A Lesson in Perserverence

As my due date nears, I feel the compulsion to make something for the baby. This is the first child that I can actually knit items for in anticipation of his or her arrival. I started a blanket when I first learned I was pregnant, but I’m afraid the blanket may not be done in time for the baby’s birth.

So I did a search online to find an easy little baby hat that I could make for the baby that I could have at the hospital. The pattern can be found here thanks to the Dappled Things blog. I read through the pattern and found it to be very doable for my advanced beginner abilities, so I bought the yarn and needles necessary for the project and began working.

Initially, I used the long-tail kite cast-on because it was the only one I knew and proceeded on. However, about half-way through the project I made a mistake, and my skills as an advanced beginner did not include how to fix this particular error. Basically, I did the only thing I knew to do to fix it—I undid all the stitches and began again—attempt number one.

In the meantime, I attended a class teaching different cast-on techniques. I thought now at the restart of this project presented me with a perfect opportunity to try one of those new cast-on techniques I learned. I decided to use the cable cast-on and began casting on the number of stitches using the new technique, but I made a mistake again which meant tearing out the stitches and starting again—attempt number two.

After restarting the second time, I began to wonder if this two-hour baby hat would, in fact, take me twenty hours to complete, but I persevered and cast-on my stitches. This time I made it a third of the way through until, guess what, I made a mistake and had to start all over—attempt number three.

I’m really beginning to wonder if this project was meant to be, but something is keeping me from giving up. I’m determined to finish this project, so once again, I started again and have about six rows done in my attempt number four.

If there is one thing this project will teach me, it is that I can persevere even when it seems hopeless and wiser to just give up and move on. So here’s to knitting and its lessons on perserverence.