A Knitter’s Tip

Don’t get too attached.

It’s probably a very common warning among creative types, but it’s something that I find very important in continuing to love my hobby. Many people when they start a project—any project—really just want to see it complete. Personally, I love knitting for the process. (Otherwise I would have gotten bored of scarfs and hats years ago.) But many people, once they’ve started something, and especially when it’s almost done, can’t bear to “lose” that progress. Some folks might even just finish for the sake of finishing, even if the end result is virtually unusable.

Don’t be afraid to rip it out!

A lot of projects you end up doing twice. If at first you don’t succeed, and that awesome orange hat you’ve made for your big-headed boyfriend is too small and pinches his head, rip out the stitches and start anew. It’s never a waste do something right, even if it takes a couple of times doing to get it there.

Love what you do.

As I said before, I love the process. I love yarn shops. I love yarn. I like the simplicity of knits and purls. It’s a quick easy meditation. It keeps my hands busy and my mind at ease. It’s beautiful, simple, and a wonderful thing to share. And if you love it, it’s not going to matter how many times you knit it.

And, yes, I have to knit that hat again. All told it was a few rows too short.

Update

I just re-read my last post. Boy do I feel like a schlub. My intentions were a little greater than my body could handle. I did go sailing though, so I’ll let you decide if the tradeoff was worth it. (Hint: I think it was!)

I ended up re-injuring myself a little. Not to anywhere near the same scale as the suffering from last year, but enough that I was incapacitated for several weeks and in the chiropractors office about 4 times during one week.

It all comes back to sailing. I went out for a Friday night Beer Can race. I can’t recall the last time I was on a boat before that night…..I was trimming jib and it was a good, breezy night. We tacked and jibed for a good starting position, and I was getting a good workout. I had been complaining for about an hour before we got to the dock, but that old familiar feeling of working those muscles removed all whiny-ness. Two hours of sailing bliss, back to the club for a beer, then home, tired and sore.

Fast forward three days and it feels like my rib is trying to rip out away from my spine. Which it was. Chiropractor confirmed I’d pulled a rib in the back. Who knew you could do that?!? It was horrible. I couldn’t sleep on that side—any weight was extremely painful. I couldn’t ride my bike or carry a backpack, do yoga or any other physical exercise that included weight or stretching. It hurt to use my computer. Seriously. Using my mouse off to the right of my keyboard irritated the whole region where that rib was, and it made work a realllllllly looooooooong day.

So I made the brave decision to just give it up. Rest. Relax. Recuperate. It’s hard to do nothing. I mean for a day or two, that’s easy. But I’ve been doing nothing far too long, and after having made some progress, it was hard to put it all on hold.

Well, it took a few weeks, but I finally felt that rib popped back into place. I rested up a couple of more weeks so the soreness, stiffness, tenderness would go away. But now it’s time. First day back on the bike tomorrow!

Oh, but can’t eat now. Got braces. Ah…life.

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