I am not a good crafter. I am the slowest seamstress; I am a terrible knitter. I cannot remember from one moment to the next how to cast off. And let’s not start talking about crochet… I’ve managed to make a chain. Repeatedly. At least I’ve finished multiple projects knitting – though they are lumpy with dropped stitches. I am not proud to admit that I prefer knitting with wool, because if it’s really ugly and you can’t frog it, you can felt it…
Suffice it to say that I’ll never be one of those people for whom handiwork is automatic; I didn’t learn to do any of these crafts until I was an adult. But, I love that I have a full bin of yarn and umpteen unfinished projects going anyway.
My mother had a saying, about owed money: as long as you owe me, I’ll never be broke. I kind of have this same feel about my knitting projects: as long as they’re started, I’ll never be finished, right? I’ll always have something to warm my lap, to fiddle with on flights, to help me distance people’s speaking that I don’t want to hear. (Full disclosure: I knit during sermons I dislike. Do with that as you will. Mind, I don’t often knit in church, but it keeps me serene when I feel like arguing with speakers… because it’s actually a challenge for me to formulate sentences when I’m knitting, unless I’m just doing straight knits, no counting or purling…). As long as I have a bin full of projects, my hands will never be the devil’s workshop.
If I were the speaker, I’d be wary of being stabbed with a knitting needle.