Completion

Knitting is a funny thing,  You start with yarn, needles, perhaps stitch markers.  Most of the time, you start with a pattern but occasionally you just wing it.  No matter how big or small the project, this is how it starts.

I knit small projects.  My attention span is short, VERY short.  I get bored with things easily.  Because of this, I like to knit small things so I can kinda fulfill that instant gratification need.

My first knitting project, a scarf, took me about a year to complete.  I got bored with it.  I moved.  I just wasn't that "in" to knitting.  My shortest project was probably about a week.  My mother always laughs that I usually take the longest to make things for her.  Her Christmas gift for the last 2 years have still been on the needles on Christmas morning.

The funny thing is the more I get into knitting, the more I realize that alot of my knitting is more about the process than the completion.  Deadlines rarely work for me.  I don't stick to them, EVER.

Currently, I have 3 WIP (works in progress for the knitting muggles).  I have countless projects I want to start (in my head).  I just finished one I had been working on.

As I cast off my project last night, I was relieved.  Often, when knitting, you have no idea what the ending project will look like when it is finished.  I wanted to see the "bigger" picture for a long time while working on this project, but it was not going to happen.

I cast off 900 stitches (that is a ton of stitches).  As I cast off, I thought about what that releasing yarn meant to the project.  I thought about the letting go prayers my Spiritual Director has had me focus on lately.  I thought about the process of this piece that has taught me about patience and perseverence.  It still amazes me that this particular experience has heightened my understanding of peace and prayer.  Quiet flowing of stitches   that were each wrapped in prayer.

Through the stitches and the needles I came to understand the process of knitting.  I understood how some people spend years on one project still enjoying and loving it.

-- but, I have to say that finishing it was really cool too :)