by Susan Nease
For much of this year I have been on a job hunt. And really, more than that: a career change. After selling my retail shop and going on-line,
the question has been “what now? What
direction does my life take after going from the day-to-day running a business
to something in the working world?” When
I started my shop, “Google” was not yet a verb.
Think about that. How much
technology has changed the way we work and interact. So rather than take courses about how Excel
or Word or Outlook is supposed to work, I jumped right back into working as a
temp. Not always the most glamorous of
job titles, but I learned how companies use Excel and Word and Outlook in ways
that suit their goals and structure. And
copy machines also scan and fax. And you
can e-mail directly from a document you create.
And . . . you get the picture.
Another thing that has kept me involved in the needle arts
here in Atlanta has been this organization, SEFAA. The part that I play with them is ongoing and
helps keep the needlearts wide-reaching in the Southeast. I had always seen my shop as being a center
for outreach and many, many different forms of the needle arts, so joining
SEFAA as a volunteer was a “natural fit.”
And then came decision-time last spring. I had sought part-time positions for about a
year, thinking that a part-time posting would help me keep my on-line business
plugging along, help me get my taxes done and in on time, and the like. Which it did, and I found a great assignment,
and plugged away at both. My on-line
site was suddenly growing and my position went to full-time, and I thought it
was time to leave and seek another part-time position.
Except that the part-time positions I found were somehow
just not right. Some little thing would
make me stop and re-evaluate the position and my goals, and after a while I
began to re-evaluate myself, my goals, and my decisions. And my days.
Loading products onto a website, even if it is mine, can be
tedious. It involves finding different
ways to say “green.” Or “this is a great
birth sampler.” Or “You'll like this
product, I know you will.” And sitting
at home, day after day, when I'd been used to interacting with others was
becoming more and more difficult.
That was about the time when I made the connection between
the work I was doing with SEFAA and my situation. I was at home during the day, there was an
ongoing period of time at the SEFAA center that involved bringing one's project(s),
and just basically stitching. In the
middle of the day. With others. And there was this needlepoint project I had
been working on that I really wanted to keep stitching, and why not explore the
possibilities? I do knitting projects
during AKG meetings, so why not get a jump start on a project I had picked up
and then put down earlier in the year?
Why not talk about where this project came from and what inspired me to
pick it up again?
And suddenly I was hooked:
I came to my first Lunchtime Fiber, then another one, then I met one of
my former retail customers working on her unfinished Hardanger piece, then I
saw fiber artists painting on fabric, and quilts in the making, and all kinds
of glorious things that I would not have seen otherwise. And my spirits were lifted. Yes, I was in the middle of re-evaluating my
job and career decision and all of the accompanying mid-career stress and
self-doubt, but now there were other adults in my life with whom I could talk
and share, and even not discuss job hunting at all, but just good old
needlework.
Did I mention my spirits lifted and my self-doubts began to
minimize? And that I took the time to
decide that I was making a career choice and entering a new career, in part
because I was thinking more clearly and interacting with other folks, with whom
I felt a common bond?
Knitting in Public is a yearly event, and it is now common to see others
knitting in coffee shops or bookstores.
Sometimes it's nice to knit, and sometimes it's nice to be in a little
more private space, with incredible lighting (I seldom have to wear my reading
glasses to see my needlepoint thanks to the huge windows at SEFAA), and gnosh
on a lunch, and talk fiber arts. Not
just knitting, but tatting, and hardanger, and quilting. And where a project originates (this particular
needlepoint was one my mother had bought from my shop and never got around to
starting). And seeing the changes that
have arrived at the SEFAA Center, something I have seen envisioned for many
years: bookcases, and a wealth of fiber
art, and dedicated volunteers who contribute a Saturday or an afternoon or a
Lunchtime to make sure other fiber artists have a space and the inspiration to
continue their very own projects or create more.
So all that said . . . I have a few more visits to SEFAA in mind
after the start of the new year since I'm working some Tuesdays and not others,
and I hope you can make it by sometime.
Rumor has it that there will be a second daytime fiber-oriented
get-together coming in 2013, but in the meantime there's the Tuesday Lunchtime
Fiber from 10-2. I know one of my
resolutions in the new year will be to stop eating Christmas cookies (in part
cuz I'll already have eaten them!), and instead grab a healthy salad type lunch
from one of the nearby restaurants and join the talented stitchers and
dedicated volunteers in the new year at Lunchtime Fiber. I hope you can make it, too, and bring one of
those pieces you've put down. Now you'll
have an excuse to pick it back up again and see it come to life, right before
your eyes!
