Monday Meditations: Close the Batch

For a stretch of about three years, I found myself in banking. Strange because I’m horrible at math. I did, however, love people, which made me good at costumer service. I like my job but more than that, it taught me an important lesson.

Close the batch.

Because of the way banking is structured, a day’s work included two dates: the current date and the next day’s date after 3pm. It was, therefore, very important to make sure that all the work from one day was done before the work for the next day could begin. It was called “closing the batch”. Closing the batch meant finalizing all the transitions in that batch.

There were times, on occasion, that a teller didn’t finalize all their transitions. Talk about disastrous results, especially after the 3pm deadline. It took a good bit of time to got back, reopen the batch, finish the uncompleted transitions, and then open the new batch. And all this had to be done under manager supervision. Closing the batch became symbolic of moving forward. It also highlighted the danger of carrying unfinished or unresolved things into a new day.

This is a good lesson that is particularly relevant for this time of year when most people are making resolutions of what they are going to do different. Many of them fail because they haven’t done one important thing: closed the batch from last year.

Past issues cannot be carried into the New Year. Neither can sins and unhealthy habits.  These things need to be resolved before one can have any hope in moving forward in the new things God wants to reveal for 2013. We must make sure we close the batch, because if not, these old issues will poison the freshness of a new year.

So how do you close a batch of a year and start a new one? Philippians 3:13-14. “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

We must forget old mindsets, failures, setbacks and repent of our sins and press forward. That forgetting may include forgiving those who hurt us, renewing our mind against negative self-talk or being reconciled to our brothers and sisters in Christ. For some, we simplify need to live in God’s exchange rate and receive beauty for ashes and joy for pain.  Whatever it is, we must be diligent in closing the batch.

This whole process begins with prayer. Ask God what areas have left things undone. He is faithful to show you exactly which “transitions” you have to complete. Don’t let the problems of your past impact your new year. Close the batch.

My Life in Stitches: New Year's Knitting Resolutions

In my last My Life in Stitches post, I gave an overview of my knitting projects. As I went through my Ravelry page to write that post, I had a couple of revelations. One, I make a LOT of scarves and not many garments. Two, I noticed that I consistently learned new techniques last year. That’s one of the things I love about knitting. There is always something new to learn.

New techniques make up the bulk of my New Years knitting resolutions. This year, I want to learn to:

• Continental Knitting. I know how to do a continental knit stitch, but continental purling baffles me. I want to do at least one whole project in continental. Maybe I’ll actually finish my Color Affliction…I mean Affection in continental.
• Knit Fair Isle. I’m thinking that this isn’t as hard as I think it will be.
• Intarsia knitting. This truly frightens me, but I’ll have to put on my big girl panties and do it.
• A new cast ons. I know cable, provisional, crocheted provisional, long tail, and knitted cast on. I’ve toyed with Alternate cast on, but I haven’t mastered it yet. I also tried a lace cast on, but I didn’t think I was doing it right. I want to learn a German and a tubular cast on and master the lace cast on.
• Master seaming. I normally run screaming from patterns that require seaming, but that disqualified so many nice sweaters.

As far as projects, I would like to:

• Make more garments. Once I get the hang of seaming, I should be able to add more sweaters to my queue.
• More socks. Socks are the perfect travel project, but I’ve only made a few pairs. Hope to change that this year.
• Design more patterns. I’ve designed a cowl (stay tuned for when it will be available on Ravelry), but I want to do more.

And what list of knitting resolutions would be complete without some vow about stash control. I would love to say that I want to keep my stash from growing, but I don't want to make promises I can't keep. Besides, who knows what lovely yarn I'll come across this year that wants to be mine. We'll see how that goes.

What are your knitting resolutions this year? Share below and we’ll keep each other accountable.