Monday, November 19, 2012

Experts agree.....well not really.


When you read about knitting as much as I do it becomes very clear that even the experts don't always agree on the best path when it comes to knitting. Every facet of knitting comes up for debate. Fibre choices, needles and construction as well as many other items are discussed on the blogs and in the threads on Ravelry.

I'm one of those people who sees the world in shades of grey. I wish I could be more back and white because it seems to be so much easier but I can't. I make many decisions by using a pro/con list. I get suspicious when I listen to polarized viewpoints and find myself automatically defending the opposing view in the interest of a balanced argument, even when I agree with the original viewpoint. 

I really enjoy the Ravelry threads that have opposing views. As an example and edited to protect identities as well as the topic, I offer:

"I have made and frogged 2 (specific type of construction) and will never do it again. They don’t fit."

"I did a (same specific type of construction) and I love it. It is one of the only sweaters that I made that actually fit."

This kind of debate must be really frustrating for those knitters doing research. On the other hand it has the advantage of pushing them to do more research and test their choices out for themselves. (Do you see what I mean about shades of grey?) I think the thing to keep in mind here that we are all bringing our previous knitting experience forward to our current projects. Each choice we make at every fork in the road leads in one direction and not another. It's a good idea to test out multiple options with different projects and an even better idea to reflect on the fails and figure out what would have made them successes. For me, knitting is all about the journey.


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