Monday 12 October 2015

What the hat taught me

Finally! Some knitting content!

This weekend, I finished Rustling Leaves Beret by Alana Dakos. I knit it out of Anzula Yarn Squishy in Red Shoe which I received in my goodie bag when I attended the Muse Connection Vol II back in June. I wanted to make something beautiful that challenged me and I've loved Alana's designs for a very long time but never knit one, so this seemed the perfect match. (I could probably knit some matching handwarmers in what I've got left...)

What I should say is that I finished this little hat at last. Here's how it went:

I cast on around the same time that I cast on my Urban by Veera Valimaki and ended up working almost exclusively on that. When I finished the knitting on that, I turned back to my beret to find that some of the stitches had dropped and I couldn't figure out where so I ripped it back and started again.

I must have started that ribbing three or four times before I hit the pattern. Then, one evening while catching up on Doctor Who, I realised that I had made a mistake in the pattern towards the bottom. So, in my infinite wisdom, decided to drop down just in that bit and reknit.

Needless to say that was an EPIC FAIL. Guess what I did? Yes! I frogged and reknit. This time it actually worked and about four days knitting resulted in a beautiful hat that is currently blocking over a dinner plate.

It occurred to me when I was halfway through knitting it that I had never before focussed so thoroughly on getting something right. Not once did I throw it across the room, rip it out and dump it in a bag for a big time out. I never even cried the umpteenth time I ripped it out. I just ripped it out and cast it straight back on and noticed that every time I did that I knew a little more, I was a little bit better.

I was so utterly determined to finish it and make it look as good as possible that I didn't even feel the stress or sadness when I started again. I was focussed on the fact that I knew I could knit this and was determined to knit it to the best of my ability.

So as well as being a very pretty hat (pictures of it and the finished Urban to come this weekend!), it has taught me that focus, determination and an unshakeable belief that you can do it and that it will look gorgeous, really does help with momentum and actually finishing.

There's a lesson that I think.

1 comment:

  1. I had a recent knitting lesson like this. I focused on the pattern instead of the speed and was so happy with the outcome. Another slow down message for me.

    ReplyDelete