I'd forget my head if it wasn't fastened on....

So I go out to Target to get this and that and then something else, walked out spending $ 20.00 and still didn't get camera batteries. Which was a high priority item on my list. So, I can't post the pictures of the ghostie sweater or a new shawl that I'm working on until I get the batteries.

I'm almost done with the shawl already (thanks to the new DVD Dresden Files">that I got). One of the women in my Stitch n Bitch group just growls when she sees Jen or myself talking, reading or talking about watching TV while we work. We keep telling her she'll get there, she keeps telling us, she won't. And since it's her belief system, she won't.

And I don't care what the network thinks, I liked 'The Dresden Files'. Yes, it's been cancelled. I started out reading the books Dresden Files">cause I'm a fan of the mystery genre and someone recommended them to me on that basis. It's like Mickey Spillane with magic thrown in the mix. The investigator usually manages to get the snot kicked out of him at some point in the story but the characters and detail of the plot line are entertaining enough that you can get over the formula detective plot. Now the TV show is nowhere near the stories in the books but that makes them even more entertaining. It's interesting to see how they've changed the story to conform to the media that they're using. I was lucky enough to see Jim Butcher at the Oread Bookstore in Lawrence, KS and he thought it was great. The book sales were going well and the paychecks he was getting from the TV show, as he put it, paid for his families health insurance bills for a year. Not a bad deal for him considering he's an independent contractor being a writer.

Mistaken

"You can never learn less; you can only learn more. The reason I know so much is because I have made so many mistakes."
~~ Buckminster Fuller, mathematician and philosopher who never graduated from college but received 46 doctorates

I keep going back and forth on whether I know a lot. I've made tons and tons of mistakes on a daily basis....if I'm lucky, they're not the same mistakes on a daily basis. But for so many of them I played the victim game of 'That wasn't my fault. It's someone elses fault, not mine.' So if I failed to take responsibility for the mistakes that I made, did I learn anything from making the mistake? Other than avoiding to put myself in those same circumstances again.

The standard process is -
a) try something.
b) fail (really, how many times have you succeeded at something the first time you tried it?)
c) absorb the lesson
d) repeat steps a-c until you succeed or give up

In the victim mentality, it's so easy to claim 'it's not me, the universe is against me!' when all around us there is ample evidence that with a bit of self-confidence and a whole lotta pluck (or stick-to-it-ness, or stubbornness, or monomania, take your pick) people are accomplishing amazing things everyday, even though the universe is against them. They learn their lesson and start right back in again until they've gotten what they wanted.

So I do know a bit, now that I'm taking responsibility for the decisions that I make on a day-to-day basis. And I'm learning more every day as I make more decisions. And I think I'm learning as I examine the past experiences and decide, 'No, it wasn't XXX, it was me that caused that event.' So maybe I know more than I think I do.

BTW, the Universe isn't against you, it's all for your success, you just have to take the time to listen to it. One way that helps to listen is the new ambient music that is designed to set your mind to the Alpha waves. That's the relaxed but alert state that makes learning a lot easier. Sunday evenings thre's a program called Night Tides on KCUR, a local NPR radio station. For more info on the different brain states you can Google (not a product endorsement ;>)) it or look at the Psychology World site. There's good info there.

Gotta get focused

I keep telling myself to finish what I've started, in this case, the pattern for the video game sweater so I can put it out on my craft design page and what do I do? I sit down and work on another sweater. But Halloween's coming up fast so this little ghostie sweater will come in handy. And, if I want to get this pattern set up for people to make their own sweater's then I need to go through it once (or twice) to make sure that the bugs are worked out of the pattern.

That was one of the toughest parts of deciding to be a knitwear designer. Deciding to make items more than once. And frogging the items that while they looked OK, didn't really live up to the vision that I had when I started the project. I still have a couple of projects hiding in the spare bedroom that need to be frogged but since I haven't decided what to do with the yarn instead, they've gotten a bit of a reprieve from the process so far. But it will happen, it will all happen. A little bit each day.

"The only permanent change will come from a change in consciousness." - I'm not sure where this quote originated from, but the guy who said it was so right. Until I change my consciousness and the way I approach things then I'll continue to scatter my efforts instead of focusing on what I really want to accomplish. And focusing in a way that will have each project with a beginning, a process and an end. And not hieing off to the next project while one project still hangs in limbo waiting for the finalization to be finished.

Oh Man! That sounds so much like self-discipline! Somehow I knew that would come into this sooner or later.

Have you seen Etsy yet?

If you haven't you really should check it out. I've been posting my crafty items there for a few months since I was 'liberated' from my corporate job. And people are starting to find me even amongst the wealth of cool, artsy stuff that is listed on Etsy. Here's the link for Etsy.com and if you want some excellant and unique giftie for yourself or someone special, this is definitely the place for you to shop.

Here's a picture of the sweater I just finished, it turned out really cool, but I'm already thinking of ways to adjust it for the next version.

And, if you need a sweater, check this out -Video Game Sweater
And, surprise, surprise, the woman who inspired me with the socks that she submitted to Knitty contacted me about it. I should have known someone that creative would be on Etsy also. It was very cool to have someone whose skills I respect contact me.

As soon as I get some more adjustments to the graphics done, I'll post the pattern for knitter on Etsy and my craft web site - n2 Imaginations Design.

Try this again

I had a blog started earlier this year but took some advice on how to change the settings and now it's permanently linked to my business website. When you go to the blog, you don't see my witty and relevant commentary, you see my business site. Which, unless you happen to live in the KC, MO area, really won't do you that much good.

So I've accepted the fact that I've messed up the first blog and can't remove/change/edit the address due to the limitation of the free software that I'm using. I'm moving on.

We'll see whether I can keep this blog viable.