“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” Anna Quindlen

Leave nothing unfinished

There is something wonderful about knitting for other people, simply for the fact that we are making something by hand for another person, but there is also something magical in wearing and using our own knitted projects.

And often when we are knitting for someone else, there is a due date attached to the project, a birthday, Christmas, the birth of a baby. When we knit for ourselves, though, there isn't really a deadline, and it's often tempting once we have cast off, to begin a new project that has caught our eye, rather than finishing off the project we have been working on. 

I realised recently, however, that the real reason I was holding off finishing a knitted item was because once I finished it, I would have to wear it and show it to others. I find it interesting that I don't mind finishing off items for other people, but not for myself. I began to see that I didn't want to judge myself, or have anyone else judge something I had created, whereas a gift is more likely to be appreciated in the spirit it was given. Much safer to hold onto my own unfinished article, so that I didn't need to fear the possibility that someone might criticise it, or spot a flaw which I knew was hiding in the folds of my knitting somewhere, whether or not (as I stated in a previous post), I had sewn a button on it.

Well, the Quakers used to say that you should always have one mistake in your work - because no-one is perfect, only God. 

So that might be a good excuse if anyone should say anything. Truth be told, though, I have found from experience that the only one who is obsessed with that flaw is me. Because I know it's there. No-one else sees it, because they aren't looking for it. 

I am learning that although getting started is the hardest part, and that finishing is almost as hard, there is a sense of genuine satisfaction in finishing something, and that we are our own harshest critics - ever notice how others think that what you have done is just fine?

Instead of look at it with the critical eyes that we imagine others might have, we may need to recognise that we are judging ourselves, and that we are taking away the enjoyment of finishing the project. And that if we can't stop our critical tendencies, then to ask ourselves what we would say if our friend had knitted it? Because we would never be as critical of others as we are of ourselves.

And sometimes we come back to something a little while later, look at it with fresh eyes and realise how good it was all along! 

Purlgirl

xx