Knit One, Purl Two.
A Thought Provoking Project.
The year 2025 is drawing to a close. For many I know it was a doozy. Lots of ups and downs. Weddings. Babies. Good times! But also illness and significant loss of ones we love. Too soon, much too soon. This is personally, not the world at large where uncontrolled chaos and too much hate seems to be the order of the day. Capped by the stabbing deaths of Rob and Michelle Reiner. For many, this loss, and the alleged murder by their own son was beyond the pale, and really, migrated toward the personal, as important happenings in the world often do.
People have become pensive. Wanting to be better. Wanting to make the world better. I know I have. Sigh.
I do have an anecdote that's actually been going on for last couple of days that's got me thinking. A couple of months ago, I became inspired to teach our granddaughter Mattea how to crochet. She's the perfect age, I thought! So off I went to the North Fork to I think one of the best yarn stores in our area. (Shout out to @northforkfiberarts!) Not only are the yarns beautiful, they have all the supplies one would need for crocheting and knitting, with the most cordial and knowledgeable staff. I enlisted my friend to meet me there. The choices for Mattea were easily made, and they also had kits for making small crocheted stuffed animals that I knew Mattea would love as first projects. She has already made a few with her other grandma, which was so great!
While I was there, I began looking at all the beautiful yarns and got the "bug" to start knitting. I knew how to knit long ago and recall making a few scarves. The best hat I made was crocheted, not knitted. But they had this book there with simple projects for starting out. One of the projects was a cowl. Cowls are fancier versions of neck warmers or gaiters, and my friend Sarah wears gaiters, so I thought, “Why not?.” The image in the knitting book was beautiful and I figured "I could do this. I know how to knit." (Stop laughing. That's what I really thought.) So I bought the softest, prettiest yarn, in a flow of muted tones. I needed knitting needles, and there were beautiful wooden ones-- I never had wood before--only plastic or metal. And off I went. Christmas rolled by, and I hadn't started my project. But then the snow came, and I knew I wouldn't be seeing Sarah for at least two weeks. I can do this!! So I started it two days ago. Here are the life lessons I learned that I feel will help me become a better person--incrementally of course. It is not a panacea, but a start!
1. Just because you knitted something in the past doesn't mean you can pick up the needles, and follow the knitting directions (written in some secret code) and be proficient. No, no, no. This was quite a humbling experience. I had to take it apart twice before it was passable enough to continue.
2. Don't get discouraged, even if you are really, really bad at it! They say if you know how to ride a bicycle... just hop back on. I would add to that--knee pads, and a map if you are trying to get someplace might be helpful. Also knowing how to use the brakes, etc. is handy. Same for knitting applies.
3. Don't get the fancy wooden knitting needles before trying them out. (OH BOY--this is a big applicable lesson!) My recollection is that the plastic ones used to "stick" and the metal ones made a pleasant clicking sound and felt just right. I still need to research this, and I will for my next project.
4. Once you figure out what you think the directions are, don't get discouraged when you think you can follow them, but you are not really good at it at all. Wow--that was eye opening. Also, what if the direction is not clear? For example, the pattern I was working on called for 2 knits, 2 purls, ending the row with 2 knits and 1 purl. Clear enough. But then it says, continue repeating this row until you reach 36 inches. Well, if you are a beginner (yes, admittedly, that is what I know I am) it is a little confusing because if you repeat row 1, you are not lining up knits over knits and purls over purls because you have that one purl at the end of the row. What to do? Trust that the pattern will emerge even though it doesn't make sense to you? I am pretty sure that the answer is yes, although anxiety producing, trust it, because I think I can see a pattern emerging!
5. Looking up tips for trouble spots might not be all that helpful; i.e. all of the sudden you have extra stitches. Answer found: “Yes this will happen from time to time, but you'll get better at it.” WHAT? I had to get rid of those extra stitches ASAP, and I didn't want to rip out the couple of inches I had just completed! So I improvised and did something I learned while crocheting a hat when our daughter was 4 years old! I combined 2 stitches at the beginning and end of the next row, bringing my stitch count down to 27--the magic number in this case. This wreaked havoc with the pattern as you might imagine, but heck, I still wasn't sure if any pattern was evident anyway! Being resourceful is always a good lesson.
6. And last, you don't have to do everything recommended by the pros. HA! In my case, I told the knitting master that I was going to work on the cowl that actually has a pattern. She said that was the hardest, and that the pattern wouldn't show that well in the yarn I chose because it wasn't a solid color field (so not worth it.) Well, that turned out to be a winning combination--my mess-ups were less visible with the flowing muted color tones, and if I ever do get the pattern to "show" I will see it, and feel very proud. Sarah on the other hand will likely enjoy the story of her cowl fabrication, which included "no more rip outs" —even for her, and the reminder for us both that not everything is perfect.
Maybe my own new pattern will be just fine after all.
