6/24/09

Done is not always good enough

Sydney has decided I've gone nuts. Our biggest disagreements are about whether done is good enough. Last night she watched take apart a sock I've been knitting off and on for about 3 months and she just can't get over what a waste that was.

I hated this sock. It was the ugliest sock I've ever knitted and I blamed it all on the $16 ball of yarn I was using (and the dyer and the seller and the pattern designer and sometimes the company that made the needles). Really, it was ugly. And I was all the way down the leg, around the heel, along the foot, and shaping the toe. It was just busy work that travels well, so I wasn't really invested in it...well except the $16, but I'd forgiven myself for that crazy splurge at a quilt show in the spring. But last night, I started looking at it and along the sole of the foot, where I had just done a straight knit stitch, it was actually pretty. It was the pattern stitch I'd used that did not fit the hand dyed yarn. I looked at it, and I ran my hand along it, and I thought about it...and I pulled out the needles and started balling the yarn up again. By the time she came out of the shower, it was all over and I was reinserting the needles just under the stockinette stitch at the top so I could start from there again.

Now, she's seen me do this a hundred times with quilt blocks. I get just about finished and realize that if I'd just do one little thing different, I could turn something I hate into something I love. But, for some reason, she thought redoing this ugly sock I'd spent so many months on was nuts. Even this morning, she told me how crazy I am to start something over. She just wants to get things done and move on. I so hope I can instill some of my willingness to redo in her...not too much. No need for her to be obsessively compulsive like me, but a little perfectionism can be a good thing. But is there such a thing as a little perfectionism?

Anyway, now that I'm loving the sock again, I finished several inches of leg in an hour and a half last night. Funny how it was taking so long when I hated it and now that I love it, I'm flying through it. Using a simpler pattern is also helping me fly through it.

I'm in a quilting slump right now. My family wants me in the living room. My heart wants me in the sewing room. I can't get interested in any of the small projects that I can do in the living room. I want to be working on the quilt I plan to compete with next year. And, I'm looking forward to the mailman delivering my Indian Orange Peel foundations so I can get together with my mentor and start that. A busy quilter is a happy quilter.

Oh, and I finally broke my 5 lb weight loss barrier. Whoohoo!!! I can see the changes in my body from all the exercise and dieting, but I hadn't lost any weight since the 5 lbs in the first two weeks we started our new weight loss program. That was over a month ago and I really needed the encouragement this morning while I was sweating my butt off. Poor Sydney hasn't lost an ounce, but I can see her arms and legs toning up and she's getting into some clothes she'd outgrown. I know she wants to see results too, so I keep pointing the changes out to her and we started measuring her last Sunday (arm, thigh, and torso) so she can see some results, too. We made the mistake of watching an Oprah episode that talked about dressing to match your body type the other day and she got really discouraged. I wanted her to watch it so she'd know what I'm talking about when we clothes shop, but she just wanted to ignore it. I was okay with that. Only one of us really needs to know that stuff right now and if she's not ready, I can do it for her until she is. Our compromise was that if we're clothes shopping and she likes something and I say it won't work and she asks why, I'm going to tell her, so be sure she wants to know before she asks.

Ugh, raising a girl can be so hard. Y'all take care and have a great Wednesday. I'm looking forward to the weekend. it's too hot to be outside, so I have great plans for quilting the days away. Lane

5 comments:

ShelleyK said...

Congrats on the weightloss! When I started to lose weight, I took several measurements of my body (with my sewing tape of course!) I re-visit these numbers about once a month, and even if my weight was only 5 pounds less, it felt great to see that I was an inch or two shorter. (I was excited to see my neck has lost 1/2 an inch!) This might be tricky because Sydney is still growing into an adult body, but it worked for me!

Piece by Piece said...

Congrats on loosing 5 lbs. My doctor has suggested that I loose some weight too, (would help blood pressure), not that I am terribly overweight, just pounds that women of my age seem to collect, all in the wrong places, of course. I keep telling myself, it has taken years to gain weight, it won't come off in weeks.
When my eldest daughter was Syndey's age and up to 13 or 14 years, shopping for clothes was a nightmare, so I know what you are going through.
We have finally got some hot weather too, turned on air conditioning today for first time this year. Patricia

Molly said...

Good for you Lane, any loss is great. I need to lose a lot but don't think I can as long as I am on my MS medicine. I guess I need to start jogging *LOL*

Vesuviusmama said...

I refuse to own a scale - I would torture myself with it. I feel your (and Sydney's) frustration though. My current thought is that if I am making healthy choices, then results will follow. However, I am NOT a perfectionist, not when it comes to making healthy choices, and not when it comes to quilting. I'm not a tear it up and start over kind of gal. I'd rather plow through it and get on with something new, or better yet, put it in a drawer and forget about it for 2 years.

MaryMM said...

Lane, Congrats!!! getting over a weight plateau is harder then ending a quilting block. MaryMM