Correlate

I know it's not a good idea to talk about work on one's blog. Hopefully, I won't be too negative about my job in making these correlations.

I was talking with a friend at work about how my job has very little product. Besides the festival I produced this summer, I administer grants most of the day. While I believe that it is very important to support artists, especially those with access to fewer resources, I don't feel as if I am being used to my full potential. Before taking my current job, I was working in museum education. Every day I either taught or created something. I loved my work, even when I wasn't happy with my job.

I taught myself to knit while I was working in museum education. I was working for the Shelburne Museum, a fantastic museum with a broad, extensive collection and well-designed school and public programs. After moving I worked for another very interesting museum, the Lake County Discovery Museum, and was able to produce a lot of school, scout, and public programs. My next job was awful, but I was still creating and growing programs. I didn't like being at work, but one class of kids could change all that. I knit all those years, but I didn't become compulsive until I moved to Chicago. I always thought it was discovering nice yarn that made me compulsive. I thought what I wanted was to touch the soft yarns.

While I was saying that I have little to show for my work, my friend pointed out that knitting is my product. It is my accomplishment; it is the thing I can hold up and say "I did this, and it is good." He got me thinking. I realized that I became a compulsive knitter about the time the novelty of giving grants wore off. I can't pinpoint the day, but I do know that I didn't have that finger itch that comes with needing to have needles in my hands until I started working this job. I wonder. If I get a job that I love, will I stop knitting as much? Somehow, I think it's too late. Once a compulsion, always a compulsion.

I'm trying to finish undone projects. I finished the clapotis. I added a 5-stitch I-cord edge to the stocking. I am headed to Michigan to celebrate Joseph's second birthday, so I'm going to take the stocking with me. If Jen and Tony like it, they can keep it. Otherwise, I'll make a new one with a different pattern. I was hoping to knit the pirate bath set from New Knits on the Block before heading home, but I haven't had the time. He'll get a very cool store-bought toy or something, no doubt. Well, if I can find the time to go shopping before Friday.