Growing a garden of knitting skills

I’ve received more than one message saying that this newsletter has inspired them to keep knitting during the summer.

A lot of people abandon their knitting during warmer weather for something like gardening.

So to hear that there are people knitting when they normally wouldn’t warms my heart.

Not that I have anything against gardening.

I used to have a plot in a community garden back when I lived in Long Beach.

I spent a few weekends building raised beds, creating my soil mix, and planning my plant pairings.

And once I got everything set up…I never took the time to go back and maintain it.

My *beautiful* garden ended up as a bunch of boxes filled with weeds.

Maintaining your garden

So what could I have done to ensure I succeeded in my gardening efforts?

Here are three things I could have changed:

1. Garden every day
   If you want plants to grow you need to give them attention. They need water, they need to be pruned, they need to have weeds removed.

   I didn’t make a habit of gardening. I should have made it part of my daily routine to visit the garden and do the 15 minutes of work necessary to help my garden progress.

2. Be more active in the community
   I was a member of a COMMUNITY garden. They had work days almost every weekend. Did I ever go? NOPE!

   Had I invested time in the community I would have felt more ownership over the garden as a whole AND I would have learned SO MUCH from more experienced members. I could have accelerated my own growth as a gardener just by participating a few hours a week with the group.

3. Have patience
   The reality is I didn’t want to be a gardener.

   I wanted to be able to say “I grew this!” but I wasn’t willing to put in the time and effort required to make that happen. I had lots of big plans and dreams, but I wasn’t realistic about how long that was going to take.

So…what does this have to do with knitting?

That is a great question {{ subscriber.first_name | strip | default: “fellow knitter” }}!

Building your skills as a Fearless Knitter is no different than gardening.

• Creating a habit of knitting daily is going to help you master skills over time. Plus you’ll be making consistent progress on your projects.

• You can accelerate your growth by participating in the knitting community. Whether that’s at a local yarn store, a Facebook group, or our own Yarnist Society, you’re going to learn more from the group than on your own.

• Remember it takes time to create good work. Knitting an intricate lace shawl or Guernsey sweater takes a lot of effort. You will probably make mistakes and get frustrated. But as acting coach Larry Moss once said, “You don’t yell at a bud for not being a flower yet. It’s going to be a flower, it’s just not finished growing.”

So whatever you do this summer, whether it’s growing a garden or growing your knitting skillset, remember to enjoy the process as much as the fruit of your labor.

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