My favorite project

As anyone who knows me at all will attest to, I'm a big fan of knitting. I generally have a minimum of 5 or 6 projects going at once, and on the rare occasion that I leave my house without something to work on, I feel a little bit panicky until I am reunited with my yarn.

I've made a lot of things in my many years of knitting. Hats, socks, scarves, sweaters, baby blankets, dragons... If it can be knitted, there is a good chance that I've at least attempted to make it. However, my favorite projects are usually socks.

Knitted socks are something that most people don't understand (except for the people who own them- they know exactly why I keep making socks, and once they receive a pair, usually ask for more within a few weeks). With all the socks I've made over the years, I've accumulated a lot of leftover little balls of sock yarn.

Which brings me to the subject of this post: my favorite project.

I've been working on this blanket for a few years now. I tend not to be very consistent with it- I'll finish a few squares at a time, maybe even a few squares a day for several days, and then it will sit in its basket for weeks or months before I'll pick it up again.
It's pretty simple compared to a lot of things I've made- just a basic mitered square pattern, the same little square made by picking up stitches from its neighbor squares, over and over. There have been other things I've made where I've loved the yarn, or the pattern, or the fact that it's a DRAGON, so much that it was the only thing I worked on for days or weeks until it was finished. But this blanket remains my favorite.

I was trying to figure out why that might be, and decided it comes from two reasons.

First, there is the material I'm using. This is a blanket made from sock yarn, but more importantly, it is made from yarn that was already used for various projects. With each new square, I am reminded of a previous pair of socks, each of which took hours of work. Many of them were gifts, and I am reminded of the person who owns those socks and of the relationship we share. Many of them are sitting in my sock drawer, and I am reminded of a pattern I particularly enjoyed, or even of the place I bought the yarn. A few are even from pairs that have already worn out from being used a little too frequently. I love that the simple act of making a simple blanket can bring back so many memories, of people, and of the time and dedication I have put into doing something that I love.

The time spent on this project is the second reason this is my favorite project. Most of my projects take an average of a few weeks. Hats I can usually whip out in a day or two, while a lace shawl might take closer to several months. This is definitely not anything close to instant gratification, but I can generally see some serious progress in a very short period of time. Working on the blanket reminds me of the importance of the process, as well as the product, of knitting. Each square takes 20-30 minutes to complete. It's not particularly exciting work- it can be downright boring sometimes, which is why it spends so much time in its basket. But the blanket reminds me that some things are worth taking time. Lots of time. 

In a culture that puts so much emphasis on instant gratification, it's important for me to remember that not everything needs to happen immediately. Part of the pleasure in creating is in the anticipation of the finished product. 

This is true for me, as well as my blanket. I am an unfinished project. It's nice to think that, even during times when I am frustrated by my failings and parts of me that I wish were different, I am constantly growing and changing and being worked on by the Creator. And even though the end product can be hard to see sometimes, I can find comfort in the knowledge that at some point all of the unfinished pieces will come together and I will see the whole picture of who I am supposed to be. Little by little, square by square, I am moving toward the finish. And it will be a glorious finish.