Life Lessons from Knitting
Tuesday April 29, 2008
Things I Learned from Knitting, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Storey Publishing.As much as it's a book about knitting, it's also a book about life and how we knitters see the world a little differently from everyone else. It's a quick read that any knitter should enjoy.
While we're on the subject, I'd love to hear what you've learned from knitting. I think the biggest thing I have learned is that I can be patient when I want to be. I normally don't think of myself as a patient person, but I've never given up on a project I really wanted because I thought it would take too long to knit. What's knitting teaching you?
Comments
I signed up to take four knitting classes after the loss of a dear friend. I figured I would learn the basics and occasionally knit, basically something to keep my mind occupied. Five years later I’m still in the knitting class with a group of women that I consider to be some of my closest friends. Knitting has taught me how to build friendships and to laugh again.
I learned persistence and not giving up when I started knitting. I tried once but grew so frustrated when I couldn’t seem to master purling. I took my needles out again after a yarn shop opened nearby and offered beginning knitting classes. A different teacher made a world of difference.
I learned to knit when my kids were toddlers (They are now 23 & 26!) to get through mommyhood. Now it’s my favorite thing to do! I even co-owned a yarnshop for awhile and taught knitting and sold my custom made items. I consider it my therapy and way less expensive than their hourly rate. We also started a weekly knitting group that has stayed together almost 15 years. It’s a wonderful hobby and keeps me sane in a sometime insane world!
I learned to knot when I was in high school when my mother too an adult ed class. She would come home after each session and teach me what she had learned. I made several small items and one sweater which I wore when my yearbook picture was taken. That was enough for me - knitting was too slow. I wanted instant results.
Fast forward nearly 25 years. A colleague remarked, “You look like the sort of person who would knit.” It got me thinking about whether I even remembered how. My mother had passed recently and I had inherited her stash of yarn and needles. I decided to try a scarf. It was jut like getting back on the proverbial bicycle. Five years later I’m still at it. I’ve learned that some of the things we learn at a young age do indeed stick with us, even though we neglect our talent or don’t have the patience to persist.
Kniting is one of the most rewarding pasttimes in my life right now and a constant reminder of the bond my and I shared. She may be physically gone, but the lessons she taught will always be with me.
I’ve learned to count, count, count, but then I knit lace, so I’ve learned patience, perseverance, and how to swear under my breath too . I’ve learned that life is too short not to use the best of needles and that it’s way too short to worry over where that needle I need was used last, if I could find it. That the creative process isn’t entirely from the designer, I can do what I want with my knitting when I want to, if I’m willing to work at getting it right. That having a skein or two of absolutely luscious yarn that has no purpose other than to be beautiful and wonderful to touch and hold is not a sin, it can be the saviour of my soul. Husbands and small children CAN be taught to keep quiet when you are counting, you just have to find the right threat. Reading charts isn’t that difficult and are worth learning to read so you don’t have to hunt all over a written pattern for the right line of patterns 1 through 6 in a lace or Aran combination. Over time I’ve learned not to put all my stash in either one container (can’t anyway) or in one place all together, so DH hasn’t got a clue how much yarn I really own….