Time + Energy = Mastery

After adding a few more patterns to my queue on Ravelry last night, I turned to Miranda and said "Ohhh, there are just too many designs I want to knit."  She laughed and just rolled her eyes (in a nice way, I assure you) but I was serious.  I AM serious.  

I have a blogger friend, Wei,  who lives half-way around the world and she recently posted a piece on her blog that spoke to my heart.  I know that many of us lament about not having enough time to do the things we want.  For those of us who are trying to become better (fill in the blank here -- knitters, weavers, cooks, musicians, painters, writers), time can often feel like a gift and not one that we are always able to give to ourselves. On top of the time issue is the physical energy required to master that thing we love to do.  Just before reading Wei's blog post, I also read this one by Julie who wrote a very moving piece about the death of Steve Jobs.  If you haven't read his Stanford University commencement speech, you should.  It will inspire you to take your passion, your vision, and put it out there in the world.  

I know, this is all pretty heady stuff for a knitting blog but I know that I'm not alone in thinking about how much we want to get better at our craft and how time and energy is the only way we can become masters of that thing. Like Wei, I try to choose patterns and projects that are going to take me to that next level.  But  I am also very aware of how tiring that can be. (Remember my post about mindless knitting?  It does have its place).  My fingers do ache when I'm working on an unfamiliar stitch and like I mentioned in my post Mood Changer, knitting can make me feel elated or frustrated. But I'm in this for the long haul, and I hope that the time + energy I put into my knitting does actually make me the master that I long to be.