Making all things new

I've been knitting a lot this winter.  Besides the projects shown below, I also made a pair of fingerless gloves for a Christmas present.  Except for the hat I made for Tim, I have changed every pattern in some way.  Sometimes I've knit one thing and then unraveled it to make something else I liked better.

 

This feather and fan lace scarf was designed to be narrower than I liked, so I added another repeat of the pattern.  Now I'm wondering if that was too ambitious and whether I'll run out of yarn before the scarf is long enough.

Feather and Fan scarf made from sock wool

The first fingerless glove was knit spur of the moment to hold a bandage to the palm of my hand.  After the wound healed, I realized I wanted the glove to fit tighter and feel smoother, so I undid it, reknit it, and made a twin.  I looked at a pattern for some suggestions, but changed nearly everything just a bit to fit my own ideas.

fingerless glove, second attempt

Tim wanted a hat, and chose the colors of yarn.  Now that it  is  finished, I love the way it looks on him (Luke is modeling it here.).  But it is made from cotton, and if I made another, it would be wool...definitely wool.

Tim's Turn-a-square hat, modeled by Luke

I had some red tweedy cotton I bought on sale last summer, and needed something to work on.  I decided to make a hat and scarf.  I started the hat using a  pattern but ended up experimenting with how to shape the top of the hat.  Truthfully, I had some trouble understanding the pattern and decided to wing it.  The moebius scarf was originally a feather and fan scarf.  I didn't have enough yarn to finish it and couldn't buy more, so I unraveled it and reknit the moebius pattern.  Again, both would have been better in wool, although I like them well enough to wear them.

 

 

Moebius scarf and spiral hat

I am knitting the Rosamund sweater as part of a group knit-along at the local yarn store.  I've already knitted it nearly to  the point where you see it in the picture, decided it wasn't quite right, unraveled it, and knit the one in the picture in the next larger size.  Last weekend I realized I was doing one of the primary stitches wrong, and brought it to the group for advice.  Their wisdom was to enjoy the unusual look of the knitting rather than unravel it and reknit it to  look like everyone else's.  I'm fine with that!

Rosamund Sweater, reversible with cabled accents

I've been thinking about why the knitting is so energizing for me.  Even the unraveling and starting over has not been discouraging.  It seems to me that it is the process of creating something new that is a large part of what I enjoy.  I also like working with my hands on something while I watch tv or wait for someone or sit through a meeting.

I remember that being created in God's image means that we are born with a desire to create as well.  The Bible has so many references to new things---new wineskins;  sing a new song; behold, I am doing a new thing; the mercies of God are new every morning,  old things have passed away and new things have come, the new covenant....  When I start to look at it, I wonder if 'retail therapy' is fed by that need to create, to be part of making things new.

I'm currently reading the book, Living More With Less: 30th Anniversary Edition, by Doris Janzen Longacre.  In the chapter on Recreation and Schedules, Longacre writes that in some ways "newness is what we need."  The word, recreation, itself is informative.  We love new things and that love is God given.  Think of the first flowers of spring, the shoots pushing through the earth in the garden, the arrival of the swallows, a newborn cry.  All of these things are ancient as the earth itself, and yet they resonate inside us as new and fresh. 

I submit that part of our enjoyment of life is in participating in that creating of new things.  I also think it is probable that our sense of fulfillment in our daily lives is somewhat correlated to the sense that we are participating in creative activities in our work and play.

Housework is often only housework for me, but on those occasions when I see the work as a chance to create a peaceful and beautiful space in which to live, it changes.  Likewise, when I anticipate working in the garden, I often dread the drudgery.  Yet getting my hands in the soil, planning the arrangement of the plants, figuring out how to enrich the soil, clearing and mulching...all these things end up feeling creative, and even holy.  

The meal I cooked tonight was spaghetti sauce from a jar with frozen meatballs added, peas, and coleslaw.  The coleslaw was mildly creative, but otherwise the meal was not much fun to put on the table.  Sometimes it is necessary to cook this way.  I have several quick and easy unimaginative meals on hand all the time for when there isn't much time for creativity.

Luke enjoying homemade yogurt, with homemade muesli and apricots from the freezer

But a bowl of yogurt made fresh yesterday, mixed with homemade muesli and apricots I froze last summer is worth the smile on Luke's face.