Skip to main content

The Path

The graphic below speaks to me that's why I have saved it for years.  It reminds me that those simple notions about how things should be are just that, SIMPLE; and that almost everything is more complicated than it appears at first blush.


As a young person it seems fine to believe life is like the left-hand drawing, that a direct and straight line is the way to progress through it.  Everything appears to be as easy as it can be for others and it should be the same for you as well, right?  All that's necessary on your part is to set out in a particular direction and just follow the path that apparently is supposed to be clearly laid out in front of you.

But if you've been around the block and are older than a teenager, you know there is no easily identifiable, clearly laid out path for you to take.  You know that life and its success is much more like the right-hand design.  It is easy to get stuck in the weeds, drawn into going the wrong direction, or waylaid by life's mishaps.  Decisions about the path may be sincerely thought through and intentional and others may be happenstance and either way the end result may be a success or a failure.  

This is my little intro to knitting and success with the projects I knit.  I sometimes, and apparently not often enough, have to stop and wonder why I think knitting success should be any different than another other type of success.  My raging knitting inner teenager (click on the link to read about her) seems to expect that every project put on needles should be a cinch, that knitting problems will be minor and success will be easy.  Apparently my knitting inner teenager doesn't check her assumptions with that mature(?) woman that is me.  I am well aware there are bumps, impediments and roadblocks on any life journey, knitting would be no different.  Frankly I have trouble trying to understand my knitting inner teenager's impatience, and her frustration with a knitting project that isn't going her way.  So rather than constantly fight with her, I put my WIPs away for a while until she gets over her little tantrum and I'm more in control.

Within this last week it appears I have my inner knitting teenager better under control when it comes the Linen Stitch Scarf.  It should be off the needles in a few days, and I'm bound and determined not to have her stop me moving forward with the wallflower hanging either.  My goal is to have it done before June.  I think I can keep her in check for that long, or at least that is my hope.

Paul, ever the realist, told me this week he continues to see me knitting on the Linen Stitch Scarf but really can't detect much progress.  He's right, I knit, tink, knit, tink.  So here's a photo of the Linen Stitch Scarf to provide evidence something is actually happening:

Can you see the sun was shining again today, too!



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...
2 comments
Read more

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...
1 comment
Read more

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or h...
1 comment
Read more