Moving on (if only our country could, sigh), I've been thinking about all of the crafts lately. And how enjoyable they are, and the fun of seeing what you can do, admitting what you can't or don't like to do, and finding like minds who feel as you do. I am ridiculously happy with the friends I've made through knitting especially, since most of the other crafts I can do pre-date Ravelry, blogs, etc. Though many of said friends are multi-craftual as well, which is nice.
And so, we are exposed to so much more than we could have ever come across on our own. I will happily admit that an awful lot of the things I have knit or plan to knit were randomly discovered through Ravelry, blogs, and podcasts. Left to my own devices, I'm not sure I would have ever become acquainted with most of the designers and patterns out there. So much to see! So much to knit! So much yarn!
I mean - YAY!, right??
With all of that wonderfulness out there, then why are some things so hard? Why, when I can knit a sock, can I not successfully wrap my brain around the technique known as Wrap and Turn? I can zoom along on a pair of fingerless gloves, but a 4-stitch lace repeat boggles my mind, and has to be torn out and redone several times, or even sometimes just abandoned altogether. And OH MY GOD what is with the "decrease 4 stitches at the beginning of every fourth row, at the same time as you are standing on your head and baking a cake from scratch." (OK, that's an exaggeration, but you get my drift, right?)
These are just a few of the things that make me stabby when I'm knitting. I cannot tell you how many You Tube videos I have watched about Wrap and Turn, and other equivalent methods, and the whole thing still evades me. I'm sure that someday the light bulb will turn on and I'll finally understand it. But in the meantime, I will admit that I tend to avoid patterns where this is mentioned at all.
True, it is not necessary to know how to do everything there is to do in knitting, or any other craft. And there are some things I've been able to figure out well enough to enable me to finish something, and then decided that I would avoid it in the future. We all find the kinds of things we like to knit, and some techniques "take" while others just never, ever do.
What are the things that are hard for you? Do you forge ahead and do it until you have it seared into your brain, or are you like me, and you avoid it like the plague whenever possible? Surely I'm not the only knitter or crafter who gets frustrated from time to time when I just can't get something to work.
Feel free to share in the comments. If I can manage to get my act together, I may even do my best to respond!
11 comments:
Hahahaha...love that last photo. Not laughing at you or your difficulties because lordy I've got them too.
So, wrap & turn is very tough for me. I've done it, but it's not been pretty and the garment has never been finished.
Any instruction where it states "while at the same time" makes me nuts.
Or...Where it says one side should mirror the other. WHAT??? Spell it out for moi please.
Most of the time I'm all about the easy patterns. At least for right now.
Charted patterns are difficult for me, so I avoid them whenever possible. It's not that I can't knit from a chart, it's just that my eyes can not track the pattern on a chart very well.
(OMG the photo. . . )
I tend to have the most trouble when I'm NOT thinking about the Hard Things. Like . . . I enter The Danger Zone whenever a pattern becomes "routine" for me -- when I'm thinking about something else and not what I'm supposed to be thinking about. I love learning New Things and Hard Things -- but once I (sort of) get the hang of it, I tend to REALLY screw up.
(My most spectacular screw ups have come from forgetting to count. Or from forgetting HOW to count.)
:-)
Gollum! I love it.
Yep, there are certainly things I avoid. Nupps, entrelac and "picking up and knitting". Anything with a small circumference. I hate those things. I pick my patterns carefully to avoid things I hate. This is all suppose to be for fun, right? Stress relieving, right?
That photo! Hahahaha! I do not fear the challenge of new things, but don't ask me to explain how I figured it out (or if I figured it out correctly!) I am right there with you. Although, I will say that not all short rows were created equally... if at first you don't succeed, try another short row!
I have been knitting for 53 years and I cannot tell you how many times I have said, out loud, "Will someone please teach me how to knit?" I despise wrap-and-turn. Three words: German short rows.
Oh You are not alone by any means. I wont try to Kitchener anymore. Just cant do it. I do a three needle bind off. Im miffed at the wrap and turn thing too. So when I go to my yarn shop I tell them dont give me any patterns that have short row shaping. (although I can turn a heel fine)
At the same time usually fools me too ,why can't they write out the directions line by line? Knitting is not intuitive for my brain.
I once thought i'd make a million if I could write out patterns line by line for those awful at the same time directions for all of us who dont like to see those words!
none of my knitting is hard but ignoring the news feeds and feeling worry and anger is hard for me to push aside. Therefore, I knit more!
Chart knitting. NO.
Thank goodness for You Tube--and its Super Slow playback setting--or I'd never learn to do anything!
I avoid the magic loop and toe up sock patterns. One of my favorite stories is hearing that knitting patterns were used in a reading workshop so that the participants could remember what it's like to be a struggling reader. Hope that makes you feel better. BTW, I am so with you on the political situation...bleh!
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