Patience is paramount!
Alas! My brain is quicker than my fingers...
INSIDE: making peace with my speed (or lack thereof), keeping the ‘boring’ bits interesting, finishing energy + let the hurry go.
My brain is fast forwarding my knitting project faster than my fingers can physically knit! All I can think about is my Flow Tee finished and I’m wishing for the skill of speed knitting. 🙂
Every row I knit includes 282 stitches, so that takes me a while!
Knitting many rows, it’s the perfect time to strengthen my skill of not looking. I’m yet to gain complete confidence and often pause to glance down.
There’s that little voice saying, “Hurry, would you? You’re wasting time, this would be much quicker if you just looked!”
I quiet my impatient mind by remembering to breathe. Reminding myself there’s time, there’s no deadline, I’ll finish it when I finish it.
I still need to do the sleeves, so I’m not even close to completion! It’s just I can see myself wearing it, and I’m so excited.
I love how the yoke has turned out.
This was where I was up to with the body a few days ago.
The photo below shows where I’m up to currently.
I was thrilled to find after trying the tee on, I’d reach the stage where I could begin the hem of the ribbing (k1 tbl, p1 tbl.)
Knitting through the back loop is easy enough, purling through the back loop is a little difficult. I’m looking now as I knit the ribbing, there’d be too many mistakes if I kept practicing not looking during this stage :)
Knitting the body there’s been no sense of boredom. I put that down to practicing knitting without looking, but the impatience is palpable!
I find it extraordinary that my daily mindful moments that come through the Headspace app are speaking directly to me!
Today’s was about impatience. I did a little research into what Andy from Headspace says about patience and impatience.
“…. patience is not something we need to develop. Instead, we need to learn how to let go of impatience. This may sound like the same thing, but it’s actually quite different. Patience is an inherent part of a calm and clear mind. If we know this, if we understand it, then we do not try to "create" patience; instead we simply let go of the noise and our involvement in that activity and thereby experience patience.”
— Andy Puddicombe
Knitting row upon row in the body section reminds me of this lovely quote.
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but this yarn is so delightful. And since we have no place to go… Another row, another row, another row!”
I imagine my members in the snowy parts of the world would resonate with this.
Here it’s super hot, so it’s the other weather extreme. Some 45° Celsius days! Thank goodness for air conditioning.
And another question for you: If you’re close to finishing a project, what practices do you have to get to the end?
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Mystery Quote Of The Week
“Now, let us take a deep breath and forge on into the future; knitting at the ready.”
Who said this? Comment or press reply! No cheating! 😊
(You’ll find out if you were correct next week.)
Last week’s answer was… The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.
Comment below if you got it right.
Crafting Trivia Question Of The Week
What stitch do you use to graft knitting?
What’s the answer? Leave a comment or press reply! No cheating! 😊
(You’ll find out if you were correct next week.)
Last week’s answer to: if a knitting pattern had this instruction: *K1, yo, K4, s2kpo, K4, yo; rep from * to last st, K1… What kind of pattern would it be?
Was… a lace pattern!
And the answer to the bonus question: what does S2KPO mean in knitting…
S2KPO is slip 2 together, knit 1, pass slipped stitches over. It’s referred to as a Centered Double Decrease.
Congratulations to
and for being correct!Did you get it right? Leave a comment if you did!
The peace I find when slowing down and focusing on the moment is profound!
How do you quiet the "hurry up" voice in your head during crafting or in life?
Leave a comment or press reply.
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Before you go…
I like the idea of letting go of impatience. It’s a very helpful reframe. I am looking at the long stretch of stocking stitch before I get to the colour work yolk of my Painted Cave sweater. It does seem like there’s a long way to go, especially with fine yarn and 3.25 mm needles. Luckily the yarn is a glorious buttery yellow alpaca so it cheers me up every time I pick it up!
What we call the grafting stitch is an interesting question. Mostly now it’s called Kitchener Stitch. Once before the First World War it was called German Grafting. There are good reasons for just calling it grafting. I have South African friends who find the name Kitchener highly offensive. Also the whole myth about him wanting the troops to have seamless socks is just that. A myth.
Such a lovely post! Thank you for sharing that gem about impatience vs. patience from Andy. My suggestion would be to find a thriller to listen to, so as not to get too anxious about finishing it. Knitting simply takes whatever it takes, and most of the time I don't seem to be able to do much about it than go with the flow. :)) Btw, your WIP is growing beautiful by the day. It is going to look great on you.