Process Knitting (by Mary Fran Riley)

There are many ways to approach knitting.  Making finished objects,  making hundreds of swatches to learn various techniques and knitting for the process.

I love a beautiful hand knit project as much as the next gal (or guy).  I really do!   I have three sweaters on needles, a pair of slippers begging to be sewn together and felted, a pattern waiting to be typed and yarn for about ten other specific projects calling my name.   I am a process knitter.  What’s that?  I knit because I love the action of knitting and not for the contentment of completing finished pieces.

When I knit I become part of what I am knitting. It is a movement and a flow. The knitting itself is the point, not the finished product. It is about a connection I get to a project.  It’s about the satisfaction I get using my hands to create something.   A kind of satisfaction I don’t get from my creative industry job.  It is a break from the sterility of computers and the perfection they give.

I have a short attention span and always get bored with a project long before it’s done.  Including hats.  After I have experienced the best there is about a pattern, I am ready to move on. I usually finish hats when I run out of short circular needles and need them for another project that I so very much need to knit.

I always have my knitting with me and knit every chance I get – air planes, trains and cars are my friends.  Long boring meetings and college classes provide great opportunities for me to knit away!

My aversion to getting to the end of a project might be because of my deadline driven professional life.  Sometimes it’s just nice to create and not have the pressure hanging over the process.  Sometimes I feel I should be creating better goals for myself and try to finish more of my projects.  I’m afraid that by doing this I will taint my pure connection to the act of knitting.  I will turn knitting into a task that is always looming.

So, I will continue on my path to knit with every type of fiber that I can find followed by an attempt to learn as many techniques and stitches along the way.  Maybe, just maybe, all of this will end up in a higher project completion rate for me.  Maybe it won’t and I am ok with that too.

I am certain I’m not the only knitter out there who knits for its calming effects.   I hope I am not the only person who knits just to knit and not to make a finished work piece.