This weekend, a friend taught me a new skill—how to loom hats. For months, I have admired her beautiful work, but I was always intimidated by how amazingly complex her creations appeared. I enjoy crafts, but have a hard time with making anything that involves technical precision or skill. I definitely did not inherit my engineer dad’s “mechanical mind” and have a very difficult time understanding how things work. (My husband still jokingly asks when he will receive the scarf I tried to learn how to knit for him 12 years ago, which, pitiful and unfinished, is still buried in the depths of a closet at my mom’s house!)
Recently, I have had a renewed urge to create something (despite my interest in Project Runway, sewing is out…that’s another story. ☺) I felt like enough time had passed since my discouraging and frustrating attempt at knitting, so I decided to give looming a shot. Little did I know what a great reminder this would be about the learning process…
*How dumb I felt not knowing how to tie a simple slipknot to start my project
*How upset I was about the massive knot I discovered in the middle of my skein of yarn
*How intimidated I was by my peers who were “getting it” much faster than me
*How my heart sank when, after working diligently for nearly an hour, I went to incorporate the string around my anchor peg, only to find a gaping hole and had to start over!
Thankfully, I had a kind and patient friend/teacher, and that made such a difference. Instead of feeling like I wanted to give up because I was taking an unfinished hat home at 11:00 p.m., I chose to persevere. The next day, I got on YouTube for a tutorial and finished the hat! The incredible feeling of success that brought has spiraled into a new hobby! It was awesome to think about how my mistakes and frustrations on my first hat helped me to better understand the construction of it and allowed me to do an even better job on the next hats.
(Can you guess what my family will be getting for Christmas this year? ☺)
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