Following My Own Advice

One of the things it says on the back of my business card is “Let yourself fail.” I did a fantastic job of that today.

Gwen has been teaching me how to knit, which I’m enjoying. Unlike sewing, it’s a purely additive craft, which means that if I make a mistake, I can just unravel it to undo it. I seem to have figured out both knit stiches and purl stitches on their own rows, so today I made my first attempt at alternating between them within the same row. In the process, I made a fairly simple mistake with somewhat remarkable consequences. Gwen’s comment upon seeing it was, “What did you do?”

While I was doing it, I could tell something wasn’t right. But, knowing that it was easy to undo, I finished the pair of rows I was working on, rather than bailing out in the middle. That meant I had a nice big sample of mistakes to get feedback on. Tonight, Gwen confirmed what I thought was wrong, so when I get a chance I’ll back up through those two rows and try it again.

Gwen keeps telling me that when something unexpected happens while I’m knitting that I should’t panic. I think the amazing tangle I showed her might have convinced her that I’m in no danger of doing so.