Always Choose The Adventure : Life Lessons I've Learned From Knitting

Ask any close relative of mine and you'll slowly figure out how out of character it is for me to be a knitter

Let me give you the back story.

When I was little I was the major tom boy of the clan.

I had to be.

There weren't any girls to play with and boys on the farm play rough.

I had to learn to love dirt, rocks, mud, motorcycles, skid piles and playing army.

That's what they did so that's what I did.

We spent long summer days playing army in the woods, building forts out of skid piles, making mansions out of hay in the hay loft, getting in trouble for playing in the mud hole and chasing each other on the motorcycles, go carts and 4 wheelers.

Looking back at the pictures of me when I was younger I look, well, umm, ROUGH.

During my middle school years my parents put all of us kids in a private christian school.

This christian school happened to be VERY fundamentalist.

So much so that the girls were REQUIRED to wear dresses of a certain length (past the knee, with sleeves and no collar bone showing), take classes on how to be a proper wife and learn to sew.

What a hoot I must have been during middle school.

Me, the tom boy, being forced to wear a dress.

Awkward!

I wore shorts underneath my dresses and made sure to ALWAYS have my tennis shoes on!

Although I was a bit resistant at first, to the amazement of the whole WORLD, I did learn to knit.

Over the years knitting has slowly turned into a hobby.

Which is still kind of funny for me!

I get so much joy out of turning a ball of yarn into SOMETHING!!

With each new project I learn something new about myself.

Something that I can apply to life.

Roger and I were talking the other day about the new sweater that I am knitting for my 3 year old daughter Anna. This particular sweater pattern has both tried my patience and given me great joy.

I began to make a list of things that I've learned while knitting this sweater that I can apply to life in general.

here it is!

Things I've Learned About Life Through Knitting This Sweater

Don't look at the whole pattern at once. It is too overwhelming that way. Take it one section at a time.
It looks harder than it actually is. Just give it a try.
It is funner to try new things. Sticking to the same old patterns is boring. Challenge yourself.
Small accomplishments do matter. Be proud of every accomplishment!
A swear word does relieve stress! Just make sure the little ones aren't around. They DO repeat everything you say.
Asking for help really does help. You can learn a whole lot from the more experienced knitter.
Google knows EVERYTHING
Sometimes you just have to put it down and walk away. come back to it later.
Patience is in fact a virtue
Prayer is VERY effective!
The true joy isn't in the completion of the project. It is in the hours and days spent working on it.
Books are full of AMAZING things and you can learn so much from them.
No one notices the bad stitches as much as you do. Stop beating yourself up over your mistakes.
Wine doesn't help soothe the stressed out knitter. It just makes the stitches seem smaller.