There’s a rhythm to knitting I find comforting.
Especially when I’m knitting a simple pattern, like the knit 1 purl 1 rib I’m working on my sock.
When there’s a storm outside, whether it’s natural or man-made, it’s nice to have a way to relax. Concentrating on knitting will do that.
A complex pattern helps me block out other noise. Sometimes even when I should be paying more attention to something or someone else.
Conversely, sometimes I should be paying more attention to my knitting when I’m listening to something else. That’s when I often make mistakes.
For example, today I ripped out about two inches of knitting on my second sock’s leg. I just didn’t have the increases for the calf matching the first sock. Sure, I’d like to have done the sock correctly the first time. But sometimes, I don’t. And neither do other knitters.
Knitters even have a term for ripping out stitches: “frogging.” Say it out loud: “Rip it, rip it…”
If ripping out two inches is frustrating, imagine what ripping out 8 inches would be like. Which is what would have happened, had I not caught the error when I did. Sure, I could fuss that maybe I should have caught it earlier. Or, I can rejoice in finding it as soon as I did.
It’s taken me many years to learn to be happy with finding my mistakes and correcting them as soon as I can.
And despite frogging a couple of inches, the sock continues to progress. Slower than I imagined, perhaps.
Frogging: a good lesson to learn for knitting, and for life.







Leave a Reply