A Little Knit of Pride

For me, knitting is meditative. I find myself being absorbed in the rhythm of the pattern, the order of the stitches. Knit, Purl, YO, k2tog, ssk, whatever the order, whatever the direction. The more elaborate the pattern, the more focused and concentrated. At times, this can be like zen. Rarely, but sometimes, it is stressful. More often then not, stress knitting is frogged and I begin something else. This hobby is about the pleasure, not the pain. I endure the challenges but only if in the long-run, I have fun.

Another long-run benefit is the pride we can feel in our accomplishments. I like the projects that I select so I am eager to see my needles, my stitches and my hands create that pattern. It is a sort of magic that a few lines of writing can lead you to make somethings that are so intricate and special. My boss at my real work is always in awe that people are capable of making anything handmade, and I too still have that awe, even though I myself am a knitter. 

I had a moment of surprise and sheer joy when I finished up a project for a friend last night. I touched upon it in an earlier entry, the Abagail Sweater (found on ravelry). It is a top-down, stash-buster sweater. It requires no sewing (my weakness), and has both simple stitching as well as a more intricate lace pattern. It isn't a difficult pattern, in fact, it's an intermediate beginner level pattern, per the author. I got through it without a problem, and it knit up very fast.

I chose an organic cotton in a lemon/sunshine yellow. The range of color was chosen by the woman who ordered this from me. The material I selected because it's for an infant in Hawaii. I felt cotton was soft and cooler for them. Also, I chose organic cotton because the mother is very environmentally conscious and I felt she would appreciate that. 

I knit and I loved the project the whole time. It was a joy to make and mysteries were solved along the way (how were the sleeves going to get made if I don't sew anything on?).. it was a well written pattern. But this pleasure was nothing compared to what I felt when I was done. When you don't want to give something up, it means you're super proud of it ...  and I am super happy with how this little cardigan came out. I particularly like the little tab with the bumblebee button (since the pattern was a little vague about how to attached the button and tab.. I did it with a button hole instead of a crochet chain.)  I think my friend and her sister are going to love it - I hope as much as I do!