In every knitters life, things don’t always turn out exactly as planned. Gauge can cause us to wonder why we are knitting for an adult whose head is 10″ in circumference or whose sweater back measures 55″. The first measurement conjures up thoughts of alien life forms
while the second would be loose on most sumo wrestlers in their prime.
Stitches can be dropped and cause us no end of wonder. Patterns or colors can suddenly change course as if the project were taken over by the *nasty knitting fairies to become discordant, as they say in the music world.
So, what’s a knitter to do. Throw the knitting in a corner only to be retrieved years later when small rodents have taken up residence in the warm, woolen home. Return to the yarn shop demanding, a refund for yarn purchased on sale months earlier and wound into lovely balls, all because you can’t get gauge. (This really has happened!) Or calmly venture on and employ the humor of knitters… **”Frog” it or ***”Tink” it.
Over the course of my knitting life, I have picked up many dropped stitches, frogged more projects than I care to admit, and I tink on such a regular basis it’s any wonder that heads or hands ever get covered when the temperatures drop. Every day I am asked for advice about knitting and some days I worry that the truth of knitting will cause everyone to give up for good.
Knitting is a human activity and perfection can suck the joy out of most projects. This is not to say that mistakes should never be corrected, projects started once again or glaring errors redone. We must, from time to time, ask ourselves to what degree of perfection are you willing to go in pursuit of the perfect (insert project here) for that lucky recipient.
The truth is this knitting thing takes time and effort and will bring about joy, even if you don’t believe it today. I know this to be especially true today. I am finishing a 30 day challenge at my yoga studio, Perfect Balance. When I began, I never would have believed I could sit crossed legged for more than a few minutes and yesterday, day 29, I sat that way for almost 3 minutes, without fidgeting too much. Today, I reach day 30 and before you ask me the question, “So what do you get if you reach 30 days in this challenge?” just watch me balance on one foot for a few seconds before falling head first into the pile of unfinished sweaters, socks and hats waiting for my return.
*Nasty knitting fairies - those otherwise adorable creatures who appear during the darkest hours of the night and knit where purls must go. They are also known to change direction on complicated patterns. At the current time, there is no known cure for these otherwise adorable creatures although much discussion concerning trapping is taking place in Canada.
**Frog - Where the knitter must, “rip it, rip it.”
***Tink - to knit backwards.
