All Nattering and No Knitting...

It turns out that I'm getting to know a lot of knitters.  And loving that, too!

I'm also getting to know a lot of folks who really would like to learn their machines, but they have roadblocks. 

Here are some roadblocks I've observed (and built to stop myself, too):

"I have to know everything."  You know this knitter!  She asks two hundred questions.  She asks some of the same ones over and over.  She's afraid that if she doesn't totally, fully understand how to do something before she even attempts it, she'll mess it up.

We're all dazzled by how devoted she is to learning, but she's creating problems for herself:

1.  She's worrying herself instead of starting.
2.  She won't remember the answers anyway, because she didn't knit and apply the knowledge.
3.  Because she's trying to work it all out mentally before actually starting to knit, she's confusing and overwhelming herself.

Do you recognize yourself?  Take the cure:  I challenge you to make a mess.  Please!  Get in there and knit something and stop over-thinking and over-questioning the process.  The bigger the mess you make (within limits, let's avoid pulled hair and stabbed fingers) the prouder I will be of you.  I challenge you to make messes until you make something, and you'll be amazed at how much you learn!

This may sound completely upside-down and backwards, but one of my strengths is that I dive in make such horrible messes.  I learn by making mistakes.

"I need to make samples first."  Aha!  It's Mr. Swatch!  I identify with him - after all, I'm always telling everyone that I like to solve problems by swatching first.  However, I've also found myself making merely piles of swatches.  In spite of all the lovely ideas I've read over the years about things to do with those huge bags of swatches, I have never made anything out of my bags of swatches.

Swatching is addictive, because there's always one more thing to try out.  Perhaps we need a 12-step program for us Swatchers. 

The cure and the challenge, Mr. Swatch - instead of a square swatch, knit a finished object!  Instead of knitting a swatch, knit a rectangular something-or-other, next time out.  Make a scarf, shawl, or drawstring bag to try out your new stitch or technique. Capisch?  Should you choose to accept this mission, Mr. Swatch, you'll have a finished product!

"I'm a perfectionist."   This one's not a roadblock - it's a black hole.  It's dark in there, too.  Nothing will ever, ever be good enough.  There will always be better yarn.  There will always be mistakes and flaws.  There will always be something about your latest Unfinished Object (UFO) that isn't good enough.  There will always be some other knitter who just happens to make something more interesting or prettier or more impressive than your project.

Challenge to the perfectionist:  Deliberately make something humble and simple and see if it isn't a healing experience for your soul.  This blog is stuffed with simple little projects, and after all my years of knitting, I'm just amazed at how fun it is to make simple little things, especially gift items. 

Next assignment - pick out a UFO and work on it, and get it finished.  If it doesn't fit, give it to a charity.  You might just surprise yourself and like it a whole lot more than you thought you would.

It's like sewing - once you get a pattern that you love, you can use it over and over for great productivity and enjoyment.  You have to make some mistakes and modifications to get there, though.

Now after my confession last night about the many, many absurd mind changes I made on the current book, I just want y'll to know that I finished every one of the prototypes.  They'll get used, and worn, and if they can each be just a little better....so what!

"I think I'm going to knit but I keep running out of steam first."  I have the idea that some of the knitters I meet are so busy collecting machines, and yarn, and shopping, and talking about knitting, and hanging out with knitters, and planning to knit, that they use up all their knitting mojo and the knitting just doesn't happen.

Oh, yes, I'm quite prone to this one, too; my weaknesses are Legion when it comes to knitting.  One of my life goals is to stay off that Hoarders show.  To stay out of the headlines, as in WOMAN SMOTHERED UNDER 5200 CONES OF YARN.  To avoid my friends saying, "She's all nattering and no knitting."

So marshall that energy; don't waste it nibbling around the edges with all that thinkin', collectin' and talkin'.  Next time you get the urge to shop, collect, yak, or otherwise massage your knitting cravings without actually making something, go look through the yarn you already have and the machine you already have, and get started.  There's a beautiful challenge in making something cool with the things you actually have.  And get a partner, a knitting buddy, and agree to each knit something by a certain date and time and show it to each other!