I have been dedicating a portion of time every Thursday afternoon to pursuing the Master Hand Knitters program through the Knitting Guild Association.At present, my goal is to complete a swatch each Thursday. I am on Swatch number 3. (A 20-stitch wide, 4" high piece in seed stitch).
Previous swatches have taken an hour or so with interruptions and whatnot, but this one for some reason is more demanding. Or maybe I have been more demanding of myself.
Previous swatches have been done in two or three tries, and I am quite satisfied with the result.
This one, I have started 7 times (Above are the attempts that made it past the first row, there were some where I was experimenting with cast on techniques that I didn't photograph).
People who have known me a while would find this hilarious. I am much more known for letting things be however they turn out (and indeed, I still enjoy that in some aspects of knitting) but for this program, something in me wants to show how accurate and precise I can be.
It makes for a good balance with other parts of my life, I guess.
I can no longer control great swaths of my life. I can't garden, act in local theater, go hiking or mountain climbing, etc, etc, ad infinitum... But I can control this swatch, and every swatch, on Thursdays. I can make certain that this little bit of knitting, on which I shall be judged, is the best I know how to make it.
There is still plenty of room in my life for non-precision knitting. And I can't honestly say that starting to knit the same swatch over and over provides me with any sense of joy.
But it does give me satisfaction, and a sense of controlling my destiny again.
BTW, I am moving forward with the attempt you see there on the needles. So far, so good.
3 comments:
i have come to realize that my own knitting is a lot about control too.
Seed Stitch likes to be a PITA, but yours looks loverly and you'll do it, I know!
Perfectly stated, Diana. Balance is so important in our lives! By offsetting your usual roll-with-it-all attitude with these precisely knit swatches. . . you're finding . . .perfect symmetry.
Your post brought to mind a quote I particularly like -- although I can't remember it exactly, nor do I know who said it. But it was something like this: I can't control most of what happens in my life, but I can control how I deal with what happens in my life.
:-)
Kym
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