The Knitting Journey

For those who haven't read the Yarn Harlot's new book (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off) - she equates knitting to a destination and she does it with her usual hysterical insight.

There are many ways to get there, she writes, introducing a pop quiz to find your own style. Here is mine, according to this test:

"Get out of the way, baby, because you're traveling on a space-age monorail that's never late. You are accurate and deliberate, methodical and clear-thinking, and other knitters dream of turning out the work that youi do. You can tell a right-leaning decrease from a left-leaning one and you can think of four ways to make a buttonhole. Your work is beautiful because you are a perfectionist and you work hard to get things right. You believe that most people could knit as well as you if only they would work as hard as you, and you're right, thought it would help if they also had your obsessive streak."

I would say the perfectionist, methodical part is true. Sadly, there is enough of something else mixed in so that my work isn't as admirable as indicated from this description! And I wouldn't describe myself as a great knitter (yet).

Really, I wish I fit the last style she describes:

"You my dear knitter are a skydiver. You're Knitting's daredevil, and if anyone is going to learn anything by living it, it's you. Your knitting is wild and adventurous, and though the rest of us never think your ideas are going to work out, they usually do. You are the knitter who reminds al of us not to take it so seriously (and you drive the type C knitters nuts). ..."

It's interesting to define an approach to knitting like this. It makes me appreciate how I go about things. I can embrace the perfectionist in me and live with the understanding that I have a deep need to fix problems rather than trying to live with them. At the same time, I think it will help me relax and strive to become more of a daredevil.

Overall, the book is great. I want to devour it, but I'm going at a slow pace because I want to savor it.

I'm eager to hear from other knitters about their styles.

In summary, the other two styles are:

The cruise "You don't care how you get there or what sort of thing syou produce while you're there...You're in it for the good time and you're Knitting's answer to blender drinks by the pool."

and
A good old fashioned road trip: "You've got some maps and you're pretty sure where the motel is, but if you see a sign for a cool roadside attraction, you're absolutely takin the exit ramp for the afternoon."