Knitting.
Do you? Don’t you?
I don’t. But I’m learning.
My chosen teacher is the lovely lady who works in the shop two doors up.
On making my decision to pick a teacher. She was the right person to ask.
Highly experienced and I know she is capable of great things.
She has shown me shawls and tiny jumpers she makes for teeny people (commonly known as babies) who really won’t appreciate the hours she puts in, but at least they have handcrafted good to dribble glop. on
#1 Pick the right instructor…
I could’ve asked my mum, my Granny taught her. However, she wasn’t the right person for this experiment.
My mum likes to knit, but she’ll admit she’s not passionate about it, unlike my current Knitting Master.
It’s become a family joke when my Mum says, ‘”I can knit you that” as I look at a jumper while shopping, or “I’ll run it up on the sewing machine for you”, hilarity follows because she has an item belonging to each member of the Barclay clan who are still waiting on it stuff being ‘run up’, some from 1982!
So, I had to be sure that my knitting instructor was committed to the learner.
#2 When choosing the right instructor ensure they practice what they preach
In her defence my mum has knitted a few classic … um … pieces over the years.
I remember one Christmas she went on a knitting frenzy.
Every child under 3ft tall got a Barclay Classic Piece of Luxury Knitwear.
She called them hats and scarves.
Debatable.
This is the closest picture I could find to one of these pieces (not me):
The small village where we lived were over run with Children of the Knit-One, Purl-One that winter.
If Harry Potter had been a knitter and not a wizard, our village was Hat-warts.
It must’ve looked really odd to village outsiders, 20+ children all in the same gear wandering the streets. In fact, it must’ve been really fecking scary. Have you seen the Wicker Man? This was pretty similar, except with wool.
Anyhoo, learning to knit.
It’s going really badly. I suck at knitting. And I’m finding it tediously boring.
A great teacher inspires.
#3 Apply your learning anywhere you can
Although, I’ll confess the implements required for knitting (known as needles … I’m teasing!) were great at unblocking the kitchen sink on Saturday. Reaching parts of the drain that the fondue sticks never have.
However…
#4 Set yourself learning goals
I shall continue until the 31st December*. That’s my date for evaluating my new not-a-passion-yet-hobby-thing.
I’ll decide then if it will be continued or ceased.
Why on earth am I carrying on with something that I:
- Can’t do.
- Is boring.
- Is painfully slow.
Because.
- I can’t do it, yet.
- It’s boring, right now.
- It’s painfully slow, at present.
The desire to say, ‘I made that‘ is greater than the excuses I’m thinking of using for quitting.
Like everything really.
#5 Perspire and Persist
When you feel like quitting, ask yourself why you started.
If you can still connect to the ‘why’ – sweat it out and keep going. If you can’t, it’s time for crochet or origami!
Me? I can’t wait to give my mum her present.:-) Hiya Mum!
*Update: I didn’t continue, this was written in 2012. But Jan 2015 I’m trying again.
That’s a great metaphor, Dawn!
Except.. you are such a liar.. you could never be bothered to knit!
Watch it Kilian, I may, just may, make you something. I need to pass back the compliment of the scarf you made me,. See, that’s the goal, to be able to ‘run something up’.
Check your post in 2018, there will be a surprise waiting for you. ;-) Make it 2020. Give me a bit time. Dawn xxx
Ha ha – I thoroughly enjoyed this post, both for the metaphor and the knitting yarns… Thanks for raising a smile this early wet morn… :)))
Hey Wendy, thanks for commenting. Glad it made you smile. Been ‘urgh’ weather here for days. Enjoy the muddy paws across the floors (up the walls, on covers, on sofas…) Dawn