I am openly an impatient person. Ask anyone who knows me and they will attest to the fact that I am not as patient as I need to be sometimes, OK maybe all the time. Any patience I have developed has come from knitting, and perhaps aging, but we'll stick with the knitting theme for the purposes of this post.
Knitting teaches one that by manipulating two (or three or four or five) sticks and some string it is possible with persistence and patience to create beautiful things. I have had to start with small projects, scarves, mini socks, toques (caps), and sweaters before I was patient enough to tackle bigger projects, like an afghan or two. Throughout the last 10 or more years of near obsession with knitting I have learned that taking one stitch at a time and staying persistence does result in a completed project, even a big one. But you'll note I continue to tend toward smaller projects, so perhaps I have yet to completely learn the lessons knitting has to offer.
Pursuing patience and persistence is not only a good lesson to keep in mind for knitting, it is great for life as well. Thus for those of us who own and operate a Type A personality, knitting can be that daily reminder to relax, take things slowly and just stick with it. Getting frustrated in knitting as well as in life, generally does not improve the situation. If things don't go your way, assess the current situation and adjust. With knitting that might mean ripping out a few rows or the entire project, or more appropriately assessing your current skills and attention span. There's little point in trying to take on something you're skill set is not quite ready for, in my case that's lace. The reassessing can mean a whole lot of different things in life. Bottom line though is to stay calm and relaxed and focus on the end result without becoming some kind of zealot about it. It is so much easier if you are enjoying the process and not singularly focusing on the end result. Or perhaps it is just me who finds it necessary to remember to make the getting there enjoyable.
I did some math to prove my point. Here's my completed kimono baby sweater and a close up of the flower motif (I had mentioned buttons, then rethought the user and eliminated them.)
I estimate there are approximately 10,150 stitches that make up this project, done one stitch at a time. (Remember, this is a very small project.) It took me 6 days to complete, but keep in mind I do have a day job so I didn't knit more than 3-4 hours per night. And last week I did not knit on two nights because 1) I had other things to do and 2) it was just too hot. So for discussion purposes this sweater took me about 17 hours to complete. I also embroidered the daisies, something new for me; they only took an hour in total to do. (I have embroidered before.) One patient stitch at a time, amounting to approximately 600/hour or 10 per minute. Not a very fast pace, but that includes the 136 stitches I picked up around the entire edge of the sweater and the 44 picked up for each sleeve. This picking up process takes longer than straight knitting. It also includes the hour of doing the embroidery, something I have to admit required watching Kristin Nicholas' videos over and over, especially for the Fern Leaves. (The Fern Leaves require that you are thinking ahead by one stitch, that's not quite intuitive enough for me, but I did manage to follow the instructions pretty well for this sweater!) Here's the URL to watch her three videos: 1) the Spider Web centres, 2) the Lazy Daisy flowers and 3) the Fern Leaves stitch.
Moral of the story: Driven people, try knitting, it could help improve your life! (Oh my, am I back to knitting as therapy again?)
Knitting teaches one that by manipulating two (or three or four or five) sticks and some string it is possible with persistence and patience to create beautiful things. I have had to start with small projects, scarves, mini socks, toques (caps), and sweaters before I was patient enough to tackle bigger projects, like an afghan or two. Throughout the last 10 or more years of near obsession with knitting I have learned that taking one stitch at a time and staying persistence does result in a completed project, even a big one. But you'll note I continue to tend toward smaller projects, so perhaps I have yet to completely learn the lessons knitting has to offer.
Pursuing patience and persistence is not only a good lesson to keep in mind for knitting, it is great for life as well. Thus for those of us who own and operate a Type A personality, knitting can be that daily reminder to relax, take things slowly and just stick with it. Getting frustrated in knitting as well as in life, generally does not improve the situation. If things don't go your way, assess the current situation and adjust. With knitting that might mean ripping out a few rows or the entire project, or more appropriately assessing your current skills and attention span. There's little point in trying to take on something you're skill set is not quite ready for, in my case that's lace. The reassessing can mean a whole lot of different things in life. Bottom line though is to stay calm and relaxed and focus on the end result without becoming some kind of zealot about it. It is so much easier if you are enjoying the process and not singularly focusing on the end result. Or perhaps it is just me who finds it necessary to remember to make the getting there enjoyable.
I did some math to prove my point. Here's my completed kimono baby sweater and a close up of the flower motif (I had mentioned buttons, then rethought the user and eliminated them.)
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| Completed yet to be blocked Kimono made with Cascade Cotton Yarn |
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| Close up of the Flower Motif |
I estimate there are approximately 10,150 stitches that make up this project, done one stitch at a time. (Remember, this is a very small project.) It took me 6 days to complete, but keep in mind I do have a day job so I didn't knit more than 3-4 hours per night. And last week I did not knit on two nights because 1) I had other things to do and 2) it was just too hot. So for discussion purposes this sweater took me about 17 hours to complete. I also embroidered the daisies, something new for me; they only took an hour in total to do. (I have embroidered before.) One patient stitch at a time, amounting to approximately 600/hour or 10 per minute. Not a very fast pace, but that includes the 136 stitches I picked up around the entire edge of the sweater and the 44 picked up for each sleeve. This picking up process takes longer than straight knitting. It also includes the hour of doing the embroidery, something I have to admit required watching Kristin Nicholas' videos over and over, especially for the Fern Leaves. (The Fern Leaves require that you are thinking ahead by one stitch, that's not quite intuitive enough for me, but I did manage to follow the instructions pretty well for this sweater!) Here's the URL to watch her three videos: 1) the Spider Web centres, 2) the Lazy Daisy flowers and 3) the Fern Leaves stitch.
Moral of the story: Driven people, try knitting, it could help improve your life! (Oh my, am I back to knitting as therapy again?)
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