Stella's Many Twisted Stitches and Winding Roads

Preventable mistakes, and what we can learn from others… April 18, 2011

“Have you helped a friend fix a knitting mistake yet? Or asked someone new at your LYS to help you? Next time you get really frustrated, I challenge you to take a deep breath and keep in mind the fact that when you mess up…

You Gain Resource-Awareness

The more you ask, the more you learn who you can and can’t go to for reliable knitting help. There will often be people delighted to help you – the gems are the ones who will show you where you went wrong and how to fix it yourself. This doesn’t apply to just people, either. Knitting resources of all kinds – books, videos, and websites, need to be explored so you can find what kind of help works for you.

One thing that’s wonderful about being a highly-evolved species is that we can learn from other people’s mistakes as well as our own.”

Liat Gat

Your devoted video knitting teacher

knitfreedom.com

December 26, 2008, I decided to pick my needles back up again with a firm resolve to conquer my long-standing animosity about knitting. I have been a crocheter for over 35 years, and always found excuses to NOT want to learn to knit. One famous old saying I heard was, “you either are a Crocheter, or a Knitter, but usually never both/ You either like one or the other.” I’ve since found that that old adage is so completely NOT TRUE!

So, with debit card in hand and a lot of want-to, I went on eBay and bought a boatload of needles in every size-I hit PAY DIRT, and wound up with like 30 sets for under $20. I was in heaven.

Then I printed up about 20 dishcloth patterns, from Grandma’s Favorite, to more complicated techniques like Diagonal, and cable stitch patterns. Then I set off on my new adventure in knitting. I had a RIOT learning all the basics with the help of a couple instruction booklets my mother bought me back when I was a kiddo.

In Jan of 2009, my Dear Mother-In-Law (DMIL) took me under her wing and began instructing me on the finer points (pun intended) of knitting. She even gifted me some books for my birthday in April.

One day about a week after my birthday, I expressed my interest in knitting socks, in a blog post. I always referred to my DMIL as my instructor, and off the cuff commented that  DMIL had said, “I do not know my limits”. The first thing that came to mind, was, I have no limits other than what I place on myself.

That set off a string of emails in which she told me never to speak of knitting again.  I think she felt that if she was not the Teacher for this one project, that I was rebuffing her teaching in general.

After several attempts to make her understand that I wasn’t dissing her teaching, she finally told me to never speak of it again, and even told her daughter I was writing horrible things about her in my blog.  It became necessary for me to delete every blog that had a mention of “DMIL”, from my posts.

For the next 3 months, I could not knit, it hurt so much to even bring myself to pick up the yarn I had bought with DMIL, to do a project we had planned together. That project still sits in a bag, for another day, and have promised I will get to it.

This week I am approaching another birthday, and I have still not heard from nor spoken with my DMIL, as it seems she has written me off completely. Since that time, my video library of knitting techniques has been my primary visual tools, along with the help of friends in Ravelry. Without those tools and friends, I might not have come this far in my knitting.

I’ve kept those emails as a bitter reminder, and should probably just suck it up and delete them. The hurtful parts still bring me to tears.

On the anniversary of my exile from DMIL’s helpful tutelage, I stand firm in my resolve to move forward.  DMIL may never know what valuable assets she has thrown away as a result of her stubbornness. Nothing can take the place of someone sitting with you sharing the joy of camaraderie and the love of knitting together.

Could I have prevented this mistake from happening, and be further ahead? Probably not, because I speak opening and honestly about how I feel, and if it offends anyone, then it’s probably best not to read my blogs.

We’re never too old to learn. Heck, I got my motorcycle license on Monday, and ACED it, 100%.  The world can EAT MY DUST, ZOOOOOOOM, Bay-bee!!!

Check out Liat’s videos on knitfreedom.com, as well as on YouTube, she’s pretty amazing!!!