Day 309 of the COVID-19 Pandemic January 18, 2021

Uncertainty hangs in the air. I’m not teaching this semester and it feels like I’m forgetting to do something. I am a writing consultant for the University Writing Center but that is all virtual and only ten hours a week. So, to get a little more organized, I’ve been creating a list of all of my passwords. Ugh! It is incredible how many I have. Some passwords I use regularly everyday but others it depends, maybe once a week or once a month or maybe once a year. Take this blog post for instance, I had to create a new password to login and I’m not totally sure where it’s going to show up, so I clicked on publish.

Well, it only took me 30 minutes to figure out how to edit this post! Maybe I will try to write once a week in this blog. I write in a couple journals each day. I have a leather case that holds my morning journal that sits on the small round oak table in my kitchen. I write in it while drinking my morning coffee and eating my yogurt and cherry oatmeal. This journal is more personal. I write my thoughts for the morning, how I’m feeling, what may need to be done that day. This morning I needed to contact the vet to have Annie’s prescription refilled for her allergy medicine. I will sometimes add to the day before if I didn’t finish the page. I try to write a full page for each day.

I write in another journal that sits on my desk next to the laptop in my litle office studio. This journal is for note taking during Zoom meetings and workshops. I will also make lists of what needs to be done that day for either teaching or consulting and I will write down ideas or suggestions about teaching. I’m not teaching this semester, so I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with all of my extra time. Two years ago I took an art class during the winter semester, and last year I worked on a revision of my children’s book and planned to send it to a publisher, however, that hasn’t happened. Maybe that should go on the to-do list for this winter. Anyway, putting away my sewing stuff I ran across a knitting project I started over ten years ago. It’s a navy blue cardigan sweater.

I think I started it in 2008 or 9, I only finished the back that winter. Then a few years later I knit the right front. But it is only 99 percent finished. The problem is it has a complicated cable pattern, so each time I pick it up to knit I have to study and keep track of every row of the ten row pattern. Ugh! The notes from the last time I worked on it did not make sense, so I set the right front aside and started the left front. I created a grid to keep track of the rows. I’ve now finished the bottom 3″ ribbing and two full rounds of the ten-row cable pattern. It needs to be about 23″ before I shape the neck. Shaping the neck is where I stopped working on the right front. I need to figure out where I stopped. So I will do that when I get to that point with the left front.

Many years ago I knit a whole sweater in one winter. I’ve knit scarves, hats, mittens and socks. I don’t know why this sweater has taken so long. I’ve always thought of myself as that person who is a “Jill of all trades but a master on none” because of all my interests. Of course I had to Google this quote because I couldn’t remember the beginning and I learned something new. The original quote said “A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes is better than a master of one.” Well that makes me feel better. However, I still need to finish the sweater project!

So, have a great day and I will keep you posted on how this winter 2021 proceeds.