself. Thinking of my knitting and the 3-times-a-week yoga classes and the bare feet as I sit cross legged at work, I’m realizing that I’ve constructed, deliberately, a pretty easy-going existence…

Much different than my life a year ago - working 12 hour days, smoking like a fiend, drinking Pepto twice a day for my ulcer, and never slowing down to listen to what I really had to say. So, my current mantra in my search for the meaning of life?

Live deliberately. Thanks for stopping by.