Friday, January 12, 2007

Conflicted

Recently I've been feeling torn about my work life v. my knitting 'life.' Being a teacher is a unique job - it is as much or as little as you want it to be. Many teachers do just what they are required to do. However, there are just as many of us who drag home tons of work every day, who stay late and arrive early, and spend weekends writing lengthy lesson plans, coming up with new and exciting units/games/centers/etc. And as much as I want to be the best teacher I can be, and give my students a great experience, some days I resent myself for not spending more time doing things at home (mostly knitting).

I'm not sure there's an easy solution to this - mostly I keep doing the school work and reminding myself that I have all summer to knit (although I know I'll be writing plans for the upcoming school year).


I also have some conflicted feelings about my current WIPs - which one do I knit first? Is there a priority order? What about gifts - do I have to do them first? And I know - I don't have to knit anything I don't want to. But the other night, when I messed up the secret knit and was too tired to work on it, I put all the knitting away. I felt compelled to only work on the secret knit, and guilty for working on the hoodie (or any other project). However, not working on anything made me crabby. Agh!


Okay - enough poopiness - how about a cute dog picture? Rocky (our small dog) is often crabby and doesn't like the bigger dogs. But he has been curled up next to Miles in our bed in the morning, and he jumped up next to him on the couch a few days ago. Awww!

Have a great Friday - I'm looking forward to a three day weekend!

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:07 AM

    I'm not sure there's an easy answer to your dilemma. Have you thought about having setting aside "knitting time" each day? That would give you incentive to get your work done quicker (if you're like me and you procrastinate) and you'd have the daily treat of knitting each day.

    Have a great long weekend!

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  2. Anonymous6:55 AM

    I didn't realize you were a teacher too! I look forward to tests, since I can usually knit while the kids take it. We have a school knitting club, too, which helps, although kids younger than 4th-5th grades don't usually have the motor skills for it yet.

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  3. Anonymous8:08 AM

    I resent my job cutting into my knitting time and I don't even bring stuff home to work on. You have a couple of seriously cute puppies.

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  4. Work/like balance is the hardest thing! Well, that's not helping at all, is it? When I get in that situation with knits, I try and read my reaction to selecting one or another and see if I really want to work on it or just think I could. Sort of like reading my gut instinct. Sometimes it works!

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  5. Love your dogs! I work at school, too, and bring my knitting every day. I knit at lunch, and when I work with a student for an extended amount of time (I'm the counselor). Usually I have a school project and a home project, but I know what you mean about feeling conflicted... there's so much to do at home.

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  6. This vacation I settled the conflict...quit! Then of course I came to my senses; Cute dog picture. Where do the people sit?

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  7. Anonymous11:08 AM

    It's hard to find a balance but if you are feeling burned out on one or the other, it's time to take a rest. Sometimes I make more mistakes than progress while knitting, if I'm doing it under guilt/stress, and then I know it's time to put it away for a day or two til I can come back fresh.

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  8. Balance is important. You need to sit down and figure out if you are letting your work as a teacher take over you as you. If you are, it's time to say "good enough" and do something for you.

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  9. Anonymous3:19 PM

    Such cute faces!
    And it was nice seeing you and your pretty green hoody-to-be at Yarns Ewenique last night - I can't wait to see it finished. :)

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  10. Anonymous3:44 PM

    Hi, this is i.d.d.a.- I finished my sweater the day after I last sent an e-mail. Just no picture of me wearing it yet. Going away for 2 weeks, so thought I'd let you know where I was for your update.

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  11. My mom is that kind of teacher you describe - always trying to do it all. And of course, you want to be a great teacher and your students deserve that. But you can't do it well if you don't take some time for yourself. The balance will be a moving target, but it's worth looking for.

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  12. I think if you bring stuff home all the time, you could end up as a burned out teacher. Balancing work and home is important.

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