Mon 17 Jun 2013
I’ve been learning a lot about the academic world in my first year of professoring. Along with many other things, I have learned what to do when faced with a decision: decide to defer decision.
In general, this makes me crazy. After the 45th three hour faculty meeting about some miniscule feature of a campus policy, the discussion leader enthusiastically thanks everyone for the wonderful discussion, and then sums up by saying “well, let’s agree to discuss this at X meeting.” And then the whole cycle starts again.
Much to my horror, I must confess to having made a similar move in my knitting recently. After much dithering about the possible garter stitch scarf/sweater, I couldn’t quite figure out what I wanted. And so, in the guise of allowing the design idea to ripen, I decided not to decide.
Instead, I cast on for this:
That’s the baby shetland sweater destined to be embroidered when it’s off the needles. It’s growing surprisingly quickly for a 300-stitch sweater on size 0 needles, but that’s mostly due to my recent “sky knitting” (a new term for knitting on a plane, which I believe was coined by Ellen and Jan in their recent podcast). The flight to the conference got me through the ribbing, the flight back got me a couple of inches into the body, and then I added another few rows today while sitting in my office clicking through our annual campus sexual harassment training. (You have to click through slide by slide, and then listen while the narrator reads each one to you, and at two minutes each, that adds up to a lot of knitting.) Add to that two more days of department retreat this week, and I might have a sweater by Friday!
I am minimizing my concern at this disturbingly catching indecision by telling myself that the shetland project was in the queue first, and so deserved to be cast on first. Really though, we all know that it’s just a cover for the fact that I’m becoming one of them. Lord save us all. Just do me a favor, and take away my needles when I start giving impassioned speeches over whether I should k1 first and then knit 5 more stitches, or just knit 6 stitches in the first place…
I love the wording of deciding not to decide!
All I have to say for the Shetland Sweater is WOW! That is a heck of a lot of stitches on tiny needles. I can pretty much guarantee you that I will never have that much dedication to any project! 🙂
Go wild! *k3, repeat
I forgot to say – SKY KNITTING was coined by a knitter in the Shirley Paden Design-Along. The preferred format is all caps. At least that is what I am trying to promote!
I think I might have a pair of size ) needles here somewhere, but I’m sure not looking for them!! I can’t even imagine but I know It’s You!!
I know I have my moments of indecision myself, but the professional level to which it appears that academia has taken it? I would lose my mind! (Apparently ever-improving productivity doesn’t have the same urgency within university halls it does in business?) Regardless of your reason for deferring decisions, the sweater is coming along nicely. It’s making me feel a bit unproductive actually!