Day 18: I love how during the creative process answers to the day’s problems “slide in” to my brain.

I first started knitting when I read that it could be considered yoga for your brain. The repetition of the pattern, the feel of the yarn and the creation of something beautiful and useful almost always deliver a deep calming effect.

I write “almost always” because if I mess up – and mess up good – on a pattern, I’m not opposed to ripping it out back to the beginning. There are some small “blips” or imperfections that I feel add to the character of a piece and there are some that I simply can’t handle. Both outlooks reflect my approach to writing and work, it helps to know what imperfections are allowable.

The repetition of knitting also allows my brain to work out other problems unrelated to the yarn I have in-hand. I’ve often thought through presentations and other assignments while I knit and purl. “Sliding-in” is when the solution comes from the side; appears out of nowhere.

Tonight the answer for how this shawl will finish appeared. I’ve been wrestling with thinking ahead to the bind-off, when I quit worrying and simply enjoyed the process I could “see” the completed project. Easy as that.