When I tell people what I do, so many people tell me that they would kill for my job. It’s true that it’s a pretty amazing job and that I get to do some pretty amazing things. Be on the field when Susie throws out the first pitch, have a blast during photo shoots, knit with amazing yarns, visit the animals, mess around dyeing yarn. It’s a pretty crazy amazing experience. But there’s a ton of hard work involved and a lot of it isn’t fun work. Countless emails, naming colorways (which seems like it will be fun until your mind goes completely blank and you want to poke yourself in the eye with knitting needles while you think of things that are gray and still appealing (No mom, “Pepe’s meat stuffing” is not a good name for a colorway. It is a gray food though…. I guess.)), trying to think of something fresh and new to put on the blog, spreadsheets, data entry, fighting with shipping programs, feeling like I’m drowning in yarn. It’s all fun and games until you have enough yarn that you look like you belong on an episode of hoarders, since it’s all stored in cardboard boxes.
My job can be very lonely. Working from home is hard for someone that thrives off of new information and likes to bounce ideas off of people. The amount of work on my plate is often overwhelming and all of it feels alarmingly pressing. Not all of it can get done most weeks, and I’m constantly trying to get the most important thing done while other things are pushed a little further down the to do list. Susan and I both put our hearts and soul into our work, and when a customer, shareholder or friend of the farm is upset about something, even if it’s something completely outside our control, it can be heartbreaking and soul-crushing. I feel like I bare my soul an awful lot with this job through yarn, patterns, and ideas. I’m a people-pleaser and I am fully committed to my work and feel a part of it.
This job is rough on me, mentally and emotionally, if not physically. (I feel myself gaining weight every day I sit in my office chair instead of bounding around a theatre performing countless physical tasks!) I’ve been seeking help to deal with all of these feelings that I have and striving for a work-life balance, which is one of the reasons I took this job in the first place. But I don’t know how to deal with free time. Knitting constantly reminds me of work and it’s hard to let go when I have a tangible reminder of what I’m trying to take a break from. In the theatre, I worked 6 days and the 7th day I just melted onto the couch to recharge my batteries before I jumped into another week. So having weekends is hard for me to deal with and I’m still figuring out what to do with them.
But this weekend, I do have plans. When I went to Rhinebeck last October, I came back with a new pep in my step and a reminder of why I do this job and what I love about it and my love for yarn and color and knitters. So when my friend Julie suggested and I join her and our friend Krysta at SPA this weekend, I jumped in feet first.
What is SPA? Well it’s a weekend retreat put on by New England Textile Arts. It’s in Freeport, Maine. This is my first year going, but it basically sounds like a party of knitters spread across three hotels in the area. There is no registration fee, no classes. Just a large group of people getting together to knit in lobbies, conference rooms, and I’m sure individual rooms! If you want to learn something and see someone else doing the thing you want to learn, you sidle up to them and ask. If you want to share your knowledge you shout it out. I read about one person who bought silk hankies (not the kind you blow your nose with) and wanted to knit with them rather than spin them into yarn and then knit with them. But they didn’t know how. They shouted out, “Hey, anyone know how to knit with hankies?” Two people on their way out stopped, came back, and shared their knowledge. There are three massage therapists available so you can pamper your body and venders are there so you can grab some yarn or fiber and pamper your soul. The only scheduled event is a fashion show Saturday evening that anyone is invited to participate in. SPA is about what you make of it and being an active participate is encouraged.
I’m so looking forward to hanging out with people and relaxing and enjoying myself and the art side of the fiber arts. Of letting go, laughing, and recharging my soul so that on Monday I can come back with renewed vigor and excitement about yarn. I’ve been told that people hang out in their pajamas, so Wednesday night I went out to buy a new pair. I’ve had the same pair of pjs for the past 13 years, so I thought I could splurge on a new set. I’m really excited about knitting in my pjs. I am hoping that this turns out to be true, because otherwise I’m going to look like a crazy person in my ice skating pjs.
NETA has an active yahoo group where they post all information, but there’s also a blog and a Ravelry group. If you’re in the Maine area, I hope you come by and say hello! And if you see someone wearing these pajamas:
stop by and say hello! I will have my JMF work hat OFF though, so I’m happy to talk about anything else. (Okay, I could be induced to talk about our new yarn lines because they’re pretty amazing.)
Oh, and there’s a free table, so I might have some yarn going on that. I might sneak in a few JMF samples, like your friendly neighborhood drug yarn dealer. You know, “First one’s free”? I’ll be back next week with pictures to share with you from my trip and next week, March’s colorway inspiration, and the next yarn line will be released. Do you sense a theme here?
For now, It’s just a few hours until I get in the car and head up. Please do something kind for yourself this weekend to recharge – whatever that might be.
I think I was 2 and 1/2 the first time I went to Illumination Night. I’m embarrassed to say that even with my annoyingly good memory, I don’t remember it. My first memory of Illumination Night involves wearing a particularly pretty dress so I’m thinking I was around three or four, which would have been around 1946.
At 8 o’clock the Vineyard Haven Band would begin playing and the always fun community sing would start. Patriotic songs like, America The Beautiful, Yankee Doodle, Battle Hymn of the Republic are always stirring and emotional. It took me a couple of years to learn the words to all the songs and I still get messed up on a couple of the rounds like John Brown’s Baby. The band playing the Star Spangled Banner and the rousing Stars and Stripes Forever are always a crowd pleaser.
