Knitting has taught me so much about life. I'm currently working on an afghan (sofa blanket) for a dear friend who has been so good to me.
The other day I discovered an error in it and I'm a little OCD when it comes to knitting so I immediately ripped down the four stitches to the error, corrected the problem and moved on. Not so fast. For I soon discovered that two stitches had gone AWOL.
There was nothing for it but to rip down all the rows and then reknit the entire problematic row again. And the two missing stitches magically reappeared with innocent faces on them.
Which put me in mind of relationships, how some are irreparable – they can't be patched up and oftentimes they have to be taken right down to the foundation and assessed to see if they can be rebuilt. Challenging.
Sometimes a design on paper can be beautiful but in practical application can be a disaster. All the kinks have to be ironed out, often with a practice run. It's far better to find out early in the game if something's not going to work than to invest time, effort and dreams into a project that is destined to fail.
It is best to concentrate on the project at hand. At times, my mind drifts off to the next project which is always more exciting than the one in my hands and that's where I make mistakes, cabling (twisting) the pattern the wrong way, forgetting plain rows and purling like a mad thing, forgetting to insert a key element like a heart or a piece of lacework.
Before, I would tell you that knitting is nothing, anybody can do it. Today I recognise, like all creative endeavours, it is something that comes from my heart, my soul, my spirit. It nurtures me, slows me down.
As I knit, I think, with love, of the people I am knitting for. A gift of time and memories as I run the needles back and forth. Most of the projects I complete and gift take well over 100 hours of my time around the rest of the busy-ness of my life. I weave in the sounds of birds, the ocean, the blue sky, the fire, people who bide with me a while and stroke the knitting and yes, always, my hopes and dreams for the giftee.
For I've only ever knitted for people I love.
I hope your giftee enjoys your creation. My Nana knitted a lap blanket for me that the cat and I both claim as our own...
ReplyDeleteI think she will as she's always admired my other efforts gifted elsewhere. I do personalize my blankets too.
DeleteSo lovely you have your nan's creation. The one I made for my granddaughter graces my couch until she's ready for it :)
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That is a lovely meditation.
ReplyDeleteI have to make more time for it.
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yes, lovely. I have some fancy mittens my sister made, socks and an afghan. She can do amazing thread work.
ReplyDeleteI bet you treasure them Sharyn.
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I had a boss once, who knitted and did macrame as a hobby. His wife used to call it his occupation therapy!
ReplyDeleteVery true Ramana. Also excellent for quitting Smokimg☺
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Wish you lived up the road! You could come to our knitting club!
ReplyDeleteI too, have to unpick big mistakes. They would haunt me otherwise.
We knit a lot for charity (mostly the local hospital.)
My last post is about knitting, too!
You knitting is very delicate and lovely.
Maggie x
Thank you Maggie. I've been tardy in my reading of blogs lately, rushed for time but I look forward to reading yours.
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Re your errors: I was comforted to read the account (or maybe the myth) of humility squares in a quilt. Quaker women would add an imperfect square to a quilt, because only God could achieve perfection.
ReplyDeleteIn very old knitting in Ireland there was always a deliberate mistake to reflect humility so something very similar with Quakers, Beryl.
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Wonderful sentiment.
ReplyDeleteJust noticed a small mistake in my current project, too far down to rip but I'm happy about it, a mark of imperfection.
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