Do It Differently

Recently I finished knitting my first pair of color work socks. I enjoyed the pattern but when they were done, they did not fit my feet. I normally knit toe-up socks and this pattern was cuff-down. I also changed the heel which meant I had to rearrange the order of the charts. The heel was too baggy and the foot was too long. I entered the picture of the finished socks into a Knit-a-Long so that I would be eligible for prizes but I was not happy with the finished product. I liked the pattern and my yarn but I was so disappointed.

At first I thought that they would sit on my shelf of finished projects but I knew I would never wear them. Then I decided to rip them out and knit them from the toe up. This involved turning the charts upside down. I also cut apart the charts and taped them in the order I needed so that I would find them easier to follow instead of having to constantly remind myself not to do the order it was in. I am so much happier with the final product! The socks fits me the way I wanted them to do!

I’m so glad that I didn’t give up. I would have wasted some beautiful yarn too.

The designer of the sock pattern wrote it in a way that worked for her. Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean that the design is wrong or poorly written. I just had to tweak it so that it would work for me. I just had to figure out a way to do it differently to make it fit my needs and wants.

That is what I want to teach my students. If they don’t understand something or the final result doesn’t match their expectations, then they need to think about doing it differently. Find a way that works for them. Just because they do it differently doesn’t mean that it is wrong. It means that they have found a way to make it work.

The problem with trying to do it differently means that we take a risk. I took a risk by trying the pattern the first time since I’ve never done color work or cuff-down socks. Then I took another risk by ripping it out and trying it a different way. I’m happy that it worked the second time. If it hadn’t, I may have tried it a third way if I thought there was another way to figure it out. Sometimes challenges can motivate me to try different things.

What is something that you have had to try in a different way? Please share.

Original photo by Pat Hensley