Career Thoughts

So, I am sitting in my house at 3 p.m., since the dogs woke me up from my nap. Newly job-free people sleep a lot (that's right, if you missed it in the passing reference in yesterday's post, my job went away on Friday). I got a bit wiped out after going to fetch all my office possessions while the rest of the gang was at the employee appreciation lunch (oh the irony--the unappreciated one got to sneak in and get her stuff!). Most of the rest of the day I have been calling people, applying for jobs, and checking leads. I am pretty chipper, since I found a couple of things that really would fit well, and rather than dwell on the fact that Lee's job ends in a couple of weeks, too, I've been wishing I could invent a knitting career.

There aren't many knitters who can make a career out of it! Even some of the really good teachers I know do it to supplement another job or have the luxury of a partner who makes good money, which allows them to concentrate on what they love. Even really good writers have "real" jobs in addition to knitting income. And that all makes sense--crafts don't pay. Same with music, theater and art--you have to be at a really stratospheric level to make money on it.

But, after receiving a couple of phone calls over the weekend from friends needing help with particularly vexing issues, plus a cry for help over on Ravelry, too, I got to thinking. Wow, I wish I could be the "Knitting Help Hotline" or something! I figure I could answer most questions in less than 15 minutes, and could charge by the quarter hour. Of course, my head began to hurt after thinking how to bill people, so that thought didn't go far. But, I love answering the phone to help people with something I am good at (contrary to how I may have appeared to former coworkers). It sure would be fun to help folks with knitting for a living. What a dream!

Ah well, I can just head over to the yarn shop and help for free, and hope I can scrounge up a few more classes to teach while I wait for a new possibility to manifest itself. I truly love doing that, too, but in this economy, optional things like knitting classes may be among the first things people won't do. On the other hand, maybe learning to knit is a good thing in today's economy--you get a lot of activity time for your money!

Just a ramble on what I'd really, really like to do with my life. Luckily there are other options that also look good!

Oh, and the photo has nothing to do with anything. It's just a picture of a shawl from 2003 or so that I found that hadn't been uploaded to Ravelry, and I'd wanted to show it to someone as an example of yarn dyed in colors to match a piece of art. This one, judging from the color chart I found, is Christina's World. That seems right, in my memory.

And one more thing, a PS to Dragonfly: the book I couldn't remember the name of was Knit So Fine: Designs with Skinny Yarns. (Link is to Ravelry, so if you aren't a member, it won't come up, but it's on Amazon.com, too.)