Challenging Myself

After several squares of garter stitch,  I felt like doing something more challenging so I got out my Encyclopédie des Ouvrages de Dames (by Thérèse Dillmont) and started this one knitted from the center on 4 needles.


I wasn’t too proud of the beginning with that hole.  Nearing the end I realized it was not going to be easy to knit a 20cm square on 20cm needles.  There is no room to space things out and it is difficult to measure.  I had to keep my eyes on 8 needle points plus the two with which I was working so as not to lose any stitches.



It looked like it might be a bit big but it turned out to be a bit small so I crocheted around the edge.  I took care of that hole in the middle with a flower.  Now it just needs an elephant to sit on it and flatten it out. 



I thought I might entitle this blog entry A Harrowing Half Hour but I happened to think of those who are truly suffering with situations much more serious than dropped stitches in their knitting.  And yet, if we choose, we can build a world where we have only that sort of problem left.  We can change our hearts, stop seeking to dominate and exploit, practice love and compassion for all others.

Our choir has been working on The Beatitudes put to music by Arvo Pärt.  How often do we think to apply them in our daily life?  To be satisfied when we have enough, to feel with those who are suffering, to act without arrogance, to seek what is right, to forgive, to be pure, to build peace, to work for good even when ridiculed.  It would suffice for only a few generations to live this way and we would be back in the garden of Eden.  This is a challenge for myself.  Will you join me?  (You don’t have to know how to knit…)