The United Nations in Yarn Form

In trying to be perfect,
He perfected the art of anonymity,
Became imperceptible
And arrived nowhere from nowhere.
― Dejan Stojanovic

And here we are at the beginning of June again. It was an interesting week where I had to practice the art of showing up as myself while at the same time being as invisible as possible. It was a weird feeling to try to do both in one week.

I started a new job recently at a place I've been wanting to work for a long time in a totally different industry... again. I've changed industries many times in my career that you'd think I'd be used to switching around. No matter how many times I've done it, I still wonder if it's all going to be alright. I think I made the right decision when I turned up at work on my official first day and found these along with a welcome card on my desk. I got welcome hugs as well. I think this might be the best first day I've had in a long time:

I've been liking things at the new place so far: the work is manageable and I've been enjoying the people at the change of scenery. I feel like I can be myself, and I can show up as the person I like to be: a helpful, compassionate person with a strong passion for problem-solving. It feels nice.

Meanwhile, we also we had to make the house ready for the realtors to bring a photographer over to take photos so they could list our current house this week. It meant a lot more purging of things I don't need anymore and hiding away things that were cluttering up the house. That's quite the opposite feeling: trying to erase yourself and your belongings from your home to make it marketable is weird. It also makes me feel annoyed and a tiny bit bad about myself. What do you mean my personality isn't marketable? I think my stuff is pretty cute. I get it, though. People have to imagine themselves in a house before they'll buy it. I still managed to keep a few things of mine around the house... I was not totally erased. I even managed to keep Seymour off the spare bed:

The weather has been cool recently, which is quite nice because it means I sleep well and am therefore quite a bit more personable. It also means I feel like working on my projects instead of camping out in front of an electric fan. I'm almost finished my current project. It was inspired by a post I saw on Google+ about making a succulent garden in a picture frame. It reminded me of a picture from someone had given to me for Christmas a couple of years ago, and while I was thinking of that, my eyes drifted over my jar of yarn scraps... and a few weeks later, this is what I have:

It still needs a bit of work: there are a few gaps that need filling, and that green thing in the top right corner is supposed to be an aloe vera, but it insists on looking like an octopus, but I am for the most part pretty pleased with it. Most of the things in there are just experiments in making shapes with free-form crochet. It's not something I ever thought I'd take to, but it was kind of fun to try to figure out how I'd make a certain petal or leaf. Maybe I'm just feeling freer these days. It certainly helps not to be bound to the RIGHT pattern or the RIGHT yarn. There's a mixture of merino, cotton, alpaca and even cork in the frame. It's like the United Nations but in yarn form, promoting inter-fibre cooperation:

I'm really enjoying making these little decor pieces these days. I'm not sure what I'm going to move on to for the next project, but I have another idea for a wall hanging that's been stewing in my head for the last few months. Maybe now is the time to give it a go...

But first, I follow this guy's lead and have a lie down before dinner. Have a great week!