I’ve known for a long time that I don’t belong in a cubicle. I work in online marketing, and have a knack for what I do, but the idea of doing tangible work – producing something that can be touched and seen – holds a tremendous pull. For a long time, I felt crazy. How could I be balking at a career that many people find fascinating, even engrossing? Last may, a NYT article perfectly echoed so many of the thoughts running through my head at 2:30 each afternoon: The Case for Working with Your Hands. It was an illumination.
Then the recession hit, and like many other web workers I found myself out of a job, searching for a new start. I found work in my field within weeks, and was grateful for the opportunity to keep my family afloat.
Still, my hands were itchy, and having had a break from cube life, I found it more difficult to find satisfaction sitting in front of my computer all day. I needed to make something – something real. I grabbed some long aluminum knitting needles, a skein of nubby rose-colored wool from the depths of a box, and knit furiously in the most complicated stitch pattern that my out-of-practice fingers could handle.
It was a start.
this is the scarf.
With more than a touch of irony, this is the tale of my search for a place in the offline world. I know there are others out there who feel the same way. Welcome. Join me?
Does anybody want a pink scarf?