A Needle in a Haystack

Finding time is, for me, like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.

About six months ago, I came up with the idea of having a handcraft market at the office for all the employees and their spouses who "make things". The market will be held next Thursday, December 3, to help people get a jump on their holiday shopping. As a result, I've been spending every spare moment—for the past six months—sewing and knitting and trying to build up my inventory of handcrafted items for this market.

The result is that I feel I have no totally free, unscheduled time. Three weeks ago I spent the entire week taking care of my grandchildren. I scheduled a number of doctor's appointments for their schooltime, as getting from Akron to appointments in Youngstown is very difficult. When they went to bed, I went to bed. There was no free time. Two weeks ago I had two nights of rehearsal and babysat three nights so Tyler and Jaci could meet social commitments. There was no free time. Last week I had two nights of rehearsal and babysat every other night in the week. There was no free time.

I am not complaining. Let me say it again: I am not complaining. Don't interpret any of these words as complaints. They're just facts. I wouldn't trade my time with my grandchildren for all the free time in the world. Helping my son and DIL with my grandkids is my life.

But the result of this schedule is that I don't have a storeful of knitted/felted items and handcrafted jewelry to sell next week. Really, though, if only two or three items sell, it's okay. It will defray the materials costs for all the items I've made. And I'm thinking of taking the leftovers and opening an Etsy store.

(Jaci has taken studio space in the Ward Bakery Building, and we're working out the details of my sharing her space to create bags and jewelry that her wedding and lifestyle clients would like to own.)

I'm hopeful that this pattern of constant sewing and knitting and beading will continue. Well, maybe not constant. Ideally, I would find fifteen to thirty minutes each day, at a minimum, to work on projects. (Yeah, so I should also be finding fifteen to thirty minutes a day to exercise, and we all know how well that's going!)

I guess finding a needle in a haystack just requires discipline—constant and mindful discipline.

(The little bag in the photo on this post? It's felted wool. That means I knitted the bag to a size of about 10"x12", then put it in the washer with hot water and a little Woolite detergent. After thirty minutes the agitation had shrunk the wool and I had a darling little bag, about 5"x7". I sewed the buttons and beads on, and have decided this is my new favorite pattern.)