Friday, October 13, 2006

opening up to the possibilities...

when i knit a new pattern i break the pattern down into instructions for each row. i give each row a number and then the instructions for each row. if the pattern reads "knit even for 45 rows" i will write numbers 1 through 45 down the left-hand margin of my paper and write "knit" for each of those rows. at the end of each row, i make a tic mark to show myself and the universe that i have completed that row. (it makes me feel like i'm making progress, however small). i also use a row counter as a back-up. it may seem obsessive, but it works for me.

or so i thought.

my friend lesley had borrowed a pattern and my detailed row notes for said pattern. wednesday night at our weekly knitting get together she asked me sweetly, with her head cocked ever so slightly to one side, where in my set of instructions were the knit 7 rows straight that were called for in the book's directions? the answer was simple. they weren't. i had inadvertently left them out. she corrected her course and knit happily along.

yesterday i found a similar mistake in my transcription of row by row knitting for the pedicure socks.

of course i'm human. of course i make mistakes. we all do. but it is difficult to admit. i like to be correct. i enjoy the feeling of superiority i get when i know the answer that no one else does. but it is also an invaluable lesson to be reminded from time to time that we do not know a fraction of what the world has to offer. i am humbled by what i do not know. i am thrilled to think of all the things i have yet to perceive.

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