Monday, November 17, 2008

A Perfectionist Learns to Knit

Stitch your stress away.
- Author Unknown

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either.
- Elizabeth Zimmerman


My sister is teaching me to knit. I had the brilliant idea of creating a simple, yet pretty scarf to give to a friend. I have two weeks in which to learn and finish a perfect masterpiece.

I’m an impatient perfectionist.

I want it to look beautiful and I want it to look beautiful now.

Five rows of stitches later, my scarf looks as though it two of my siblings were fighting over it; some stitches are tight, others are loose and the entire thing just looks…wobbly.

“You just need to get the hang of it,” my sister says. “It will improve.”

My brother looks at the fern green bit of scarf thoughtfully. “So, one end will look great and the other will look horrible. Nice!”

I glower at my knitting and begin tearing out stitches. The yarn breaks and well, it’s bedtime. Tomorrow is another day. Another day in which I can drop stitches and learn to find that nice balance between loose stitches and tight.

People say knitting is therapeutic. Perhaps it is. Learning to knit certainly is not.

And yet, I think I like the clicking of the needles and the sight of my fuzzy green yarn turning into something, even if it is a crooked, wobbly something. Maybe it will turn out to be stress-relieving after all.

I’ll let you know how it turns out, wobbliness and all.

- written October 2008

5 comments:

Valerie November 17, 2008 at 4:51 PM  

I used to knit, but it hurts my shoulders too much now. *sigh* Oh well, I've always liked crocheting better anyway.

My Bright Corner November 18, 2008 at 11:01 PM  

Check out the "knifty knitter". Mine was purchased at Michael's but I think they might have them at Wal-mart, as well. It's super easy to do. Nothing real fancy or detailed can be made on it. But for simple scarves, blankets, and hats it's fantastic. I love mine!

Ashley November 18, 2008 at 11:27 PM  

Learning to knit is hard, but you soon get the hand of it. Kepp trying! You can unravel what you have so far and re-do it.

Jerusha November 19, 2008 at 5:45 AM  

That is so like me! I found learning to knit far from relaxing and so frustrating. I have yet to learn how to purl, but I can now knit reasonably, though very slowly.

Blessings,
Anna

Blog Archive

 

The IDD Blog | Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial License | Dandy Dandilion Designed by Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates