Oct 1, 2014

The heel

I've been working on the heel of my sock for a while now. It's taking me a long time because it's my first sock ever. And now it's going to take longer.


I realized a while back that my heel wasn't looking right. By that I mean it wasn't coming out in stockinette stitch like the rest of the sock. So I thought, "well, maybe it's supposed to look different", and just kept going. I was getting so caught up in the process (I'm definitely a "process" as opposed to "finished product" sort of a crafter...it's all about the process for me), and kept ignoring the little nagging voice in my head saying, "something is wrong doofus... something is wrong".  The heel was in fact knitting up in reverse stockinette. Finally good common sense broke through and I realized I would have to do the thing I have always feared most as a knitter... frogging... rip it! rip it! 

This was scary, especially since I have never frogged on circular needles before. I've never really done much frogging at all. So I did it. Took me about an hour to get the needles back on. My glasses are old and we're talking tiny, size 2 needle stitches. But I finally got the stitches back on the needles and started again.

Now, let me say why I'm glad this happened. Yes, glad. Because I was forced to do something I feared. Because I learned more about the anatomy of stitches and how to fix dropped stitches. Because I'm not afraid to correct mistakes anymore and I feel like that fear probably kept me from trying new things as a knitter. Kept me from pushing and learning new techniques.


And as Leonard Cohen says:
Ring the bells that still can ring
forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in