If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything!

Since I began knitting a week ago I have found it to be quite addicting. Unfortunately, that addiction hasn't played out into creating things, just thinking about knitting! Because of my job as a teacher, if I don't have a project started on a weekend, I find I just don't have time to start one during the week. Instead of my weeknights consisting of learning to purl and switch colors, they became filled with planning lessons, emailing parents, grading papers, etc. However, I did bring my new found joy of knitting into the classroom! I used learning to knit as an analogy for learning to write realistic fiction, something my students are working on now. I was proud of myself when I told them that writing a story idea is similar to knitting your first swatch. You want to test it out and see what it looks like before you dive right into a big project, or full-fledged fiction story. Bonus points for me when I drew a picture of casting on and my first swatch as a demonstration. I think this week I will bring in the real knitting for them to see!

Despite my constant thinking of knitting, I was sad to not have a project to work on this past week. I made it my goal to start my scarf this weekend so that I could just pick it up for a few minutes every night this week. So last night, as my boyfriend and I put in Tyson (documentary about the boxer) and opened a couple of beers, I sat down, needles in hand, raring to go. I was annoyed when after knitting almost the entire first color I made a mistake, dropped a stitch, and unsuccessfully tried to fix it. I "erased" the whole thing and tried again, this time making some other mistake in only 4 rows. I grew very frustrated and decided to just put everything aside until I could focus all my attention on my knitting. The good news is, I am a professional at casting on and I now have another analogy for my students! I told them at the beginning of the year that "If you can't make a mistake, you can't make anything." (A quote from someone, but I can't remember who...) So into the classroom this anecdote will go.

Knitting is on the to-do list for today and hopefully things will go better. Marmie, advice for when you find a dropped stitch??