I originally began a draft of this post before my vision problems started. As I approach early retirement (hooray!) and face the fact that some of my eyesight may never return, it feels like the time is right to begin re-prioritizing my projects.
I’ve spent the last several months focused on the projects that I am able to do. I’ve tested working on some others, and finding that some are currently too difficult, those have been set aside for now. This will likely be a continuing process over the next few years.
Being focused on fewer projects, I’ve actually completed several, even though it seems to happen more slowly than before. This new rhythm feels like a positive change.
Another positive change is that my spending on new yarns and new fabrics has, while not completely subsiding, definitely diminished. This is happening because of a combination of factors. One factor is the reduced vision, because more complex patterns may be more frustrating than fulfilling as time goes on, but I can’t place it entirely on that alone.
I’ve also been building my “stash for retirement” and that time is much closer now than ever. What does that look like? Well, a room brimming with fabrics and yarns, along with a few other things. Quilt tops that need to be quilted. Quilt tops that need to be completed so they can also be quilted. Shawls, socks, and several sweaters in progress, along with many, many more to be made from the closet of yarn stash. And oh the charity hats to be knitted!
I’ve done a little crochet, and I think that with my magnifiers, I should be able to finish my granny square blanket.
I have not yet even attempted any needlework like cross-stitch or embroidery. When this all happened, I put all of those projects away, so that I could focus on the positives – what I can do instead of what I cannot. Will I try again? Probably some day. My vision might eventually get better. Or perhaps with the magnifiers I will be able to work on those again, slowly. But not for a while. I will continue to focus on the quilting and knitting (and a little crochet) that I can do now, first.
Without choosing a “word for the year,” it kind of feels like this year’s descriptive word would be Simplify.