Knitting FAST and Furiously...or Not

It was a a pin on Pinterest, I believe...or maybe it was an ad on Facebook that I came across, perhaps, that advertised techniques for speed knitting. I didn't read it because I don't want those last two words to be side-by-side in my knitting experience. A voice in my head whispers that I am a stuck-in-the-mud oldie who is just resistant to change. But rushing through a project just to get it done seems to defeat the purpose of knitting in the first place, which was to relax and enjoy the hobby.

Oh, I get it. Sometimes you do have to knit in a hurry. There are deadlines in knitting just as in anything else. One lady had to have knitting samples completed for a photo shoot scheduled as a book publication date loomed. The holiday season doesn't delay its arrival dependent on the progress of the gifts we want to give. And babies come when they are ready, even if the baby blankets we want to wrap them in are not. But to deliberately knit faster just so I can finish one project and jump quickly into the next doesn't appeal to me at all.

Perhaps my reluctance to try this new idea stems from my enjoyment of the knitting process itself, even more than the projects I complete. The speed-knitting techniques I've passed in my online scrolling seem to use just the fingers rather than the full-hand movement to wrap the yarn around the needle each stitch. But I find the rhythm of that repeated arm motion to be soothing and comforting in its steadiness. Maybe because everything else in life seems so rushed, it is nice to have something I can do slowly, savoring the enjoyment I find in the minutes devoted to the activity. I love to be able to stop frequently and simply enjoy the sight of the knitted piece growing from the needles, or examine the way the plies of yarn blend together to form the irresistible color combinations that attracted me initially. A whole amount of joy is lost in the hurry to simply get another thing done.

I've been thinking about that a lot of late at the start of my days. As I sip my coffee I've been instructing myself to take the time to simply enjoy the hours ahead of me... to notice the minutes as they pass and the joys each contain...to give thanks for the same. Maybe it's having reached an age where the end of my life is nearer at hand than the start of my life which has sparked a greater appreciation for the moments in between. I am just not in a hurry to spend them any more quickly than I need to...my knitting included!

“This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”

(Psalm 118:24 NKJV)