One of the things I hear people say a lot about knitting* is “Oh, I could NEVER do that” or “That’s WAY too hard” or “I’m not nearly as smart/good/clever as you. I could never knit like that.”
What a crock of bull.
We knitters are not knitting because we expect to churn out store-quality items. Our stuff has mistakes unintentional anomalies personal design choices, and, really, we like it better that way. It assures us that all our projects are different. Even if 200 people choose the same pattern, all our projects will look different. Maybe we made it bigger or smaller or fuzzy or striped or random. Whatever we choose, we all choose to knit because it fulfills something within each of us.
As important as knitting is in my life, as much as I love it, as much as it challenges me and satisfies me, it is NOT rocket science. Nor is it brain surgery, or anything else where someone will die if I don’t finish this row of lace correctly. If I use the crochet hook method to attach beads instead of pre-stringing, I’m not going to be burned at the stake.
THERE ARE NO KNITTING POLICE. I swear. They don’t exist. If they did, I would have been locked up with the key thrown away YEARS ago.
Therefore, when people say they’re afraid of learning something new or taking a risk, I just don’t understand it. What’s the worst that will happen? You have to rip it out. Seriously? My first sock, I ripped out every day for two WEEKS. You know what happened? Absolutely nothing. Well, other than learning I don’t like knitting socks. LOL And there are a lot of ways to start a toe. The building didn’t collapse. The yarn didn’t explode because I ripped it out X many times. Was it pretty? Umm…No. It was so Fugly it made the Yarn Harlot’s blog. (She very politely suggested I had gauge issues). It WAS, however, a sock.
If you look at something and decide it’s not for you or you just don’t want to try because you don’t like it, that’s one thing. Knitter’s Choice. But to not knit something because you think you can’t is, in my opinion, silly. Of course you can. All you need to do is find a good place to learn, whether that’s your local yarn store, your knitting group, YouTube, whatever. My knitting group is a big fan of the Debbie Stoller Stitch ‘N Bitch books. Every time we need to learn something, we almost always find it in one of those.
So the next time you’re faced with something in knitting which challenges you, TAKE THE RISK! And if you don’t like it/don’t get it/don’t want to do it, then rip it out and do something else.
BE FEARLESS!
The world won’t end.
I promise.
Lynda the Guppy
aka Fearless Knitter Guppy
aka The Fish With Sticks
*Every time I say “Knit”, “Knitter”, or “Knitting”, feel free to read it as “Crochet”, “Crocheter”, or “Crocheting.” Don’t want to be accused of being monofiberphobic.
