Having increased my travel time to work by 50ish minutes when I moved to the country this year, I was feeling a bit washed out when Friday showed up. The fix I settled on was to take an annual leave day each week, for nine Fridays, starting late July 07.

While it was a shocker in terms of keeping up with work, it was a great salve for my creative side. I was able to sleep in, to potter, to read, to admire the view, to hang out with the cats, to turn over and over in my mind the possibility of permanent part-time work in my current organisation and to consider the possibility of becoming a contractor.

During my part-time sabbatical, I found myself hankering for colour, for texture, for fabric. I bought some wool on eBay, augmented the selection with some purchases at Spotlight, dragged out my mother’s old knitting needles and began to knit. Here are the first three scarves I made during August. I hope you like them. 

Two things you need to know about my mother and her family:

1. Mum died in a car accident 16 years ago and while the memory of her is becoming paper thin, I find great comfort in doing things she did and using tools she used. As such, all the scarves are made using the same needles, the wool doubled or tripled if the ply is too thin for the needle!
2. My mother’s mother’s maiden name is Meisner, which translates loosely to ‘weaver’. My sisters and I have a love of colour, texture, fabric, of creating stuff with our hands. No matter whether it’s nature or nurture, the pull for us is real.

While knitting, I created a label called 3777 Hand Knut in Healesville. The point of the label and my big run on scarf making is not really to earn money from them right now – let’s face it, it’s Spring in Australia – though if they make their way onto the necks of scarf lovers the world ’round because someone loved them, that’s great. The longer-term reason for doing this is to act on creative impulses and move toward the life I want to live rather than the one I find myself feeling like I have to live.

And by the way, since my nine Fridays are now done, I’ve negotiated to work each Friday from home. A small change, though one that’s moving me in the direction I’d like to go.

Until next time, remember it’s not how skilled your hands are, it’s how keen your mind is for those hands to create and whether you act on the impulse.