The other side

If you're reading this, presumably it's because you're a knitter or crafter of some kind. You've already been convinced that the needle arts are for you. What isn't there to love?

It's interesting then to read the perspective of someone encouraged to knit but who just doesn't cotton to it. Ariel Leve found learning to knit to be difficult and didn't enjoy it whatsoever, although when she writes, "If there's one thing I hate, it's practice," it seems clear that her knitting flirtation was doomed from the outset. What else is knitting but essentially repeating the same movement thousands of times?

Sure, the seriousness of her knitting undertaking is fair to question. She claims to have given knitting six months before bailing on it, but wouldn't a published writer realize that the stitch is "purl" and not "pearl"? Maybe that's trying to read too much into a spelling error, maybe not.

Seeing as I was surprised to enjoy knitting myself, I have no difficulty understanding why it didn't appeal to her. I can sympathize with thinking it's hard, to a point. From this side of things it's a wonder that making even knit stitches or performing the purl stitch was ever a challenge.

It seems so obvious now that there's no great secret or complexity to those fundamental techniques, but once they were puzzling and frustrating and, if not not unsolvable, tough to get right. Then again, isn't that how it goes for most anything that's unfamiliar?