Knit and Purl as a Metaphor for my Life

by

Patti Dickinson

I learned to knit in college. Sort of an earthy endeavor. Some people did sororities. I knit in overalls.

And I have been a knitter ever since. Oh, that doesn't mean that knitting is front and center. I alternate between compulsive knitting (in the bleachers at my daughter's volleyball tournaments, in airports, on the front porch) and knitting sabbaticals.

I'm not really an event-knitter. I gave that up a long time ago. Never could hit the Christmas/birthday deadlines, and I would get stressed out about that and suddenly the pressure to knit-on-demand took all the fun out of it. I didn't like getting up in the morning and finding "finish sleeves" on my to-do list, right next to "pick up dry cleaning".

Case in point. A Halloween sweater. Orange sweater, with triangle eyes, nose and toothless grin in black on the front. Yes, Mary Morgan was going to be the recipient of this sweater. Kid #5. What could be cuter on a first grader? Halloween came and went. We added three more kids. Life got in the way. The sweater sat, unfinished and neglected on the needles. Kid #8 blows by first and second grade. I find the first-grade-sized sweater in the closet. Still on the needles. Now the caboose is in third grade. It's September. We're in now-or-never mode. Only one problem. This first grade sized sweater is going to be a bit snug on third grade Margaret. Who cares? Where is it written that everything you wear has to be comfortable? Halloween morning dawns. We stuff her into the sweater ("we" because it was a two-man job) and off to school she goes. Mom of the Year, right? And I have to admit, I really liked the "Oh did you make that?" themed remarks on the sidewalk of the elementary school....

But I never knit when I am stressed. Just feels like too much relaxation when I am desperate for answers, solutions....it's hard to pace when you are knitting, unless you are okay with the ball of yarn following behind you on the floor.....

And as my friend Jane says, "So if your entire family shows up with new socks and sweaters, am I to assume that all is well at the Dickinson house?"

Hmmmm. Kind of an odd kind of barometer, huh?