may i not unravel (coloring set)

Life, like knitting, is full of patterns. This is one of mine: I find a new hobby and let it consume me. My responsibilities, obligations, former hobbies all become nuisances or fade into the background of my new passion.

Eventually balance may return, but not without the introduction of certain boundaries. Otherwise, I quickly burn out. I leave half-finished projects in heaps in hidden cupboards, or in cardboard boxes on the curb. All the tools I bought to have to support my new identity grow dusty with disuse. I forget I ever had an interest in the hobby. I move on to the next.

When I first began knitting, I saw stitches every time I closed my eyes. I stayed up past midnight, making rows and rounds of stockinette. I bought yarn I didn't need, needles I couldn't use. I found a woven basket at a thrift store, declared it my knitting basket, carried it with me everywhere.

I made two hats. When I started on my third, I encountered many difficulties. I started again. And again. Over and over, I approached this project, only to unravel it three, five, ten rounds in.

I needed a new approach. I needed a boundary. I needed a prayer.

I wrote this prayer to cleanse my third project of the negativity I had stitched in from the beginning. Then I thought, why not pray over every project? Why not give every project its own lit candle? Every project deserves my intention. Every project deserves a prayer.

This prayer is an offering. May it help me remain committed to knitting.

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This download includes a five-page pdf with zine and prayer poster four ways.