Sooooooo, I have recently hopped over from the world of crochet, to the world of knitting. I am thinking I may need to rename my "crochet" tab as "yarny yummies" or something like that!
I have really been enjoying the challenge of learning something new. I still love crochet, but pushing myself to try new things, and learning to knit, has been very satisfying! There is something quite therapeutically beautiful about the uniformity of knitted stitches. So far, I have completed two items - a shawl/scarf, and a sleeveless cardi for Tabitha. On my needles, right now, I have a cardi for myself, and a hat for Beth.
I will share a bit more about that in another post, but right now I want to share about a lesson the Lord spoke into my heart, whilst knitting.
You see, I have come across a fairly major issue with knitting, that you don't have with crochet. The issue of fixing mistakes. In crochet, you work out pretty quickly that you have gone wrong, and you just rip it back to where you made the mistake. You could, often, leave it there, and it may not be noticed by any other than the very experienced eye. However, I fairly quickly realised that knitting is a whole other hand craft. The biggest issue with knitting is dropped stitches. If you drop a stitch it can ruin the whole piece you are working on. You have two choices - learn how to pick up the stitch, or rip it back. Sometimes you may just realise you have made a mistake, or knitted an extra row, or not changed something soon enough. There are two methods to get back to where you need to be - take it all off the needles, then hope you can pick all the stitches back up again, without dropping any, or painstakingly, and SLOWLY, go back, stitch by stitch, to the point you made the error. Neither is easy. I made the error of not reading the pattern properly, and had to go back quite a way to fix it. It was TORTURE! All because I didn't read the pattern properly. Other mistakes are just through carelessness, or trying to do things in a hurry!
"What's the lesson?", I hear you ask?
Well, it's simple. If you are not careful, you can create problems in life that are really hard to undo.
The one that sprung to mind was the words I speak. Since I was little, I have had a battle with my tongue. "Think before you speak" is something I struggled with, and still do, to a certain extent. These days, "before you type" is just as applicable. If I don't speak the right words, it's ever so difficult to "undo", and get back the point I was at before the words got out. It's so easy to hurt others, even without intending to, by saying things you shouldn't or speaking at all. In my marriage, in my home, with my family and friends, and with online connections. When you say things you shouldn't repair can be made, but it always takes time, and careful attention, to make things right. If you don't fix it, you will end up with "holes" in the relationships you care about, and things can entirely unravel and fall apart, leaving an unusable mess. Relationships can quickly unravel if we make the mistake of using unwise words.
Maybe it's not words. Maybe it's choices we make. Maybe we don't read the "instructions" of life carefully enough, before launching headlong into life. If we don't refer to the only "instructions" we ever need - God's Word - we can so easily go wrong. Then, we end up trying to "undo" our foolish choices and make things right. Thankfully, we have a gracious and forgiving God, who chooses to forget our sin, when we come to Him in repentance. However, actions have consequences, and, humanly speaking, we may end up having to try and repair the "mess" we have made in our lives, but going OUR way, instead of God's way.
I have certainly learnt the importance of carefully checking the pattern, and following it carefully. Taking my time, and not rushing, so I don't end up spending valuable time fixing mistakes, instead of creating something beautiful and useful. I need to make sure and apply the same principle in my life, where relationships are so much more vital to make beautiful and useful.
I have really been enjoying the challenge of learning something new. I still love crochet, but pushing myself to try new things, and learning to knit, has been very satisfying! There is something quite therapeutically beautiful about the uniformity of knitted stitches. So far, I have completed two items - a shawl/scarf, and a sleeveless cardi for Tabitha. On my needles, right now, I have a cardi for myself, and a hat for Beth.
I will share a bit more about that in another post, but right now I want to share about a lesson the Lord spoke into my heart, whilst knitting.
You see, I have come across a fairly major issue with knitting, that you don't have with crochet. The issue of fixing mistakes. In crochet, you work out pretty quickly that you have gone wrong, and you just rip it back to where you made the mistake. You could, often, leave it there, and it may not be noticed by any other than the very experienced eye. However, I fairly quickly realised that knitting is a whole other hand craft. The biggest issue with knitting is dropped stitches. If you drop a stitch it can ruin the whole piece you are working on. You have two choices - learn how to pick up the stitch, or rip it back. Sometimes you may just realise you have made a mistake, or knitted an extra row, or not changed something soon enough. There are two methods to get back to where you need to be - take it all off the needles, then hope you can pick all the stitches back up again, without dropping any, or painstakingly, and SLOWLY, go back, stitch by stitch, to the point you made the error. Neither is easy. I made the error of not reading the pattern properly, and had to go back quite a way to fix it. It was TORTURE! All because I didn't read the pattern properly. Other mistakes are just through carelessness, or trying to do things in a hurry!
"What's the lesson?", I hear you ask?
Well, it's simple. If you are not careful, you can create problems in life that are really hard to undo.
The one that sprung to mind was the words I speak. Since I was little, I have had a battle with my tongue. "Think before you speak" is something I struggled with, and still do, to a certain extent. These days, "before you type" is just as applicable. If I don't speak the right words, it's ever so difficult to "undo", and get back the point I was at before the words got out. It's so easy to hurt others, even without intending to, by saying things you shouldn't or speaking at all. In my marriage, in my home, with my family and friends, and with online connections. When you say things you shouldn't repair can be made, but it always takes time, and careful attention, to make things right. If you don't fix it, you will end up with "holes" in the relationships you care about, and things can entirely unravel and fall apart, leaving an unusable mess. Relationships can quickly unravel if we make the mistake of using unwise words.
Maybe it's not words. Maybe it's choices we make. Maybe we don't read the "instructions" of life carefully enough, before launching headlong into life. If we don't refer to the only "instructions" we ever need - God's Word - we can so easily go wrong. Then, we end up trying to "undo" our foolish choices and make things right. Thankfully, we have a gracious and forgiving God, who chooses to forget our sin, when we come to Him in repentance. However, actions have consequences, and, humanly speaking, we may end up having to try and repair the "mess" we have made in our lives, but going OUR way, instead of God's way.
I have certainly learnt the importance of carefully checking the pattern, and following it carefully. Taking my time, and not rushing, so I don't end up spending valuable time fixing mistakes, instead of creating something beautiful and useful. I need to make sure and apply the same principle in my life, where relationships are so much more vital to make beautiful and useful.
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