Knitting has taught me to rip out (or as they call it in knitting circles, "frogging," as in "ripit...ripit"). Being willing to rip out is a good thing, because if I discover that I have goofed up a pattern or strayed off gauge, I readily acknowledge that it is worth the lost time and knitting to rip it out and then, try once again to do it right.
I encountered a similar situation yesterday with a sewing project, and my knitting wisdom served me well. I am still making those bedtime bags, featured in a previous post. The trickiest part of that project is applying iron-on letters, and Friday night while ironing on "Carter," the last "r" moved such that it smudged noticeably. The problem was I really didn't have enough fabric to cut another pocket of the same size. My choice--use the repaired smudgy one (I tried to reposition the letter and reapply, and it did work), or start over, redesigning the pocket. I decided upon the latter and actually am quite pleased with a new pocket idea, discovered by default. Later, with the same bag, I ran into another oops which ended up in me ripping out some stitching, recutting, and resewing. I am pleased with the result, but am even more pleased with my willingness to acknowledge what wasn't working and backpedal to "re" vision the product and the process.
Pretty much a life lesson, I think...
(Today would have been my father's 86th birthday; it is hard to believe he has been gone almost seven years. I miss him every day.)
I love this post--yes, the willingness to go with a mistake calmly--it does seem a life lesson.
ReplyDeleteI miss Papa too.