A blog about fibre, wine, and all things cozy.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Something to Aspire to 2kcbwday6

Non-knitters always say to me "you must have patience to be a knitter." My answer, "No, not really. I have stubbornness, a fairly wicked creative streak, and love having something in my hands." My knitting helps me relax, it challenges me, it fills up time that I would otherwise annoy the crap out of me (like when your doctor is running an hour late). It's made me realize that I am an extremely tactile person and yarn gives me an excuse to rub something up against my cheek make a happy noise without being looked at like I've grown a second head. But patience? I knit a lot of small things like fingerless gloves and mitts. Even when I am knitting a sweater or a blanket the larger whole is broken down into smaller component parts and every sleeve or square is a victory. I would not exactly call myself patient.

Lace knitters. Lace knitters are where the patience is at. Those knitters have it in spades. I will gush over another knitter's lace shawl. I will flip through my copy of Victorian Lace Today and be inspired by the beautiful knitted work. I look at the very simple lace shawl that I started in March of 2009 and try to convince myself that it will be finished one day. But, aside from a little bit of lace in a pair of socks, or in something like Ishbel which is really mostly not lace, I am not a lace knitter. It's not something I can relax and get into the groove of when I'm knitting it. The thought of spending 45 minutes on a single row, and then probably having to rip things out a million times, frustrates me to no end. I bow down to knitters who can overcome these obstacles and who produce those glorious knitted works.
So the answer to the question what do I aspire to is really very simple.
  • Lace
  • Patience

5 comments:

  1. I'm joining you on the lace theme. Ishbel has been my limit so far too!

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  2. Having just flirted with lace, and its many challenges and frustrations, all I can say is: I can't wait to try something more lacy! :) Whether I'll survive it is another matter LOL!

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  3. I can't wait to try lace too and to develop patience XD

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  4. You are right about patience. It sucks to have to rip out mistakes after the time spent, but I remind myself that it's worth it in the end b/c I'm doing things right and learning at the same time + it'll get easier. I also find that if I set a reasonable goal to knit a bit a day, then at least I feel like I'm making progress on the project.

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  5. There are lots of lace patterns that are more rhythmic and easy to memorize than Ishbel's lace! I knit that one twice, and still never memorized it.

    Patience? Knitting gives me patience; if my hands were empty while I was waiting for things, I'd go nuts.

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