The Zen of Un-doing

Ah, relaxation.... This afternoon, I put on some favorite music, poured a steaming cup of tea, and settled in to "frog" an unwearable disaster of a sweater that I'd spent the last two weeks knitting. (Rip-it! Rip-it!)

Now, ripping out knitting is not nearly so tedious a chore as ripping out a sewn seam. With knitting, you just unfasten the last stitch, tug on the yarn end, and the whole thing unravels, zzzip! Even so, when there's 900 yards of yarn to pull out and re-wind into balls, it takes a bit of time.
 

Regardless of the tedium factor, for knitting or sewing, the basic equation of ripping-out remains the same:
 

​Time spent doing
+ Time spent un-doing
= Effort with nothing to show for it.
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I'm not a perfectionist. (Don't believe those ugly rumors you've heard about me.) Often enough, when I've done my best, it still isn't perfect.  Actually, with knitting, that's nearly always! What's important to me is making every project the best I can make it. Doing-over in order to do it better keeps moving my personal "best" that much closer to "perfect."

​Some of my friends think I'm crazy, but here's my "Zen" philosophy of ripping out:  

In life, when I take a wrong turn, make a bad decision, or otherwise make a mess of things, I have to live with the consequences. Not so in knitting! There, I get a do-over. In fact, I get as many do-overs as I want, and that makes me a very happy frog. 
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​Obviously, ripping-out is never ideal.  We'd all ​much prefer to get it right the first time. That's especially true in quilting (even if you've got your pal, "Jack" standing by to help).

In the coming weeks, I'll be sharing some of my favorite tips for precision quilt piecing, to help you get it right the first time, and every time.  Be sure to subscribe to my email list so you don't miss a thing.
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