As a knitter of many years, there are times when doing the same thing is more detrimental to my goals than I realize. Sometimes the only thing to do is change it up.
I have a favorite baby blanket pattern. I have knit the same pattern in different colors, sizes and with different twists. My recent favorite was for an awesome friend who likes colorful and unique things, so her blanket got a bunch of different colored stripes in variegated sizes! I still love the pattern and find it’s classic beauty just wonderful. I also like that it has eyelets because babies are notoriously warm and no one wants to give a baby heatstroke while they sleep.
So when I found out another friend was pregnant I knew I had to make a baby blanket for her. For this one I wanted the blanket to have more earth tones, but to still be vibrant for their baby girl. I spent a lot of time searching for the perfect yarn for this project. I knew I wanted it to be cotton, so they could easily wash it when it got messy. I also knew that the yarn needed to have lots of greens. I was so focused on the yarn, that I just assumed I would make the blanket, the pattern was never in question.
I was so happy starting the project. I cast on and my needles were flying. About 4 inches into the first blanket, I realized I made a mistake when altering the pattern for the finished size I wanted. I had 2 stitches too few. Oh well, no big deal. I just pulled it all out and started anew with the correct number of stitches cast on this time.
I made it to about 3 inches this time when I realized I messed up again. I took out 2 rows, but still could not find the mistake. I pulled out another row and a half, sure that I could fix it and be back on my happy road to completion. No such luck, I was at a loss. Not only could I not find the mistake, but when I tried to knit the pattern I kept making the same mistakes.
About 2 hours later, I was ready to set the small blanket start on fire. Nothing I did was making a difference and I was wondering if I had completely lost the skill needed to knit anything. The pattern is very easy, a simple yarn over eyelet on a basic stockinette stitch, how could it possibly be this hard?!
I decided to try a different pattern, something still easy, but different from what I as using. I pulled out an old pattern book that I’ve had for over a decade and browsed the patterns, looking for a pattern that had holes for air flow, but wasn’t too crazy. Something that would be timeless and fun. I decided on this Chalice pattern.
The new pattern challenged me. It was new and I had to pay attention to my needles and the pattern. And as I worked the blanket I found I liked the subtle texture that it gave the blanket. Working with the yarn I was unsure how the variegation would look in the pattern, but the more of the blanket I knitted, the more I liked everything about it. And the more I liked it, the faster my needles flew through the rows.
I realized 1 very important thing, just because you have done something a certain way with great success for a long time, doesn’t mean that nothing needs to change. Change is not necessarily scary or something you do because you have to. It can also be an opportunity, an opportunity to learn, and to grow. To challenge yourself to be better than you were before.
You never know what you can accomplish if you don’t push yourself outside of your comfort zone every now and then.
Change can be frightening, and the temptation is often to resist it. But change almost always provides opportunities – to learn new things, to rethink tired processes, and to improve the way we work. – Klaus Schwab
This is the blanket at about 75% completion
Not shown here are numerous garlic chives and scallions planted around the other plants.
Kween's Krafts 