Day 27
I said in my last blog post that now I've learned to cast on and do the knit stitch, the only way to actually get anywhere was just to keep going. And that's exactly what I've been doing. It's been repetitive, enjoyable, predictable, therapeutic, stressful, and sometimes a little boring (each row turned out to be so long with the random extra stitches that kept appearing!), but I needed to do it to make progress towards something resembling a finished object.
I've been reflecting that in life it's often the same: sometimes the repetitive tasks day-to-day can seem dull and samey, but there is beauty and purpose in them, and they're ultimately essential if you're going to actually get to where you're intending to go. Doing this project has also been a nice reminder for me to carve out time for myself and sometimes let the jobs on the to-do list wait for later, as well as to slow down and enjoy the journey rather than hurrying towards the end.
Day 31
I've finished! And... it's not great, but I did it! I finished a knitting project! It was meant to be a rectangle-shaped pretend tea-towel for our boys' pretend kitchen (I decided not to do a dishcloth once I realised how huge it would be after each increasingly long row), but to be honest it looks more like a neck bracelet combined with a scarf... I ended up increasing by so many stitches that when I cast off it curved round, and my first row was too long that my yarn ran out before I could knit as many rows as I wanted. Never mind - I'm sure our boys will love it; and if they don't, at least I had fun!
Day 42
So, buoyant from my recent success, I've started knitting part two of my project; this one is going to be a dishcloth for the pretend kitchen as I had planned when I began (to go with the excellent tea-towel...). My thoughts so far:
- The start is going so much better than before! When casting on I counted 25 stitches and I'm determined to make sure it doesn't increase this time.
- Laura's Fireside yarn is so much nicer than the weird dark green one I used before; it's much softer, and the colour-changing as I knit with it is very exciting (I mean, I just don't know which colour will be on the needle next - I'm on the edge of my seat!)
- NOOOOO! I knitted with the wrong end of the yarn!
- A few rows in, and... I HAVE STRAIGHT LINES! I mean, there are 26 stitches rather than 25, but I'll just decrease by one on the next row (yes I have that level of skills now - oh yeahh!)
Day 58
Tonight I finished the square and cast off, and... it's actually the shape I wanted! It looks so much more like I envisaged (I attribute this to the superior yarn) and all I need to do now is sew in the ends and it'll be finished. I've enjoyed this so much and it's nice to be able to look at what I've accomplished at the end - it may be simple but I'm still proud of it. The only question is - what am I going to knit next?
-- James