This scarf looks pretty simple, doesn’t it? If you know how to cable and change colors you’d think, “No problem.”
You’d be somewhat wrong.
Bear with me while I explain.
See the fuchsia gussets? While making those I had five balls of yarn going: white for the first panel, fuchsia for the first gusset, another ball of white for the middle panel, a separate ball of fuchsia for the second gusset, and a third ball of white for the last panel.
And to keep holes from forming where you change color, you have to twist the two balls around each other when you switch.
You can imagine the mess of tangles that develop after knitting a single row of this nightmare of a neck-wrap. It looks like the aftermath of a spaghetti fight. And there are 26 rows for each of the gusset sections.
After many rows of de-tangling, hair-pulling, and cursing the day I was born for starting this behemoth, it occurred to me that if I didn’t have to keep turning the work in circles (knit across one side, turn the scarf and balls of yarn 180°, knit across the other side, repeat) the stupid strands wouldn’t get as knotted up.
An epiphany illuminated my unraveled brain.
Instead of moving the scarf and the yarns, what if I moved... myself?
In the immortal words of Ted Logan, “Whoa, dude.”
So I tried it. I placed the five balls of yarn in the following positions on the floor: 9:00, 10:30, high noon, 1:30, and 3:00. I picked up the scarf and knitted across one side, twisting the balls once as I changed, then laying them back into place. When I reached the end of the row I got up, moved to the opposite side, and knitted across the back side of the piece.
It was a game-changer. And not just for my knitting.
How often do I struggle against the world, trying to make everything and everyone else conform to my will for it?
But what if I were willing to let the things around me be what they are and do what they’re going to do, and instead move myself as necessary to accommodate that reality? I suspect my life will flow much more smoothly, with fewer tangles and temper fits, as well as less wasted energy, time, and work.
As usual, the answer to most of my problems is me.
And I’m the only thing I have the power to change anyway, right?
Who knew a couple of sticks and some wool could get you this deep?
Looking for something a little less philosophical to knit? Check out Wylde & Plumb's Knitting Pattern Gallery.
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