What Are You So Curious About?

sdbev wrote - I'm one who would knit both fronts and both sleeves at the same time. Not for speed, but for accuracy. Otherwise, I always seem to make some mistake that is visible to me. I say "would knit" because I am a machine knitter. I machine knit for speed. I have so many ideas I want to try out. Knitting by hand just doesn't cut it when you want fast.

In The Power Of Why, I read about a test called ISPI that identifies how people process thought. Apparently, there are millions of combinations. Amanda - the book's author - is an identical twin and yet - according to the test - her and her sister do NOT process thought alike which goes to show how actually managing to communicate is a miracle - as is how much we have in common while still being so incredibly unique.

People fascinate me. How they think. Their actions. What interests them. I'm intrigued by how one person can pursue with a cornucopia of ideas what another person looks at with passing fascination or - in some cases - absolute horror. It's not that I don't enjoy knitting but obviously not to the same degree as Bev. For her, the ability to execute those ideas quicker is of necessity while for me, there's nothing about knitting that I am so curious about that exploring the idea as fast as possible compels me in new directions.

I'm just not THAT interested. My library of knitting books is extensive with pattern and technique and how to design books. I've looked at knitting machines - I even borrowed one for a couple of weeks - and have talked extensively with knitters who have but don't use their knitting machines. What I know about myself - and what I learned from them - forms part of the basis for my decision but in all likelihood the largest component is a lack of curiosity. It's me and not a lack of knitting potential. Knitting seems as never ending as other fibre related endeavours.

I spent Saturday afternoon at my friend Sharon's knitting peacefully away in her den devoid of the sound of the roofers - who have been here for a week now - and are slowly but surely driving me crazy. I finished the turquoise wool plus sock yarn sweater with a ribbed collar band which ends right at center front. The left front starts at center front. In other areas, you can stop and start at the side seams but with both of these pieces a tail is clearly visible at center and needs to be integrated successfully into the finished garment. I don't like tails.

The neck is shaped with decreases. Armholes often are as well. Even though I've researched and implemented numerous ways to increase and decrease and create smooth lines while knitting - as I remarked to Sharon - it's a whole lot easier to just cut and sew with a knit fabric. And perhaps that's my newest conclusion. Since what I like about knitting is the relaxation of pulling one loop through another maybe I'm a scarf knitter and not much else. Give me a long straight rectangle and let me enjoy the project for its portability and socializing potential and forget the rest because as much as I'm not looking forward to stitching these sweaters together, I can see all kinds of potential in sewing garments with knit fabrics.

We take "journeys" not only to discover what we do want to do but to discover what we don't want to do. Both pieces of information are valuable. YEARS ago, I planned to stitch quilts by hand. In my mind, they were heirloom creations that would be preserved and passed down from generation to generation - an idea that didn't even make it through one quilt. Hand quilting was too tedious, too slow for me. I switched to machine quilting and so thoroughly embraced the speed piecing concept that I not only made quilts in a day, I taught others how to make accurate, well pieced, quilts in a day. And I loved it - for years - until I didn't love it any more.

Change is an inevitable and enviable and desirable part of life.

Here's the best part about thinking like a little kid: you're not a little kid. You are able to think about how you think. Self-awareness is the adult trait that elevates curiosity to a new place, where it's not just fun but powerful because it fuels not only engagement and interest, but also actual, implementable innovation. In ways big and small, asking questions makes life richer, more interesting, more fulfilling and more complete. Better. That's the power, and ultimately the purpose, of why. - last page, The Power of Why, by Amanda Lang

Bev's comment touched off some green-eyed envy. While on one level I truly believe there's a lot to be said for not rushing through every creation, on another there's a part of me that craves that kind of curiosity and the energy it generates when there's so much to explore and not enough time in the day or the month or the world to get there. When faster and quicker ways become critical and sleep less essential.

What are you so curious about that there simply isn't enough time in the day to answer the questions?

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - that a no is as valuable as a yes